OEM "Traction B" Bridgestone Insignia Tires

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I'm currently driving a Malibu rental car, and this car has the worst traction of anything I can ever remember driving. It understeers on dry pavement worse than any car with decent tires would on wet pavement. I actually thought the roads were slipperier in Houston, but then I looked at the tires and they're Bridstone Insignias with a "Traction B" rating. I find it ironic that a car manufacturer goes to the trouble of installing airbags, ABS, and traction control when they won't even spend $50 on tires. Is it possible to even buy aftermarket tires that are this bad? These things would be scary in an emergency situation. The only excuse I can think of is that these plastic tires must be good for mileage, but you'd think they could just recommend higher tires pressure on decent tires to get the same mileage.
 
If you are having trouble with understeer in dry conditions, then it might be just tire pressure. y experience with rental fleets is that they either do a good job or a horrible one - no in between.

Plus, understeer characteristics are dialed in by the vehicle manufacturer by their specs on spring rates, and sway bar sizing.

Thirdly, I'm pretty sure the Malibu didn't come with B/S Insignia's, but I'll have to check on that on Monday.

What year is the Malibu?
 
FWIW, My 04 Tacoma came with "B" traction rated Firestone Wilderness HT's. The size (205-75-15) is the only size at the website listed with the "B" rating. I've heard stories of this tire going 90k. I'll be lucky to get 40k (and I'm glad actually). OEM sucks.

The OEM tire bashing goes way back and I'm not trying to get started on it again, just offering my OEM tire experience.
 
I've looked up the chart and found the Birdgestone Insignia SE200 as OE on the Chevy Malibu in a P215/60R16 size. I stand corrected. BTW, this is the only fitment that GM lists for that design!
 
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If you are having trouble with understeer in dry conditions, then it might be just tire pressure. y experience with rental fleets is that they either do a good job or a horrible one - no in between.

Plus, understeer characteristics are dialed in by the vehicle manufacturer by their specs on spring rates, and sway bar sizing.

Thirdly, I'm pretty sure the Malibu didn't come with B/S Insignia's, but I'll have to check on that on Monday.

What year is the Malibu?




I believe it's an '06.

I'm really not complaining about the balance of the car. I'm sure it's prone to understeer at the limits regardless. I wouldn't expect that to change much unless different tires were installed on the back than the front. I was complaining more that the understeer happening before I'm even turning sharply, like driving on ice.

I didn't check the tire pressure due to lack of gauge, but they didn't feel (from driving and pressing on the sidewalls) like they were terribly over-or-underinflated. Years ago, I'd keep my tires around 35-40psi for fuel economy. Now I just stay close to the manufacturer's recommended values, usually in the 30-35psi range. On my Mazda3, I run 28psi to avoid wheel hop. With all the tires I've owned and ranges of pressures I've tried, nothing but winter driving conditions has caused my tires to have as little traction as these Bridgestones!
 
My car had Goodyear Integrity rated at 460 A B and they SUCKED too. Heck even Goodyear rated it a 6 out of 10 in the wet. I got BF Goodrich Traction TA's 44 AA A for less and they do EVERYTHING better and quieter.
 
It is not designed for better tire mileage. If you look at brigdstones site you will see that tire in that size was made just for the malibu. Blame GM. They had much to do with the specs.
 
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It is not designed for better tire mileage. If you look at brigdstones site you will see that tire in that size was made just for the malibu. Blame GM. They had much to do with the specs.




These tires are used as OEM for Toyota Corolla also. I guess that's GM's doing as well?
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It's a case of ________ OEM tires nothing more.
 
I know why the tire companies make these kinds of OEM tires. They automakers get them really cheap with huge orders. The tire manufacturers can sell them at a huge profit because some people go out of their way to get the same tire even if there are better ones at a lower price.

However - I got a chuckle out of reading some of the Tire Rack reviews on this particular tire. One guy said he's never buy a Bridgestone tire after his experience with the OE Insignia SE200 on his car. All it proves is that Bridgestone can make ________ with the aid of the beancounters at automakers. They also make some of the best tires on the market.
 
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[ If you look at brigdstones site you will see that tire in that size was made just for the malibu. Blame GM. They had much to do with the specs.




These tires are used as OEM for Toyota Corolla also. I guess that's GM's doing as well?
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It's a case of ________ OEM tires nothing more.


norseman, What part of "looking, seeing, tire in that size" didn't you understand? Yes, toyota ALSO specs a "B" traction tire in a different size in that tire line. The other tires in that line (other than those for gm and toyota have an "A" rating and a better milage rating. So we can only blame gm for this tire in this size. And yes, most/all car manufacturers do this to some extent on some but not all models.
 
The 185 65 R15 that come on the Toyota are also 380 BB. It is a c r a p tire. Bridgestone is not the only company to make a tire in the P215/60R16 size so does just about every other mfgr. Is GM also solely to blame for those? And what does that size have to do with the cr ap py traction of the bridgestone tire in question.
 
There is the infamous Bridgestone Potenza RE92 that's OE on so many high performance cars on the market. I guess it's relatively quiet and provides decent fuel economy. However - it's generally considered to be one of the poorer performing tires in its class and costs way more than its equivalents as a replacment tire. There are much better high-performance all-season radials available. I'm pretty sure the RE92 manages to depress test result numbers, but the fuel economy and lower lost to OEMs probably makes up for that.
 
