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Tire question: buy pricier or more often?



 
 
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  #11  
Old June 17th 05, 12:15 PM
pater
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I've always gone by the theory that, in the long run, the cheapest tire
you can buy is the most expensive. Cheapo tires are cheapo tires, if
you wanna drive around on "made in taiwan" crap, thats your business. I
prefer to buy the good stuff & drive safely for a long time with no
broken belts or $hitty sidewalls or worn shoulders that you see on
bargain stuff. Plus it's your tires, for petes sake, why comprimise
here. Your wife & kids deserve the piece of mind & safety that comes
with a good set of rubber.

Ads
  #12  
Old June 17th 05, 01:35 PM
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"Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote in message
...
>


> Without the size you bought such a statement is meaningless.
>
> Ted


Only a fool buys cheap (and I am not necessarily limiting the term 'cheap'
to monetary price) tires.



  #13  
Old June 17th 05, 02:13 PM
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"Plus it's your tires, for petes sake, why comprimise
here. Your wife & kids deserve the piece of mind & safety that comes
with a good set of rubber. "

when I hear that time tested classic sales line regurgitated by a
customer I always think "what a great salemen this guy has, I wish I
could hire him!"

  #14  
Old June 17th 05, 02:35 PM
Daniel
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I copied this from 2004.
Today, computer designed tread patterns (tiny variations around the
circumference to minimize noise) can give quality and durability at
lower cost, if the casing is well made.
Highly advertised name brands are going to cost more due to marketing
expenses not necessarily related to tire quality. I've seen comments
where people preferred Yokohama to Michelin, and I was disappointed
with Pirelli.
The only way you're really going to know is to try them for yourself
over time.
One thing I always like to do is physically examine and inspect the
unmounted new tire before deciding. That way you can see and feel the
weight, flexibility and general quality of construction inside and out.
====================
Prior comments from others:
As a former manager of a performance auto service center, . . .
A good bit of the
problem we had with radial and other tire faults were the brand of
tires
themselves. Of the major tire brands, we had many problems with
Firestones,
Pirellis, and Goodyear - they just always seemed to have problems with
them,
no matter what price tire we had. I inherited a 78 Caddy with Goodyear

tires, and two tires blew out on me because of radial belts flaws which

caused the outer rubber to separate from the belts and go out-of-round.

We never had any problems with customers who came in with tires (sold
and/or installed by us or not) by Michelin, BF Goodrich, Dunlop,
Yokohama,
secondary brands like Hankooks and the former Western Auto store-brand
tires and Sears store-brands (which, except for the Sears tires made by

Goodyear I have run on various personal family cars) which I've heard
of no problems with any of those brands. However, I would not
recommend
the NTB stores for any work even though they are owned by Sears
=========================
These comments don't reflect newer tire design, but draw your own
conclusions.
Like I said, I like the Yokohamas overall, seem to be a very well
constructed tire at excellent pricing, putting their money into the
product instead of spending it to create name recognition through
expensive advertising.
As usual on these groups, just my opinon.

  #16  
Old June 17th 05, 04:01 PM
y_p_w
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Mark A wrote:

>>I realize there are different parameters but within a type and brand,
>>I'd think a tire rated for 80,000 miles would cost more than one rated
>>for 40,000 miles, is that not so?

>
>
> Actually, not necessarily true. Many very high performance tires do not have
> particularly good tread ratings. Generally the higher the speed rating
> (tires are have speed ratings such as S, H, V, etc) the less the tread life.
> That is because a tires ability to run at higher speeds depends partly on
> using a softer tread compound that wears faster. This is very evident in
> motor sports racing, where a very soft, but very high performance tire will
> need to be changed several times during a 500 mile race.


Actually - how hard a rubber compound is doesn't necessarily affect
how it wears. I was at a Firestone dealer getting an alignment and
looked at their Indy car tire display. They had a real used sprint
car tire and a new one. Those suckers were hard as a rock. I'm told
they have to warm up and soften for optimum grip.

