What are the worst tires you've used?

[RedSpider]

If this thread goes on long enough every tire model every produced will get mentioned. Whether or not tires are good or bad can depend just as much on what vehicle they are going on as much as just the tire itself. I put RT43's on my sons Mazda and they were wonderful. I put them on my Nissan and they were rediculous, just awful. The CS5's I put on my wifes Mazda rode well but were among the noisiest tires I ever bought and were worn out at 40k miles. My friend put them on his Dodge about the same time and his were quiet as a mouse and still had tread at 60k miles.

The tires I had on my Spider might as well have been black lumps of licorice according to some people on the forums, they never stop talking about the horrible grip, how bad they handle, they'd be worn out at 20k miles, get rid of them asap or you'll die! .......I practically cried watching mine get replaced when it was time, those tires were among the best I ever had. I couldnt get those tires to slide in wet or dry, they rode so smooth and vibration free it was eerie, and had over 50k miles on them before they hit the wear bars. Go figure.

I like hearing everyone's opinions and experiences but take it all with a grain of salt, they wont necessary match your own with the same tire.

 

[Johnny248]

[QUOTE="I Not even that. They were horribly noisy even with 10-20k miles on them.
[/QUOTE]
They came with HL422's. I had a set of EP422's on our Kia and at least the set I had was soft and quiet. That's about all lol

 

[MattPersman]

Kumhos had a set on an 06 CRV I had those things either had an uncanny knack of finding every screw and nail on the road or they were the easier tire in the world to puncture. Chucked em for some Goodyear assurance which never had one leak or nail picked up. The oe Kumhos on my GLI are straight garbage too. Didn’t take long to put mich pilots on that car

Most oe tires are down right a joke.

Had nanking sp9 on my odyssey initially seemed useable especially for the $. But never were great on accel from a stop and after maybe 20k they were awful in the wet. Got prorated credit toward Mich defenders

 

[andrew_j]

Another terrible tire that was so frustrating was Remington brand. They did not have any wet traction and snow traction was poor. I kept them 10k and was able to sell for $75 for 4 and never bought value brand tires again ever.

 

[I<3oil]

They came with HL422's. I had a set of EP422's on our Kia and at least the set I had was soft and quiet. That's about all lol

Pretty sure ours had the HL422s as well from the factory

 

[Trav]

All these tires were almost new on the cars when I bought them, all were equally worthless. None of these or a Michelin tire (for other reasons) will ever be on any car I own.
Barum
Sumitomo
Kuhmo

 

[jeepman3071]

If this thread goes on long enough every tire model every produced will get mentioned. Whether or not tires are good or bad can depend just as much on what vehicle they are going on as much as just the tire itself.

This is a good point, especially now when it seems quality control for all brands is horrible across the board. I've had tires that were awful that other people loved, and driving in their vehicles it was clear I got a bum set. Like anything else these days, it seems the best you can do is buy tires with good reviews that have a good warranty.

 

[Fordiesel69]

Goodyear Assurance Comfortreads p225/60/R16. A touring tire.

-Bad gas mileage (2 full MPG less). (Honda owners reported even more loss)
-They were visually one size bigger even though stamped correctly.
-GPS always showed approx 2 MPH faster than the speedo.
-If two of us took a trip 6 hrs away my car would show 292 miles, the other car would be 306. at arrival. Makes sense with the larger size.
-Only lasted about 30k.

What made this issue so bad is on a friday night after work I went to price tires and the goodyear store let me know of such an unbelievable deal that ended that sat at noon. It was literally like half off any other tires I could find, and included mounting and balancing. The shop was too backed up and said they could squeeze me in if I dropped off the rims and tires off the car. If I had brought the car they would not have any time avail to do it.

So I dropped off the old tires on rims, signed all the papers, and went out of town in another vehicle. Low and behold the deal required you to purchase them on a goodyear credit card that few could qualify for. I got the call early in the morning that the application was not approved and there was nothing they could do. I would have thought for being young and having a mid / high 700 credit score would have been a slam dunk.

While 2.5 hours out of town (in ohio) I ended up stopping at another goodyear store and told them the story, with some struggle my father was able to qualify for the card after about 2 hrs of being on the phone with a goodyear rep (also denied at first). Ended up leaving with 4 tires cash and carry. I should have billed them for our time wasted on the phone. The delay ruined our trip, and that very next monday I went and got a credit report as I was concerned as to why I got denied. Yep mid / high 700s like I had assumed all long.

