Auto Tire Ratings & Warranty

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Feb 23, 2005
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west Texas
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Dave Taylor
In 2011 we bought some Bridgestone Dueller A/T Alenza 695LT P265-70R16s
for the 4-Runner. They came with a 80,000mi rating.

Purchase mileage was 64,500mi, now we are at 101,000mi ie 36,500mi and they are down to the wear indicators.

We drive 40% highway 60% in town, 1% gravel road, keep them at 32psi, never corner hard, never tow, and they are wearing evenly.

Is the 80,000mi rating a loose suggestion, or is it a hard & fast, 'we warrant'?
 
I did find this, which suggests LT's are excluded from the warranty of 50K miles. :(
(click on the warranty tab)
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
In 2011 we bought some Bridgestone Dueller A/T Alenza 695LT P265-70R16s
for the 4-Runner. They came with a 80,000mi rating.

Purchase mileage was 64,500mi, now we are at 101,000mi ie 36,500mi and they are down to the wear indicators.

We drive 40% highway 60% in town, 1% gravel road, keep them at 32psi, never corner hard, never tow, and they are wearing evenly.

Is the 80,000mi rating a loose suggestion, or is it a hard & fast, 'we warrant'?
Click to expand...


I have NEVER seen a factory warranty even come close to "suggested mileage" numbers....

Also, unless you carry REALLY heavy stuff in the 4 runner.. You do NOT need LT tires.. They cost about double what car tires cost and only give you a slightly higher weight carrying capacity.. IMHO.
 
80k from bridgestone's? They are usually fairly soft for their class and grip well, but long life isn't their strong point. You might look into an E load rated high mileage tire, like used on 3/4 and 1-ton trucks. Little rougher ride, but they are designed to last.
 
I got 68,000 out of the OEM tires on my 99 S-10. Replaced them because winter was coming.
 
Which brand/model has the longest life/$? I am not really concerned about any of the other features (ride/noise/handling/performance/mileage/cornering/contam sfc grip/"safety").
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Which brand/model has the longest life/$? I am not really concerned about any of the other features (ride/noise/handling/performance/mileage/cornering/contam sfc grip/"safety").
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Now.... That is a scary statement.....:yes:
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Which brand/model has the longest life/$? I am not really concerned about any of the other features (ride/noise/handling/performance/mileage/cornering/contam sfc grip/"safety").
Click to expand...

I like Michelins on the standard passenger vehicle. We normally get 60K miles on the Navigators the wife drives. Our company pickups, F-350 4x4 Fords come with Michelins as well. They are oilfield trucks spending a lot of time on and off road under heavy loads. The Michelins perform well on them as well, averaging between 50 and 70K miles depending on the driver. We have had good luck with Toyo Tires as well.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Which brand/model has the longest life/$? I am not really concerned about any of the other features (ride/noise/handling/performance/mileage/cornering/contam sfc grip/"safety").
Click to expand...

Well, best overall mileage would be converting to 22.5" semi truck tires. People report hundreds of thousands of miles out of them, but you may need lift to clear the smallest tires.

Out of tires that will fit your rims, Michelin commercial light truck tires last great on lighter vehicles. I know hotshot drivers that get 75-100k out of them, always towing heavy.

Either of these options will ride horrible, slide a lot in wet conditions, and may be noisy.
 
Bridgestone isn't known for longevity.

They'll probably pro-rate the purchase of more Bridgestones without too much trouble as long as you can show with receipts that you rotated them per their care guidelines.

Then you have Bridgestones again. See how this works?

Eventually you pay to get rid of them.
 
Ben. It is not 'scary'. You will see I put safety in quotes. To indicate that the idea of selecting for safety, when applied to the average consumer buying tires; is irrelevant. The ave. consumer is not knowledgeable enough, nor provided enough info to make a reasonable choice as regards safety or any of the other qualities. Yes, I want safe (and other qualities) in my tires. But for the most part I think there is no point chasing those features because....of the points above.
I did realize that this would be pointed out, and pondered allaying such concerns in advance...but chose to wait til after.
I will select tires for other features first, and assess these other qualities.....including performance and safety, afterwards.
Regards.
 
Thank you Nate.
I have discarded the idea of chasing a warranty...for the very reason you mention.
I think I will simply seek the best tires for my situation to avoid the same situation later.
 
Unlike you, I'm very picky about car tires. I'm picky about most things my life depends upon. And I've sworn by General Tires since the first set I bought. They've always exceeded my expectations in every regard, including longevity.

