Tire Question

__________________________________ I would suggest starting here:

egrity&partnum=065TR5INT I hope I picked a relatively "OEM" size there, but you can alter the parameters to match what you have on the car via the website. Others reading here will, over time, submit their opinions I'm sure.

-CC

Here is another link

They really dont look too good.

I had some that came new on an '05 Impala. They were, bar none, the worst tire I've ever driven on.

nate

The tread pattern looks like it will do lousy in the snow.

They are among the cheapest Goodyear tires. They aren't very stable.

NO tire is good for snow and ice except a snow tire. If you live in New England, you really need to get two sets of tires and swap between summer and winter. "All Season" tires are really not usable in the snow.

They are sold to the public, and are very common on fleet vehicles.

They are not as stable as the Eagles. But even the Eagles are not much good in the snow... get snow tires.

--scott

Even though you might see "Integrity" on replacement tires that's no guaranteed that they are the same as the "Integrity" tires put on at the factory. Factories bid out their tires and buy them by the millions and it's worthwhile, to get the bid, to tailor a tire exactly to the automakers written tire specifications. You will often see "TPC Spec 312" or something similar on the side of factory tires because they are built to a very specific spec for the bid. Generally speaking, you don't get particularly good tires on the average mass market vehicle. If you are buying a sports car or something up market you have a better chance or if you buy an optional tire rather then take the standard tire. In 90% of the cases, if the sideway says "Firestone" on it you are getting a piece of crap.

____________________________ I've always wondered why on some new cars the tires looked kinda generic - at least in tread - even though they plainly displayed a known marque.

Not the case in the Milford Kia lot in CT. Most of the Optimas - and other models - had Kumhos and Hankooks(!) wrapped around them, relatively well rated tires at least on TireRack. Mostly Greens and only a couple high yellows on that rating system. The factory Bridgestones/Firestones and Uniroyals showed lots of "pink" for things like wet handling and snow & ice. Outa here! Kia seems to know how to tread a car.

-CC

Not the case in the Milford Kia lot in CT. Most of the Optimas - and other models - had Kumhos and Hankooks(!) wrapped around them, relatively well rated tires at least on TireRack. Mostly Greens and only a couple high yellows on that rating system. The factory Bridgestones/Firestones and Uniroyals showed lots of "pink" for things like wet handling and snow & ice. Outa here! Kia seems to know how to tread a car.

**************** I was in Discount Tire last week, and ended up buying a set of Pirelli's which were highly rated by the users. I asked the manager there about some of the apparent discrepancies between tire quality and name. His answer was that companies like Walmart and Discount get commitments for large quantities of "house" tires which are made to their specifications. These tires might be from "Michelin" or such, but are not necessarily to the same standards as the non-house Michelins.

Sometimes the company has these tires branded with their own names, sometimes not.

What you think you see is not necessarily what you get, is the moral, I guess.

No surprise. I've never had a Goodyear that was actually "good."

Hankooks have some of the worst reviews I've ever read on Discount's site. I wouldn't put them on a riding mower.

Odd, I've heard that they're fairly well thought of as budget autocross tires, as were Kumhos a decade or so ago.

nate

Honestly, neither have I. I bought a new Fiero in 1984 that came with Goodyear Eagles...They lasted 11,000 miles and were worn to the core.

I replaced them with Discount Tire's house brand (Kelly Springfield), and they were superior in every way.

After that, I have normally stuck with good quality Michelins, always with good luck. (There are, as I said in another post) Michelins that are not so good. You have to be discriminating.

I have, but whenever I have found one, they discontinued them. The original Aquatreads were great, aside from a little tramlining on grooved pavement. But they don't make them and they are replaced with a line that does not handle half as well. The F-1 is not a bad tire either, but of course they stopped making it for the sized either of my cars take....

--scott

Umm....Kelly Springfield is owned by Goodyear.

That being said, my '97 pickup had crummy Goodyear tires from the factory ("Wranglers") and the Kelly Safari AWR tires were better in every respect.

--Ken

I have no idea when Kelly Springfield was bought up by Goodyear. My experience was in the mid 80's.

I had quite a few cars with Firestones on them, and they were shit to the last molecule.

1935

They are really Bridgestones

--Ken

I've had several "company" cars that came with Goodyear Eagles from the factory and they were pretty decent tires. The shop usually replaces them with Firestone's and they firestones are usually noticeably worse (about 3/4 of the time).

How can Kelly Springfield tires be better than Goodyears when Goodyear owns the K-S brand?

Are Goodyear Integrity tires even worse than their Invectas? My spare is a 15-year-old Invicta with 5 miles on it. I keep it in an airtight bag, glopped with 303 preservative.

The new car I bought in 2006, came with Goodyear RSA

245/45R18. They really suck, mainly due to their characteristic of tramlining. On certain road surfaces, the steering wheel gets pulled in the other (wrong) direction. . I can't believe a premium car manufacturer would put this crap on their product and vilify their namesake. Not to mention the fact that a replacement cost for tires in this category is around $250.00/tire.