I own a 2005 Mustang GT auto on the east coast. It's my only car and I daily all year around. Bought it off an owner 1500 miles ago who seemed to have cheap parts all over the car. I noticed right away that while new, they had very cheap all season tires (Triangle, apparently a chinese no-name brand that go for around $60 each).

I knew I would need a proper set of tires to survive the east coast winters and decided to put on Michelin Pilot AS/3+ all-season tires.

The first thing I immediately noticed was how quiet the interior was. I always chalked it up to the car being incredibly noisy due to the V8, but after the tire swap, it was so quiet at speed that I could have normal conversations in the car for the first time without raising my voice, and it made me appreciate the sound of the engine a lot more.

The next thing I noticed was traction during slippery weather. I distinctly remember my old tires immediately losing traction repeatedly during rain in the summer when I would hit around 3000 RPM even gradually on straight road, causing me to grit my teeth. Again, I originally attributed it to just the power and live real axle on the car. I just drove the Michelins through freezing rain at night, and a separate dusting of snow, and I absolutely could not get the tires to lose traction while driving even if I tried.

The final thing I noticed was the grip I got during pulls. With my old tires, I couldn't launch the car at anything over 1000RPM without crazy wheelspin, or go WOT at a stoplight without burning rubber. With the Michelins, I can comfortably launch near 2000RPM without spin. WOT at a stoplight is smooth sailing, and there is a significant difference in power the car is putting to the ground thanks to the traction.

I was pretty skeptical dropping $1000 on something that wouldn't directly change the look or power of the car as one of my first mods, but I'm pretty glad I did.