For cars, I like the Altimax RT. For light trucks, the Grabber HTS. For snows, the Altimax Arctic (which I am now ready to call the best snow tire I've ever owned based on the past two days' driving).

The other nice thing about General Tires is that if you buy them through Discount Tire Direct, you can usually get a decent rebate from General and another from Discount Tire. Tires are not something I buy based on price, but when I can get a great deal on the tires I would have bought anyway regardless of price, life truly is good.

Rich

EDIT: Just as an aside, other than the ones I now own, every set of Generals I've ever owned was still in good shape when I sold the vehicle. So I've never actually replaced a General Tire once I bought it.
 
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That's good info about the General tires, Rich. I've looked at the Grabber line before and shyed away just because of a distinct lack of reviews.
 
denverpilot said:
That's good info about the General tires, Rich. I've looked at the Grabber line before and shyed away just because of a distinct lack of reviews.
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As always, Nate, YMMV. But I've been very pleased.

The Altimax Arctic snow tires, in particular, are phenomenal. They made child's play of the accumulated mess of the past two days -- including my un-plowed, 110-foot driveway.

Rich
 
I've never seen a set of tires hit 20k for me.

I don't drive much, but I buy capable vehicles and drive them as such.

Typically I'll err on the side of softer compounds, on the Vette I ditched the run flats too.

BFGs Pirrili Michelin Goodyear, all good, none hit 20k for me


For a around town, easy and inexpensive tire Toyos aren't all that bad


The most amusing thing is when someone spends the money on a nice car and puts cheap tires on it, kinda defeats the whole point. I've found women are the biggest offender in that area :rolleyes:
 
James331 said:
I've never seen a set of tires hit 20k for me.
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Dude. What do you do to your poor tires?

The set of BFG All Terrain KOs on the Yukon are coming up on their 60,000 mile warranty and only have 3/32" wear.

They'll probably go 40K over warranty at that rate. Or dry rot first.
 
denverpilot said:
Dude. What do you do to your poor tires?

The set of BFG All Terrain KOs on the Yukon are coming up on their 60,000 mile warranty and only have 3/32" wear.

They'll probably go 40K over warranty at that rate. Or dry rot first.
Click to expand...

High performance tires on a Corvette. Sticky tires don't last. Towing will kill tires too. My 05 Cummins towing a 41' toybox would eat rear tires in less than 20k too. Of course, it would also fry the tires any time I wanted, and often when I didn't.
 
Given where Dave is and what he drives on, I'd definitely stick with truck-rated tires.

Given my experiences, I have had universally excellent wear from Michelins, on cars and trucks. They seem to cost a *little* more, and last longer; also, less in the way of premature failure (getting out of balance, running funky, you know, that kind of thing).

The tires my Jeep Cherokee came with from the factory (some knobby, off-road-looking tires that surely had no place on a 2WD vehicle, but looked good on it) were Michelins, and I finally replaced them with Michelin on-road truck tires at 75,000 miles or so. They looked like they had another 50k left in them, and no weather-checking, I was just tired of the noisiness on the highway, and the relatively poor wet traction (rareley an issue in SoCal where I bought the Jeep, much more so in Dallas, where we had by-then moved).

I also had good performance from Generals, but my sample set was one car only.

The guys at Discount Tire, who have typically given pretty good service, have steered me away from Bridgestones, and I have stuck with Michelin.
 
My small car tires never reach the mileage ratings. Oddly my truck tires typically do. I have no idea why.
 
My experience has been with cars; but over the past nearly 50 years, Michelins have been averaging between 110 and 120k per set
(obviously YMMV) and kept uniformly at 35 psig
 
I am also very picky about tires. My strategy is to sell them at 50% life. First tire performance is not linear, tires perform MUCH better during the first half of their life vs. the last.

Here is an example of the math. I bought E rated 265/75/16LT Bridgestone Duelers for my 2500 Silverado. I paid $1050. With just under 50% left I sold them on Craigslist for $400 the first day. I also avoided paying a $6 per tire disposal fee.

YMMV
 
I had good experience with these on my old Sierra 1500. The sidewall protection was important for me as I go to construction sites a lot and there are kinds of fun tire hazards around.

http://www.tirebuyer.com/tires/goodyear/wrangler-silentarmor/p/style/36121

Definitely an mpg hit with those, due to the aggressive tread.

Michelins generally wear very well too.

Only set of Bridgestones I bought wore out very young.

Jeff
 
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SomeTexan said:
High performance tires on a Corvette. Sticky tires don't last. Towing will kill tires too. My 05 Cummins towing a 41' toybox would eat rear tires in less than 20k too. Of course, it would also fry the tires any time I wanted, and often when I didn't.
Click to expand...


