OT - where the rubber meets the road - tire brand choice?

[AmBraCol]

We need to get some rubber on the "new" car we picked up recently. A 95 Volkswagen Golf III, sold down here as the "Manhattan" (how'd I end up with a yankee car?). Anyway, I want to get decent rubber for the normally wet and or variable conditions we face 'round this area. I was wondering which of the brands listed below you'd choose if it were up to you. These are the brands we've got available down here (well, besides some made in China stuff which I don't trust to do the job)

Thanks for any feedback on the choices listed. I've put it for two choices, so you can list first and second choice - only this will average out the responses as an over all graph of the responders choices.

[TedH]

I voted for Michelin. They are consistantly good tires and will normally provide long life. BF Goodrich are good also. Goodyear's quality has declined a lot in the last few years, they would be a last resort.

[Slick]

I used to run BF Goodrich - until they got bought out by a french company - and I won't buy anything from ANY french-held company. My last tires were Toyo's as the people at the Goodyear store didn't seem "to have time to help me". I went back to Les Schwab and was treated like a valued customer. When you're dropping ~$700 or so dollars, customer service should be a factor in making a purchasing decision..

[Marlin .35]

I choose none of the above!!!!!!! I worked as a service manager at a Firestore for saeveral years. At the time, I had a Nissan Stanza. I put on a set of Bridgestone Turanza tires. They are excellent tires. Excellent, excellent in the rain. Excellent on dry road. Will hold the road in unbelieveable circumstances. I was driving in the rain, going to Knoxville, Tenn., doing between 85 and 90, when a car pulled out, the quickly pulled back in, I braked and did a little right then left manuver. Car rode like it was on rails. I plan on getting a set for my Pontiac Bonneville!!! Art

[Tycer]

http://www.tirerack.com

Search for your car. Read the reviews.

I've always been a Michelin man. Went to Bridgestones on my last sets because of their wet handling ratings on Tirerack.

When you buy your tires, check the dates, one of my sets bought 2007 were made 2001. Tire manufacturers say to discard tires 6 years old.

[El Chivo]

I had a bad experience with my only set of Michelins, I slid all over the place, I had to pump them up weekly and they rotted after less than half their guaranteed mileage.

I have Pirellis now and they are super. I had BFGR last time and liked them quite well.

[99savage308]

Rubber meets the road,

BF Goodrich are good tires and get good tread life out of 'em but and yes there is a but. You are needing 'em for a car. I've had that brand on trucks and not cars. I'm using Firestone's Detination A/T on my truck and Jeep and 'am pleased. You might want to look at this web site..www.tireRack.com. it is a good site for tires.
.

[brucew44guns]

I heard nothing but rave reviews on "Cooper" tires, bought a set, and havn't seen a lot to impress. I live 2 1/2 miles on a gravel road, that's 5 miles of rock each day, hard on rubber. But after 42 years of driving truck, I always felt good on Michelins. They cost a bit more, but they last a long time generally speaking, and they perform well. I've got a set of 10 ply Firestones on my F-350 right now, wearing like iron, Im pleased with those. I hate to spend money with French anything, or Japaneese, or Chinese. You hate to feed those who hate you, and would like to kill you.

[Tycer]

I worked at a tire store my junior and senior years of high school and am a tire snob.

I always buy the best tire for my application based on consumer reviews, tire manufacturers change things up too frequently. Rarely can I buy the same tire twice.
For passenger vehicles, I always buy ones rated the best in wet handling, and don't worry about treadlife or dry skidpad #s.
In winter where it snows I switch to snow tires - studded and siped if allowed.
I run the narrowest tires I can get with the same rolling diameter as factory - more pounds per square inch, less hydroplaning, and less friction. The only times I buy wide tires are for dry track, deep mud, and soft sand.

If you can buy tires from someone that offers free rotate and balance, it's worth it!

Underinflated tires generate more friction and heat. I run all passenger tires at 40 psi no matter the car or what the tire says. Trucks with passenger tires too. Been doing it since 1979 in 100ºF heat to -40º brrrr. I do check my tread depth on all tires every rotation, and if the side treads are wearing faster than the center, I'll increase to 45 psi. I did have one set of Kumho tires that needed to be run at 35 psi as the centers were wearing faster.
I rotate and balance tires every oil change.
I never mix tires. Not even in pairs. Having two or more rubber compounds will create havoc on handling in emergency situations.
Never run different brands, sizes, sissy spares, or even a new and used set on the drive axle as it makes the differential think you are constantly going in a circle. Replacing a gear set in a differential is way more expensive than that tire.
I check the pressure in my spare at each rotation and the tires once a month.

Remember the Ford Explorer/Firestone Wilderness debacle? The Explorers were supposed to have tire pressure set at 26 psi. 26!!!! Think of the heat and friction generated on those poor tires, no wonder they came apart. The last time anybody put 26 psi in a tire was with before steel belts were added! And even then I think trucks were at 28-30.
I think Ford had a vehicle that was of the old twin I-beam design that would not pass the new roll-over tests and found that the tires would prevent roll-overs if they were underinflated. The tires would roll under and the sidewalls would scrub off traction and slide versus gripping and flipping the trucks. Those tires were made to Ford specs just for the Explorer. Some explorers came with Goodyears, but the Goodyears were made originally for F-150s and were of a stouter design.