> Some people think that an S speed rated tire is sufficient because they will
> never exceed the 112 mph maximum speed rating for an S rated tire. However,
> an H, or V rated tire will almost always have superior handling, breaking,
> etc than a S or T rated tire (all other things being equal).
>
> However, there are some newer tread compounds that provide a better balance
> between performance and tread life, but they are more costly than
> conventional tread compounds. But even these newer compounds will usually
> not last 80,000 miles in a high performance V rated tire.


Low wearing summer car tires meant for high performance driving are
often harder. I know it sounds counterintuitive. A lot of summer
tires will get way too hard even in dry cold weather conditions to be
safe. During summer conditions, a harder rubber compound (within
reason) will grip/handle better, and won't necesaarily last either.
  #17  
Old June 17th 05, 04:04 PM
William R. Watt
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RPS ) writes:
> I suppose this can apply to any product but in this case I am thinking
> of tires:
>
> (1) I can buy a pricier model which will last a long time, but then I'd
> have an old tire most of that time.
>
> (2) I can buy a less expensive model but change it more frequently, so
> I'd have a newer tire most of the time.
>
> Which is the better way?
>
> Would you buy a new Lexus every 10-12 years , or a new Corolla/Camry
> every 4-5 years?


The Japanese learned from the Americans that you can put extras on an
ordinary vehicle, give it a different name, and cahrge a lot more for it.
That's how they make more money under the American protectionist import
quotas.

I think for tire value you have to match the tire to your driving habits.
There can also be differences in markups in near-identical tires made by
the same manufactuer under different brand names for different
distributors. The more information you have the better value you can get.

Personally, for the low speed, low milage driving I do I buy the lowest
price. The milage rating on the tires I have now is much greater than my
estimate of the number of miles left on the vehicle. The tires I have now
are from Wal-mart.

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  #18  
Old June 17th 05, 04:23 PM
Sleeker GT Phwoar
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In article ch.edu>,
says...
> Agreed. Even the cheapest mass-market tire you can buy today is generally
> better than what was available even just five years ago.
>

Better than the cheapest tyre from 5 years ago. But htere are some very,
borderline dangerous tyres out there.
--
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The poster formerly known as Skodapilot.
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  #19  
Old June 17th 05, 05:01 PM
ray
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Mark A wrote:
>>I realize there are different parameters but within a type and brand,
>>I'd think a tire rated for 80,000 miles would cost more than one rated
>>for 40,000 miles, is that not so?

>
>
> Actually, not necessarily true. Many very high performance tires do not have
> particularly good tread ratings. Generally the higher the speed rating
> (tires are have speed ratings such as S, H, V, etc) the less the tread life.
> That is because a tires ability to run at higher speeds depends partly on
> using a softer tread compound that wears faster. This is very evident in
> motor sports racing, where a very soft, but very high performance tire will
> need to be changed several times during a 500 mile race.
>


Actually, higher speed rated tires are usually HARDER to withstand the
heat generated by sustained high speeds. Race tires are a totally
different breed... my drag radials aren't speed rated at all and have a
treadwear rating of ZERO and they're technially street legal... but I
don't bother because they're so "squishy" I don't feel comfortable
driving the car on the street... but they have a ton more grip once
heated up versus any regular street tire.

Oh, but the hi-perf tires have short tread blocks for less squirm, so
they still don't last 40,000 miles ... mine only made it 20,000 miles...

All of which means you can't answer the OP in absolutes. Tires are an
absolute bear to comparison shop... because it's all about the
tradeoff... dry traction, wet traction, tread life, even noise and ease
of balancing from brand to brand....

All I'll say is this: I've decided that BF Goodrich tires for me are
the way to go for my good cars. It's worth the extra $20 per tire.

Ray
  #20  
Old June 17th 05, 05:12 PM
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true but I would guess that some of "borderline dangerous tyres out
there" are those installed highly advertised $125 baby saver tires that
have 2% tread left on them because the owner is postponing for as long
as he can the $600+ bill that he will faced for a new set of
balanced/aligned baby savers tires

 




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