Tire Brands: Good, Bad, Wretched

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These are mostly/many brands I'm not expereinced with.

I'm thinking currently of Fuzion and Continental as the least expensive, but ya gets what ya pays for, I suppose, tho not always.

Are there any sleepers in this list? (Low price/fine quality = sleeper)

Terrifically bad pun intended: Some pricey brands imho are overly inflated.

I won't mention one tho, hintt, it starts with "M" and speaks with ghostly appearing French accent

Any body who has had a particularly good or particularly bad tire brand on his/her beloved hyundai heap deluxe, please clue moi, or forever have a slow leak that nobody can fix

Reply to
Robert Cohen
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Where are you from, that this list contains tires you are not familiar with?

Stay away from the Fuzion for sure. Continental is ok on SOME of their tires. Some like the ContiExtreme, some the ContiProContact.

Take a look at the general Altimax HP if you want a decent inexpensive tire. It has a good warranty, wears well and looks pretty good. I highly recommend you look up Consumer Reports tire ranking.

Incidentally, most Michelin's are very good tires, and typically rank high in all tire tests. Not alway the best, but USUALLY very good, and not alway expensive. Of course it depends on the model.

Clay

Reply to
Crabman

Too much risk in using cheap tires, IMO. What types of driving do you do? Miles? speeds?

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

I just looked at Pep Boys weekend ad:

FUTURA

DEFINITY

HANKOOK

Definty has the cheap price

Any of ye had any good or bad experience with DEFINITY ?

General driving, highways and streets about equal

The 2004 350L (sorry that's not exactly correct) is fairly big for a hyundai, wife likes her car, wondering why they stopped producing it, she actually traded in a sonnata for it plus alot of shekels,

An alignent at pep boys is $70, so i'd save a bit on the cheaper tires, spending the savings for alignnent

If I perceive the Definity tire isn't good, then back to square one

Know any good or bad about "Falkin (sp?)" brand?

Reply to
Robert Cohen

If you need a tire desperately, buy a used tire as a temporary. SAVE some more money and buy a GOOD tire. Don't buy a cheap tire so you can do an alignment. You need BOTH an alignment and a good tire! I bought a car with Futuras on it and would not buy them again.

All companies make CHEAP tires and they are cheap for a reason. Spend some more time a tirerack and read read read.

If you insist on buying a cheap tire, buy the most expensive TOURING hankook you can afford. I still don't recommend it. As I said earlier, check out the General Altimax HP.

Clay

Reply to
Crabman

Falken and Kumho are rated highly by the folks on the Elantra Club board. I recently put a set of Kumho Solus KH16s on my Elantra and I like them much better than the stock Michelins. Traction is substantially better on both wet and dry pavement and they're much quieter. Cornering grip is much improved as well.

Reply to
Brian Nystrom

That's the kind of report I was hoping for.

FALKEN is now for me.

They're apparently not premium priced everywhere, so ....they're hopefully that sleeper.

(Are they from Malaysia, Korea, China, Philippines, or where? It doesn't matter, while I'm curious)

I do often have a choice here in the huge Atlanta market-- the tire dealer is apparently approx 30 miles, and since gas is only

3.95...damneit.
Reply to
Robert Cohen

How did you get Falken out of that report?

Falken makes junk too, so does Kumho.

The SPECIFIC tire he mentioned is a very good tire. It may not be for you though.

What do you want from the tire?

Did you look at the General I mentioned?

Clay

Reply to
frijoli

I'll look for the specific model number of the Falken, and request comments on it. I'm now unhappily betting you're probably on target, because its "around" only $65

I did read a flame against General, and that's why I did not mention your suggestion. I'll try to see if the complainer specified which model he was peed abot.

Trivia: I vaguely recall General (perhaps) was the sponsor of the NFL on radio in the 1950s and/or 60s. The announcer was...Harry Wismer.

Reply to
Robert Cohen

Go to Tirerack.com and read the reviews of the General I mentioned. They are not bad, and the tire is not ridicuously high.

The problem you are going to run into is that what you want from the tire is not the same as me. Michelins typically wear very well, and are quiet, but I wouldn't want to drive very quickly around a corner in them. They also tend to be pricey. Continental has some very good tires, but not necessarily cheap. They also make a lot of junk, that may or may not be cheap.

I personally think that price is NOT indicative of the quality of a tire across brands. If you price 2 GoodYear tires, the more expensive will tend to be a better tire, but that doesn't make it better than the Kuhmo which costs less.

Clay

Reply to
frijoli

see this, and please comment

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Reply to
Robert Cohen

Go to

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and read the user feedback and ratings for the brand. You have several Discount Tire dealers in the Atlanta area. They're GREAT people to work with. IIRC, free road hazard replacement, free lifetime balancing and rotation, free tire patching etc.

I bought my tires from them in Michigan and have been able to get service from them in most areas in the country. They're prominent in the mid-West, South West, South East and West Coast.

Reply to
DonC

Incidently, discount tire will match tirerack and others internet prices.

Clay

Reply to
frijoli

I am a member of Consumer Reports 'talking tires' board. This group answers all areas of questions on tires, and occasionally chats with the CR techs who are actually testing the tires whose ratings appear every Fall in their magazine. Here are some summaries, based on some of the subjects raised in this board.

++CR does have by far the most thorough tire tests out there, including testing of treadwear and traction on snow and ice. Their results are usually worth looking at, as are Tire Rack's.

