Recently, when I posted a long-term update on our 2014 VW Passat, I alluded to the tires not being the best I’ve ever experienced. Those tires can now be viewed in the past tense.
Volkswagen put Hancook Optimo H426 tires on this car at the factory. I replaced them at an odometer reading of 35,009. While there was a small degree of tread depth left, they had become loud and traction was far from terrific.
No doubt all the ribs having been worn off was a culprit.
These particular tires had a tread wear grade of 440. Scouring the Hancook website, I’m unable to find anything about a mileage warranty although the next two currently available tires have abundant reference to their mileage warranty.
I figured these Hancook’s could contribute toward being playground equipment, binder in asphalt, or used for a ground tire rubber chip seal. Sometimes you just need to spread the wealth.
Interestingly, a loaner 2016 Passat I had last summer was equipped with Continental ProContact tires. Perhaps Volkswagen realized there were better options or they got a better price on a new supplier’s contract.
The last new car I purchased was a 1996 Ford Thunderbird. Equipped with the sport suspension (which I highly suspect was simply the Super Coupe suspension), it came from Ford with Goodyear Eagle GT+4 tires. They went away due strictly to wear at around 45,000 miles (give or take as it’s been a while, but I know it was more than 35,000), replaced with a set of Bridgestone tires.
The Bridgestone’s were so remarkable I have never bought another set.
As of March 2, the Passat now has the brand of tire found on two of my other vehicles, plus some past ones, and the one in which I’ve had tremendously positive experiences. It now has a set of Cooper CS5 Grand Touring tires.
These have an 80,000 mile treadwear protection with a treadwear grade of 780, nearly twice that of the old tires.
So my question: What life have you obtained on your original equipment tires? What were they and what were the tires on?
My luck with OE tires has not been great. The Eagle GTs on my 85 GTI were terribly worn by maybe 20K. They were fabulous in the dry, horrible in the wet and were replaced in the two year stretch of my ownership. I replaced them with Yokohamas that were better in wet but not as good in dry.
The Dunlops on my Honda Fit wore quickly as well. I replaced them with Michelins, and then again with Yokahama when a Michelin in my size was no longer available from Discount Tire. I have about 120K on the car, so I think I got about 35 out of the first set and maybe 50K out of the Michelins. It is a performance tire (go figure) so they don’t wear as well.
The Kia came with Hankooks and I was never crazy about them. About 40K was it for them. I went to a Michelin light truck tire that was a taller profile and they are serving very nicely.
The stock Dunlop’s on the Fit had such poor wet traction that I replaced them with Yokohama’s at only 12,000 miles, so I don’t know how long they would have lasted.
The Tundra came with Bridgestone in an older Dueler tread pattern. They did well for about 35,000, when they still had about 4-5/32 left. Snow traction went away and California requires 5/32 for a legal snow tire anyway. General Grabber A/T’s replaced them.
Chevy provided Uniroyal with the C1500 and they lost all grip at almost 50,000 with plenty of tread left. Rock hard compound, I guess. Firestone Destination A/T’s went on.
I worked with a former GM suspension engineer back in the 1980’s and he didnt like the Uniroyals that GM used. Roundness and balance were the main specs. The last thing you want is a new car that vibrates down the road with a bunch of balance weights on the rims.
I had Eagle GTs on my Dodge Lancer ES turbo and my memories line up with yours. Great in the dry, not so much in any kind of wet. I think I got 20K+ miles out of mine, too. They were replaced with a set of Kelly Chargers that lasted a phenomenal (for the time) 65K miles. Oddly, both tires are manufactured by Good year.
I have ContiPros on my Nissan. They seem to do the job okay. I think they will be replaced with some General AltiMax RT43s when they wear out. The worst new car tires I ever had were the Kumhos that Hyundai put on my Accent. Not one tire made it to 20,000 miles, what with sidewall bubbles and tread cord seperations. They were the worse tires I’ve ever had.
I would expect at least what you did with your tires, if not 40,000 miles or so.
