I don't know the brand name but my vote for worst tires goes to the ones Fred Flinstone had on his car. I think they rode VERY rough.
Worst Tires Ever?
- Thread starter heyheylbj
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OK. I'll chime in.
Worse:
1. Michelin Symmetry OEM on Ford Freestar -- weren't bad until about 15K miles. Can't wait to replace with Traction T/As, or GY TripleTreads.
2. Firestone Wilderness A/T on 00 Explorer: I dind't die. Replaced b4 the recall with Pirelli Scorpion A/T.
Favorites: Pirelli Scorpion A/T, Michelin LTX M/S.
Worse:
1. Michelin Symmetry OEM on Ford Freestar -- weren't bad until about 15K miles. Can't wait to replace with Traction T/As, or GY TripleTreads.
2. Firestone Wilderness A/T on 00 Explorer: I dind't die. Replaced b4 the recall with Pirelli Scorpion A/T.
Favorites: Pirelli Scorpion A/T, Michelin LTX M/S.
I tend to drive my vehicles a LONG time. I have 300,000 miles on my '64 'Vette (since '66) and almost 400,000 on my '90 Suburban. My wife changes more often : Porsches, Mercedes, Audis, a Firebird, an '80 Chrysler Town & Country rwd wagon, Jag XJ6s and most recently BMWs.
Tried Goodyears and Firestones a few times and experienced more flats than other brands, short tread life and surly tire store service.
Best overall brand by far has been BF Goodrich. Comp T/A HR's on the Jags wore quickly, especially if alignment was even a wee bit off. Higher speed-rated tires seem to have this characteristic, while SR's have flabbier tread and sidewalls that are more forgiving and longer-lasting.
My "go-to" (first choice) for most vehicles is the basic Radial T/A. These seem to offer the best price/performance/longevity combination.
The 'Vette has been rolling on 265-50 and 295-50's for decades. They ride and handle well, even in wet and snow, and wear forever.
After trying various truck and off-road tires on my Suburban I have settled on 255-70 x 15 T/A's on the stock 8-inch steel rims. I get nearly 70,000 miles (about two years) on a set. They handle heavy loads at high speeds with no problems, delivering a fine ride and sure handling, too. Purchased a couple of these tires in January for $89 each, mounted, balanced, taxes, out the door.
My daughter's '84 BMW 318i runs 195/60-14 T/A's
with similarly fine results. I replaced the original Michelins on my wife's '98 318i with Touring T/A 205/60-15's that have the highest tread life number I've ever seen: 620!!! (Stay away from the much lower-rated OEM version of this tire) That said, the 3-series Bimmer IRS's seem to be hard on rear tires. It's hard to get more than about 40,000 miles from any of ours. When my wife's '04 325 CI's 17-inch Pirellis wear out, guess what brand will go on?
I've also had good value from Kumho tires, if you need decent rubber for minimum dollars.
Tried Goodyears and Firestones a few times and experienced more flats than other brands, short tread life and surly tire store service.
Best overall brand by far has been BF Goodrich. Comp T/A HR's on the Jags wore quickly, especially if alignment was even a wee bit off. Higher speed-rated tires seem to have this characteristic, while SR's have flabbier tread and sidewalls that are more forgiving and longer-lasting.
My "go-to" (first choice) for most vehicles is the basic Radial T/A. These seem to offer the best price/performance/longevity combination.
The 'Vette has been rolling on 265-50 and 295-50's for decades. They ride and handle well, even in wet and snow, and wear forever.
After trying various truck and off-road tires on my Suburban I have settled on 255-70 x 15 T/A's on the stock 8-inch steel rims. I get nearly 70,000 miles (about two years) on a set. They handle heavy loads at high speeds with no problems, delivering a fine ride and sure handling, too. Purchased a couple of these tires in January for $89 each, mounted, balanced, taxes, out the door.
My daughter's '84 BMW 318i runs 195/60-14 T/A's
with similarly fine results. I replaced the original Michelins on my wife's '98 318i with Touring T/A 205/60-15's that have the highest tread life number I've ever seen: 620!!! (Stay away from the much lower-rated OEM version of this tire) That said, the 3-series Bimmer IRS's seem to be hard on rear tires. It's hard to get more than about 40,000 miles from any of ours. When my wife's '04 325 CI's 17-inch Pirellis wear out, guess what brand will go on?
I've also had good value from Kumho tires, if you need decent rubber for minimum dollars.
Worst ever, bar none:
The P.O.S. Goodyear Wranglers that were on my wife's old 1999 Ford Expedition sucked donkey balls. They were so horrible that I bought new tires for it before the tread even hit the halfway mark. The guy at the tire store even thought I was nuts for saying I "needed" new tires.
We put Yokohama Geolanders on it and the thing immediately rode like a Cadillac! Straight, true, sure-footed, and wonderfully quiet. The Geolanders were simply awesome for that vehicle!
