New Vehicle Tires

[Richard h]

Are the tires that come on new vehicles of a lesser grade then sold at tire stores? Michelin LTX AT2 245-75-17, they claim a 60k tire. The tires that came on truck new are at 26000 miles and rears read between 7.5 and 8/32 and front at 9/32. Claim new at 14/32 new. When I ordered truck, I upgraded the tires in hopes of getting a better-quality tire. I know manufactures pay little for tires just wonder if they are low grade.

 

[KLC]

I wouldn't think so. The tires on my 2019 F250 with 20,000 on the odometer are nearly worn out. I expected them to last much longer. Don't know what I'm going to replace them with, they are the stock size. I know I will NOT be buying Michelins, that brand in particular seems to always develop cracking before they are worn out.  I need to see what Hankook and Kumho make for truck tires, I put them both on my moho and C7 and seem to be doing ok so far. We use a lot of Nexen tires at work. It might be just as well to buy what's on sale when you need them, I'm ok buying tires every 3 or 4 years. 

 

[Fireballsocal]

I think so. It seems OEM tires last to about 40K miles when aftermarket tires can be had with 60K-80K lifespans. 

 

[Fireballsocal]

 I know I will NOT be buying Michelins, that brand in particular seems to always develop cracking before they are worn out.  

The local michelin rep told me that Michelin uses more natural rubber in their tires so the outside develops cracks quickly. He claimed that the cracks are just cosmetic and the rest of the tire will perform much better because of the rubber used. Acceleration, braking, and wear will be top of the scales. If I put a lot of miles on quickly, I would buy another set of Michelins because they have high mileage expected life spans with excellent performance. My last set developed heavy cracking though so I went back to BFG. 

 

[RideSand]

I have been buying take offs (usually used 0-2,000 miles) and currently have some Michelins that have been awesome. Wearing really well and have a ton of life left. I bought them for $500 last summer/35-40k ago and they came on wheels that fit my truck. Thats what I plan on doing from here on out. Currently looking for some good AT tires for my second set of wheel. It works for me....

 

[Bobalos]

X2 with what @Fireballsocal said.  I've got the beast longevity from michelines.  Im trying them for the first time on my truck.  I need to rotate them more often.  They are feathering pretty good.  

 

[zilla68]

I have been buying take offs (usually used 0-2,000 miles) and currently have some Michelins that have been awesome. Wearing really well and have a ton of life left. I bought them for $500 last summer/35-40k ago and they came on wheels that fit my truck. Thats what I plan on doing from here on out. Currently looking for some good AT tires for my second set of wheel. It works for me....

that's what i've been doing also, i bought a enw set of take offs with wheels for 700.00 that was a steal lol.

 

[Stinky]

I had a pair of MIchelins that last 70K.

IMHO (that doesn't mean nutN), I wouldn't worry about cracks.

I had a pair of BFGs that were 11yoa....talk about cracks.  The guy at Discount told me that they were unsafe...then they tried to send me away w.o a spare on my Camry (I was there w/2 vehicles)....in Las Vegas.   (520 miles from me, and a bunch or stretches of nothing, including one of 100m in Central Ut)

In short, when you buy quality, like MIchelin, don't sweat it.

 

[Shiggins37]

The tread wear rating for factory tires vs the tires you would buy from a tire shop is different. The higher the tread wear number, the longer they will last. My 4Runner came with tires on it with a treadwear rating of 400 but if you shopped the same tire from a tire shop the rating was 600 and tread depth was greater for the exact same brand and model tire. Another way they save money. 

 

[Rockwood]

It isn’t necessarily to save money (though that’s undoubtedly part of it), it’s to make you want to buy it. Says Michelin on the side so you think they’ll last forever, but amazingly soft and quiet ride while handling well so you’ll sign on the dotted line is what they’re after. Each OE starts with a set of whatever tires they target, then the suspension engineers make some tweaks to it and Michelin or whoever does it since they’re gonna sell 100,000 sets of of them a year.