There were times in my life that I would like to have been able to purchase OEM tires that had been driven less than 500 miles by a new car buyer who wanted a better tire. I’ve known people who bought these tires at good prices. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, OEM tires,were known as first line tires. The grade above first line were known as premium. Below the first line tires were second line and there was,even one step below that known as 3rd line. I ran on recaps back in those days that were premium casings. They were less,than a 3rd line new tire and I think they were better. Even today, I think that OEM tires are better than low priced tires sold at some of the national chains.
Regardless…use your OEM tires as long and as safely as possible for the best bang for the buck.
Wrong. What’s more effective, paying for and wearing out lousy OEM tires in 35k miles and then having to pay full price for a replacement, better tire or to have the dealer credit you the full cost of the lousy tires, charge the difference for the upgrade and drive off the lot with the tires you wanted in the first place?
I typically pay around $10-$20 per tire for the exchange and then I have known good tires that last 60-70k miles, minimum. 2x the life and untold value in better all around tires for a 20% premium…not rocket science 
So be very careful drawing generalizations about OE tires. Most of the issues are due to the specs.
Consumers don’t care who is at fault. They only know that the original tires stunk and have to be replaced too soon. Tire mfrs should be careful since that is their branding that is taking a hit. It only takes one time being burned for me to avoid your product for LIFE. I suspect I am not alone.
I can see the sidewall now- These are Continentals but don’t blame us if they wear out quickly because Toyota made us do it…
They only know that the original tires stunk and have to be replaced too soon. Tire mfrs should be careful since that is their branding that is taking a hit. It only takes one time being burned for me to avoid your product for LIFE. I suspect I am not alone.
@TwinTurbo - This is so true. In fact I don’t buy Dunlop or Bridgestone tires because of my bad experience.
“I don’t buy Dunlop or Bridgestone tires because of my bad experience”
My two brands to avoid are Continental and Bridgestone, but others will have varying opinions, based on their own personal experiences. For example, a friend of mine will no longer buy Goodyears.
The brands with which I have had good experience are Michelin, Yokohama, and Goodyear, but it seemed that my Goodyears (as well as my friend’s Goodyears) became incredibly noisy after the tread wore down to ~6/32".
As long as I can continue to afford them, Michelin will remain my go-to tire brand.
@TwinTurbo “Wrong. What’s more effective, paying for and wearing out lousy OEM tires…”
And here I thought we were giving advice to someone who had already bought and taken delivery of the car and used it… Show me a dealer who will pay full price for a new set of tires after the sale and I will agree with your advice. In my limited experience with buying cars, I hve yet to find a dealer who would cooperated by generously offering to buy back the tires at full price after I bought the car…maybe I should have asked ? Besides, without exception! Every dealer I have ever dealt with, over charged for other tire options. So, even when you deal before the sale, it eliminates other negotiation and you could easily pay more. Though I am not against your idea ( and really in favor) in negotiating better tire options, IMho, it does not apply here.
OP…"I have recently bought a new car…I have only driven 200 miles. " used tires…does not apply.
I would like to think that I wouldn’t hold a bad sample against a manufacturer, but I had two new cars come with Firestone tires and didn’t have good results. The first time was in 1978 with a new,Oldsmobile. Cutlass. It came with Firestone 721 radials. These tires developed a bad reputation and in my experience the reputation was deserved. What made it worse is that the local dealer for Firestone tires wouldn’t give me an adjustment when one tire had a manufacturing defect. He said I had to drive to a town 30 miles away and work with a Firestone store there. The dealer would,however, sell me some new tires. I was so disgusted that I drove down the street to Quality Farm and Fleet and bought four new tires under the Duralon house.brand. These tires did give me satisfactory service. Years later, I bought a 2011 Toyota Sienna and it came with Firestone tires. Even though I rotated the tires on schedule and kept them properly inflated, they were worn our at 35,000 miles. These Firestone tires didn’t wear as well as a pair of inexpensive Sumatomo tires that I bought at NTB for the front wheels of the Uplander I owned. The reason I bought these Sumatoma tires was that a fellow musician had lost his job as a full time director of music at a church that cut staff, so he took a job selling tires at NTB and he was paid on commission. Fortunately, my friend did find another music job and the NTB store closed. The location was good and when I saw the building being remodeled, I was hoping for a 5 Guys Hamburger so I,wouldn’t have to wait until we make the 350 mile trip to see our son whose town does have a 5 Guys. However the NTB location became a matress store.
Continental(auto) and Goodyear are the brands I avoid, due to bad experiences.
I’ve had great results with Continental bicycle tires.
I did have a good experience with Bridgestones, ~25 years ago.
And here I thought we were giving advice to someone who had already bought and taken delivery of the car and used it.
We did and then many moved on to broader topics. If you were following along, you will note my first post addressed the aspect of the USED tires being ineligible for credit. My apologies for taking your sentence out of the context of the OP. I had interpreted it as an alternative to the post I made immediately preceding it.
Tires are relatively inexpensive, so the value of a used tire is pretty small - and as a result, the types of businesses who engage in selling used tires tends towards the shady side. Even mainstream tire shops that also sell used tires, the used tire sales is a sideline, marginal business for them.
@cdaquila Bat Signal ! Someone revived a 5 year old thread just to post Spam in a foreign language .
1 Like
