Bridgestone Alenza A/S 02

[stevejones]

That's quite a mouthful when they could've just named them Bridgestone Junk. OK, so we'll stick to a long name: how about Bridgestone DitchFinder 365?

I've never, ever, had an OEM tire this bad - they came stock on the wife's '23 Equinox AWD. I bet if I got the FWD version, it'd have come with better tires - but the GM engineers said screw it, it's AWD so we can put these DitchFinders on there and the AWD will save 'em. The little 1.5 spins them in the rain with just a goose of the throttle. They're noisy like a pack of howling coyotes going down the road, to add insult to injury.

I thought it was just me, so I looked up reviews on TireRack: 3/5 stars and a Recommend of "3.4 Poor". I don't want to get the call from my wife this winter that she needs help. I bought AWD so this wouldn't be an issue.

Ordered a set of Cross Climate 2's. DitchFinders are gone at 20K. Never bought a replacement set of Bridgestones, now never will.

End rant. Ask me what I really think.

 

[Quattro Pete]

I've never, ever, had an OEM tire this bad - they came stock on the wife's '23 Equinox AWD. I bet if I got the FWD version, it'd have come with better tires - but the GM engineers said screw it, it's AWD so we can put these DitchFinders on there and the AWD will save 'em. The little 1.5 spins them in the rain with just a goose of the throttle. They're noisy like a pack of howling coyotes going down the road, to add insult to injury.

It's not just a GM thing either. Wife's NX350 came with them as well. I was going to ditch them immediately and put on something like CC2, but she said no, let's wait and see how they do. I thought after the first sign of snow she'd be begging me to get rid of the Bridgestones, but strangely, she said they're fine. Go figure. My guess is she hasn't really had to deal with more serious snow yet - last winter we didn't get much snow in general. They are OK in the dry and wet. I don't notice much noise either, maybe due to the car's decent sound deadening.

 

[Rand]

Blame the car manufacturer they spec'ed the tires.
they want that .2mpg cafe credit.

 

[camrydriver111]

I've never, ever, had an OEM tire this bad - they came stock on the wife's '23 Equinox AWD. I bet if I got the FWD version, it'd have come with better tires - but the GM engineers said screw it, it's AWD so we can put these DitchFinders on there and the AWD will save 'em.

Interesting. Bridgestone tires are not cheap though.

If you wanted to buy Alenza as a replacement, they are among the most expensive tires.

When the OEM wants to cheap out they usually go with something like Toyo with 300 treadwear rating. I was shocked when I saw those as OE on Toyota.

 

[Rand]

In 2024 some toyos cost more than BFG ATs etc.

 

[f355spider]

This is Why You Should NOT Fit OE Tires To Your Car!​

 

[edyvw]

That's quite a mouthful when they could've just named them Bridgestone Junk. OK, so we'll stick to a long name: how about Bridgestone DitchFinder 365?

I've never, ever, had an OEM tire this bad - they came stock on the wife's '23 Equinox AWD. I bet if I got the FWD version, it'd have come with better tires - but the GM engineers said screw it, it's AWD so we can put these DitchFinders on there and the AWD will save 'em. The little 1.5 spins them in the rain with just a goose of the throttle. They're noisy like a pack of howling coyotes going down the road, to add insult to injury.

I thought it was just me, so I looked up reviews on TireRack: 3/5 stars and a Recommend of "3.4 Poor". I don't want to get the call from my wife this winter that she needs help. I bought AWD so this wouldn't be an issue.

Ordered a set of Cross Climate 2's. DitchFinders are gone at 20K. Never bought a replacement set of Bridgestones, now never will.

End rant. Ask me what I really think.

Blame GM. Bridgestone or any other manufacturer will deliver what the manufacturer wants! Pirelli was delivering Scorpion model to pretty much all manufacturers for their SUV's. However, for aftermarket sales, they offered the Plus version, which is the same model and design but a compound that is unique to Pirelli. It was drastic difference.
It is an endless pursuit of an mpg rating. If it gets 1mpg more by the EPA, it is worth it. It looks good on the sticker, helps them with CAFE, etc.

 

[stevejones]

I blame them both, but mostly Bridgestone. It's their name on the sidewall of a craptastic tire. Evidently they have no concern about their brand image; so in kind, I will have no concern for it as well.

 

[edyvw]

I blame them both, but mostly Bridgestone. It's their name on the sidewall of a craptastic tire. Evidently they have no concern about their brand image; so in kind, I will have no concern for it as well.

Again, it is GM, and GM is not the only one who does this. ALL manufacturers have their own demands. Bridgestone is in the business of selling tires. When Bridgestone signs a contract, it is not only for one model but multiple models. It is a huge amount of money.
In the end, GM and ONLY GM decide what goes on in the vehicle. The same goes for every other manufacturer, and GM is definitely not the only one that puts crappy tires made by top-tier manufacturers.

 

[skyactiv]

@stevejones, Instead of telling us about the tires, please let GM know your thoughts on the OE tires. I have an appointment to get new Bridgestone Potenza Sport AS tires on my VW tomorrow at Costco. More to that later.

 

[meep]

I’ve never heard of a good version of a Bridgestone when oem. I’ve ridden some bad ones. But replacement Bridgestones have been very good in most cases. They do better on heavier vehicles or where the car doesn’t have too large a tire. They optimize well with weight over them. I’ll choose Bridgestone over Goodyear almost any day of the week. From there it depends on the application. I tend to rotate between them, Michelin and continental, with an honorable mention to Yokohama.