About 3-4 months and 3,000+ miles ago I put a set of Altimaxxes on my 09 P71. I was kind of skeptical about using a brand that doesn’t get much press. But when I went looking for a tire that was less expensive than the Goodyear RS-As that were standard equipment I found these Generals and I figured that I could easily take a chance on a tire that was almost half the price of the Goodyears…..especially when the Generals had better reviews than the Goodyears.
So far, the only area where the Goodyears outperform the Generals is in very high speed turns.
Until recently I have been driving mostly small, 4 cylinder powered cars and truck. Tires easily last 40,000 miles or more unless they a bottom of the barrel types of tires. Usually I replace tires when they start sliding a bit when you are breaking or going around corners.
My 80 Fiesta had Pirelli P3s on it as a new car but I dumped them at about 20,000 miles for Michelins as the car would swerve sideways when applying the brakes hard. Never had a problem with the Michelins.
I got a set of ContiPros (or the equivalent from 10 years ago) for my Cavalier due to a promotion that Discount Tire and Continental General was running at the time. Before that I’d had Barum Bravuras (a budget brand from Conti) that ran their 35K miles. The Contis ran really well, I think I got 60K miles from them, never had an issue with a puncture or any defects.
My daughter’s 16 Malibu LS has ContiPros on it from the factory. I thought it was an interesting choice to equip the cheapest Malibu with these tires. They have really good traction in all conditions and ride smoothly and quietly. Unfortunately, they don’t take 10-penny nails very well, so while I’ve been driving her car, I had to replace not one, but two tires (16″)… $360++ for two. That put a knot in my New Year’s plans…
Speaking of 85 GTI, my 86 GTI had Pirelli P600s (185/60-HR15, same size as 85 GTI), and in Virginia, they lasted about 36k miles, before I replaced them with BFG Comp T/As.
My longest lasting tires: 2011 Malibu 4-cyl, came with Firestones from factory 205? /17-55, I got 69k out of them. Could’ve gotten more, but the dealer offered same tires at a good price, and I wanted to get them before cold Michigan weather set in.
What’s interesting is, the replacements were NOT on track to last 69k. At 102k, I projected I’d be lucky if they made it to 50k miles.
A suspension engineer told me that, just like your car gets more mpg on highway, tires last longer under ‘highway’ conditions.
Still, I think 69k was great!
185/60-HR14, not 15.
I remember when VW switched from the Eagle GTs on 1985 GTIs to the Pirelli P600s in 86. It was probably a better choice.
I think that’s true, highway miles are easier on tires. Makes sense. Less sharp turns and stops and accelerations.
Yes, my ’86 GTi also came with the 185/60 HR14 Pirelli P600s…I think the might have been standard on that model.
I don’t know why I replaced them twice with the same brand/size…they had great dry grip (not so good in inclement weather but we don’t get that too often in Texas where I live)…they used to leave black marks on my concrete driveway..not that I drove agressively on the driveway, but it might also explain why they didn’t last so long for me (maybe 25-30k miles). Also, my GTi lacked power steering, which might normally be OK for a car weighing about 2300 lbs, but with the WIDE tires (I know 60 series tires come on economy cars now, but in 1986 they were not common on them) I had a bit of a time parking with them…especially after a bicycle accident where I broke a collar bone and some ribs and had to contend with the car (and its standard transmission). After the Pirelli’s I had a series of other tires, none of which had the same grip but lasted a bit longer…I had the GTi for about 15 years (bought it from original owner after he owned it 9 months) until my current car…2000 Golf.
I actually went through a set of rear tires in less than 5000 miles…due to a problem with the rear alignment equipment at the shop I took it to being out of calibration…took me months to get them to own up to it.
The Golf came with Goodyear tires, which I didn’t care for, and didn’t last long (I’ve not had much luck with OEM tires either)..currently have Sumitimo tires which seem to be pretty good for the 3 years I’ve owned them. I’ve learned my lesson partially..my Golf came with power steering (which is now standard, I’m guessing on most cars)…but it does still have manual transmission, which I’ve regretted when I injured my knee on my clutch leg…no fun driving manual when you can’t bend your leg without pain unless you do clutchless shifting.
