Tire Question

My pickup truck came with Goodyear RT/S tires (LT245-75-16). At 30k miles I replaced them with cheap BFG Long Trails of the same size due to a "road hazzard" blowout and the fact that I couldn't get the Goodyears to stay in balance.

The BFG's were $100 less than putting the Goodyear RT/S back on. They lasted 80k miles and were 110% better tires in every regard.

The truck is currently shod with Falken tires and I have no complaints at all (but I also don't expect them to last 80k either).

Al

Reply to
Anumber1
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Nope, they were not Bridgestones when I gave up on them.. I have a high opinon of Bridgestone's ability based on their F1 performance. But I have never tried another Firestone after the Bridgestone acquisition

Reply to
HLS

Beats the hell out of me.. Those Eagles were supposed to be hot shit.. They were not so hot... There were no alignment problems nor mistreatment of those tires.

Makes me wonder if Pontiac Div. got some housebrand "Eagles" from Goodyear that were really "turkeys".

Reply to
HLS

Oh, you had those "721" tires?

--Ken

Reply to
dye

Or perhaps the "500" tires... Firestone does seem to have a track record of releasing a real steamer every so often.

Oddly enough the new "Indy 500" is supposed to be decent, but I got a good deal on a set of Radial T/As (for my Stude) so I didn't try them.

nate

Reply to
N8N

I had 721's on my personal car and 500's on my work car.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

Maybe so. Most of the complaints were about premature wear and/or failures. They might have great grip for the price... for a short while.

Reply to
Steve

Of course Firestone is now owned by Bridgestone, BFGoodrich by Michelin (I think....)

I'm pretty agnostic when it comes to tire brands, with the exception of never having a good set of Goodyears :-p

Well, I guess I'm not totally agnostic- I've never felt let down by a set of BFGoodrich tires either before or after they were bought by another company. Although they might not be the best tire on the planet for a given class of tire and car, they have been very consistent for me.

I just ventured to buy my first-ever set of Continentals for my wife's car. So far (less than 2000 miles) they're WONDERFUL! Time will tell if I like them in the long run.

Reply to
Steve

I had a set of 721 tires a number of years after the early problems with the rubber detaching from the steel belt. They were perfectly reliable, just not all that great (an outdated design by the time I owned a set).

All-time worst tires I ever have owned: Goodyear Arrivas back in the early 80s.

Reply to
Steve

____________________

Y'know, this just occurred to me, and I can't help but point it out: If Goodyears and Firestone/Bridgestone are such HORRIBLE tires, that some people wouldn't even put on their riding mowers, then how come I see so many sets of them on the road when I'm out driving? Both tires have some of the most recognizable logos ever put on a sidewall, so I know when I'm looking at a Firestone or Goodyear.

Just curious,

-CC "Whose KIA has Kumho Ecsta H16 tourings - we'll see how they are in

Reply to
ChrisCoaster

Because you can buy the Firestones CHEAP and that's all most tire buyers really care about. There may be some Firestones that are decent but most people shop price. And I had the Firestone wilderness tires on my 92 Explorer - probably THE worst set of tires I have ever had on anything. When I got rid of them (with a lot of tread left) it was like buying a new vehicle - the Michelins were 100 times better in every way.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

______________________ Do you think it may be part of a lingering "buy domestic not foreign!" thing, even though they may be mediocre buying them supports the American economy type mentality? I used to think that way, enduring dozens of check-engine lights and cruise controls that would fail at

70mph on a crowded highway on my Ford and both my Chevys, until I drove a '05 Corolla and more recently a couple recent KIA models.

-CC

Reply to
ChrisCoaster

______________________ Do you think it may be part of a lingering "buy domestic not foreign!" thing, even though they may be mediocre buying them supports the American economy type mentality? I used to think that way, enduring dozens of check-engine lights that even the dealer could not resolve, and cruise controls that would fail at

70mph on a crowded highway on my Ford and both my Chevys, until I drove a '05 Corolla and a couple of recent KIA models.

-CC

Reply to
ChrisCoaster

I think every mfgr. makes bad tires, some make good tires. The two worst tires I've ever driven on were Goodyears and Continentals (stock on new cars,) but I have heard people who had (higher priced) Goodyears and Contis that loved them. So I ASSume that within one brand there's a wide variation of traction and quality, and you really do get what you pay for.

