GoodYear Assurance TripleTread

[Brien]

I hate when name brands get hyped so much.

A set of falken 512s can be had for less and rival the wet performance, and are far superior when its dry

Or yokohama avid T4s would be a great choice

 

[kartracer55]

These tires are great. I work for a repair shop that also sells 150-220 tires per month, and we carry the Goodyear and Michelin families. We sell more triple treads than any other product and customers LOVE these things. The assurance line is excellent, never had a customer complain about one. I would not hesitate to put these on my personal car and have put them on passenger cars for friends and family.

Jim

 

[Brien]

They are made by one of the largest name brand. Of course they are going to be popular. It helps that the tripletreads are a good product. But for the $100 per tire that they cost better tires are out there.

Since you work at a repair shop I think itd be interesting to ask the customers what they think is the best tire. I bet atleast 7 out of 10 say either goodyear or michelin. Why do you think this is? Advertising!

 

[Audi Junkie]

Originally Posted By: Brien
I hate when name brands get hyped so much.

A set of falken 512s can be had for less and rival the wet performance, and are far superior when its dry


Well, there is more to it than that. How about construction quality?

Here is one of my Falken 512s with 2 bubbles on the same tire.

This happened after a 16" set I bought cound not be balanced on either the tire shop's or the Audi dealer's Hunter GSP9700. The only set of tires I ever returned before or since. Cost me time and money.

 

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: Brien
I bet atleast 7 out of 10 say either goodyear or michelin. Why do you think this is? Advertising!


And none of it would be that Michelin consistently builds a good tire?

Baloney.

 

[Brien]

Bubbles are 99% of the time by a curb being rubbed. Not many, if any at all, tires wont bubble when the tires rub a little too hard.

As for the not balancing issue. It happens with ALL brands. It is either caused by an inconsistancy or sag in the rubber. Ive seen this in Michelins, goodyears, continentals, yokohamas, falkens, bridgestones, etc....

Itis a numbers game. Some people go their whole lives without experiencing any problems with any tires. Others have many problems with many tires.
In general Ive found thqt almost everyone makes a quality product. Its just that the bigger name brands charge more for the same quality product. This is to help, in part, to pay for the advertising.

 

[kkreit01]

Comparing a set of Falken 512s to GY TripleTreads is comparing apples to oranges. They are in a complete different category. Sure the 512s would be better/cheaper in wet and dry handling. But -- that benefit dimishes once the snow falls. I have the new 912s. They are a great 3 season tire. But I will never buy them again because I live where ice/snow is frequent. They are downright scary in the smallest amount of snow.

 

[Brien]

I agree with that staement. Theyre scary in the snow.

Ive lived in WI before. So im familiar with snow fall. I personally would never use All-seasons in the snow. As soon as the first snow falls Id mount up my blizzaks and drive like normal. So to me it doesnt make sence to compare all-season snow perforance.

 

[kartracer55]

Originally Posted By: Brien
Bubbles are 99% of the time by a curb being rubbed. Not many, if any at all, tires wont bubble when the tires rub a little too hard.

As for the not balancing issue. It happens with ALL brands. It is either caused by an inconsistancy or sag in the rubber. ..

In general Ive found thqt almost everyone makes a quality product. Its just that the bigger name brands charge more for the same quality product. This is to help, in part, to pay for the advertising.


I would REALLY like to know where you get your information, you seem to have a grudge against goodyear. 99% of the time bubbles are caused by curb rubs? Really. Thats funny. Check out the top bubble, it shows no evidence of a rub on the curb.

Most bubbles are caused by potholes or other shocks to the tire, aka pinch shocks, which pinch and break the cords in the side walls.

Also, the balancing issue does not happen with all brands, it happens with cheap tires where the bands inside get damaged or deformed at some point. I have (sorry to say) balanced hundreds if not thousands of tires at this shop alone and have never encountered a tire that could not balance out one way or another. 90% of the time it is operator inexperience. Stick on weights are notorious for this, especially when being used on the outside of the rims. The machine does not account for the extra weight beyond the point where you are sticking on the weights when calculating the "required" amount. 75% of the time, less weight is required than the machine states to balance the tire, and adding the exact amount the machine states leads you into a vicious cycle.

Your quality product theory is garbage as well. Sears and Costco are notorious for selling Name brand tires but also offering lower grades of them, tricking customers. Michelin Weatherwise are a prime example. These things are almost never made in the USA and wear out fairly quickly. Goodyear Wrangler ATP's are another one, I have had customers who have experienced chopped wear on them in 10K or so miles. Kumho tires in general are cr.ap, I have seen many failures of the bands inside. Speaking of General, another cr.ap tire. THe ones GM uses on some of their cars wear out around 20k like clockwork. They simply are terrible for longevity and do not offer much more in the area of comfort or handling.

Since you seem to think that Michelins and Goodyears are over price, find me a light truck/SUV tire that is known to last as long as a Michelin LTX M/S.

 

[glennc]

Originally Posted By: Brien
A set of falken 512s can be had for less and rival the wet performance, and are far superior when its dry

For what its worth I found the 512 to be a thoroughly mediocre tire.

 

[buster]

Spent 2.5 hours on 295 S last night on the way home from work. I got caught in an ice storm. Freezing rain covered the roads and the commute became a nightmare. I saw 14 cars smashed up over the course of just several exits. It was really bad.

So I finally got to see how these tires perform in snow/ice/freezing rain and I wasn't disappointed. Traction was great. Very little slipping compared to other tires in similar conditions. Definitely better than the OEM Potenza's.