On my 86 GTI, I bought tires 3x. The replacements typically went 37-40k miles (all BFG Comp T/A HR-rated tires). The original Pirellis lasted the least (though not by much).
In my Cobalt SS, with Pirello P-Zero Rosso 215/45-VR/ZR18 summer tires, I got 25k miles. I used to put snows on in the winter.
I replaced with Hankook Ventus V12? (rated highly by Car & Driver), but I sold the car after a year. I think they were on track to be 30k tires, but not sure.
I got something like 80k out of the Goodyear Wranglers on my 96 Cherokee 4×4. There’s an advantage to not having independent suspension, the alignment stays perfect (except possibly toe in up front). Plus on a Jeep, buyers are likely to look at the tires as part of the “look”, so perhaps Jeep had less incentive to skimp.
OTOH I don’t think we got 20 k out of either of our Hondas (07 Odyssey and 10 CRV). It’s partly due to more around-town driving, and maybe partly due to driver (my wife and I have very different driving styles) but I think it’s mostly OEM tires made to a price point, as the replacements (Michelin) have been better. (Sorry I don’t remember what brand the originals were).
I, OTOH, had a terrible time with Goodyear Wranglers on my 94 Ford Club Wagon. I had a terrible vibration when I replaced them at maybe 40-45K with . . . another set of Wranglers (Ford picked them for a reason, right?) Same problem with one tire wearing very badly out of round. About 40K later I put a set of Michelins on it. Smooth as glass for the rest of the van’s life with me, so over 80K.
And I, on the other hand, have gotten 40K out of the latest set of tires on our family ’07 Odyssey, and they still look brand-new (of course that’s with mostly highway driving).
2002 Toyota Land Cruiser 90 3.0 D4D: 75,000 km (46,875 miles), front tires only, Dunlop 265/70R16 AT20. Twice that mileage for the rear tires.
Replacements always Dunlops.
Michelin’s for me all the way .. if a car doesn’t come OE with them I just plan on replacing at 30K or so, never had new car tires wear very long.. other than Michelin.
Replaced the original Michelin Lattitudes on my 2012 Acura MDX after 76,000 miles. Still had a bit of tread left. Previous record was 72,000 from a set of Goodyear Integritys on a Honda Pilot. Interestingly, the original Michelin MXV’s on the wife’s Lexus ES were finished at 45,000.
My 2004 Taurus (which I bought nearly new and still have) had Continentals that lasted 55,000 miles. They still had some tread left when I replaced them with Yokohamas. Got about 55,000 out of those. Currently riding on Michelins at 133,000. All three brands served me well.
Just replaced the tires on Dad’s 2012 Beetle Turbo; 235/40/19 Continental ContiProContacts like Jason posted above. 79,000 miles. Yes we chose the same tire.
1989 Cadillac Brougham with the factory tires until July 2017.
It was only found out the tires are original when visiting Detroit Historical Museum and tires looked exactly the same as the chassis on display from the Cadillac production line, and tire on the right rear fell apart on the way to the tire shop, when it was only 4 miles away ( after traveling more than 50 miles on the way )
Wow! How many miles on that baby?
It was roughly around 40k, at the time when it fell apart. That right rear tire kept squeaking for few days before and I was thinking it was overdue.
After putting a set of new white wall tires the car was traded in for an Audi A3, and it was sold instantly from the showroom for $6000.
I estimate I have about 60,000 miles on my Michelins on my 2010 Escape. They get winters off and rotations every spring. I figure to get one more summer out of them according to the tread wear measurements.
My father-in-law had an ’80 Ford Corcel Belina (i.e., 2 door station wagon), purchased new, and sold in 1993 with about 110.000 km on it and its original set of Brazilian Firestones. They didn’t look bad, but obviously it was reckless to keep them in the car for so long.
I’ve never gotten more than about 30K-40K out of the original tires (although buying used I have a tendency to purchase vehicles just as the tires need to be replaced.)
