Are they talking about same tire? Tirerack reviews

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
May 4, 2003
Messages
6,619
Location
southeast US
OK, I had goodyear integrity as OEM in my corolla. They were awful with marginal traction and lasted only 25000 miles. So far, most reviews on Tirerack confirm that. Especially, Prius drivers had the worst horror stories about integrities. But wait, if you search by a car brand or car model you will learn that OEM goodyear integrity on Honda Pilot is the best tire ever.
Typical examples:

"I was surprised to see that I could not enter over 100,000 miles. I have traveled 120,000 on the factory installed Integrities and still have plenty of tread. Its mostly highway but pretty incredible. Tires are rotated every 10,000."

"These tires are one of the best set of tires I have ever owned. Plan to replace this week with the same brand. We take long trips to the cabin in Northern Wisconsin, and not to worry with sudden snow storms or ice/snow covered roads. I fell I received my money worth at 71,000 miles, and a new set of the same will be purchased this week."

"Have driven the Honda Pilot over 70,000 miles with the original tires."

How is it possible?
Are we talking about same tire but different size or different tire altogether but same name?
 
These people have no experience with good tires. I always ask people who make claims about this kind of stuff..."what was your ~last~ tire (or car)"?
 
It does happen sometimes that for different sizes a manufacturer could use slightly different type of rubber.

The only other thing I can think of is that the Prius may be generally tougher on tires. A Prius uses rather narrow tires in order to minimize rolling resistance (and improve mpg). I'm guessing that results in a rather narrow contact patch that causes quicker wear.

I've read somewhere that original Prius required XL-rated tires because it was a rather heavy car for its size and for the size tires that it used. The Integrity does not appear to be an XL-rated tire. However, it looks like the Integrity is an OEM tire on the current generation of Prius, so I guess the XL-rating is no longer mandated.
 
I think location has something to do with it too. driving on winding mountain roads every day is going to wear tires faster then driving on the rolling hills of the great plains.
 
Well, I always get 80k mile tires on our Taurus. The last set were Michelins. THey come with a 100k mile warranty. So far, all tires last far less than they claim and I end up getting deep discounts (because of proration) and hence, never have to pay regular retail prices for tires....
 
The OEM Interitys on my mom's Camry were terrible. They were bald at 25k miles. They squealed frequently during their last half of life.
 
Last edited:
OEM tires can vary quite a bit in tread design and/or other design characteristics from size to size or even the same size if two different manufacturers have a specific tire made for their car even if the same size as another manufacturer.
 
The specs for OE tires are set by the vehicle manufacturer. So the tires on your Corolla are quite different than the specs for the Honda Pilot. I'm not talking just about size, I'm talking performance characterisitics like treadwear, traction, etc. - and the specs are specific to the vehicle. Even a Toyota Camry will be different than a Toyota Corolla (again, not just size.)

Vehicle manufacturers are typically more interested in a tire's rolling resistance and they can get better RR by sacrificing treadwear or traction (or both).

I am finding that many traction complaints (and they are usually wet traction complaints) are coming from Japanese vehicles. I suspect this is because the traction tests are taking place in Japan and the surface they are testing on is different than the surface that would be used for testing in the US. The net result is that there are some road surfaces in the US where these tires get poor traction (especially wet traction).

Add to this that some vehicles - because of horsepower or alignment settings, etc. - are not particularly nice to tires.

Bottomline: You will see quite different results for what appears to be the same tire - and it all depends on what the vehicle manufacturer specifies. And since the vehicle manufacturer is rarely blamed for the shortcoming of the tire, there is not a good amount of negative feedback regarding the vehicle manufacturer's specs (except to the tire manufacturer, and he is pretty much in the position of either giving what the vehicle wants or not - and if he doesn't another tire manufacturer will!) and the vehicle manufacturer's tire specs do not get revised to reflect real world experience.

On the other hand, tires designed for the replacement market are designed by the tire manufacturer and typically they are designed for good wear and at least a reasonable amount of traction with very little emphasis on rolling resistance.

To make matters worse, when a vehicle manufacturer no longer uses a particular tire for his vehicle, the tire manufacturer will redesign the tire to their own internal specs. The result is a completely different tire than what originally came on the car.


Hopefully this clears up the issue for you.
 
CapriRacer,
This is a great post. Thanks for the clarification.
Well, this just means that the tirerack reviews are useless, except if one looks by specific car model.

BTW, in the past, I would buy tires based on glowing tirerack or CR reviews only to find a big disappointment for one reason or another. Maybe I should just forget about performance tires and go for a no brand all-season tire.
 
Integrity on the Prius aren't the worst, the Invicta that came with my 95 Corolla was a nightmare. a 40mph wind can blow your car 1 lane over (literally happened to me on the bay bridge).

I still think it is the mentality of what people expect from the tire based on the car they drive and the way they drive. My co-worker has nothing but good thing to say about Michellin X-Radial (those 80k mile warranty tires) and I have nothing good to say about it after trying it out on his car. My dad hated the Kumho Solus KH-16 I got him because it "grip too much" and makes the car uncomfortable. He was used to the Continental CH-92 OEM junk that came with the car. It always lose traction when starting from a red light on mildly wet pavement.

Go figure.
 
Some of the same tire models have different tread patterns. As an example. The Cooper CS4. The "T" rated has two water channels. The "H" rated has three water channels.
 
I also dislike the Integrity's on my wifes RX-300 but she loves them. I must say the they are waring like iron at 65,000. I don't like them because they corner like mush and have little traction in the slippery stuff. But, they are still very quiet and ride really nice. The tires on the RX are 225-70-16, one size down from the PILOT's standard size 235-70-16. I've been waiting for Kumho Solus KR-21 on backorder from either thetirerack or treadepot.com. Great price and great reviews.
 
Alot people complain about the RSA they put on the civic but I personally haven't had a problem with them. I'm at 38k right now with about 7/32 of treadwear left. From the reviews people say they only got about 20 to 25k. Now they are pretty road noisey. As far as grip...well it's a civic I don't think it would have enough power to spin the tires if they were made out of butter.
 
I got 2 Firestone Affinitys almost new for guiveaway price and they are darn good, despite the rancid rewiews on TR.
 
I have the Firestone Affinitys on my 09 Toyota corolla. I hate these tires. Very hard rubber. And had an out of round tire on the car. I want some Mich primacys or Yoka yk520
 
Well said CapriRacer. The best thing that you can do with the tires on any new vehicle is take them off and sell them, and then install tires that meet your driving needs and desires.
 
Or better yet, do what my uncle has always done, don't take delivery of your new car until they put on the tires of YOUR choice. He has never had a dealer refuse this request and no additional expense was incurred.
 
Sometimes I read the reviews and I think to myself that some of the reviews are not real "reviews" but just someone else's agenda to push, or they just don't have anything better to do........

I bought a set of BF Goodrich Traction T/A 's based on my research at the Tire Rack. All I can say is that is a good tire. I'm thinking about getting Fireston's as my next set, base on Tire Rack reviews. Seeing how Goodyear has been fighting with their unions the last few years, I just think it is to risky to buy one of their products.
 
The reviews ar Rirerack are nice to have, but one needs to make sure that a large enough sample of similar vehicles, driving area and driving style are available for comparision. When I look at truck tires I only pay attention to 3/4 ton and larger vehicles, and prefer diesel reviews as they seem harder on tires.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top