Firestone tires okay?

[Filliam H. Muffman]

I wouldn't buy their cheapest models. They do make reasonable tires.

Treadwear numbers should only be used for a relative comparison. Sporty tires, driven in a sporty manner, will wear much faster.

It looks like Costco and Sam's Club don't currently have any Bridgestone sales active. Can you wait a month or two?

[Tiangou]

mrbigstuff wrote:
Careful they don't use an off brand or older stock on your car. They may try to sell you those because, I'm guessing, the profit margins are greater.

I have a quote for a specific make/model that matches my spec's.

I would not accept a substitution.

Filliam H. Muffman wrote:
Treadwear numbers should only be used for a relative comparison. Sporty tires, driven in a sporty manner, will wear much faster.

Yeah, I'm not a "sporty" driver.

Filliam H. Muffman wrote:
It looks like Costco and Sam's Club don't currently have any Bridgestone sales active. Can you wait a month or two?

No. Not much tread left. It's time.

...I checked with Costco and they said they'd have to order tires and couldn't tell me how long before they'd arrive. Also, weirdly, they couldn't guaranty delivery to the specific store that I went to. Said I might have to go to a Costco 20 miles away with a bigger Tire Center. Dunno what that was about, but it did a good job of discouraging me from using Costco.

Robert M wrote:
Have you done your homework on which specific make and model tire is best suited for your vehicle, weather conditions and driving style?

More than most people would.

Can't take 'em for a test-drive. At some point you just have to make the leap.

...

Thank you for your insights!

[mrbigstuff]

Costco tires can take a long while to arrive. Fwiw. Check out Tire Rack deals for closeouts. I just scored some snows for about 40% off.

Edit - 30% off

[Michael]

Tiangou wrote:
...I checked with Costco and they said they'd have to order tires and couldn't tell me how long before they'd arrive. Also, weirdly, they couldn't guaranty delivery to the specific store that I went to. Said I might have to go to a Costco 20 miles away with a bigger Tire Center. Dunno what that was about, but it did a good job of discouraging me from using Costco.

Thank you for your insights!

I just had some tires put on my truck from Costco on Friday. They had a July 4-only sale that made them $660 out the door. I ordered them online and I was able to designate the store that they went to. I was also able to make an appointment to have them installed online. So, I never talked to the folks at the Costco. It took 80 min to have them installed because my store honors reservations over people who just walk into the store for tires (that wasn't the case at the Birmingham, AL store a couple months ago for a tire rotation). When I ordered them they gave me a 11 day window of when the might be delivered to the store; they were delivered on the first day of the 11 days. I had already made an appointment for installation for a couple of days after the 11th day, just to be sure they would be there. There were no problems. In case you hadn't seen it, they're doing $110 off on 4 Firestone tires through today.

[wurm]

Tiangou wrote:
[snip]
Can't take 'em for a test-drive. At some point you just have to make the leap.

I don't know where you are, but...

FREE 30 DAY TIRE TEST RIDE
30 Day Test Drive
Purchasing new tires is definitely a long term investment. We don't want you to have any regrets so we give you the opportunity to test out your new tires for 30 days, and if you are unhappy with the tires for any reason you can bring them back to any Town Fair Tire store and we will replace them. If the tires you wish to replace the tested tires with cost more, you will only have to pay the difference in price. If the replacement tires cost less then we refund you the difference, it's that easy.

So come on down to the Town Fair Tire store nearest you for your 30 day test drive today.

*This does not include special order tires.

[Buzz]

graylocks wrote:
I'm still suffering from PTSD from the Firestone 500 catastrophe in the late 70s. Can't bring myself to even consider them.

Amen. My new 1976 Buick Regal came w/ the exploding Firestone's from that era. Eventually five of those faulty sumbeyotches failed, three of 'em catastrophically at high speed. Ran Pirelli P77's after that.... until an uninsured driver, in an old Jaguar sedan, t-boned me while making an illegal left turn at a major Wilshire Blvd intersection.

We gave it the old college try, but the frame was irreparably bent, so after stripping all its goodies from it, I sold the beloved Regal to the local low-rider collective for $300. I saw it around town for a few years after that, but when it was on the road, you could see it never tracked right.

Alas, nary a Firestone after the final explsion, though we have used many Bridgestone's since, including those currently on our old Sienna dad-van..... that are on the soon-to-be-replaced list. They've got less than a year left on 'em no matter what; we replace after 8 years, regardless of wear or mileage.
==

[JPK]

Bridgestone/Firestone tires are good.

[DRR]

I've had Firestone LE2 and LE3s on my minivan for close to 10 years now. (The model, not the same tires). One of the best value tires imo. Also had very good luck with Continentals.

For normal driving the Firestones are great and the treadwear is decent too. Always look for something with good treadwear on a daily driver - tires that wear out twice as fast end up being twice as expensive.

The treadwear rating on a tire is not super reliable, but consider this as a data point in addition to reading reviews on tire rack and other places. Don't buy anything that multiple people say wears quickly.

[Grateful11]

Bernie wrote:
Firestone on everything.

They had some bad press years ago when the overweight Ford Exploder ran them and thus the name "Ford Exploder".

The rubber stays BLACK and they channel water really well.

The spare on our '91 Explorer is still one of those ATX tires, it's never been out of the spare storage. It's been sitting in the garage for almost 8 years and not even cranked. 235k miles on it, great vehicle. Need to get rid of it.

[Dennis S]

I never consider Firestone and Cooper.