 

[Brien]

Darn, i typed a long response and it didnt show up.

Cliff notes:
High treadwear rating equals decreased braking performance.

Possible accident.

Think of when you have stopped "just short" of hitting a car. Now add 1ft, 2ft, 5ft. would you have hit the car? Different treadwear tires can easily have a 5ft difference in stopping distance.

Too much emphasise is put on the milage/time that a tire lasts and not enough on road holding performance.

It seems that if a tire lasts a really long and has somewhat descent performance they consider the tire "awesome".

 

[CapriRacer]

Brien,

If you will allow me to expand on this point:

When it comes to tread compounds, there are basically three things that are traded off: Resistance to wear, traction, and rolling resistance (hysteresis) or internal friction generation.

OE tires are typically compounded (at the insistence of the vehicle manufacturers) to have good RR, and that means that wear and / or traction are compromised. This is understandble since each vehicle manufacturer has to met a CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) requirement. But it has the side effect of generating complaints about these two tire properties in many tires that come OE.

It is common for high performnce tires to be designed with grip in mind - and that means tread compounds with high traction, low wear qualities and high RR (low fuel economy)

And in the same way, tires designed with high wear, do not have good RR,, but usually the tread compound has a moderate amount of traction. Traction is one area where tire manufacturers tread lightly (pun intended!!)

Of course, as tires wear and get old, these properties change.

And to complicate matters further:

It is possible to improve any of those 3 properties by careful tread pattern design.

You can get good wear by using solid blocks of rubber. This also improves dry grip, but at the expense of hydroplaning resistance.

Using more rubber improves wear and dry grip. but hurts RR.

More edges improves snow traction and to some extent wet traction (the non-hydroplaning variety), but it hurts dry traction, wear, and to a small extent RR.

I could go on, but this is starting to make my brain hurt.

 

[Brien]

nice post. Go on as long as youd like

 

[626LX2.0LATX1998]

I have them on my Mazda for 3 years now, and the tires have 123,000km on them and the treadwear is still good. I am very impressed with Goodyear Tripletred that I bought a set for my BMW.

They are very good in wet weather! And cornering response is very good as well.

Also they are reliable in 3-5 inches of snow.

I do have winter tires on my BMW though since it is rear-wheel drive. But I will put on the Tripletreds come spring..

 

[wantin150]

Man I love reading Capri's posts!

 

[Colt]

Originally Posted By: Brien
Darn, i typed a long response and it didnt show up.

Cliff notes:
High treadwear rating equals decreased braking performance.

Possible accident.

Think of when you have stopped "just short" of hitting a car. Now add 1ft, 2ft, 5ft. would you have hit the car? Different treadwear tires can easily have a 5ft difference in stopping distance.

Too much emphasise is put on the milage/time that a tire lasts and not enough on road holding performance.

It seems that if a tire lasts a really long and has somewhat descent performance they consider the tire "awesome".



Cliff notes....

I love this ignorant statement by you.

"Bubbles are 99% of the time by a curb being rubbed"
That's sheer lunacy.

Stay down on the mat.
You're bloodied and beaten.
You keep looking foolish by posting silly tires info and knocking tire brands.
You're knocking triple tred tires that people have and like very much here.
Everybody that has them are wrong and you're right about the tire.....not!

 

[Brien]

I did not any brand. I stated that tripletreads are a good tire. BUT they are overpriced for the performance that they offer.

I apoligize for my misdirected statement. I understand that breakage/irritation causes bubbles. Both of these are commonly caused by curb rubbing. So I didnt mention everything else that could cause a bubble.

I am not one to buy a product because it is the most popular. This is what seems to be happening with these tires. Yes, they are a good product, but not that good for the price that they command.

 

[glennc]

I have come to the conclusion that the tire market is relatively "efficient." By that I mean that generally, the manufacturers do a very good job of pricing their tires accurately when their overall quality and performance is taken into account.

Tires are unlike most products in that most people don't get to try all that many of them. They cost a lot and last a long time, and often when you try different tires it is on different cars, and that complicates comparisons. So you really only have direct, useful experience with a handful of different tires, and of course the technology is always changing, rendering much of your (older) experience obsolete.

But over the years, maybe you can learn a few things.

If so then what I have learned, increasingly, is that the more expensive, highly-regarded tires really are better in accordance with their price.

I was astonished at the wet traction of the Michelin Exalto A/S tires we put on my wife's G20. It was a revelation.

I was impressed by the all-around capabilities of the Bridgestone REVO A/Ts we put on our Land Cruiser.

And I have been continually impressed with the Nokian Hak IIs I have used on my old rwd BMW for several seasons now - not just in the snow when new, but in their balance of overall performance and predictability in many types of conditions.

Those were all premium tires with premium prices.

It increasingly has begun to seem to me that the companies that sell the expensive tires really do put more effort and money into technology and development, and that more often than not you get a return on the premium you pay for them in terms of performance.

I used to be like Brien - always looking for a tire better than its cost. Certainly, no offense intended. The money meant a lot more to me then: the difference in cost was a big deal. I bought cheap tires that "looked" just as good as expensive tires. I wanted to think they were as good, or at least almost as good. Now I think I have figured out that they are not.

Consider that over 50,000 miles you might spend $7500 on gas and $800 on a set of really good tires. When you look at it that way, the difference between the best tires and average tires is not that much.

 

[wantin150]

When my family's life is on the line, I'll buy the best when it comes to tires. I could care if one thinks I over spent. I will not put a price tag on my piece of mind.