Wow, I haven't gotten all wound up about tires in a long time......Thanks

[Rusty]

Sorry Paul I couldn't vote FOR anything listed due to a lack of experience.

I will say that when I bought my Dodge Dakota Quad cab it had Goodyear tires on it. After the first 6-8 months it was back to the dealer evey other month to have tires replaced that were seperating at the bead. That was all well untill #1 they started to replace the tires that they had already replace once and #2 they got a new manager in the store that decided he was going to try and charge me $70 per tire to replace them. That was when I started buy Firestone and having Firestone do all my service work as well.
For anyone reading this I'll say that Joe who is the manager of the Valrico, Fla. store has made me confidant that they can and will do the work on my vehicles and they aren't going to rip me off. For that they have made me a repeat customer. Firestone even rebates a portion of what I've spent every quarter towards my next service.

In case you can't tell I would neer drive another vehicle with Goodyears on it.

[Thunder50]

I think I have had Michelin on every vehicle I have owned for the last 20 years, except for my Thunderbird Turbo Coupe (Michelin didn't make the size) and my old Dodge truck (bought Wal-marts private brand). My current ride, a Toyota Tundra, I replaced the tires at 15K miles and put Michelin LTX tires on. Now have almost 50K on the truck and probably will get another 20K on them before I replace them.

My second choice would be Bridgestone, which would be a close second. I only bought a set of Michelin tires for my daughters car, because the Bridgestone dealer here was $300 higher on his tires he had. Michelins were on sale.

[greasy dan]

I worked at a local tire place as a part-time job (in addition to my regular job) for a couple years. We sold lots of tires in nearly every known brand. Even the worse treated Michelins will get 40K miles. We rotated & balanced a lot. Michelin was the only brand that needed almost NO balance work after 5K of driving. All other brands varied widely in the balance after the same miles. I raced BFGs in SCCA for a number of years and grew to like them. I currently have BFGs on all my cars & trucks... and put them on my kids cars as well. The BFG tires don't give the mileage of the Michelins, but you get good value for your money. My 2-cents.

[Hillbilly]

On a light car like that Golf just about any good mud and snow tire would work well for you. I assume your roads are not unlike the improved wagon ruts we have in most of the midwest USA.

I had a set of Firstones on the 03 4x Chevy bought new. I ran those tires with regular rotation and inflation for well over 80k miles..... could have gone more but winter was coming on so I figured it was time.

Cooper builds a good tire too... not bad prices.

Jeff

[Mike D.]

I stick with "Big O" tires. Been buying them for years and you can't beat the warrantee and quality of their products.

[J Miller]

Paul,

I'm in IL now and tires don't seem to be near the issue they were when I was in AZ. Here we've actually worn tires out. In AZ they almost always tread separated long before the they were half way used up.
This is with the air pressures at the max listed. I never did exceed that.

The best tires we (extended family ) ever had was a set my mom bought at Sears for her 1970 Buick. They were made by Michelin and went over 50K miles before the first failure. That was in Phoenix at the outrageous temperatures we have there. The failure occurred when some idiot in a pick up ran her off the road and into a curb. Destroyed the tire, the wheel and the outer tie rod. We fixed the car, replaced the wheel and tire and some time later they were transfered to a '73 LeSabre and were at 70K when my mom sold that car.

The second best set was bought at Discount tires. They were what Discount calls "Extra Load" tires.
About half way between standard passenger car types and light truck types. I was having constant tread failures on my '69 Electra and my wife got P.O.'d and bought me a set of these tires. They were made by Kelly if my memory serves me and they were GREAT tires.

Currently my wife has a set of Goodyears on her Nissan PU and has just about worn them out. She bought them at Discount and had them siped for the IL weather. That was a good move. She has not had a single failure to date. If we can we'll probably buy another set if they are available when the time comes.

The one brand of tires I will NOT buy is Uniroyal. I've never had a good one.

Joe

[Marlin .35]

+ 1 on the Uniroyals. Never had a decent one, EVER!! Art

[Blaine]

Last three sets of truck tires were Goodyear Wranglers....never had a failure or a problem and they all got over 70,000 miles.

[bj94]

You missed one- Bridgestone. I think Bridgestones are the best tires, and certainly the best tires for the money.

I have had good luck with all of the major brands you have listed, except that I don't consider Sumitomo to be a major brand so I have never bought any of them. Michelin are good, and have the best reputation, but they might be overrated compared to the best Goodyear, Bridgestone, etc., and they are considerably more expensive.

Also consider that most manufacturers make several different types of tires. For my car I usually choose a performance tire and not worry about noise or ride smoothness. But the best touring tire from Michelin or whoever will not have as much traction as a medium priced performance tire from any of the major manufacturers. So you have to choose the characteristics that are important to you.