I get the sticky tires, but My Cummins can do the same and doesn't eat tires at 20K. Not even close. I did smoke the clutch a bit earlier this week, screwing around with it.
 
denverpilot said:
I get the sticky tires, but My Cummins can do the same and doesn't eat tires at 20K. Not even close. I did smoke the clutch a bit earlier this week, screwing around with it.
Click to expand...

Are you comparing a Cummings truck to a C6?
 
James331 said:
Are you comparing a Cummings truck to a C6?
Click to expand...


No. Do you have a reading deficiency?

He has multiple vehicles he smokes his tires away in 20K across all of them. Or so he says.

I said I understood his easy destruction of his sticky C6 tires, but not impressed with his Cummins doing it. Towing doesn't eat tires and smoking them does.

His input that all his tires die at 20K is useless info for the thread because he's simply stripping them bare with his driving decisions, doesn't really matter what tires you buy to do that.

My Cummins can also be driven that way. It's not germane to the original tire quality question if someone is doing that.
 
denverpilot said:
No. Do you have a reading deficiency?

He has multiple vehicles he smokes his tires away in 20K across all of them. Or so he says.

I said I understood his easy destruction of his sticky C6 tires, but not impressed with his Cummins doing it. Towing doesn't eat tires and smoking them does.

His input that all his tires die at 20K is useless info for the thread because he's simply stripping them bare with his driving decisions, doesn't really matter what tires you buy to do that.

My Cummins can also be driven that way. It's not germane to the original tire quality question if someone is doing that.
Click to expand...

Take a deep breath slick, its gonna' be alright
 
denverpilot said:
I get the sticky tires, but My Cummins can do the same and doesn't eat tires at 20K. Not even close. I did smoke the clutch a bit earlier this week, screwing around with it.
Click to expand...

First, I'm not the original poster, just answered someone else's question and posted my own experience.

Second, halfway stickys e-rated tires still don't last. My Cummins was always hooked to 24,000ish lbs. it also topped 1000hp on a dyno that couldn't hold it long enough to build full boost. No one passed me getting to an on-ramp, and I sure didnt hold up traffic, but I wasn't boiling the tires everywhere I went. It just drove like the trailer wasn't there.

Third, I wish my car would get 20k from a set of tires. 33x21.5 Sportsman's and 33x17 et-street's don't take miles though. But, to me an 8 second 1/4 mile street car is worth it.
 
SomeTexan said:
First, I'm not the original poster, just answered someone else's question and posted my own experience.

Second, halfway stickys e-rated tires still don't last. My Cummins was always hooked to 24,000ish lbs. it also topped 1000hp on a dyno that couldn't hold it long enough to build full boost. No one passed me getting to an on-ramp, and I sure didnt hold up traffic, but I wasn't boiling the tires everywhere I went. It just drove like the trailer wasn't there.

Third, I wish my car would get 20k from a set of tires. 33x21.5 Sportsman's and 33x17 et-street's don't take miles though. But, to me an 8 second 1/4 mile street car is worth it.
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Impressive....:yes::yes::yes:..

:needpics:
 
It is undergoing a drivetrain upgrade and having some rust repaired right now. Don't know if I will keep it white, or go with dark grey and black ss stripes.
 

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SomeTexan said:
First, I'm not the original poster, just answered someone else's question and posted my own experience.



Second, halfway stickys e-rated tires still don't last. My Cummins was always hooked to 24,000ish lbs. it also topped 1000hp on a dyno that couldn't hold it long enough to build full boost. No one passed me getting to an on-ramp, and I sure didnt hold up traffic, but I wasn't boiling the tires everywhere I went. It just drove like the trailer wasn't there.



Third, I wish my car would get 20k from a set of tires. 33x21.5 Sportsman's and 33x17 et-street's don't take miles though. But, to me an 8 second 1/4 mile street car is worth it.
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Heh. I doubt the OP has a 1000 HP truck. Nice work on the Cummins and the whole drivetrain to pull that off, by the way. That ain't cheap. :)

I've got the dreaded block that should have been recalled by Cummins under my hood, that'll have a guaranteed crack in the middle if you try it with that case, so a mild tune from an older Edge and a hybrid turbo and BHAF so it can get all the air it wants up here at altitude, and that is all I can reasonably push it, without rebuilding it in a better case.

When the local custom shop did the head gasket blowout and head work this summer, I also had him stud it, but it probably really didn't need that... Just additional piece of mind. Not working it that hard. Typically I limit boost to a max of 30 and can't hit it without over revving when the trailer isn't on. Stuff is just going to break above that in the drivetrain.