When I purchased my 2004 F150 it had 68,000 miles on it and was wearing BF Goodrich Long Trail T/A tires. I was told that those were OEM for the 2004 F150 Heritage but god I hope they weren’t the originals. They were fairly worn and when one had a blow out around 75,000 on the odometer I used it as an excuse to buy 4 new tires.
Still the worse tires I’ve ever had were branded “Futura” (which was the Pep Boys house brand.)
2009 Honda CRV with Bridgestone Dueler tires. Lasted just under 20,000 miles. 90% of the driving was done on the highway.
I don’t know what brand tires came with Mom’s new 1994 Buick LeSabre, but they still looked new after around 25K miles when I inherited the car in 2008. I replaced them immediately because I feared that they had hardened with age and were no longer trustworthy at speed.
Our 2008 Dodge Nitro R/T, factory equipped with 20″ Goodyear Eagle RS-A. We got just over 65K miles out of the OE tires. Were very impressed with that out of a set of tires. Replaced them with the same, and never had to buy tires again before selling it.
Perhaps with the exception of high-end cars, OE tires are built to a price, not a quality. The tires on my 1G Scion xB were done by 28k. I replaced them with OE take-off wheels and tires (Continental) from a MINI Cooper, which lasted for the balance of the 92k that I owned the car.
I’ve been a fan of Contis ever since.
I bought a 78 Pinto sedan (for parts) that had been wrecked in 1980 with 12,078.5 miles on it. I bought it in 02. It had all 5 of it’s original A78-13 Firestone Deluxe Champion bias ply tires, including the spare that had never been on the ground. Since it had been stored inside they had not deteriorated and still held air. So I can (kinda) say I had OE tires last 24 years. And just for the record, they were (as measured off the unused spare) 23.75 inch’s tall, had 10/32 tread depth, and were rated to carry 1022 lbs at 32 PSI. The tires on the car were 5/32 tread left on the front’s and 6/32 left on the rear. I also have the original (but it’s been used) spare from my 79 T-Bird that still looks good and holds air (a Michelin G78-15 X Radial whitewall) and one of the original tires off my 70 Maverick which is a 6.45-14 blackwall Firestone Deluxe Champion as well. It is uncracked and still looks good (although almost all the tread is gone) but won’t hold air because the valve stem finally broke off.
If you have pictures, you should do a write up on Curbside Classic. It would be interesting to see all those originals.
This is one of the Pinto originals still holding air almost 40 years after it was made. I took this two weeks ago. I’ll get some of the others in a few days.
Here’s the car when I bought it in 02. Except for one oil/filter change (I hope!) everything on the car is assembly line original. It was a time capsule..and I still have it.
Other 2.
Here’s the Marti on the car.
Michelin® Energy MXV4 S8 on 2003 Honda Accord EX-L
78k miles
205/60 R 16
That was 80% highway miles
The original Michelin Symmetry 225/60 16 tires on my 05 Deville had 90,000 miles and still had 4/32 tread and no dry rot. The only reason I replaced them was they were 10 years old. I replaced them with new Symmetries.
The original GoodYear Eagles on our 2001 Focus were slippy, noisy and rough. When we got winter tires it was a relief because they were so smooth and quiet (it’s supposed to be the other way around)
They did wear like iron though, finally put a set of Toyo Proxy4 on it because we couldn’t take it anymore, not because of tread wear.
The OEM ContiPro Contacts on our 2013 Focus seem to be doing pretty good at 55,000 km.
I don’t think I’d want a tyre that would do 80k miles, because I’d prefer softer rubber for better grip at the expense of wear. I’m happy with say 35-40k miles. Then again if you are purely talking highway mileage?
A local mechanic had the same tyres as my ute, Firestone ASR light truck all-terrains, on a 4-cyl Toyota Hilux and had done about 55k miles from memory with very little tread wear. I probably have at least a quarter of the tread left with about 40k on them, but they are old and the rubber has gone hard.