[mad mucus]

#1
Bridgestone Potenza Adrenalin
#2
Yokohama C-Drive

Both are performance directional tyres that stick like poop to a blanket in both wet & dry conditions.

Mucus

[Bigahh]

I too am casting a vote for Bridgestone tires. Got mine at Tires Plus, have 50K on them and still have tread on my 1/2 ton pickup. No gripes at all.

[Chuck 100 yd]

As long as they are round and black and hold air they work for me.

[AmBraCol]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. For those who aren't familiar with my situation, the brands listed are the ones available. Shucks, I feel pretty lucky to have such a wide variety of choices. Here in Colombia I've never seen Firestone or Bridgeston, at least not that I recall. So I figured I'd put up the list of what IS available to see what y'all had to say about them. I don't want this to be a $$$ driven choice, the difference between the cheapest and most expensive in my tire size is only about $30 or so, I'd rather spend more $$$ for a better tire since it SHOULD last quite a while. BUT I don't want to shell out extra $$$ just to say "I got the most expensive ones I could!" since expense doesn't always add up to added performance. Again, thanks for the input. This has been an instructive thread.

[joachim slim]

i drive a 2000, F250 super duty crew cab 4X4. a few yrs ago i put michelin p285-75-R16's on it. i have never regretted it. they ride better, handle better and have so far out lasted any other tires. now dont look down on me for this but i bought them at wal mart. i saved some dollars buying them there. also if i need warranty coverage, anywhere you go there is a walmart. ive never had any problems with wal mart service when it came to the tires and auto part of the store.

[4t5]

COOPER TIRE......THE BEST VALUE, IMO.

[Griff]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. For those who aren't familiar with my situation, the brands listed are the ones available. Shucks, I feel pretty lucky to have such a wide variety of choices. Here in Colombia I've never seen Firestone or Bridgeston, at least not that I recall. So I figured I'd put up the list of what IS available to see what y'all had to say about them. I don't want this to be a $$$ driven choice, the difference between the cheapest and most expensive in my tire size is only about $30 or so, I'd rather spend more $$$ for a better tire since it SHOULD last quite a while. BUT I don't want to shell out extra $$$ just to say "I got the most expensive ones I could!" since expense doesn't always add up to added performance. Again, thanks for the input. This has been an instructive thread.

I thought that might be your situation. I have 3 pickups and 2 cars, and have owned some 35 more over the past 43 years. (Hey, what can I say, buy cheap, wear 'em out and do it over again). Having had 3 VWs, their issues are more related to drying out than to wearing out if you keep the vehicle aligned. And I can't stress that enough. Assuming the suspension is stock, of the brands you named, any should give excellent service if the suspension components are maintained in the correct geometry. That said: I really like Michelin as they seem to maintain their quality over a wide variety of tire sizes and tread designs. Goodyear has good rain shedding tread patterns and seem to be on the leading edge of that technology. BF Goodrich is also top rated in the off-road, racing and street performance markets, not too sure of their light vehicle profile. Pirelli are very highly rated in performance tire circles, and with vehicles in the class of a stock Golf, but what type of life you can expect from them is an unknown for me. In the final analysis, I'd have to say it will depend on the exact style tire you want and if it is available in your area.
I'll also recommend that whatever tire brand you select, it's a good idea to replace the shocks... and I really like the nitrogen charged type, I generally buy for a service much more severe than I can anticipate. You don't need stiff, you need reliability, for shock failure is one of the top causes of short tire life. In the case of shocks, brand is secondary, I look at warranty; anything manufactured can fail prematurely, but... if the warranty is longer than I anticipate owning the vehicle, I'll go for it.
One other area to look at: if the tire takes more than 4-6 ozs of total weight, have them get another from the storeroom. Make sure they balance it both radially and laterally (I forget the technical terms)

[AmBraCol]

Well guys, MANY MANY THANKS!!!

My first choice was Michellin - but out of stock So went with my second choice, BF Goodrich, same warranty as the Michellin (which doesn't mean much in this country) but slightly cheaper, similar tread design. Anyway, we'll see how they work - the ride and handling improved over the Goodyear rubber it had before, not too amazing since the other tires were shot. One was still good enough for the spare anyway, but the spare was a nightmare anyway and the other side was nearly as bad. Talked with our mechanic about alignment and he's sending me to his alignment guy tomorrow to work out any problems in that area. Anyway, thanks for the feedback - it pretty much added up to my own thoughts but I'm a tire ignoramus and wanted to make sure the $$$ dropped were well spent.

Thanks again!

[Old Time Hunter]

Goodyear, don't know if they are any good or not, but the dealer gives me all his wheel weights for free!

[RIHMFIRE]

Last three sets of truck tires were Goodyear Wranglers....never had a failure or a problem and they all got over 70,000 miles.

+1 for the Wranglers...Mine are class e rated for heavy loads...
which reminds me...time to rotate them

[shawn_c992001]

None of the above, I like Nitto.

[TedH]

Goodyear, don't know if they are any good or not, but the dealer gives me all his wheel weights for free!

Then that's all the reason you need!