But the way CR tests tires means that they only test one subset of tires a year, and it is usually at least 4-5 years before that subset is re-tested. As a result, many of the tires listed in their test results are now discontinued, and some fairly new and exciting tires (the General Altimax being but one of many examples) will now go months and even years before test results are released on them. As an example, results on 'H' and 'V'-rated performance all-season tires that they tested were released just over 18 months ago. But already, over half of the 'H'-rated tires have either been discontinued or supplanted by a better tire from that brand. There are already (at least) about a dozen tires in the major national brands that should and would be in those test results. But it will be almost 2 1/2 years before that sub-set and all their new tires have the latest test results released again.

++Amongst dealers who sell the tires (whose priorities may be different than ours, but who can't be ignored because they do sell them), the 'Toyo' brand has been at the top of their satisfaction list for eight consecutive years, an impressive achievement. Toyo has a VERY solid new tire for your car, the Versado LX, and is about to introduce a new tire for trucks and SUV's soon. Sadly, Toyo is not sold through any national chain, and (like General in some places) can be hard to locate a retailer.

By the way, the Continental brand has finished dead last in that same survey for more than a couple of years now. That should also get your attention.

++Consumer Reports has tested the Falken Ziex ZE-512 more than once, and has placed it at or near the top of its rankings each time. The 512 though is also being discontinued nationally, and will soon be sold only through the afore-mentioned Discount Tire. In its place is the new Falken Ziex ZE-912. It also looks to be very impressive at a good price. Our tire board was FAR less impressed with the 512 than the CR engineers were, but the 912 has seemed better so far. The 912 is also sold at Sears Auto.

++One of our rules is to never make generalizations on any one tire brand. Be it Bridgestone, Michelin, Goodyear, Sumitomo, Cooper, B F Goodrich or whomever, all of them sell tires that would be considered between good and excellent and some that would be considered far less so. It is no different than going to a tire store, and basing your whole feeling about that chain on the one tire you bought there, especially if it was a cheap dud.

But I know that is what many people do A typical quote follows: "I ain't buyin' tires no more from 'such-and-such place.' That one set was crap." When what really happened was they made a poor (and usually cheap) choice. Had they chosen a better tire, they would be raving about both the brand and the store.

++Another rule jives with what has been said here: NEVER, EVER buy second-rate crap for tires. Sadly, in these days of ultra-high gas prices, I expect many more people to be running on onsafe tires for way too long, and then when they do get different ones, buy that second-rate garbage, simply because there isn't as much money left to buy tires.

All car owners must realize that you have to figure tires into the cost of ownership of a car, just like oil changes, wiper blades, etc. The tire is one of the most important safety features on a car, since that is where the car you drive and the road you drive on actually meet. Scrimping on that is no different than trying to scrimp on anything else. Maybe you can do it, but there is a price.

++I apologize for any people that may work for car dealers on this board, but on our CR board, at least in the year 2008, many of the worst experiences on tires come from people who buy them from these car dealers. It seems that far too many new car dealers are appallingly ignorant concerning tires, be it brand or whatever. Way too many of them have no idea what they are really selling. The CR board almost unanimously recommends that you find a specialized tire dealer, either one in your community, like a Firestone Complete Auto Care or similar, or something on-line, but with knowledgeable people working with you. BTW, a place like Tire Rack does impress us with their tire experts. That is one case where you maybe do some research on-line, then talk to them on the phone before you make a selection.

Sorry for the length, but tires are an important subject to me.

Reply to
Rev. Tom Wenndt

excellent post!

Reply to
frijoli

My 2005 Accent came with tires by Kumho, When I traded it in two weeks ago it had 35,000 miles on it and three of the original tires had been replaced. No more Kumho for me. My Wife's car (2000 Mercury Grand Marquis) Came new with a handling package and speed rated Goodyear's At 30,000 they ALL had to be replaced, We replaced them with the M tires that you don't like and they were still on the car 82,000 miles later when we got rid of the car. I should mention that my wife drives like low flying aircraft, she is hard on tires and cars in general. For me, I buy my tires at Wal-Mart or Sam's club, Their road hazard warranty is unbeatable. One other thing, I am from the city where Pep Boys originated, I would not let them even check my oil, let alone align my car. I'll pay a few bucks more and let a competent front end shop do the alignment. Just my opinion.

Jack Cassidy

Reply to
Jack Cassidy

while this is interesting information. What kuhmos were they, and what goodyears? That's very important. Michelin makes pretty expensive junk too.

Clay

Reply to
Crabman

On the 2000 Grand Marquis they were Goodyear Eagles and the speed rating was either S or T, I don't remember. On The 2005 Accent The Kumho's were whatever came with the car, standard 13" wheels, and were expensive considering the small size. Ironically, The new ride, a 2008 Suzuki Ferenza also has Kumho tires but 15" wheels. I hope they do better than the ones on the Accent, I had to replace the first one on that car at less than 2000 miles. I realize that this is all antidotal and has nothing to do with service other people get out of other brands.

Jack Cassidy

Reply to
Jack Cassidy

Even if it is anecdotal, knowing the reason you replaced the tire at 2000 miles would be helpful. There is a huge difference if the tread separated or you ran over a spike strip in a police chase.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

I have no clue, I am reasonably sure it wasn't a spike strip, I haven't run from the cops in many a year. By the time I became aware the tire was flat it was destroyed, sudden failure because of unknown reasons. Had the same problem years ago with Goodyear Wranglers on an old Chevy Pickup truck, They were as easy to cut as racing slicks. The Goodyear's on my wife's Grand Marquis, all failed because of tread separation, Probably just a bad batch of tires, But the local Goodyear dealer was unwilling to do anything about it. On the other hand, I had a 30' travel trailer that came with Goodyear Marathon trailer tires, In 40,000 of towing miles I never even had a flat tire.

Jack Cassidy

Reply to
Jack Cassidy

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