My 2010 Honda Accord had the original tires on them with good tread when traded in at 100,000 miles. 98% of those miles were highway. My 2013 Accord had the original tires until about 80,000 also mostly highway miles.
My 2010 Toyota RAV4 V6 came with Toyo Open Countrys. Miserable tires, lasted 30k. Replaced them with Michelin Defenders and now have 86k on the car. Last time I rotated them I had about 6 to 7 32nds on all of them.
Other than the OEM Continentals on my first new car (1969 VW bug) that were shot at 19K, I’ve had reasonably good service out of OEM tires. For example, my 2010 G37 at 40K is still running on its original Goodyear RSAs. I got 50K out of the Toyo Proxes on my 1999 Maxima – tread was still fine but the sidewalls were cracking, in part due to the smog/climate in SoCal. Most remarkable is over 40K of use out of the infamous OEM Firestone 500s on my 1972 Maverick LDO – with no tread separations or failures other than the usual nail puncture.
Got 130,000 miles out of OEM BF Goodrich Long Trails on My 2001 F-150.
I replaced them with the same tires but only got 80,000 miles out of those.
I’ve heard that OEM Ford tires have a higher tread depth then the equivalent
replacements.
Yeah Ford spec’d out a very good tire in those Long Trails in the early 00’s. That is what came on our 03 Mountaineer. I replaced them after about 80K worth of use at about 4/32″ of remaining tread depth out of the original 13/32″.
Toyota speced out a measely 9/32″ of tread on the Long Trails they put on their trucks in that era. It showed in the Tire Rack reviews with Ford owners noting 80K or more worth of life while Toyota owners reported 40K or less.
The OEM Conti’s on the 2000 Taurus we had probably would have lasted over 100K on the rear, had I left them that long. They had never been rotated and the bargain basement tires the previous owner had been on the front had to go so it got a set of 4 for it. The OEM BFG Long Trails on our 03 Mountaineer would have probably gone for near 100K if I was willing to run them until they are illegal but I normally replace at 4/32″ as hydroplane resistance drops quickly after that point.
As mentioned above it is not uncommon for the OEM spec version of a tire to vary significantly between different mfgs and the aftermarket version of the same tire.
I can’t really ever say that I got great mileage out of any OEM tires I’ve had on any of my new cars. The worst that I can remember were the Firestones that came on my 09 Pontiac G6; they were T-rated from the factory and lasted about 30K miles. I replaced them with a set of General Altimax H-rated tires, which were pretty good, but now I’ve had two sets of V- rated Kumhos on the car. For a V- rated tire, they’re rather quiet, have very good traction including light to medium snow.
As an aside, the best mileage out of any tires I’ve had on any car were the Kelly Charger GTs that I had on my Dodge Lancer ES turbo. The tires were rated for 40K miles, I managed to get 65K out of them with a judicious rotation schedule and meticulous pressure monitoring. It also helped that I lived in Georgia at the time and the condition of the roads are nowhere near as bad as my midwestern home. I’m sure a couple of good Michigan pot holes would have killed those tires ahead of their time…
How about oldest tire in service. We bought a Croft trailer in 1993 like the one being discussed here::
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f54/painting-a-newly-acquired-croft-fg-trailer-57156.html
Without a thought Ie hooked it up to the Eurovan and proceeded to tour the West.
The trailer had a flat in San Diego so we took it to a tire store. The tire fellow said tthe tires were date coded 1956, the oldest he had seen.
My Civic came with Firestone Affinitys. Mediocrity squared. At 45,000 miles, minus sitting out three winters while the snow tires were on, they’re down to a few thousandths above the wear bars. I’ve had some frightening hydroplaning recently, and would like to replace them with tires that inspire a bit more confidence in the turns.
2016 Camry SE with Bridgestone Turanzas. They’re OK- 26K miles, about 1/2 worn. 2017 Charget R/T with Goodyear F1 Eagles. About 20K miles, already starting to look at replacements. They’re performance tires, and I didn’t expect great wear. By the same token, it’s amazing how expensive tires get when you get into the 20″ range.