I'm just glad that there's resources like the Tire Rack now - how did one avoid buying complete POS tires back in the day?

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

_____________________________ Another issue is the sheer number of categories within a category. I.E. Touring - you have regular "Touring", "Grand Touring", "Sport Touring". All Season: "Passenger All-Season", "Performance All- Season", "High Performance All Season". There's seven categories right there!

I'm more interested in ratings OVER-ALL. As in, how will the Kumho tourings on my car measure up in the galaxy of tires as a whole? I guess you just pick a category that best fits your driving style and look at the top 3 or 4 rated in that category.

-CC

Reply to
ChrisCoaster

not quite sure I understand the question. But I think Bridgestone bought Firestone so it's not really a domestic company. But it may be that people think it is, so if that was your point then yes, there may be some of that kind of thinking that keeps people going to firestone. I also learned long long ago that going to a Firestone Tire and Car repair store is to enter a den of thieves. Sadly, it's almost always true that ANY auto chain that does car repairs is very likely to be full of rip off artists.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

________________________ Not quite sure you understand? It's very simple:

Aveage Joe: "BUY A WHAT?!?! I'M A CHEVY MAN FOR LIFE. CAN'T TRUST THEM FOREIGN MAKES"

Average Jane: "BUYING AMERICAN SUPPORTS AMERICA AND HELPS COMBAT TERRORISM!"

Don Imus: "THEY'RE GREAT TRUCKS, BUT YOU COULDN'T GET ME IN A TUNDRA AT GUNPOINT. . ."

So my crystal clear point was - Do some people buy American as much as possible, regardless of actual quality, out of patriotic pride? In this case, as related to tires.

-CC

Reply to
ChrisCoaster

I believe so, but I also think that this mindset has caused us more harm than good, as the domestic manufacturers seemed to think that they could make products "almost as good as" their competition and people would still buy their stuff. I do think that some "domestic" tire brands probably still make good stuff, they also make a lot of shit.

Unfortunately, they seem to be shooting themselves in the foot by cheaping out where consumers are most likely to encounter them - e.g. I'm really not at all inclined to consider Goodyear tires for future purchases based on my experiences with them on my Impala where they were OEM'd. Likewise, I don't understand why GM et. al. sell such painfully awful cars to rental fleets where people who wouldn't normally choose a GM car are likely to encounter them. If I thought that every GM car was as awful as a base model, 3.4, bench seat Impala I wouldn't consider GM either.

Personally I buy quality wherever I can identify it; I love the internet where I can research stuff before I buy. The problem is that truly quality goods are so rare (doesn't matter what we're talking about) that making any purchase is often a far more involved process than it needs to be.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Are you still basing your Impala issues on the one you got a couple years ago? We got some new fleet vehicles 6 months ago and they were Impalas and they are very nice and the performance is pretty decent, handling, ride, etc. Seats are comfy, fully electrified, good sound system. Everything looks "quality" as much as one can for the base model. Controls have a good feel. Engine has sufficient power for any normal use. Our prior typical fleet car was Ford Taurus and I think the Impala is a step up.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

I'm sure some do, when it's an option. Realistically, "we" don't have that option very often anymore on anything major. Try and find American made electronics, or even shirts. Can be hard to find. But I still think people are way over critical of American Cars. Go read some Honda and Toyota Newsgroups and look at all the blown head gasket issues for some of them. I thought about buying a Subaru from a co-worker till I spent some time in a Subaru newsgroup and found out about all the engine issues (and not cheap ones) and saw the numerous complaints about uncomfortable seats, poor AC control systems, bad sound systems, etc. It was a real eye opener since the "word on the street" about everything imported is that it's all so wonderful and perfect. Import buyers just laugh off defects, Domestic buyers take every defect as an insult to their mother. People who buy and maintain cars by the thousands simply don't find much difference in quality between any of them. One interesting item I ran across was a comparison of the difference in cost to the warranty company between an import and domestic over the life of an extended warranty. It was something like $300. Think about that, over a typical 5 to 7 year extended warranty a domestic averages about $300 more in repairs, that's not even $100 a year!!! That's a trivial difference to an individual owner. It's only meaningful to the accountants at the warranty company who have to add it up over many thousands of cars. If they just make all their policies $150 more it's done with.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

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