The custom shop guy has a triple turbo setup on his with the heavy case and lots of other mods. He'd only be one second behind your Corvette in the 1/4 mile in a 6000 lb 2500 SRW... Heh. If he could keep the back end on the ground, anyway. Heh. He joked he'd be willing to do it to mine, but we'd have to rebuild in a heavy case. It'd be kinda stupid in a dually. Hahah! :)

Stupid can be fun until it breaks, though. :)

What'd all did you do to the drivetrain to hold it together at 1000 HP? Definitely not the factory U-joints... Transmission updates, too I assume? I'm definitely understanding how you chewed thru tires. :)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
denverpilot said:
Heh. I doubt the OP has a 1000 HP truck. Nice work on the Cummins and the whole drivetrain to pull that off, by the way. That ain't cheap. :)

I've got the dreaded block that should have been recalled by Cummins under my hood, that'll have a guaranteed crack in the middle if you try it with that case, so a mild tune from an older Edge and a hybrid turbo and BHAF so it can get all the air it wants up here at altitude, and that is all I can reasonably push it, without rebuilding it in a better case.

When the local custom shop did the head gasket blowout and head work this summer, I also had him stud it, but it probably really didn't need that... Just additional piece of mind. Not working it that hard. Typically I limit boost to a max of 30 and can't hit it without over revving when the trailer isn't on. Stuff is just going to break above that in the drivetrain.

The custom shop guy has a triple turbo setup on his with the heavy case and lots of other mods. He'd only be one second behind your Corvette in the 1/4 mile in a 6000 lb 2500 SRW... Heh. If he could keep the back end on the ground, anyway. Heh. He joked he'd be willing to do it to mine, but we'd have to rebuild in a heavy case. It'd be kinda stupid in a dually. Hahah! :)

Stupid can be fun until it breaks, though. :)

What'd all did you do to the drivetrain to hold it together at 1000 HP? Definitely not the factory U-joints... Transmission updates, too I assume? I'm definitely understanding how you chewed thru tires. :)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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Thank you.

I avoid vp trucks, either ve, p-pump or cp3 for me, never had to deal with the 53 (51?) blocks. They are great trucks, my builds just centered around different needs. Head studs are never a bad idea, I usually add them right away.

Ox rebuildable u joints. Custom driveshaft, twisted 2 before the shop got the idea of what I was working with... Broke 2 G56's, scattered one all over the line at kennedale (slicks, mono leaf and cal-tracs) ended up with a built nv-5600, Val air dual disk, 66 over a 116, injectors, dual cp3 with both replaced with the biggest aftermarket pumps offered, worked head, all the associated bs. Easy 60k in what was supposed to be a few upgrades to the tow rig. It was fun although you never saw full throttle. Locked rear with 3.08 gears for play and stock l/s 3.73 to tow.

The triple's are neat, but I haven't looked into them much. I fell in love with the supercharger/turbo set up. Idle at 20lbs and light a 120mm instantly. Great for the low rpm ve trucks.

On the Nova, it's going from a high compression n/a 632bbc/glide to an aftermarket block ls418/114mm turbo/4l80e. Both on e85.
 
Oh yea, stupid in a high power, high traction diesel breaks a lot. It was a 2wd qc long bed, dropped in the back for weight transfer. It never made a clean pass, best of 10.71 at 114. Best mph was 138 after a horrible launch.
 
James331 said:
That sounds like a comaprason to me.
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Between his Cummins and mine. Not his C6.

Of course with his dyno numbers, he's putting at least 300 more horsepower to the ground than I am, but the original statement that I can tear up tires just fine with mine, is still accurate. He can just tear them up more.
 
I think the op has the c6. My last 'Vette was a c3 with a lsx454, built viper t-56, road racing coilover suspension... It ran c6 style wheels for a short time though if that helps any?
 
Ok, here is where we got off topic.


James331 said:
I've never seen a set of tires hit 20k for me.

I don't drive much, but I buy capable vehicles and drive them as such.

Typically I'll err on the side of softer compounds, on the Vette I ditched the run flats too.

BFGs Pirrili Michelin Goodyear, all good, none hit 20k for me


For a around town, easy and inexpensive tire Toyos aren't all that bad


The most amusing thing is when someone spends the money on a nice car and puts cheap tires on it, kinda defeats the whole point. I've found women are the biggest offender in that area :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Denverpilot asked him what he did to his poor tire. I replied with "'Vette tires don't last. And my diesel..."

Sorry, I got to wondering how I got this far off track.
 
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