Best OEM tires I’ve had were Michelin Harmony’s on a ’01 Grand Marquis. They logged about 70K miles, replaced them with Michelin Primacy’s. Quieter, better riding tire, worked better in the rain. Replaced the Primacy’s with another set- they were still on the car when I sold it with 210K miles on it.
80k OEM tires on our ’02 Envoy. They were Michelin.
60K on the original Goodyear Wrangler ATS’ on my 2004 Dodge Ram 1500. I replaced them with another set that went almost 70K and now I’m on the third set. I’m pretty happy with them considering its a 4X4 truck that gets used like a truck.
BTW The truck is at 150K now, in great shape, and still on its original battery.
I have only two experiences with OEM tires: on my Beretta and on my first Matrix. Neither experience was great. The Eagle GS-As on the Beretta and whatever the hell was on the Matrix were both terrible in snow. Upgrading tires made both cars handle a lot better in bad weather.
I had Continental ContiTracks (or something like that) on a Cobalt. I found they wore out before 40K miles. Only replaced two tires before I switched cars.
Like many other comments, I replaced poor tires with Michelins. In retrospect, I should have kept those wheels after I had an accident and put them on my wife’s car. They were still in great shape.
I will always pay a bit more and get Michelins.
Thanks everyone, this has helped put my experiences in a better context.
Recently the VW dealer shot me a price on a set of Michelins. His statement was those particular ones were good for five years; if I wore them out in that time, I’d be happy. But he also said if they went past five years, they would harden and quickly lose traction. Similar recently happened on my father-in-law’s Grand Marquis at around 40k miles.
Overall, it’s reassuring to hear about the general good experiences with Michelin.
Thinking about it, our ’01 Taurus had Continental’s on it when we purchased it with 19,000 miles, so these were the originals. The first one shot craps at just under 40k due to separation. I have no clue what I put on it after that!
The only time I was disappointed in Michelins was with a ’99 Honda Accord EX. The OEM tires were Michelin X “Green.” They were noisy, slippery in wet conditions (kiss of death in Oregon), and rode hard. Replaced them with Bridgestone Potenzas long before they were worn out.
My ’15 RAM 2500 4×4 Tradesman came with Firestone Transforce tires, which were horrible for my use case. Those things would get you stuck on flat grass that was slightly wet. I’m sure they were fine as transport truck tires. They went away after only 500 miles, replaced with Cooper Zeons. Attached pic is from right after I got the truck.
The Holden/SS came with Bridgestone Potenza RE050 summer tires, and I put maybe 12K on them before getting my square setup wheels and tires (Continental DWS06). They still have a good bit of tread left, and I stick ’em back on when I autox to save the Contis. Folks on the SS forum have gotten maybe 25-30K out of the RE050s, but it’s far more common to see folks replacing them at 10-15K (usually the rears go first for some reason).
I’ve been running Michelin all-seasons on Beth’s Routan, and I think we got around 50K out of the last set.
Here’s the RAM after wheels, tires and some other customizing (and you’d be correct in pointing out that they don’t offer a standard cab, long-bed Power Wagon, but I’d argue mine is closer in spirit to the original than the tarted up thing they sell today!).
Great job on the truck! The cat, however, is not intimidated.
In 2015 or so I acquired a 2004 Z06 from the original owner. The original Goodyear F1 Supercar tires were on the back… After more than 200k miles.
They were barely even worn and there was no damage; the original owner basically only ever turtled around and used the car as a highway commuter up and down California. They were also inflated at over 50 PSI (I think about twice the correct pressure.) The funny thing is the front tires WERE replaced, apparently several times over, but never the rears.
The ancient rubber was like an oil slick; totally heat-cycled out. No hope of adhering the car to the road at even quarter-throttle, and pretty dangerous. In four months I basically destroyed a set of Nitto NT05s, then someone rear ended and totaled the car.
