tire selection

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rock n roll kid

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may change tires on my 06 subaru forester .wal mart will probably be the place of purchase . have only bought tires for my 07 pontiac in last few years , which were a good year assurance original equipment ... they have been great tires .

many brands at wally world , most i have not heard of like solar , evolution & a host of others .
my criteria reads : 50, 000 tread life , very good traction , & a decent wear factor & ride .

should i shy away from all these unknowns , or are there some decent tires with the no names offered ? total cost , with taxes & lifetime rotate & balance should hopefully be under $400 , or very close to that .
thanks up front rock
 
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This does not answer the question you asked. I've gone to Michelin's the last several tire purchases, Walmart carries them. Great ride, and tread life. And traction is good also. To me, they're worth the extra dollars.
 
rock n roll kid said:
may change tires on my 06 subaru forester .wal mart will probably be the place of purchase . have only bought tires for my 07 pontiac in last few years , which were a good year assurance original equipment ... they have been great tires .

many brands at wally world , most i have not heard of like solar , evolution & a host of others .
my criteria reads : 50, 000 tread life , very good traction , & a decent wear factor & ride .

should i shy away from all these unknowns , or are there some decent tires with the no names offered ? total cost , with taxes & lifetime rotate & balance should hopefully be under $400 , or very close to that .
thanks up front rock
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There are only a few companies that make tires. Find out who made them and yes many of the off brands are a very good tire!

Most managers in a tire store should know that info!
 
First criteria should be load-bearing capacity, which is a factory rating indicating the types of tires applicable to vehicles of certain types and weights.

Second, correct size and profile for your vehicle. Big differences in recent years with 50-series, 60-series, 70-series, etc.

Third is tread style. This should be based upon your intended uses. Highway tread, snow tires, all-season, etc.

Getting the rated mileage is usually more of a matter of regular rotation and tire balancing than anything else. I have seen tires factory-rated for 50,000 deliver over 60,000 with proper routine maintenance, or completely worn out at less than 40,000 without.

As Nylakesider pointed out, there are really only a few tire manufacturers, with each making several brand names. There are some excellent tires with less-known names displayed. I suspect there are several websites available with valuable research data for the tire shopper.
 
I've had a number of brands of tires over the years, but the best I've had so far are Michelin. I'm currently running Pirelli tires and they are better than the Dunlop tires i had that suffered catastrophic sidewall separation, but Pirelli is not quite as good as Michelin.
 
Last tires I bought at Walmart was four Goodyear Vivas. After I got back
home I did some research and found a lot of mean-mouth comments about
them. But mine have been wearing well and a very smooth ride. Four of
them for my Buick was well under your $400.
I have had Michelin on my truck forever. Can't wear them out.
 
-db- said:
Forget Walmart, order online and have delivered to your local Discount Tire these new tires, the absolute best offering for Subaru Foresters and similar crossovers:

Tire service near me | Find a location | Discount Tire

See the reviews at subaruforester.org as to why these are the best bang for your buck.
Click to expand...

X2. DT is the only place I have bought tires for the past 10yrs. Their service & warranty is the best.
 
Michelin's on the vette. Took those Goodyear factory "run craps" off, horrible in every way. Instead of running on Goodyear Flintstone tires, much smoother and comfy now with better handling. And less expensive. :)
 
Tires are very much a commodity. All tires are a trade off between wear and traction. Goodyear leans toward the traction side so they tend to wear faster, because of their traction reputation, Goodyear also sells more to the high performance crowd so they tend to cost more. Kelly Springfield are good tires if you can find them, they are a sort of economy tire that is made the same (in the same assembly lines with the same materials and tire builders) as Goodyear Tires. Michelins claim to fame is wear, they will almost always last longer than a comparable Goodyear tire, but not grip as well in winter or high speed conditions. I would not hesitate to use Kelly's or Michelin's on a Subaru. I cannot recommend Firestone due to personal experience, but some do. There are very few independent tire makers left in the world. Most of the unknown brands are "house brands" for the major tire makers made in lower cost labor markets. Hankook tires have served me well and are my favorite independent "bargain brand". I am not a fan of Pirelli, but some do like them.

Warranties on tires decrease in value with the miles run and are prorated, if your tire fails completely, you will not get a new tire, only the value of the tire (when purchased) multiplied by the ratio of the miles the tire ran divided by the warrantied miles.

Caveat Emptor.
 
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I don't have a Subaru so this may not help.

I've had 6 different brand of tires on my Chevy 2500HD.

In Aug I purchased my first set of Michelin's and they are the smoothest and quietest of any of my previous tires.

My previous tires were Hankook (never again), BF Goodrich (longest lasting), Cooper, Big 0 (made by Cooper), and Yokohama. I doubt that I will buy another set of Yokohama's either. They got noisy and rough way too early in their life. I actually replaced them early just because I was soo displeased with the road noise.
 
