Any cars come with GOOD tires from factory?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jan 7, 2009
Messages
2,690
Location
Rochester, MI, US, World
It seems to be a common opinion on here that most vehicles come with poor or substandard factory tires, especially when it comes to wet or snowy conditions. Are there any cars, in your personal experiences, that come with good factory tires? I'll start: our Fusion has the factory tires, and does quite well in the snow and rain. My wife lived off some awful, hilly, rutted, and often un-plowed dirt roads before we got married, and the car always did well in them. FWIW, the Fusion came with different tires on the '10 model. They were still Michelins, but with smaller tread blocks and smaller "gaps" between them. The tires on our '11 look chunkier.
 
People dont like the pirelli P6, but they let my saab be incrediby well controlled in 4" of unplowed snow.

My ZR2 came with BFG ATs as OE tires, tey were good.

The 94 previa came with Toyo A05 tires which I thought were really good. Still good tread at 77k when we swapped them due to age. Still have one at the spare.
 
Well, Cadillac CTS-V models come with Pilot Sport PS2s. Quite a few high-end performance cars use them as OE, in fact. As CapriRacer has noted, they're always tweaked in some way to suit the OEM's particular specifications, but they're still fundamentally a very good tire regardless.

As an aside, the Chevy Colorado / GMC Canyon with the off-road suspension package uses a Firestone Destination A/T as the factory spare. I never quite understood that one...
 
OUr 04 Wrangler came with Goodyear Wrangler RTS. They were done after only 39k miles. Got punctured easily and wet traction wasn't so hot.

Replaced with Michelins, which went 105k and were great in all conditions.

So in our case the factory tire sucked.
 
The factory Goodyears on my Cruze are pretty good in the dry and mediocre in the wet. I'm hoping to not test snow performance. I'd get another set since for 80% of my driving they're just fine. The last 20% they're acceptable, if not spectacular.

Ask Nick R about the factory Firestones on his Cruze. IIRC he's on the fence about them.

The factory Bridgestones on the Fit were awful. Loud, quick to wear out in less than 24k miles, and dangerous in the snow the once we drove them in a late-season snowstorm. The Continental DWS's that went on are a much better tire all around.
 
Most German cars come with decent tires. However runflats on BMWs are a poor decision from the driver/owners point of view. it was done to eliminate the spare and gain trunk space. Poor trade-off.
 
The original Continental ContiTouringContact tires on my 2002 Volvo S40 were dangerously dry rotted after only 4 years and needed to be replaced.
 
The best OEM tires I've come across (and I liked them so much I bought them again) have been the Michelin Cross Terrain SUV in the P235/65R17 size. It comes on the 2001-2006 Acura MDX. It's quiet and comfortable, has very good wet/snow traction, and looks to have decent wear as well, despite its 420 UTQG tread wear rating. Sold at the retail level, they have a 65,000 mile warranty, and I think we'll get close to that with the latest set we have on the car.
 
Originally Posted By: Russell
Most German cars come with decent tires. However runflats on BMWs are a poor decision from the driver/owners point of view. it was done to eliminate the spare and gain trunk space. Poor trade-off.


Says who? I may drive spirited, but with 300hp, Im not going to really put pedal to the metal too severely, and Im not into tracking.

I get my battery in a far more convenient spot than in the E9x, and still have peace of mind about running without a spare.

Not too bad of a tradeoff for a daily driver.
 
I have had a couple vehicles come with good tires OEM...

1988 Dodge Ram 50 Sport 4WD came with Yokohama Super Digger IV
2003 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab 4WD came with Michelin LTX M+S
2004 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab 4WD came with Michelin LTX M+S
2008 Chevy Equinox AWD came with Firestone Destination LE

Every other new vehicle I have had has come with [censored] for OE tires. All but one were Goodyear's as well. I am not listing the specific vehicles but here are the awful OE's I have had...

Goodyear Wrangle AT
Goodyear Wrangler RT/S
Goodyear Wrangler AT/S
Goodyear Wrangler ST
Goodyear Wrangler HP( hands down the WORST OE tire ever! )
Goodyear Integrity
Dunlop Grandtrek AT20

My current 2011 Jeep 4WD came with Firestone Affinity Touring tires. They give a decent ride and are ok on dry pavement but I have no idea about tread life nor bad weather. I am still trying to figure out why Jeep used pasenger car tires on a 4WD Jeep as well??? Just about everyone on the Jeep forums that has them say they stink. That is pretty much what it says on tire sites under reviews as well. They may turn out to be ok but I don't hold out much hope for that.

