Battle of the Lame Tires - OEM rubbish

[DBMaster]

I corner HARD - go in fast, brake, and accelerate through the apex - quite different from the others around here who just poke through every corner like they're scared of the steering wheel. I found the tires would squeal and start to scrub pretty quickly. H-rated tires ought to be very hard to make squeal. Of course, this is not my 89 Accord. Honda's double wishbone suspension maintains a flatter camber through hard cornering. Still, the Michelins handle my driving a lot better than the Bridgestones.

I, unfortunately, learned a lot about driving from a friend who took it very seriously. He went to racing school and would always turn in the best times at Malibu Speedway when we were younger. Knowing how to drive that way just makes sharing the road that much more difficult. Maybe when I'm even older I'll learn tolerance. Or, as Pop Rivet states, I'll learn to not tie my panties in a knot.

 

[aa1986]

I just thought I'd go back to Tirerack to look at the EL400's again.

There are 8 EL400's listed for the 205/55/16 size. 7 of them are 89H, 1 is 91H.

Comparing them, some of the specs differ.

Looking at the reviews, the highest mileage review is for 80,000 on the fronts and 105,000 on the rears.

The highest mileage for a Mazda is for a Mazda3 for 72,000 miles and the reviewer says they wear like iron (and complains about the tire roar).

So it looks like it's the luck of the draw with these 7 or 8 models.

Oh, and Tire Rack's own review wasn't bad either.

Makes one suspicious about what Bridgestone and maybe the OEM's were up to with these tires.

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: CKN
There was a story over on a Chevy Truck board where a new truck had the "All Terrain Package" or something to that effect and was supposed to have the A/T tires but came with the SR-As. The guy bought the truck and didn't research the tires that came with it until later. Once he found out he had "street" tires with the "all terrain" package he wanted A/T tires. He escalated the tires all the way up to the GM regional rep. who declined to change out the tires. He's not a happy camper buying a 40K truck and not getting the proper tires.


As long as I can remember, 4X4 pickups have been offered with all season tires. In some respects this doesn't make sense, but I can see someone wanting the 4X4 feature for a vehicle whose primary usage is the street, but occasionally gets on slippery surfaces. In other words, it is hard for me to argue that all season tires are unsuitable on a 4X4 - as much as I would like to make that argument.

 

[DBMaster]

Originally Posted By: aa1986
I just thought I'd go back to Tirerack to look at the EL400's again.

There are 8 EL400's listed for the 205/55/16 size. 7 of them are 89H, 1 is 91H.

Comparing them, some of the specs differ.

Looking at the reviews, the highest mileage review is for 80,000 on the fronts and 105,000 on the rears.

The highest mileage for a Mazda is for a Mazda3 for 72,000 miles and the reviewer says they wear like iron (and complains about the tire roar).

So it looks like it's the luck of the draw with these 7 or 8 models.

Oh, and Tire Rack's own review wasn't bad either.

Makes one suspicious about what Bridgestone and maybe the OEM's were up to with these tires.


On Discount Tire's site the reviews were overwhelmingly negative - when they were carrying them. When I went in for a tire rotation I had noticed that they stopped offering them and asked why. The counterman told me it was due to poor wet traction. I guess they were concerned about lawsuits. When I read online reviews I take outliers with a grain of salt and just look for trends. I also nearly always ignore the reviews of those who have put few miles on their tires. New tires of practically any make/model will seem better than what came off the car - for a while. The Turanzas are supposed to be a compromise between low rolling resistance and performance. For me, and apparently for many others, it wasn't a good compromise. But, there are probably others that are worse.

 

[Camprunner]

my 2006 Toyota 4Runner came with Dunlop AT-20 tires and they were junk useless in the snow and not much better in the wet they were real quiet though. My wife has a current Toyota Venza and hates the factory Goodyears in the rain.

 

[Papa Bear]

Originally Posted By: CapriRacer


As long as I can remember, 4X4 pickups have been offered with all season tires.


A friend of mine was complaining the other day about a set of tires he had just got installed on his 2007 Hemi 2X4 Ram 1500.
They put Uniroyal Laredo "T" rated tires on a truck that will cruise well over their rated speed.
I guess that was an option on the truck ??!! What's up with that ??

 

[Jarlaxle]

I suspect it is governed to ~110MPH.

 

[Papa Bear]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
I suspect it is governed to ~110MPH.


I believe you are right ! I learn something new every day.

 

[aa1986]

Originally Posted By: DBMaster
On Discount Tire's site the reviews were overwhelmingly negative - when they were carrying them. When I went in for a tire rotation I had noticed that they stopped offering them and asked why. The counterman told me it was due to poor wet traction. I guess they were concerned about lawsuits. When I read online reviews I take outliers with a grain of salt and just look for trends. I also nearly always ignore the reviews of those who have put few miles on their tires.


I'm the same, and on Tire Rack the EL400's are the worst tires in their class. Would people buy again scored 2 out of 10!

But I was just pointing to the fact that there were 8 variants of the tire, that Tire Rack's own review wasn't negative and that some people have found them ok.

So it looks like Bridgestone made at least 1 variant of the tire to a reasonable quality, but the majority of what they made was something entirely different.

 

[hattaresguy]

Some OE tires are bad, some are good. The ones Mercedes uses are rather good, the General Grabbers GM is using now seem pretty good. The Ameritrac's or whatever they are called are downright horrible.

I never had a problem with OE tires I think people just like to complain about them.

 

[DBMaster]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
I think people just like to complain about them.


I have serious doubts about the veracity of that statement. I do not like to complain about tires. I really wanted to like what came on the car instead of allowing the tires to color my opinion of the car for the first two years I owned it. They hobbled the handling and made me nervous every time it rained - I had a bad accident in my previous car due to wet traction loss.

If most people complained about OEM tires eventually it would work its way up to the OEM's and they would decide it's OK to spend $25 more per tire to include something decent. I'm sure many cars DO come with good OEM tires. Mine didn't.

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: mattwithcats
Goodyear Vectors...

Came on my 1988 Dakota, lasted less than 7,000 miles...

All four bald as an egg with cords showing when removed...
Rode rough, loud, and noisy to boot...


That is interesting. That is the only decent Goodyear tire that I ever had on a car. I had them as OE on a 1986 Chrysler Lebaron and got 72K out of them.

The Dunlops that I have on my Accord haven't been bad either. They have 62K and are still at 4/32"

Only two success stories that I have had with any Goodyear brand, and too many bad ones to mention.

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: SF0059
Not impressed with the Michelin MXV4s our Odyssey came with. I feel like it is just too heavy for the tires. The grip is marginal and they are on track to wear out by 30k miles. Sad, because I had a set on my old Mazda3 and they were awesome in that size/application.


Not defending the tire, but.....
I have owned two Odyssey's and there are no good tires for that van.
If you get 40K out of anything, you are beating the odds.

 

[wirelessF]

For a van that heavy (~4300lbs curb) I would spec truck tires maybe with a bigger aspect ratio for light truck highway all-season tires.

 

[Lapham3]

Reading the previous posts reminds me of a couple things=blasting around a track in a 'police package' 350 Nova and terribly abusing whatever tires it had and the OE bias tires of the 60's that were usually 2 ply and the 4 ply was an optional upgrade.