The P.O.S. Goodyear Wranglers that were on my wife's old 1999 Ford Expedition sucked donkey balls. They were so horrible that I bought new tires for it before the tread even hit the halfway mark. The guy at the tire store even thought I was nuts for saying I "needed" new tires.
We put Yokohama Geolanders on it and the thing immediately rode like a Cadillac! Straight, true, sure-footed, and wonderfully quiet. The Geolanders were simply awesome for that vehicle!
Bump for the twin-bubbles on my Falken 512. w00t! Can anyone top that...THREE bubbles? Right now, I have oem Michelin Pilot HX on my RSX and they are ok, but not horrible as some say. I tried Kumho ASX and they are darn good. Doing it over agin, in my size, Conti Extremes are worth a few extra $. Yokohama TRZ has been quite a pleasant surprise with wear at 700. I think the G-009s are a good item for performance all-season, I just want more winter grip. They call them BridgeSTONES for a reason.
PS Yoko V/H4s are also better than expected. Would not count on them in snow, but quite good all around. It would be tough to choose between G-009 and the H4S, both being similar in price and performance. Yokohama is soon becoming my favourite brand. fwiw, the Falkens grip ok, but that's about it.
Anything Goodyear! I never can get set of them to go the same direction at the same time...
Worst I ever had was General, many years ago. Wore out in 15,000 miles!
Are they still around?
John
John
This is a fun thread. Here are my votes based on real world experience:
Old School (I know I'm dating myself here): Goodyear Powercushion bias ply. Slick as owl snot in the rain and in the snow, forgeddaboutit!
Modern Era (radials): Uniroyal Tiger Paw AWP. Marginal in the rain. You take your life in your own hands when you drive in the snow with those puppies (or is is kitties?).
Happy Motoring
Old School (I know I'm dating myself here): Goodyear Powercushion bias ply. Slick as owl snot in the rain and in the snow, forgeddaboutit!
Modern Era (radials): Uniroyal Tiger Paw AWP. Marginal in the rain. You take your life in your own hands when you drive in the snow with those puppies (or is is kitties?).
Happy Motoring
The Goodyear Wrangler Rt-S that came on my Ranger. Their wet traction was so poor that they would spin if it was humid outside! I replaced them with a set of BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A ko, and have been very pleased!
High performance--- Toyo T1R. horrid tires, even for their price.
Standard--- Goodyear integrity
Truck--- Dunlop Grandtrek AT20
Standard--- Goodyear integrity
Truck--- Dunlop Grandtrek AT20
The most common tire I've seen glancing through many of the above posts is, anything OEM. OEM tires always suck if you care about performance since they are designed for low rolling resistance above all else. Only now in the days of high fuel prices have I begun to care if my replacement tires have low rolling resistance or not but it is very difficult to fine a good tire that has low rolling resistance but can stop and turn when wet it seems. I can't wait until they invent the perfect tire.
My own personal votes go for:
Goodyear Eagle LS (OEM) = poor wet traction once they had a few miles on them.
Goodyear Eagle GA (OEM) = poor wet traction and they hydroplaned easily.
Yokohama AVS dB (not OEM) = became loud after just 2-3k miles (they redesigned them shortly after that and became the AVS dB S2 to try and fix the issue)
My own personal votes go for:
Goodyear Eagle LS (OEM) = poor wet traction once they had a few miles on them.
Goodyear Eagle GA (OEM) = poor wet traction and they hydroplaned easily.
Yokohama AVS dB (not OEM) = became loud after just 2-3k miles (they redesigned them shortly after that and became the AVS dB S2 to try and fix the issue)
Worst Tires... Cooper Lifeliner Radials. This goes back a few years, but they had a 50,000 mile warrantee and I had eight (8) of these flagship tires separate belts and blow out. None had more than 25,000 miles on them.
Civic's OEM Firestone FR690 - takes the cake. to the point when i had to call Honda and demand different tires, while those were almost new. survived couple very bad snow storms vitnessing crashes, on them though, but was extra paranoidly carefull and on the edge of nervous breakdown, that's how scary they were. not to mention numerous scary hydroplanings. If you don't trust me check tire rack rating. funny thing they are stiil sold and at a 70 bucks a piece! fricking ridiculous!!!! I wouldn't take them even if you paid me.
Oilnoob,
What year was your Civic ?
What year was your Civic ?
02. why?
Cause my mom's 2001 Civic LX came with those same tires (Firestone FR690) and I noticed they were totally worn out with just 14K miles of city driving and handled like #@$%! on dry roads....so I can imagine how bad they were in the snow or wet roads.
i don't know why they worn out so fast. mine were still good fo another 10k after 28k. and they were hard tires so fast wear is a surprise. but who knows. i dumped mine to local firestone for free at first chance i got, regardless of wear. they can have their junk back. i got sumitomo HTR200 now. not very impressive tire either.
Had a set Yoko Avid H4 that were great the firt winter I put them on, good in the summer then next winter if it got to 40 (I live in Chicagoland) and a spit of rate NO TRACTION.
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