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And what does that size have to do with the cr ap py traction of the bridgestone tire in question.


straight from gm gm can explain it better than I can. Read all 3 pages. Apparently you get a little bit worked up whenever anything bad is said about gm. At that point your ability to focus is severly lessened. Bridgestone makes "THAT SPECIFIC TIRE" just for gm. If you have anymore questions, talk to your dealer about your wifes malibu.
 
Well, oli, apparently you’ve got some type of neurosis that just because GM wants to be involved with testing tires they are going to use it has to be a bad thing. Again, Toyota uses the exact same tire for the Corolla. The only differance is it's a P185 65 R15 not a P215 60R16, but everything else about the tire is the same (tread pattern, the 380 BB rating, etc.) Is GM also responsible for this?? Just because GM extensively tests tires and shares that info with tire makers doesn’t mean anything more than they just want to make sure the tire is adequate for the job. I would hope every car company would do this. But, I guess just because GM does it, to you that must be a bad thing.
 
Norseman:

"....Toyota uses the exact same tire for the Corolla....."

I'm sorry, but I've dealt with both GM and Toyota for years, and they have quite different philosophies when it comes to specifying tires. I can guarrantee, these tires are different and SO different that I think a competitor tire of the same type on the same vehicles would be closer in performance than these 2 tires are - even though the only visible difference is the size.

You see, when you buy thousands and thousands of the same tire, you get to make the rules - and GM makes the rules and then some. There are tires out there right now that are quite unsatisfactory in some performance characteristic and GM knows about it and has decided not to change the tire because it would affect them in the area where they seem to think it is most important - Rolling Resistance.

You have to consider OEM tires to be unique creations of the vehicle manufacturer with some vehicle manufacturers having a lot to say about what they want.
 
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Norseman:
You see, when you buy thousands and thousands of the same tire, you get to make the rules - and GM makes the rules and then some. There are tires out there right now that are quite unsatisfactory in some performance characteristic and GM knows about it and has decided not to change the tire because it would affect them in the area where they seem to think it is most important - Rolling Resistance.

You have to consider OEM tires to be unique creations of the vehicle manufacturer with some vehicle manufacturers having a lot to say about what they want.



I look at different sized tires in the same model line, and think of how they can all have the same treadwear, traction, and temperature ratings when the applications they're used for can vary so much. Those are just numbers/letters that may only be crude approximations. I'm sure there are differences in construction and rubber compound, but that's not typically reflected in the UTQG. The different sizes of the Bridgestone Insignia do seem to have different specs.

BTW - when mentioning the Toyota Corolla, I'd note that the large majority of the current sales are from the New United Motor Manufacturing plant in Fremont, California. That's the joint venture between GM and Toyota.
 
I've driven a vehicle with these tires... Actually, a Corolla S... which has 195 65 R15. They are ok... but they could be better. On a heavier car, with more power and softer suspension, I can see why they are horrible. I wish more car companies spent some $$ on tires. I'm happy Jeep went to putting Goodyear Fortera HLs on all their Commanders and soon, the Grand Cherokees. Even the 300C comes with Goodyear Assurance Comfortreads... Now the Goodyear Integrity that comes on lower models.... that tire needs to be banned from being mounted from any vehicle. They are WORSE than the Insignias.
 
Since we're talking lousy OEm tires, my Continental Contitracs staid on my 07 Mariner for 800 miles. I switched to Firestone Destination A/Ts and have been smiling ever since. Yeah -- I said FIRESTONE on a FORD.
 
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I'm sure there are differences in construction and rubber compound, but that's not typically reflected in the UTQG.




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Ummm... Ok sure
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Use a better material, but keep the lower rating. Yep makes total sence to me!
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Norseman,

It's obvious we haven't convinced you.

Let's take a typical scenario:

A tire manufacturer has an abbreviated line of tires strictly for OE usage. Knowing that the OEM's are going to go after rolling resistance, and anyone who would be purchasing these tires is doing so because it is the same tire that came on their and the purchaser doesn't really care what the rating is, the tire manufacturer will assign the UTQG numbers conservatively and have one number to cover the entire line. That makes it easy when they go to publish their marketing booklets - these tires will be near the end of the book, and not highlighted at all, after all the folks that are interested in wear aren't going to pick an OE tire, so why bother trying to market the tire line.

Don't believe me? Go to any tire manufacturer's web site and find the tires that are rated 600 or 700 for tread wear - any OE tires there?

Go look at the OE tires. Notice that these tires are different in name or in some other way from the mainstream tires. Sometimes the difference in name is something like a suffix - like "ST" or "AS" or "SL". This should be a signal that OE tires are somehow different.

I realize this may be difficult to comprehend, but the vehicle manufacturer dictate what tires they install, just like they dictate the shape of their headlights and the rims.

And each one has its own peculiarities. Tire manufacturers aren't happy about it, but the OEM's buy a lot of tires, their delivery requirements are fairly constant and predictable, and it's pretty nice to set up a production line to produce one size and deliver that to one location every day for 3 years.

The downside, is that the OEM's name isn't on the sidewall and the tire manufacturer usually gets the blame if there is a problem.

Anyway, I hope we've convinced you. The important thing here is that OE tires are different and you have to be careful when assessing their characteristics.
 
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