I forgot how expensive this career can be

I know! I just spent 18 bucks on a chicken fried steak and coffee at the Ponderosa in Portland!

 

I hate Michelins. Bridgestones are much better

 

It's so funny how many different opinions there are about tires. One guy claims xxxx brand is utter crap while another swears by them. If the major brands honored their warranties I'd more inclined to spend the extra money on them but after hearing/reading countless stories of the opposite I refuse to do it. Not to mention the added expense from the damge done by poor shop work.

I had a cheap set of steers develop some unusual rivering and depression wear patterns along the inside groove while the adjacent ones are perfectly fine (except the very outer edge due to bad toe alignment I believe). So many people have blamed it on cheap China tires. Meanwhile Goodyear had a whole big thing years ago with a particular tire they sold to hundreds of thousands of consumers and they refused to warranty them!

If these manufacturers actually stood by their products the high price would certainly make it worth the gamble for me.

Also, the cheap steer tires I have now were put on when I had both kingpins installed (brass bushing style), new shocks and a 3 axle alignment done on an electronic rack all at the same time. Now the outer edges are toasted and the tires will have to be trashed prematurely. I'm stuck paying the bill. If those were expensive Michelins it would be hurting my wallet even more. Granted this isn't a tire manufacturer issue but poor mechanics are to blame for the early demise of tires as well. So many factors to consider.

 

Firestone 591s good too for ~900

 

Thanks but I doubt I'd ever put a Firestone/Bridgestone on my steer axle. See link above. Ironically, it seems they didn't learn their lesson after the major killer in the 90's because they had another one about 10 years later. To each is own, but not for me.

Firestone recalls 6.5 million SUV tires - Aug. 9, 2000

 

...and apparently they've been at this longer than the 90's. Looks like they did something similar in 1978 and got caught trying to hide it. Scumbags.

Firestone Recalls Millions of Tires

 

Not to mention road hazards. 20 yrs ago, on a set of Chinese Drives,

 

Indeed. Road hazards are another wallet/tire killer. Good point.

 

No #### I didn't realize that

 

Not to mention road hazards. 20 yrs ago, on a set of Chinese Drives, you could almost expect 1 to be out of round. They’ve gotten better, while I’ve seen more out of round Bridgestones and Kelly’s. There’s no doubt Domestics are better. I haul rubber sometimes to Bridgestone and Cooper. They use premium Royelene rubber. Big blocks of yellowish rubber. Best quality from what they tell me Chinese quality control is suspect. Things like missing gum layers. Have to stick with major names, from what I see. Double Coin Ironman, Ling Long, Samson. Though they’re basically all the same. Made at the same Factories. They must take best care of their biggest Customers when it comes to quality control. Best set of Drives, or steers I ever had were Continentals. Just as good, if not better than Bridgestones. Like oil preferences, it’s all opinions and previous experience.