 

[michaelluscher]

I remember a time in history when every Toyota/Lexus product with a "performance wheel/tire" setup came with these God awful Bridgestone Turanza EL42/400
They did nothing well, and wore out fast
I then drove a E90 with their aftermarket "Driveguard" retrofit runflats, they also sucked

I believe Bridgestone probably makes a decent tire, I've just yet to drive it
Back to your point, most if not all factory tires suck
Your's couldn't have been worse than the Pirelli P Zero Nero RFTs that came on a '17 CTS we had, ruined the entire car
I've had bad factory Goodyears, Bridgestone/Firestone, Continentals, Yokohamas, and some marginal Michelins

When you've had enough, go get something you'll like better

 

[edyvw]

I remember a time in history when every Toyota/Lexus product with a "performance wheel/tire" setup came with these God awful Bridgestone Turanza EL42/400
They did nothing well, and wore out fast
I then drove a E90 with their aftermarket "Driveguard" retrofit runflats, they also sucked

I believe Bridgestone probably makes a decent tire, I've just yet to drive it
Back to your point, most if not all factory tires suck
Your's couldn't have been worse than the Pirelli P Zero Nero RFTs that came on a '17 CTS we had, ruined the entire car
I've had bad factory Goodyears, Bridgestone/Firestone, Continentals, Yokohamas, and some marginal Michelins

When you've had enough, go get something you'll like better

Your examples are really off the target.
As you stated, OE tire is always problematic, unless we are talking supercars.
DriveGuards were not made for E90. They are used by BMW dealerships to seel it and it was generally acceptable choice by unsuspecting buyer of aftermarket RFT tires.
It is a Grand touring tire on a performance sedan whose suspension exceeds tire performance. They are RFT, a generally OK offering for aftermarket RFT aimed mostly at people who want to replace their regular tires with RFT. They were OK performance-wise, just OK. It's better than OE tires, though. I actually once used them on track on BMW, and they were surprisingly OK (all things considered).
Bridgestone makes all kind of tires, some are mediocre, some OK, and some exceptional (Potenza RE71, Potenza SPort, WS90 REVO 3). But, one thing about Bridgestone (and it is not my favorite brand, by any means) is that I have never had issues with the overall quality, like hard-to-balance, etc.

 

[nthach]

I told a friend you have Prius tires on your Forester, the Bridgestone Ecopia EP422. Toyota commissioned Bridgestone to design a tire for the 3rd gen Prius refresh, as well as the laterals in that family(Prius V/C), and the current gen 5 model uses them. She immediately started driving like a grandma until she had to get new tires.

I’m meh on Bridgestone but they can make some good tires. Airbus/Boeing jets and New Flyer buses per customer spec come with Bridgestone from the factory. BMW and Ferrari also loves their ‘stones.

 

[stevejones]

Again, it is GM, and GM is not the only one who does this. ALL manufacturers have their own demands. Bridgestone is in the business of selling tires. When Bridgestone signs a contract, it is not only for one model but multiple models. It is a huge amount of money.
In the end, GM and ONLY GM decide what goes on in the vehicle. The same goes for every other manufacturer, and GM is definitely not the only one that puts crappy tires made by top-tier manufacturers.

Again, Bridgestone bent the knee. Nobody held a gun to their head.

 

[MParr]

Our 2019 Tiguan came with Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 Plus tires. They were horrible. Hard, slick, and noisy.

 

[CapriRacer]

Again, Bridgestone bent the knee. Nobody held a gun to their head.

Ah ...... Mmmmmm ........ Not exactly.

Ya' see, the way this works is that the OEM's have a short list of suppliers - and the carrot they use is lots of profitable volume. OEM's buy millions of tires and while they get a good price, the tire manufacturer's couldn't get a better setup as far as cost of production and delivery is concerned.

But there is a price to be paid. The tire manufacturers have to design and deliver a product that meets the OEM's specs - or they deliver nothing at all. If a tire manufacturer refuses to participate in a program, they get quickly decertified and someone else gets those profitable sales. Tire manufacturers just can't justify to their stockholders refusing profitable business. This means that even though it will hurt their reputation a bit, they can't refuse to do it.

The good news is that consumers seem not to care very much. The hit tire manufacturers get by supplying poor performing tires to OEM's seems more than offset by the sheer volume of people repeat buying the OEM tire after the original set wears out. As Agent J said: "A person is smart, but people are dumb!".

I go into more detail here: Barry's Tire Tech: OE Tires

 

[edyvw]

Again, Bridgestone bent the knee. Nobody held a gun to their head.

Business in the business of making money. Shame on them.

 

[skyactiv]

I just had Bridgestone Potenza Sport AS tires installed at Costco. I'm driving my wife's Audi until I replace the failing dual-mass flywheel since I'm closer to work. She didn't want the summer tires on my VW because we can get snow at this point so she ordered the Bridgestones without my input. I would have got Pirelli P Zero AS Plus 3's myself or the Michelin Pilot Sport all season 4 if they had to come from Costco.

I can't give much on the driving impression yet as they were just installed. The Bridgestones have a lot of mold release on them. I don't like the green valve stem caps Costco put on. They put the lug nut caps in a bag and told me to come back after 75 miles to retorque the wheels and they'd reinstall them. I checked the wheels when I got home and put them back on.

Oddly, these tires have a 3 ply sidewall which seems very rare on a tire this size.

 

[Dr_Dr3i]

My '22 RAM came with Bridgestone Dueler H/L as OE tires. They have 28,260 miles on them now, rotated and balanced about every 5-6k miles. No real complaints, they ride quiet, comfy but not too soft and they're wearing evenly. I tow a 4500lbs boat-trailer combo and no issues handling the extra weight. They've handled two winters in the midwest and have performed flawlessly, though 4WD certainly helps.

Overall, I think they're perfectly fine, though when it comes time to replace them I will likely go Pirelli AS+3, Michelin Defenders, or some Contis.