I don't recall anybody outright saying that only Michelin or other expensive tires are safe
Aren’t you exaggerating a little bit, to make your point?
Maybe a little, but really not much.
Docnick at least implied in his post to buy “the best” (i.e. most expensive) tires in the name of safety, as well as brakes.
And this thread doesn’t exist in a vacuum: we’ve had pretty contentious threads here about speed-rated tires, for instance. Add to that the (fairly recent) idea that running tires 1/32" better in the front, (or God forbid a rope plug) is tantamount to commission of a felony…and you get the context in which I offered my opinion.
I wouldn’t call that “creating a strawman.” Possibly a bit “pre-emptive” in nature, though!
Duralon? I remember those. I bought a car with a brand new set of those. Slid off the road in 2" of snow. First time that ever happened to me. And I drove on bald tires when I was young. They were the worst tire ever. Or very close to Bridgestone el42
I like good brakes. I had not experienced brake fade for many years until my front disks faded between Tlaxcala and Puebla, Mexico. Scared me a bit. So, when it was time to replace, my excellent SIL got me some rotors slotted and drilled, he called them racing rotors, on-line, and put them on my 2002 Sienna. He put on ceramic pads as well.
I’m wondering why the steering wheel appears on the right side of the Falcon and the exhaust, form checking other photos, appears to be in the right place. I can’t quite make out if the plate is reversed…
Four little studs holding the wheels on. I wonder how hideously cheap and flimsy today cars in the trees of tomorrow will look .
You’ve got a sharp eye. It almost looks like the steering column is disconnected and laying over the back of the front seat. Interestingly, I was changing a tire on a friends Prism and it had only four studs and rusted solid.
As to the tire question at hand, I’d be willing to bet that the OP will not have a '99 Corolla long enough to wear out even the cheapest of tires. Why buy 80,000 mile tires? Buy the safest less expensive ones you can find. Consumer Reports is a good place to start.
On another note, I bought a car a while back with about 8,000 miles on a full set of Wal*Mart’s Douglas cheapies. One of the rear ones already had a broken belt that shook the whole car at 48-53 MPH. Luckily those are not on the OP’s list.
I tried enlarging the photo 400% and comparing it to the various states’ license plate designs, but without success. I suspect that if the year of the photo were known I might have had better success. I was unable to identify that on the plate either.
I’m going to posit a wild guess that it’s a pacific island location and the result of a hurricane or tsunami. I took the bark-stripped tree with tiny leaves to be a clue, although I can’t identify the species.
I found the pic on the web site and the guy just said it was in a tree near his house, but I believe the tree is a gum tree as another suggested. That would put the car probably in Australia which suggest the steering wheel on the right. I think it was probably put up there with a crane, especially since the rear wheels are missing and probably was sitting for junk for quite a while.
@Bing
Wow, thanks for clearing that up. I wish I had you guys around when I was young and had questions. A great bunch of detectives… Any indication of a dead body in the trunk ?
Getting back to tires. Did you notice how small and narrow those cookie cutter tires are and were in those days. They bug me to no end and I flat refuse to buy any car now with them. Narrow and tall, yes. Narrow and short…they are like dolley wheels and it’s hard to understand why they would not be less safe and harder to maintain. Tires with “meat”. You give up a little economy for a little piece of mind.
Falcon tires? Reminded me. We had one of those that my dad commuted with and I was going to take it to visit my grandmother 15 miles down the interstate. I said those back tires don’t look very good but my dad said they would be fine. So I took off and about 10 miles out blew one out. No problem controlling it or anything. If I remember right they were the snow tires worn bare in the spring to be taken off. I guess better me than him. Pretty basic car and that was prior to radials.