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Lots of Chinese made tires, and Korean made tires out there. My old tire Guy liked Kumho for the small cars. Had Them on 2 Hondas, great tires. Just put Michlins on My truck before elk season and love them. Got them at DT. Got Pirellis on My Jag and when they go I am going to DT for more Michelins.
 
My experience over the years has been that odd brand name tires tend to have a shorter tread life. The caveat is I tend to buy winter tires that use a softer compound than an all season tire does.
 
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stansdds said:
I've had a number of brands of tires over the years, but the best I've had so far are Michelin. I'm currently running Pirelli tires and they are better than the Dunlop tires i had that suffered catastrophic sidewall separation, but Pirelli is not quite as good as Michelin.
Click to expand...

Know anything about Hankook brand?
 
smoothshooter said:
Know anything about Hankook brand?
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My 2500HD had a new set of Hankook Dynapro AT tires on when I bought it.

I was 110% displeased with them in every way. Enough so that I'd never consider buying any Hankook tires for anything.



This is my work truck. It has Hankook tires on it right now.

They must be cheap "inexpensive" tires. LOL
 
Like someone else said, get the specs first and then go look for tires.

I would not go cheap, the tires are the only connection between your vehicle and the road, and the little patch where it connects is not big so I'd not choose cheap stuff, no matter what/how you drive.

As long as it's dry most average drivers won't notice a difference but once it's wet you'll feel it. We only use Nitto tires on our personal vehicles and we couldn't be more satisfied. We only buy from Discount Tire, it seems to me they have the best prices. They also price match if you find it less expensive somewhere else.
 
Laufenn Tires are made by Hankook. My mechanic / local garage recommended them for my 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan. Had them for two years now. Great tires and quiet for an all season tire. He said he has never had a complaint about them!
 
The last set of tires I bought were Coopers. They were smoother, quieter, and handled better than the Continentals I had before them. My newest vehicle rides on factory installed Michelins. They're okay, but will probably be replaced with Coopers when the time comes.
 
Nevada Ed said:
A respectable tire shop will also only have 1 or 2 year old tires for sale........ !!

Some shops have 5 year old tires on their racks , for their "Specials".

Tires are dated.
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Yes. Owned a 2002 Subaru Outback and the dealer had a "tires for life" promotion as long as you got all service done with them. It came new with Yokahama tires and the first replacement were Yokahamas. After about 2 years the tires had a series case of sidewall dry rot. The dealer replaced them under warranty but it shook my confidence in Yokahama tires. There is a Yokahama tire plant in my hometown and a lot of folks really like them.

I prefer a quiet ride, handling, and good traction especially at highway speeds over long life. My wife's Toyota Sienna Limited Van came from factory with Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires. Only got about 45,000 mile out of them but great tires. Replaced with the same. Eagle RS-A are what is standard equipment on a lot of police patrol cars.
 
I always buy whatever all season tire that is on sale and has many good-great customer reviews and I've bought a lot from Simpletire and they are shipped to my house with no sales tax and then the local tire store will install them for 10 bucks each. I usually get at least a 55-60K mile rated tire and I bought 2 sets of some Korean tires (don't remember the brand) for my Toyota Rav4 that worked out very well and I paid $260 delivered to my home. No need to spend a fortune on tires in my opinion and I average about 38K miles a year in my Ram pickup.
 
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Discount Tires hands down !! Great service, good products and will spend the time to get you exactly what you want. Free rotation, free flat repair and good prices. Aside from that, I have a fun story about my local Discount Tire store. I have a John Deere garden tractor and had a flat on a rear tire. These are not big tires but are 6 ply and a bugger to work on. I wanted a tube put in but couldn't break the seal so I took it to DT. The manager said he'd try to find a tube and install it. He called me back a week later and said to come pick up the tire. I went there and asked how much I owed him and he said 'nothing', it was a learning experience for his crew, none of them knew what an 'inner tube' was or how to use it. He thanked me for bringing it in.
 
General Grabbers came on my 2018 Silverado. Has to be the worst tire ever made. Took it to Discount Tire and had a set of their Pathfinder, house brand tires made by Cooper put on even though the Generals had lots of tread left. The difference is night and day. I wouldn't buy a tire anywhere else.
 
smoothshooter said:
Know anything about Hankook brand?
Click to expand...

Everything varies some with the vehicle, and the model of tire
you get, even the inflation pressure you run them at (the tire
placard on car is for the OEM factory tires, and may not make
any sense whatsoever for the tires you buy).

Hankook is a known reputable brand, and could
provide a better value than, say, Michelin or Pirelli-- they have
bigger reps, along with more sponsorships ($$$) and more
advertising ($$), but aren't necessarily worth the extra cost.
 
The second best tires i ever bought were Goodyear Assurance tripletread. I got about 70,000 miles on them on 2 different cars.

My current ones are Goodyear Fortera and I expect them to go well over 80,000 miles.

You get what you pay for. Wally tires and batteries won't go in my vehicle. We have a local tire dealer that handles all brands and all sizes and hisa price is cheaper than Wally.
 
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