Which Tires?

[Peter Stahl]

Good thread on buying tires online. Which tires would you buy again and which would you not wish on you worst enemy? I like the Michelin's on my wife's car and the Goodrich T/A's are doing good on my truck so far.

[Ed Harrow]

If I could remember the horrid things that came on my wife's Subaru Forester I'd tell you to not, ever, under any circumstances, consider them if you live in a snow belt. Greasy as slick owl poop in the snow.

[Shawn Christ]

Can't say I've had any bad experiences with car tires but I have with trailer tires. I bought a 2004 Flagstaff travel trailer new off the lot equipped with 14" Carlisle tires. 4 of the 5 tires literally blew out within four years (2 shredded on the interstate). Replaced them with Power King Towmax tires and have never had a problem. I will never buy Carlisle again.

[Joe Pelonio]

We happened to nee tires on both at the same time and I found a buy 3 get one free sale at Firestone. My Ranger 4x4 has the Destination ATs, a little rougher ride (I like that) and 1 mpg less on the aggressive tread, but I could climb rock with them, and I no longer spin the rears in rain like happened on the OEM Goodyear Wranglers.

On my wife's Liberty we got the Destination LE, smoother, quieter ride but still great traction even when we had a few days with icy roads and frozen fog.

Thanks to this big purchase in September, we never got any snow this year to try them on!:D

[Van Huskey]

It really depends on the vehicle and use.


For a high performance car you really can't beat the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2, well unless you go UBER high performance with the Pilot Sport Cups (try not to drive in the rain with these..SERIOUSLY...I know..I owned a car these actually came STOCK on :eek: but man were do they stick) the Goodyear F1s are second on that list

For a hi-po all season the Mich Pilot A/S or the Continental Extreme contact

For a mid performance all season the Mich Exalto A/S or Bridgestone Potenza 019

Grocery Getter all season the Mich Primacy MXV4 or Bridgestone Turanza Serenity

Suv on road my fav is the Mich LTX but the poster above mentioned the Firestone Destination LE which is a great bang for the buck SUV tire

SUV on/off road Bridgestone Dueler AT revo 2 with the Mich LTX A/T 2 and the F/S Destinaton AT second and third

[Myk Rian]

I found the T-As hydroplaned, wore out too soon, and had lousy rain-snow traction. I went with the Goodyear Triple Tread. Great tire. 80k mile rated.
http://discounttires.com/images/images_products/tires/large/76_assurance_triple_tred.jpg

[Larry Edgerton]

I have great luck with Coopers on my trucks/Volvo, and they are made in the USA.

I ran Toyo T1R's on my supercharged Miata with acceptable wear and great grip. 109mph in the quarter with that tire.:)

[Lee Schierer]

I put Kelly Navigator Gold's on our Mazda 6 sedan and it became a new car in terms of handling. It was a much quieter ride than the Micheliens that came on the car, snow traction was 10 times better and it didn't want to follow the gridding on open deck bridges any more.

[Mac McQuinn]

Whatever tires you buy, make sure you check build date. I recently viewed a TV news item about new tires sitting on the rack that were 14 years old. Rubber breaks down quickly w/ ozone, sunlight, etc. Be careful!

Mac

[Tom Godley]

In the NE and Mid Atlantic areas we need a good rain tire with occasional snow - I put dedicated snow tires on two of my cars so the summer tires are just that. I have always used the Bridgestone Blizzak for snow -- Although other good snows are available

I really hate most Michelin tires because they tend to be too hard for good rain traction in moderately cold weather -- forget any snow. I have them on one car -- a Lexus -- only because they are a strange size and Michelin is the OE supplier.

On our fleet cars (All Sedans) we have been using the General Altimax HP for replacement -- everybody likes them -- great in the rain. I really do not buy tire based on the longevity -- They all are surprisingly good.

For my performance sedan and SUV -- I put a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 on each and they have been fantastic. These tires are made in Germany and are strictly summer.

For regular SUV and small trucks -- the Bridgestone Duelers are normally high on every list.

