Comments on: Tire Makers Not Having a Good Year

By: TEXN3

TEXN3 — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:17:36 +0000

No, I meant Bridgestone. Seems they’re always running deals on them at the local Commercial Tire.

By: B.C.

B.C. — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 02:32:41 +0000

TEXN3, Bridgestones are pretty pricey wherever I’ve looked. Did you mean Firestones instead? (And yes, I’m aware they’re the same company.)

By: Qusus

Qusus — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 01:45:05 +0000

Theres plenty of independent testing on tires. Consumer Reports is a popular one.

Tires make a tremendous difference,- they’re the only part of the car that actually touches the road.

Unfortunately, high performance summer tires are more costly and have considerably shorter life and can be noisy as well… but are entirely worthwhile if you track your car or drive aggressively.

Like all consumer products, not all 100 dollar tires are better than all 65 dollar tires but certainly the quality and performance of tires varies greatly as a whole.

By: Jeff Puthuff

Jeff Puthuff — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:39:29 +0000

I have a cheap ($65/ea) set of Kumho’s on my Infiniti and except for their embarrassing name, they’ve been flawless, ~~knock on wood~~. They’ve gotten me through a wind and ice storm in Wyoming and have seen 120 mph a few times.

I’m not aware of any independent organization that tests only tires and publishes the results for the public. At what price is a tire just a tire? Or, is a $100 tire that much better than a $65 tire?

By: TEXN3

TEXN3 — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:44:12 +0000

I’d say all of those yankinwaoz. However, I see the other issue that arises from this. People will buy cheaper tires, possibly lower quality(?), or with less capabilities in terms of traction, heat, or wear. Does that make more “unsafe” vehicles on the road? I’m a big proponent on having a great (not good) set of tires.

For me, that has usually been Michelins too…if they become too pricey (we all have a pricepoint) then should I go down to BFG, Falken, Bridgestone? Maybe but hard to tell right now as both cars have relatively new shoes on.

By: RedStapler

RedStapler — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:42:07 +0000

The crash of the SUV/Light truck boom has got to hurt too.

Getting new shoes for your Dune Crusher cost 2-4X what getting new tires for a sensible mid size car does.

I suspect current conditions have also curtailed the number of fools who pull off the stock rim/tires and add $3k+ of lo-pro Bling Bling or the bigfoot wannabe Mud Tires.

By: B.C.

B.C. — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:32:00 +0000

My guess is that a lot of steel and oil going into each tire, and the cost of both commodities has increased significantly recently.

By: yankinwaoz

yankinwaoz — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:21:33 +0000

Any solid speculation as to why?

(a) Are all tire companies hurting?
(b) Is is cause people are driving more on the tires they have?
(c) Is is cause people are driving less?
(d) Is is because their material costs are eating into their profit margins?
(e) Is is because the US dollar is eating into their profits?

By: cretinx

cretinx — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:51:45 +0000

Falken Azenis, #1 tire of choice for people who know tires (autocrossers).

$100 each, and staying that way (don’t know if I’m allowed to post web links to tire sales)

Better than any overpriced garbage mentioned in this thread.

By: jurisb

jurisb — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:48:30 +0000

looking at a pic of firebird, I realize how much it has common with Firestone.the reason Gm is actually bleeding cash is the same one why Firestone went belly up.And judging that most russians either ride new 7K ladas or cheapest koreans and couple of thousand cayennes, what relief is Good year seeking in non-middle class country? Right, you think russian and chinese are going to put Good-year f1 on their tacumas and nexias?

By: driving course

driving course — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:12:23 +0000

I guess it’s because of a uniroyal cock-up that won’t make them good/rich…
Wah wah!

By: bjcpdx

bjcpdx — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:02:50 +0000

Also, because of high fuel costs, many of us are driving less these days. I hadn’t thought about it until I read this story, but that means our tires are going to last longer.

Looks like I just saved a little more money.

By: BlueBrat

BlueBrat — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:57:17 +0000

I tried to get a set of BF Goodrich gForce T/A blahblahblahs for my S2000 after reading good things about them on forums, and a couple friends having them on their vehicles (Cobra & Lexi). They were back-stocked by the manufacturer for months.

So I went with the OEM Bridgestone S02 blahblahblahs and still had to wait 3 weeks to get them in.

Oh yeah, the naming convention on tires from these companies is completely ridiculous. One (or two) letters make the difference form a tractor tire to a performance tire in the long BF Goodrich gForce T/A SK pro super-hyper turbo extended enditions.