mrsray

i agree its worth paying a lill more for good tires ... just had my nokian entyre 2.0s put on and so far so good.
tires were 430$ including tax and shipping + $80 for tire mounting balance, (20 p/tire)
not the price of 'premium' tires but not the cheapies either
Going next week to get the alignment so not sure the cost on that
but so far, my ride is at $510 ... which is sooooooo worth it in the rainy season of sw fl
 
plus, with 60k mile warranty, that should easily last me a few years    before i have to get more
 
haven't heard of Pirelli Scorpion Verde ... did you buy them for the comfort?  for a certain kind of weather?
 
 

I replaced the original Kumhos last year on my 2012 Journey 2.4l, also have a separate set of ordinary winter tires on rims.
 
Bought 4 Pirelli Scorpion Verde tires and they are amazing, I never would have thought tires would make such a difference, they are super smooth for highway or city, even just going over bumps I feel a HUGE improvement from the Kumhos, if they cost a bit more I don't care to me they are worth it. Got an alignment and will be getting an alignment annually to protect these babies. Don't remember the cost though, around $800-900 all in? Gotta look for the receipt. 

Make sure you check the dates on the tires. A lot of reviews I've read on them are they try to sell you old tires. That plus premature belt breakage. Don't rely on consumer reports as your only source of reviews. They are known to be biased to whomever pads their wallets. 

An alignment would be a good idea.  Rotations every 7-10 thousand miles is good too.  Have them check your donut spare while they're installing your new tires.   
 
peace. 

Wash it.  Then give it a good coat of wax.  Maybe they won't like it or they may not be able to crawl on the paint with the wax coating.  Dunno.  Worth a shot.  
 
Peace. 

That's an ant.

Apparently this is mating season for them and they are leaving 'love marks' on your car. Never had this issue thankfully, but showed the picture to a friend and he was familiar with it when he lived in your area. Supposedly it gets this bad every few years when certain things all line up (weather, moisture, heat, etc). I can just imagine my wife's reaction if this ever happened to her 

Awesome! Thank you for posting the fix.