I took them home and mounted and balanced them myself as I had access to a shop.

 

[CheezWhiz]

goodyear wrangler ST. had an unreal number of flats. that said, goodyear makes some great tires like the duratrac.

 

[wings&wheels]

Well there were the Firestone 500's, one of which put the family car in the median when I was 10 or so...

Our 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee came with a set of OE Goodyears that were some of the worse AS tires I've ever had, and had no place on a AWD Jeep sold in the Northeast. Forgot which model they were. I replaced them with a more aggressive set of Coopers and loved them....they were more durable than the transmission, but that is a different story.

 

[VolkswagenFox21]

Bridgestone Turanza EL400-02 which was the OEM tire on the Jetta. It was fine in the beginning. At around 4 years old they really started to lose grip in the rain and slightly cool temperatures despite not being that worn out. Not a shocking experience, but extremely mediocre. Also, it had no winter driving capabilities to speak off, despite being an all-season tire. Not really a problem since I use winter tires, but a surprise bit of snow did almost see me careen into the ditch once.

Firestone FT410. Another OEM tire, this time on the Corolla. Also an extremely mediocre tire, but slightly better in the snow. I could have lived with them, but ever since ordering the car my plan was to use my old FRS rims on it, so off they went. The Firestones are on the Jetta now, which has reached winter beater status by now, and are good enough for driving 'round town and keeping wear and tear off of the winters.

 

[NewEnglander]

The OEMs on a Kia Rio...I think Kumho TA11s or something.

Ugh. Should have got them off the car sooner than I did.

 

[SaberOne]

Michelin PS2’s
they were horrible on my VW Passat. Could never get the balanced, eight, and they were down faster than any other tire I’ve ever purchased. Conversely, the Mich PS4S are great.

 

[Luftmasse]

Falkens..

 

[Creekside]

Firestone Transforce AT, had them on a 94 K1500 Chevy. Worst all terrain tire I’ve ever used. That truck would get stuck on wet grass in 4x4. Probably would have lasted forever on the highway but they were a sad excuse for an AT. Set of Mud Claws cured the problem.

 

[Chris142]

Cooper Discoverer AT. Great looking tire, horrible performing tire. All the noise of an MT .

I put a set of those on my pickup. I swore that the differential was howling!

I million years ago I put some retreads on my elcamino. I even think they were bias plus. They wore out in a few weeks and would peel out without me trying.

 

[supton]

I had bad luck with 3 sets of Michelin. Two wore fast, third set weather cracked after like 2 years. One set was scary in snow, the strangest handling we've noticed, and would have preferred bald tires to 'em--but in their defense, I don't expect much of an all season in snow (but they were the worst all seasons I've ever had in snow, the Primacy's).

Next up were Nokian WR-G-something (G2's?). They weren't awful, but they wore fast, got loud, and were too much of a compromise on everything. Maybe the latest ones are better. No plans to try out, I have space for winter tires and summer tires (err, all seasons / 3 seasons).

But the Nokian i3 summer tires were the worst. I thought, since I run winter tires in winter, why not get an optimized summer? I found myself sweating bullets as to when to put on and take off, as I knew they had zero business in snow--but living in the Northeast, winter can last 8 months. But on top of that, they had poor wet traction and would spin a tire on a painted line.

 

[edyvw]

Kumho Ecsta LX: praying was more effective in rain than brakes.
Snow tire: Hankook W300: absolutely no traction in cold rain, hard packed snow and ice. None!

 

[KiNETiCA]

Any Nokians - got thread separation issues at 20k kms, but our usage profile is kind of harsh on rubber - ~80kms of highway then straight onto dirt roads...

 

[mr_boring]

I must be the only person on the planet that has never had a 'terrible OEM' tire. The Pirelli's on my 2013 Mustang were probably the only ones that I ever really complained about, but a lot of that was my dumbbutt giving it too much throttle in the rain. I swapped them out at about 25k - because yes, I burned them off, for the old school looking BF Goodrich Radial T/A that came OEM on the non-GT Mustangs. I liked how they looked AND they were great.

I bought some Douglas tires (walmart) and put them on a Grand Cherokee in about 2005. I had 2 of those POS separate well before they lost tread depth. They were the absolute cheapest tires I could find. I was dead broke.....