I have found this as well.
Why are OEM tires so bad?
- Thread starter PWMDMD
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We sell a lot of tires. So many people just drop their vehicle off in service and say "put the same ones on" that we mostly stock the replacement factory fit tire. Also the vast majority of the calls we get for tires are people asking for the same thing. Now our volume is nowhere near a tire shop, but that was one thing that shocked me when I started here.
I'm guessing it's easy to use the dealership and I know lots of people who wouldn't know 30K miles isn't a lot of miles for a tire.
My thoughts as well. Usually you end up paying for the "one stop shopping" convenience. I get why people would do it, but personally I've never run OEM tires.
I’ve had OE tires last a good while and others that were finished before 40,000 miles.
I’m not buying into the theory that tire manufacturers make two identical looking tires and the OE tire is different than an aftermarket version. It makes no economic sense for a tire maker to do such a thing.
I’m not buying into the theory that tire manufacturers make two identical looking tires and the OE tire is different than an aftermarket version. It makes no economic sense for a tire maker to do such a thing.
Please don't judge me for what I am going to say, I'm just the parts guy, but the main reason that dealers sell tires is for the inevitable upsells and then customers coming back for rotations to get more upsells. There is minimal profit in tires, like a set of 4 that retail for $300/ea might have $80 profit for the whole thing. But most techs will at least take a cursory look at the brakes and suspension and glance for obvious leaks so they can do the "while you're here we can take care of XX" thing. Plus most people get an alignment with new tires so there is the "you need a ball joint" or "that tie rod has play" thing also.
Again, not saying it is right, I just work in parts. But the vast majority of the driving public has no clue what is going on with their vehicle. Also the downside that I have seen with the extended service intervals, is problems that would have been caught early have now gone to being present for so long the repair is more expensive.
Have you ever seen a tire with the automaker symbol? The difference in price isn't all that much either.
The factory Pirelli P-Zero tires on my Mustang, along with the 2 replacement sets I have put on there have the Mercedes "MO" symbol on them. They are being replaced with a set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4S once they get down the wear bars.
Some cars come from the factory with tires that were designed for that particular vehicle. Some cars come eqipped with budget tires. It depends.
Yeah, but what about installation costs? Seems to be there is profit there as well.
Mounting/balancing is $25-30 per tire, and it takes the tech what... an hour or so in total?
Not to mention tire warranties / protection plans.
I would think tires are quite profitable.
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wemay
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The OEM Firestone FT140's on my 2024 Malibu are hands down, the loudest tires i've ever owned.
Compared to their replacement tires, it appears to me that all of these OEM tires came with minimal tread depths from the factory, even those that were originally on the Tundra. I don't know if they wore faster or if there was just less tread depth to wear or some combination of the two. I do now the replacement tires go roughly twice as far with no other changes.
Here's the OEM and aftermarket Dueler for my car. The skinny version of the 225/65R17 Dueler is what it came with, quite a bit different tire than the aftermarket one going by the specs at least.
Seems crazy to me too, but they do, I guess lots of tires in some sizes really don't do much volume, so selling 10-20-30-40k sets of a tire a year, for a specific car model is actually good volume for a tire manufacturer?
Tyre Reviews made a video on this
At that point we are still losing money. Techs have to be paid double minimum wage in California if they supply their own tools, which in our county makes it around $32/hr. Our normal door rate is $210/hr so we are technically also losing out there.
Double-post, see #16 on previous page.
SOME Dealerships may have competitive prices. The Toyota Dealer close currently by has a "buy three-get one free". But the price of the tires are marked up so much you are still better off going else where-even with the "free one".
I just took the Highlander for it's last "Free" oil change under Toyota Care. The very first thing they did before I even talked to the Service Advisor was measure the tires-while I was standing next to the vehicle. I already knew they were at 4/32nds. So to their credit they didn't try to sell me tires.
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