We got 65k out of the Michelins on our 08 Envoy and they still had a little tread left. My sister’s first husband had an 87 2wd Mitsubishi truck that he bought new and drove 140 miles round trip to work and back for 6 years. He changed the oem tires at 110k and the brake pads at 125k.
My Jetta wagon came with Bridgestone Turanza EL400s. These have a wear rating of 300.
They were great the first couple winters. I could hardly provoke the traction control if I tried. I wondered why all the reviews on Tirerack were so bad.
Now that the car is 4 years old, with 33,500 on the clock, the tires are pretty greasy in ice and snow and the traction control light has lit up on several occasions, without my trying to get it to light.
I discovered how sensitive VW’s tire pressure monitoring system is last summer. (doesn’t use air pressure sensors in the wheels, but the tire rotation speed sensors in the ABS system to deduce when a tire is soft) Had a puncture in the right front. The VW dealer repaired it, free. Over the last few months, I have noticed a rumble in the front of the car at high speed. Don’t know if it’s the repaired tire making the noise, or if the Bridgestones are going off the way the OEM Firestones did on my Civic (by 40K the Civic was so noisy I thought I had a bad wheel bearing)
The noise and the lack of traction says get new skins, but at the 30K service, all the tires still had 7/32″ of tread. I’m a notorious tightwad and hate to throw away tires with so much tread.
That brings up the second issue, which I have kicked around on FB a bit: do I put new skins on the cheap steelies with their plastic wheel covers, or do I go for a set of alloy wheels?
The wheels I like best are OEM VW Biolines, but, being an OEM wheel, they are sold as replacement parts, rather than accessories. $415 each. The cheapest I have found on line are a bit under $300 and the ads don’t state how much the shipping is unless I buy them. I don’t want aftermarket wheels as, while the bolt circle is correct, the offset and hub bore are wrong. There are knockoff wheels that look exactly like the OEM wheels, including the hub bore and offset, but I don’t quite trust knockoffs from an unknown foundry. There are tons of “refurbished” OEM wheels on eBay, but who knows what is hiding under the fresh coat of silver paint? There are also some used OEM wheels on eBay, but seems no-one can park anymore as most of the wheels are scuffed and chipped up.
Additionally, losing an alloy wheel to a pothole around here would be a more traumatic experience for my checkbook than replacing a steelie.
So, there you have it. Answers to your questions, and my double barrelled dilemma.
I get your dilemma on the wheels. I have steelies/plastic caps on the Sedona and they are not lovely. I don’t like the 16 inch alloys they used on my LX model, so that’s OK. They did use, however, a very attractive alloy wheel on the nicer EX trim, but they are 17 inchers. I have toyed with scouring local wrecking yards for a set to use with some good summer tires. The problem is that tne Sedona EX seems to have made up about 2% of production, so they are not at all common. Being 6 lug wheels other alternatives are not exactly common.
I noticed that my steelies are starting to rust a bit so I plan to paint them this summer. Now to decide on the color that will peek out from behind those plastic covers . . .
I have toyed with scouring local wrecking yards for a set to use with some good summer tires. The problem is that tne Sedona EX seems to have made up about 2% of production, so they are not at all common.
And if you did find a set in the junkyard, one or two will probably have damage from a curb on them. The Bioline was the stock wheel on some years of Jetta TDI. As the older TDIs are being crushed, and other Jettas meet an untimely end, there are plenty of Biolines around. There are some full sets of 4 on eBay, for about $360, including shipping, for the set, vs over 400 each for new ones.
This set looked real promising, until I used the magnifier utility on eBay’s site. Sure enough, two of the wheels have curb rash on them. Someone else bought them.
When I have more time I’ll dig out and post a picture I took at one of the area Pick-N-Pulls. They had pallets upon pallets of VW wheels as well as a line up of Jetta Wagons in the processing area. Many of the pallets were strapped down and stocked 2 high in the processing area. However by the door back to the cashier they had two pallets of different styles and another 4 pallets out a bit of a distance.
