OEM TIRES vs. STORE BOUGHT tires

[sargeek]

Is it just me or do Tires fitted in the factory wear much quicker then tires purchased from a retail store? It seem every new vehicle I have driven, the factory tires wear out within 35k miles.

It is my assumption, a lot of negotiation goes on between the auto manufacturer when choosing a tire to put on the vehicle from the factory. I believe the tire manufacturer will make a special production run. This production run will produce a tire that looks like all other tires, but is tailored for the new vehicle. Extra sticky rubber on the surface to make the vehicle handle well during the test drives, and the cut other corners to reduce production costs. The tires are safe, but not quite to the standards being sold at the local tire shop? Am I thinking crazy?


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[libarata]

I see the merits of your position. I have never purchased a new car, but I would assume that the vehicle companies just want a cheapo tire, like the cheapo oils and such they put in the vehicles to begin with.

 

[GCAdventurer]

You are right that they wear quicker and are not the same quality as 'aftermarket' tires. I have had many new cars over the years, the manufacturers typically provide a low-medium quality tire that will provide a soft comfortable ride, have ZERO road noise and great dry traction. The rubber is typically a 'soft' compound and therefore will wear quicker. Now, this isn't true for all makes and models; specialty cars (Viper, Rubicon, and whatnot) will have better tires more geared toward their intended use. When you get into the 'average car' (minivan, basic pickup truck, etc) this is VERY true.

I remember when I got my Grand Caravan it had factory Bridgestone something or others on it and they were crap. You couldn't take a corner without feeling like the van was going to trip over itself. The tires had about 50,000km on them, they were wearing on the outside and in side edges and I finally had enough when I got stuck on a soft shoulder on the side of the road and they just dug themselves deeper. I had to get a Tow Truck to winch me out. The worst part about it was I was on a curve in the road and he had to block the highway to get a good angle to get me out. I remember so many people looking...it was downright embarrassing.

The first thing I did when I got home was go and get a set of Goodyear Assurance Triple Tread tires, I am just on my second set at about 220,000km and wouldn't put anything else on this van. Rigid sidewalls, amazing traction in dry, wet, snow/ice and mud/sand. The difference in the van is day and night.

 

[proper4wd]

The single most important motivating factor behind OEM tire selection is fuel economy.

Second to that, is quality (dealerships don't want their service departments booked up with tire related complaints... noise, vibration, flats, etc)

All of this is balanced by cost. In the case of high line cars (Euro brands mostly), there are most definitely OEM versions of production tires which have unique qualities compared to their store bought counterparts. Which one you perceive as superior, is your decision. However there is a significant amount of engineering dollars that go into tire design and selection at the OEM level - they cant be all wrong.

 

[sargeek]

I have only purchases a few personally, but then I drive them into the ground. However, through work I have been given a number of trucks, and my theory hold true. I would also like to know the difference between tires produced for chains. Example Cooper ATP vs AT3; or Michelin X Radial LT2 vs LTX M/S2.

I also think it would be great if someone like overland Journal would do a comparison test across a tire product line: Cooper A/T3 vs S/T Maxx vs a Zeon LTZ vs Discover S/T vs Dicoverer STT vs H/T vs Discoverer M&S.


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[sargeek]

My guess is that their is considerable difference between the OEM BFG M/T installed on the Jeep Rubicon and the one you can purchase at Discount Tire. Same with the Goodyear Dura trac on the new Power Wagon.


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[Idahoan]

OEM tires are only installed to protect the rims

 

[1stDeuce]

Having worked for or with all three of the "big three" in my former career, I can tell you that the OEM tires are indeed different than what you buy aftermarket. Transientmechanic has it fairly right. Priority for OEM's: Fuel Economy, stopping distance, noise.

All three of those are negatively impacted by increasing tread depth. (More depth = worse performance)
That normally means that the OEM tires are a little shy on tread depth vs. an aftermarket tire, but the aftermarket is starting to skimp on tread depth now too, since so many people want a quiet tire above all else. Compounds for an OEM tire are also developed to produce the shortest stopping distance possible. Tread wear is a distant concern to published stopping distance.

From a construction standpoint, there is less difference. The tire carcass is often very similar between the OEM tire and the aftermarket version. Same holds true of off brand vs. big brand tires. (Meaning there's quite a bit of value in the off brand tires like Kelly, Hercules, Mastercraft, etc!!)

What that meas is that for general driving, and particularly for the kind of driving many of us to, the OEM tire is actually the worst tire that will ever be on the vehicle. Of course there are some REALLY bad aftermarket tires too, but generally not from any of the recognized names, or their discount brands.

Comparing tires even within a manufacturer can be tricky. From Cooper's perspective, comparing an AT3 to the STMaxx would be like comparing a pass car tire to a dump truck tire... they are NOT the same tire carcass, tread, compound, etc. However, comparing the STMaxx to other 3-ply tires (STT and DC Fun Country) would probably reveal that any differences are due to the tread pattern. Similarly, the AT3, ATP, and some of the Hercules or Mastercraft tires that use the same 2-ply sidewall would show similar performance, with the tread pattern producing any real differences.

Chris

 

[Stumpalump]

I get a new company car every 80k miles. That's about every other year and have been since 1995. That's a lot of new cars. I never once wore out the stock tires. I like to change them at 45 k but the tire stores must call the fleet manager and tell them why. It's always a fight because the tires are not worn out but Im persistent and coach the tire dealers on how to approach it. Stock new tires are the best balanced longest lasting tires. The next best tire are any tire that is new to market. They want a good first impression and build new tires with their best rubber. Bottom line is who cares how long they will last. I swap them on the wife's car just as fast because after 3 years or 1/2 tread they are a liability and do not provide the life insurance new ones provide.

 

[mdmead]

Some must be better than others. My 99 F-250 came with a set of Firestone A/Ts and I ran them past 80K miles. Since then I've run through both a set of Pro-Comp A/Ts, Pro-Comp M/Ts and now (installed last fall) sit on a set of Coopers. Mileage is around 163K.

 

[Hilldweller]

The stock BFG ATs on my 2011 Power Wagon lasted 14,000 miles.

My two Jeeps came with tires I didn't even care to wear out. The first one came with Bridgestone Duelers; one had a huge hole in it right from the dealer; I found it at the first rotation and dealer denied all knowledge. My new Jeep came with the cheap Goodyear Wranglers and I got $120/each at Discount Tire.

 

[Bikemobile]

I'm on my third set of tires on the jeep at 72k miles.

Stock size Goodyear fortera: rode stiff but not bad overall
Stock size Yokohama Geolandar A/T stock size. Nice on road, good off road. Wore very quickly and poorly. Got very noisy.
245/70-17 General Grabber AT2: Great tire, louder than stock, a bit of rumble under 30 mph and in turns. Slight mpg hit.

Wife's new durango came with michelin lattitude tour tires. Ribbed design with some zig zag sipes. Absolutely dangerous on ice and snow. Noisier than you think they would be on pavement. They have about 15k miles on them and are wearing well. We ran cooper winters for 5k miles from nov-March. They will probably be on Craigslist when the winters go back on. I really do not want to put them back on in the spring again. I have been eyeing the cooper discoverer ht plus. $525 on discount's eBay store delivered. I would love to put some at3's on the durango but it just needs something that won't get stuck out at the barn in the spring during mud season.