Need new tires - Any recommendations ??

[NightRyder]

I've been running Michelin Cross Terrain SUV's on my Blazer for the past year. This is my first set of Michelin's and I'm pleased so far, they are much quieter and handle better than the OEM Uniroyal's. I bought mine at Costco.

NightRyder

 

[Bogy]

The Cross Terrains are the only Michelins I have left on a vehicle. I had a set on a Ford F150, and then after we traded that in I put a set on the replacement Chevy Silverado (the only non-Ford vehicle I've got.) Obviously I liked them enough to put a second set on. As long as we load the back of the pickup down they work great. We had a bunch of ice last winter, and the truck absolutely would not move. Finally got it backed up to a big ol' pile of snow in our parking lot and my son and I shoveled the back end of the truck full of snow and ice. (It was a late storm and we had already taken the sand tubes out for the year.) The truck has never had better traction. The snow and ice melted out of the back about the same time it melted off the streets.

 

[Bob Haller]

Bob, the obvious conclusion to draw is that an 80,000 mile tire must be making a tradeoff on handling. All I can say is that in my experience, with up to five vehicles on the road over the past 37 years, racking up to and over 100,000 miles a year some years, I have never experienced an all season tire that was any better than the Goodyear Triple Treads. That includes in snow and on ice. I said earlier, I have in the past run dedicated snow tires, sometimes studded. Those were better. But not much.

well my observation the rubber in long life tires is harder, and that effects traction. no longer driven by hype i buy mid priced tires at wall mart. my history is many years of driving 40 and even 50 K a year. with the poor roads in pennsylvania i was lucky to ever get a year from a set. potholes broken belts etc etc etc.

glad you found a tire that works for you

 

[dfergie]

I had 35,000 on a set of Michelins and still had pretty good tread left, but after 2 flats within 1 month went to B.F. Goodrich Rugged Trail 6 ply tires for my F150... (I go off road quite a bit)... they are bigger tires and give me better ground clearance...

 

[NightRyder]

The Cross Terrains are the only Michelins I have left on a vehicle. I had a set on a Ford F150, and then after we traded that in I put a set on the replacement Chevy Silverado (the only non-Ford vehicle I've got.) Obviously I liked them enough to put a second set on. As long as we load the back of the pickup down they work great. We had a bunch of ice last winter, and the truck absolutely would not move. Finally got it backed up to a big ol' pile of snow in our parking lot and my son and I shoveled the back end of the truck full of snow and ice. (It was a late storm and we had already taken the sand tubes out for the year.) The truck has never had better traction. The snow and ice melted out of the back about the same time it melted off the streets.

I have a set of Yokohama F140 Stud-less that I run in the winter.

NightRyder

 

[bhelms]

Bob, the obvious conclusion to draw is that an 80,000 mile tire must be making a tradeoff on handling. All I can say is that in my experience, with up to five vehicles on the road over the past 37 years, racking up to and over 100,000 miles a year some years, I have never experienced an all season tire that was any better than the Goodyear Triple Treads. That includes in snow and on ice. I said earlier, I have in the past run dedicated snow tires, sometimes studded. Those were better. But not much.

Bogy - That's good news! The stock tires on my Subie were poor in the snow. Why have an AWD vehicle then compromise the potential performance with marginal tires? I have to think that Subaru figures most drivers are more interested in high performance on relatively dry roads or else they would have chosen a better all season tire for that model. (Perhaps they should allow a range of choices, based somewhat on the destination state!) My real measure of performance will be how well these TripleTreds do in winter.

I have usually gotten close to the rated tread life on most of my tires. My truck's tires are usually good for about 60K (GY Wrangler RT/S type with a 6-ply sidewall rating, special order). The way I see it, if you want max. performance in a particular category (for me in the Subie, it's obviously poor traction conditions on paved roads) then you need to spend some money to get that performance. And in many cases, a side benefit is the longer tread life. Hopefully one gets the higher performance over most of the tread life. If that's the case, then you can have one good set of high performance tires, or two sets of lower performing tires (e.g., Wal*Mart's everyday GYs), for about the same money. I'll always opt for the former...

PS - I always change tires in sets of 4. If I get a sidewall blow-out at low mileage (I had several on the truck before I started buying the stronger sidewall tires) then I will replace just that one tire with the identical tire...

 

[Bob Haller]

car manufacturers try to save money on new vehicles by buying cheap tires. this is common for my lifetime.

 

[Bogy]

car manufacturers try to save money on new vehicles by buying cheap tires. this is common for my lifetime.

So why do you buy cheap tires?

 

[Inno]

To be fair (even to Firestone) I bought a new Chevy 4x4 in 1998 which came with Firestone tires. I got over 130,000km (81,000 miles) before replacing them. That was mostly on road driving with a little bit of off road stuff hunting etc. but for factory tires I was more than impressed. Following that I put on a set of cheapies, Sport King I think was the name.........$135 a tire for 16".......and they didn't wear worth a hoot. But I sold the truck before they were worn out so I didn't have to worry about it.
I currently drive another 1998 Chevy (extended cab Z-71) which had 91,000km (almost 57,000 miles) and it had the original Firestone tires when I got it. I only replaced them because they were badly weather cracked, they still had some tread left. Now at 137,000km (about 85,600 miles) I have a set of (again cheapies) Savero A/T 245/75R16s and I'm quite happy with them. They do leave a bit to be desired in the snow but all around they are a decent tire for a reasonable price!