Complain about a product or service

Tire Safety

The news that certain Firestone tires were being recalled after being blamed for high-speed highway accidents shook consumer confidence. Our automotive consultant, Automan, has some observations and some advice:

Firestone tires will kill you.

I thought everybody knew this -- that the low-quality tires that came on new cars were a way to keep costs down on the brand new $25,000 vehicle and just accepted the fact. Kind of like walking in midtown Mannhattan during rush hour. However that could be safer compared to driving a SUV with a set of ATX tires.

I had pulled my hair out trying to correct a very strange and violent vibration that came on between 60 and 70 mph in a '95 Ford Explorer. Truck came in the beginning of July. After installing new rotors (were over-machined by a Firestone Auto Center), replacing a very bent brake drum, inspecting the wheels for runout, rebalancing 4 tires, checking driveshaft for damage, balancing, etc., I finally had to run the vehicle jacked up on the lift and spin the wheels up to the speed at which they vibrated.

The new Firestone ATX's were the cause. The sidewalls bellowed out and shimmied at speed in a strange way I have never seen before with any tire. These were brand new tires with less than 1,000 miles on them as they were driven from Florida to North Carolina. The 2 other tires were ATX's as well and also exhibited similiar performance.

I installed two other name-brand tires for the customer and told them to get a complete refund at the local Firestone dealer. I do not know how that turned out but I should know something soon. ATX'S are a popular tire because they are lower-cost tires and they used to last a reasonable mileage. That is evidently no longer true.

I would like to inform readers of a probem with Michelin tires. I was a big Michelin fan as they were an excellent tire that rarely had problems. They were on the expensive side but always performed as priced.

As I am always looking for good value for my customers it came as a surprise about 2 maybe 3 years ago when Michelin had its 100 year anniversary. Aparently the big boys running the company decided it was time to make some changes and started to produce tires that wear out completely at record low mileages (under 20,000 miles) while charging the same high prices for the tire.

I guess that little tyke in the tire wearing the safari hat had done his job all too well and unfortunately, I have to report all Michelin passegner car tires are wearing out this fast.

They have a silly lifetime/mileage wear warranty but you still get to pay for remounting, balancing and the hassle of all the paperwork, time off from work, standing around a hot shop, when you could be at the beach having fun.

I have been successful with Goodyear tires and their new updated product line has serviced my customers very well. As always there are other name brands out there but I really have to say if you want a great value for you money then go for the Goodyear.

Last suggestion is have the front and rear steering and suspension checked for wear,and then have a 4-wheel alignment check, with needed adjustments performed right after the new tires are installed. If the job is done right you will be smiling from wheel to wheel.

Mark wrote to dispute Automan's advice. He said Goodyear tires for his sports car were far more expensive than competing brands:
My Nissan 300s wear 225/50/16 tires. The Dunlops with AA traction (this is the expensive part, not A traction but AA), A temperature and 340 tread wear are one-third the price of Goodyear equivalents. So, the obvious question is, why are the Goodyears so expensive?

When I went into Sears, they pulled up everything available in my tire size. We went through the computer line by line looking for AA traction rated tires. We spent at least 10 minutes looking at everything in their offering (and National Tire and Battery's offering). Not any tire in their database had better traction, temperature and tread wear ratings in 225/50/16s at any price.

Again, I argue any claim that Goodyear tires are a good value. In fact, I think they are extremely overpriced for performance car applications.

Automan responds:
I have severe doubts about SEARS being an authority on ANYTHING. Including tires. 225-50-16 is a very popular size, so I strongly disagree with Mark's opinion. He did not mention the most important thing that determines price of a tire that size -- SPEED RATING.

Dunlops are the last tire I put on any vehicle as they ride like (#@^%^&!) and have bad wet traction performance. AA vs A traction rating? Come one get a grip. Is he driving on the professional race circuit with that 300? They are probably pulling your leg and wallet trying to sell you Z-speed rated tires.

We recommend that consumers check out tires sizes, types and prices online before they even think of going to a tire store. We have found Performance Discount Tire -- www.discounttiredirect.com -- to be a great source of information. Whether you actually order tires from them is beside the point.

Back to the top | Back to Ask Automan