As a rule OE tires are JUNK! Once in a while you get a decent tire.
 
The latest Corvette Z06/ZR1s come from the factory with Michelin Pilot Cup tires, either standard, or as an option (as do some of the more 'race car for the street' Porschies
wink.gif
).
 
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
My current 2011 Jeep 4WD came with Firestone Affinity Touring tires. They give a decent ride and are ok on dry pavement but I have no idea about tread life nor bad weather. I am still trying to figure out why Jeep used pasenger car tires on a 4WD Jeep as well???


You must have the 215/60R17 size? The Patriots with 215/65R17s come with Goodyear Wrangler SR-As, which should be decent tires, depending on how much Jeep mucked around with the rubber formula.
 
Don't know if I'd call these good tires, but from recent past (I can't recall the names of the older tires from cars long ago, and they don't make them anymore anyway), these tires were acceptable, though not great:

- 2006 Toyota Sienna - Michelin Energy LX-4: Decent rain traction, but get slightly aggressive with your driving and all bets are off. Quiet at first, but they are now very noisy (and are practically done their life).

- 2003 Volkswagen Golf - Goodyear Eagle LS: Decent in the rain, while I can't rave about great performance, there wasn't much to complain about either. The set met their demise when there was a puncture in one tire, which happened during the last season I planned to use them, and I figured I wouldn't bother repairing it (on that car at that time, it would have seen only a couple of thousand miles through the summer).

One recent tire was downright dangerous in wet conditions, and hands down the worst OE tire I've ever used:

- 2002 Mazda Protege - Bridgestone Potenza RE92: Wow, these tires have a way of transforming a wet road surface into feeling like you are driving on sheer ice. Horrible, white knuckle experiences with these if driving on the freeway when it's wet out. Not to mention they were quite loud from day one. The winter set was actually quieter than these. They seem to have a horrible reputation, no matter what OE incarnation they came in. Hopefully they've been retired.

For my next new vehicle, I am seriously considering making a deal with the selling dealer to give me credit for the OE tires, and have them provide me the tires of my choice before I take delivery.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
My current 2011 Jeep 4WD came with Firestone Affinity Touring tires. They give a decent ride and are ok on dry pavement but I have no idea about tread life nor bad weather. I am still trying to figure out why Jeep used pasenger car tires on a 4WD Jeep as well???


You must have the 215/60R17 size? The Patriots with 215/65R17s come with Goodyear Wrangler SR-As, which should be decent tires, depending on how much Jeep mucked around with the rubber formula.


Yes I have the 215/60's. The Wrangler SRA's are trashed just as bad as the Firestones on the Patriot forum however. Maybe worse? They are a typical Gooodyear [censored] OEM tire. I would not have taken the Patriot I did if it had the SRA's. I will no longer buy a vehicle with Junkyears on it. The dealer has to swap them out or I walk. I have never had a good tire from Goodyear. I know they make a small handful that are ok but their OE tires are JUNK!
 
I have not had any that are good. The CrossTerrains on my Mariner were adequate, but not good-excellent. The Fortera HL Editions were OK on my Sport Trac, but were wearing fast. The most horrible were ContiTracs and Eagle RSAs (current). The RSAs were an OK tire back in '97 (came OE on my AWD Talon). I don't think they have changed much over the years. It's unfortunate that my OE RSAs seem to be wearing like bricks. After 12K of spirited driving, they are still at 10/32nds
frown.gif
.
 
OMG, not RSA's! Had those on a Neon RT and on my SRT. One of the most mediocre tires I have ever owned.

But they do wear well. I've even heard you can tiptoe around in the snow on them. But they stink for performance.

I can't recall a good OEM tire in the recent past on anything I've gotten.
 
Originally Posted By: weebl

For my next new vehicle, I am seriously considering making a deal with the selling dealer to give me credit for the OE tires, and have them provide me the tires of my choice before I take delivery.


What would the dealer do with them?

If it was a popular size... I guess they could slap them on a trade-in that they plan on re-selling.
 
The '97 Aerostar came on a nice set of Michelins which were good in all conditions and lasted 60K.
The '99 Accord came on a set of Michelins I liked well enough to replace with the same tire for the car's second set.
The Yoko Geolanders on the Forester are pretty okay, and are wearing well at 35K.
Most OEM tires on other than bargain basement cars are pretty decent.
 
Yes. My used 07 Acura MDX came with Michlin Latitude Tour HP that are new. They also were OEM. They are very $$$$ at $290/each on tirerack.com Consumer Reports has them top rated also.

Excellent tires.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top