Bridgestone DriveGuard - 2014 DOT Date

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Have a quick question. I have Michelin Premier A/S tires on the Sebring Convertible currently. They have 35K on them, one keeps losing air and another one when placed on the front causes a wicked pull, shop thinks maybe a bad belt? The tire shop has a set of Bridgestone DriveGuard run flat tires in my size they are willing to let go for $380 out the door. Seems like a good deal but the DOT date is 1714....they are just at 4 years old but brand new. For a car that only gets driven 5K/year now, is it wise getting tires that are already 4 years old? Am I better off just putting the leaky tire and bad tire on the back of the car and just run it? This car has 141K on it....its something that could go another 100K or call it quits tomorrow. Ive done all the maintenance on it, just finished new struts/control arms. As of today it runs/shifts/drives excellent and the condition is close to perfect with no rust....not bad for a 13 year old IL car.
 
How long do you plan on keeping the car? Does your 2005 convertible have TPMS (required on all cars from 2008-on)? You're not supposed to use runflat tires on cars that don't have it.
 
It is a limited model so it was the first year with TPMS. I'm keeping the car until it has a major failure that I cant repair at home. Its a great and reliable car despite the bad press they always got.
 
Why not try and find a set of more recent tires? I also wouldnt bother with run flats..not sure why a shop is trying to offload old tires. Personally Id rather get a lesser known brand from a busier location and run them. That way you wont need to worry for awhile. 380$ doesnt sound like an amazing deal but I could be wrong. What size tires?
 
They are 205/60/16. I could get some ultra cheap tires from Discount Tire. I tend to stick with Michelin, Bridgestone or Continental if possible. The Premier A/S tires were a little overkill for this car but they really perform well. I found a couple used Premier A/S tires on eBay with 6/32 of tread for $93 shipped. Thats pretty close to the tread of the good 2. May just end up going that route. The only appeal to runflat tires is I wonder if they are more resistant to flat spots since this car is parked from October-March? I have a set of steel wheels with junk tires I put on it when it sits in storage, but if I dont have to do that, it would be nice.
 
I see tire size would be 205-60-16, tirerack.com has the altimax rt43 for just under 80 each so 320$ and 50$ MIR.
DTD has cheap tires for about 50$ each unless ur worried about chinese tires. Yokohama Avids are 74 each..guess it depends what you want to spend.
 
Run flats will ride like [censored], Id lust try to find a set of regular tires, with a decent name on them. Continental, General, even Cooper.
 
I wondered about the ride quality....thats good to know. Ill do some shopping around. I've never had General tires but I read many good things about them. For the tire rack price....ill look into those a little more.
 
Originally Posted By: carguy996
I wondered about the ride quality....thats good to know. Ill do some shopping around. I've never had General tires but I read many good things about them. For the tire rack price....ill look into those a little more.

They don't ride badly. Old versions of run-flat tires did, but not this one.
http://autoweek.com/article/car-reviews/bridgestone-driveguard-tires-run-flats-you-need-not-run
Bridgestone has solved it. These aren't your grampa's run-flats. Technology progresses.
 
Stay away from run flats unless you need that function. My oldest daughters MB came with run flat Pirellis...Rode like a tank. After a few thousand we put on Drive Guards which were much better but not that close to a quality "regular" tire in ride quality....The above article not withstanding. Another plus is they can be repaired once. The Pirellis (at least the model we had) could not
 
I recently installed Bridgestone Driveguards on my BMW 328i, replacing Continental run flats which were worn out.

Ride is better, tires are quieter (even compared to when the Conti tires were new), and handling probably suffers just a bit. They are fine as a normal tire.

Big issue with the newer cars is the low profile tires which tend to ride hard, regardless of whether they are run-flats or not. I doubt this is an issue for your Sebring though, although I wouldn't want to install 2014 tires as new unless they were discounted more than he is offering.

Originally Posted By: carguy996
I wondered about the ride quality....thats good to know. Ill do some shopping around. I've never had General tires but I read many good things about them. For the tire rack price....ill look into those a little more.
 
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I've had multiple bad experiences with Michelins. Not sure how they have the fantastic reputation they seem to have.

No reason to buy tires from 2014. You can get a better deal. Look on eBay and Amazon. I just scored a brand new set of Hankook All-Terrains for my truck for $320 with free shipping on eBay with a 2017 manufacture date.
 
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Meh. Yah, I went from bias plies to radials. Then I was dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century and the age of silly tires. Cars have low profile tires with little or no sidewall or pickups with monster tires. Cars no longer carry a spare tire of any sort. Then comes run flats. People, any tire is a run flat.
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Anyone who says Bridgestone Driveguards ride harsh has never driven on them. I also have them on my BMW 328. And they ride just fine. The OEM Conti runflats, that is another story. Runflats have a reputation of short treadwear life and bad ride. Bridgestone seems to have done just fine with this tire. I replaced like for like size wize, so I could make a direct comparison with the Conti's.

As for buying a set of 2014 tires as "new", I personally would not do it, unless the plans are to put 25k or more on the set a year.
 
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