Tire brand Question

[SoCalCpl2]

Last set of tires I bought for my Dodge Caravan were Nexen from Walmart... They lasted a hair over 37,000 miles..

I have a Scion xb now and the tires I have on it have about 30,000 miles just from me on them and they were not new when I bought the car.. They are Douglas brand.... And they still are not ready to be replaced....

Seriously, tire brand is NOT as important as they way you drive, where you drive and what time of the day you drive....... You could buy the most expensive set of tires and they could wear out fairly quickly.. OR you can buy a cheap ass set and they might last until they fall apart....

I have NEVER bought expensive tires, but I have bought tires I researched enough to be satisfied they would do the job and for the most part they all have....

[wankel7]

If your current tires wore evenly you most likely can skip the alignment.

[tstone]

My experience is the ''off'' brands / Chinese-made tires will be garbage within 15-20k miles but have a very good off-the-shelf feel to them. They are fine if you swap tires often or are trying to sell an older car. As far as safety + longetivity goes, Falken and Hankook were hazardous garbage by 15k, Kuhmo and Continental were trash by 20k. Yokohamas were better but 40k tires were becoming garbage by 30k.

As far as "name" brands, my Firestones would have all lasted past the warranty period if it were not for dry rot setting in. GoodYears tend to hold up better than Firestones in my experience but both of those brands tend to get dangerous on wet roads as they age. Dunlop also makes good performance tires with excellent traction... and they will last a long time, but they can ride pretty rough.

My best experience has been with Michelins... best tires I've ever owned were 3 sets of Michelin Hydroedges, which they don't make anymore. But they would easily go 90-100k without any issues, and tear through slick roads @ 80mph. And for a truck/SUV, Michelin LTX MS2s can do the same for about 60k miles. Worth every penny.

One Michelin disappointment was with Defenders. They are supposed to be a Hydroedge successor but they have traction more like a GoodYear. I'm certain they'll last over 100k though. Good for dry climates.

[stilldriveem]

I've got Hankook's on my 79 Thunderbird and I like 'em so far. No major issues. But then again i'm a low mileage driver. I'll have to dump 'em from age before tread life comes into question. Wish I could still buy cheap bias ply"s that only last about 10,000 miles, then I wouldn't feel so guilty getting rid of tires that still have 8/32nd's tread left after seven years.