I just replaced the OEM Goodyear Assurance tires on my 2013 Civic at 80,000 miles with 3/16 tread remaining. The Goodyears had a 65,000 mile warranty. I replaced them with Michelin Defenders with an 80,000 mile warranty. I’m hoping to get 100,000 miles out of them based on the mileage I got out of the OEM tires. I think I got the good mileage because of how light the Civic is.
I am amazed at the mileages many of you are talking about, from any tire. I have never got more than about 25K useful miles out of a tyre, with the exception of boat-buffer split rim ones on a Nissan Patrol, which in 80,00miles never wore – or gripped. Or stayed up (so many punctures).
Australia has lots and lots of coarse chip bitumen surfaces (not sure why). They are very noisy, and have been the downfall of many an import as a touring car, German cars being by far the worst for transmitted roar. Falcodores engineered here were well-adapted to the compliances needed to quieten it. (It would be interesting to hear from Ed Stembridge if he notices his Commodore as being notably low in road noise on US surfaces). I say all this because maybe those surfaces are much harder on tyres here. I wonder if the Aussies here get similar to me?
Ofcourse, there’s the usage type too. The Odyssey, a heavy car that was always full, always suburban grinding, lots of parking, never got more than about 15-18K miles out of a rotated set of 205-16’s.
I can’t hear the road noise ‘cause I leave the exhaust in Performance mode all the time! (c:
Okay, so I do put it in Tour mode when the wife is along, and find it to be reasonably quiet on good roads – it’s definitely the quietest of our three vehicles, as the Routan has a lot of A-pillar wind noise above 45mph or so. We don’t really have many good roads here in the frost-heaved Midwest, though. Many of our rural County and Township roads are “tar and chip” surfaces, which are definitely noisier than paved asphalt.
My, that was quick! Thanks! Here, a lot of our actual freeways and two-way main country roads are coarse chip surfaced.
Bridgestone Ecopia EP150s (UTQG of 380) in 185/55-15 on the front of my car lasted 9,000 miles before they got scary in the rain. The rear tires, at 195/55-15 still look new at 25K. There are now Firestone Champion Fuel Fighter (UTQG of 600) on the front, and they’re doing pretty well. I guess it’s problematic to dump 327 lb/ft to the pavement through such skinny little tires!
My Elantra was liberated of its Optimo H426 tires a few weeks ago at 26,000 miles. They weren’t quite down to the markers, but I had gotten a little scared of them. The Michelin X-Tours from Sam’s Club that replaced them are much better. The H426 has lots of sipes that don’t go all the way through the tread blocks, so it’s designed to get worse in the rain as it wears. Not a big fan.
I did 70,000 miles on the OEM Yokohama Geolanders that came with my 2009 Forester. They were rotated regularly and I have never lived anywhere that gets a lot of rain. I know there are better tires out there, but the Geos were quiet, comfy, long-lasting, and I get good mileage, so I replaced them with the same.
I got right at 100,000 from the OEM Geolanders on a 2011 Forester. I liked them well enough that I replaced them with an identical set. That second set still looked new at 40,000 when I traded them on a third set attached to a 2018 Forester.
I think tire MFGs plays marketing tricks for such high mileage warrant. All tires I have owned have not be able to go beyond 40k miles, the so-call all season high performance tires are even worse, they can go beyond 30k miles. At this time, I am dealing with Honda and Continental to get pro rata warranty on the OEM Tire warranty on new vehicle. Honda says it does not warrant the tires, Continental insists the 80k miles warranty only applies to replacement tires, not to new vehicle tires. The vehicle is 2015 Honda Odyssey, the tires are Proconticontac. The treads are almost gone after 37k miles in less than 3 years.
My only new car had 225/60R18 GY Assurances (NOT the current “ComforTread” model)…while I found them all-around lousy, they wore like iron and had (just) legal tread with about 65,000 miles. (The car had 89K, but some of that was on snow tires.)
My work truck went 160,000 miles on the original rear tires: Bridgestone M726, size 295/75R22.5H, and my current work truck has about 1/3 tread remaining with 105,000. (But I expect that’s not what you meant…)