[Chris Damm]

I have been using BF Goodrich All-Terrain tires on my trucks for over 40 years now. They are great for traction and last at least 70,000 miles per set. I have a set of TAs on my El Camino SS 396 but the rear ones don't seem to last as long as the fronts!

[Dave Johnson29]

I have Yokohama Geolanders on my Ram 1500. I will be buying them again soon.

A neighbor has a similar Dodge truck and he is using Kumoh Montana or Kumoh-something, quite chunky tread. He is getting good mileage, quiet and great off road mud, slush and snow traction. There's been lots of that lately. He paid around 80-bucks each plus fitting.

I might give them a try this next time around.

[Curt Harms]

..........

Thanks to this big purchase in September, we never got any snow this year to try them on!:D

After this winter in the Philly area, I'll buy the most expensive snow tires I can find next fall :D:D

[Horton Brasses]

On my pick up I absolutely despised the Michelin MX4's that were OEM. Wore out at 38,000 miles, and had lousy snow and rain traction. Can't comment on the noise, the truck will never be quiet. I would avoid those like the plague.

I just bought some Toyo Open Country AT's which I much prefer. They have incredible traction on pretty much any surface, are rated for 60,000 miles (though at the 20" ID who knows), and are very well regarded as an excellently manufactured tire. They required minimal balancing weights which is usually a good sign. They are a tad louder than the Michelins but I have not noticed any MPG penalty.

My wife has some BF Goodrich Long Trail T/A on her Honda CR-V. I think they have excellent traction-though they too only lasted 40K-she bought a new set today actually. I believe that car had a set of Michelin's of some sort on them as OEM-I didn't like those either.

Both my current tires are excellent looking. I am enough of a tire geek that I do in fact value the aesthetics of a set of tires.

[Pat Germain]

I'm surprised to hear about traction problems with Michelins. I like to run Michelins and I'm disappointed whenever I don't. I put cheap Cooper tires on my wife's Cherokee and it wouldn't move if there was any snow or ice. When the Coopers wore out, I went back to Michelin and those do very well in snow and ice; and they're just all-season radials and not snow tires.

My VW Jetta came with Michelins from the factory. They were great tires. I was ready to replace them with another set when the guy at Discount Tire encouraged me to go with a Goodyear tire. The Goodyears were noisy, handled lousy and just plain sucked. I returned them and bought Michelins. I later checked the ratings at TireRack.com and found nobody else liked those Goodyears either. (I've had other Goodyear tires in the past which were OK.)

I have a set of chunky Pirellis on my Comanche 4X4 pickup and those are great! They're typically pretty expensive, but I got mine on sale.

[Van Huskey]

On my pick up I absolutely despised the Michelin MX4's that were OEM. Wore out at 38,000 miles, and had lousy snow and rain traction. Can't comment on the noise, the truck will never be quiet. I would avoid those like the plague.


Both my current tires are excellent looking. I am enough of a tire geek that I do in fact value the aesthetics of a set of tires.


NEVER compare OEM tires to any manufacturer's "same" tire off the rack UNLESS the vehicle is European. US and Japanese manufacturers really squeeze the tire manufacturers and even with the same "model" tire they are often vastly inferior. Poor grip and short life seem to be the biggest complaints, road noise a little less so.

This does not however seem to be the case with European vehicles, this may be a result of the EU's much more stringent view of tire safety and rightfully so given they still have some roads with unregulated speed limits.

As for asthetics I hated when Michelin changed their curved tread on the Pilot Sports a more standard linear pattern but it came straight from their F1 "inter" rain tire and the tire does perform better, in the dry and in the rain. I love the look of the GY F1 pattern but it just doesn't have the grip and has a little gushier sidewall on the track. I do HPDEs pretty often and run street tires most of the time.

[george wilson]

I had an OEM General tire come apart like a retread. Mileage was pretty low,too,when it fell apart. A friend had 4 generals fly apart on a trip!! they are apparently well known for this.