Bridgestone Tires Are Horrible

[ImranS]

I have 8000 km on the tires, and they are horrible, my 01 altima came with tires that were twice as good. I want to replace them already but I don't feel right replacing tires after 8000 km

I went to the dealership and saw a bunch of the ES's equipped with michelins, Why this bad luck, why?

[SW03ES]

The Bridgestones that come on the ES are terrible, but Bridgestone tires all around aren't. Some come with Michelins, some with Dunlops its just luck of the draw. I got the Bridgestones and replaced them immediately.

[Bigrick]

After a lot of research, I replaced my Michelins with Bridgestone Turanza LS-V's. They are quieter and have more traction in wet weather. I have about 10K miles on them and am pleased so far. :D

[SW03ES]

The LS series tires seem to be great performers, expensive though.

[m2pc]

I have used Michelins V rated Pilots, the stock Bridgestones 92's I think and the LS-V's. I like the LS-V's the best :), then the Pilot, and the stock stunk.

[SKperformance]

Ask the dealership to replace them as they are driving you crazy from the noise.

They probably will help you.

[amf1932]

Ask the dealership to replace them as they are driving you crazy from the noise.

They probably will help you.

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Hmm.......I guess that I'm the only one that is happy with my Bridgestone's on my '03ES. :(

So far I have about 14K miles on these tires, and the tread looks excellent, and they're really very quiet and smooth rolling. The wet & dry traction is also very good.

Believe it or not, my '94ES came equipped with Michelin tires, and I wasn't that impressed with the tread life, noise, and traction. In fact at 30K miles I changed them to Pirelli P6000 tires which in my opinion were better all around.

[ImranS]

Maybe I will try and talk to the dealer about the tires, hopefully they'll do something

Yea i didn't mean the brand of tire, just the great ones that are fitted on the ES as standard equipment

[jay swinger]

I have 8000 km on the tires, and they are horrible, my 01 altima came with tires that were twice as good.  I want to replace them already but I don't feel right replacing tires after 8000 km 

I went to the dealership and saw a bunch of the ES's equipped with michelins, Why this bad luck, why?

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I check tire pressure once per month, as soon after the first as I can and know that pressure on all those on the ground was just one or two psi above the manual recommended 29 psi. In fact, I remember that the tire I will tell about was 30 psi.

One day I kept hearing a strange sound and thought it was from a coarser road topping. It got worse and I knew it was not the road causing it. I thought I would have to reverse my route and go directly to the Lexus Dealer for warranty service. Just about that time, I got the unmistakable feel of a flat tire.

The tire was ruined worse than any I have ever seen. I have seen and fixed hundreds if not thousands of them. The Bridgestone Turanza looked like someone had taken a laser and cut a precise semicircle through the sidewall. I don't know how in the world the rim was not damaged but the bead must have stayed in place.

I am convinced this tire failed on me. The Bridgestone dealer said it was evident that the tire had been "run on flat," and therefore no adjustment could be allowed on this tire with 17,000 miles. I know that this tire was checked 8 days previously, but I could not swear that it was not low the day this happened.

Just remember this friends, the Toyota insulates you from outside noises and if you DO hear a dull noise - especially if it increases - it may pay you to stop and look at the tires.

Already, the specific tire had been discontinued by Bridgestone so the tread pattern was no longer available. In addition, the Bridgestone price was almost twice the price of other competitive tires of the same or better ratings across the board.

It finally dawned on me that I could leave the former spare on the road because the tread and all other characteristics matched exactly. The rim that had the flat could become the spare. I chose another brand, another dealer, and have an equivalent - if not better - spare as far as ratings are concerned.

When I need to replace tires next time, I may have the chance to match the tire I now have as a spare or I can choose to leave it as a spare again provided I buy two tires to match. Sorry this is so long but it would take me 4 x as long to shorten it.

[Lexusfreak]

I have 8000 km on the tires, and they are horrible, my 01 altima came with tires that were twice as good.  I want to replace them already but I don't feel right replacing tires after 8000 km 

I went to the dealership and saw a bunch of the ES's equipped with michelins, Why this bad luck, why?

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Let me guess.....Bridgestone Potenza RE 92's right? ;) What size do you need Imran? Perhaps I can suggest some good replacements. B)

[jragosta]

Ask the dealership to replace them as they are driving you crazy from the noise.

They probably will help you.

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Hmm.......I guess that I'm the only one that is happy with my Bridgestone's on my '03ES. :(

So far I have about 14K miles on these tires, and the tread looks excellent, and they're really very quiet and smooth rolling. The wet & dry traction is also very good.

Believe it or not, my '94ES came equipped with Michelin tires, and I wasn't that impressed with the tread life, noise, and traction. In fact at 30K miles I changed them to Pirelli P6000 tires which in my opinion were better all around.

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I have Bridgestones on my 04 ES. I don't think they're terrible tires, but I'm not very impressed. My biggest complaint is that they're noisy. Tire noise appears to be the biggest source of noise in the car. On the plus side, several people here said that the life would be terrible. I've got 25,000 miles and still have 6 / 32 left (11/32 new). Still, I'll probably replace them with something quieter this fall.

[SW03ES]

LF- He actually has Bridgestone Turanza EL42's. They don't come with the RE92s anymore. The EL42 is better but still not great.

[ImranS]

they are the EL42 Bridgestone tires

Size is 215/55/R17

Thanks for all the help and comments

[Lexusfreak]

LF- He actually has Bridgestone Turanza EL42's. They don't come with the RE92s anymore. The EL42 is better but still not great.

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Ouch They actually went from bad to terrible! lol

[Lexusfreak]

they are the EL42 Bridgestone tires

Size is 215/55/R17

Thanks for all the help and comments

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Imran,

I would go with the following choices in a good all season:

- http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?ti...romCompare1=yes

Although I don't know how readily available these are in Canada (you might have to talk with a rep at tirerack about that).....they have got very good reviews thus far & look pretty aggressive but still very good in bad weather with a pretty long treadlife. Excellent value for the money too! B)

- http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?ti...romCompare1=yes

A decent choice, but quite expensive all things considered (all Michelins are). It does not excel at any specific thing, but does most things an all season performance (touring) tire should fairly well.

Falkens 512's are not available in the 215 55 17 size. :(

Those are the 2 best available in your size as of today. Either one will be leaps & bounds over your current Bridgestone's. I also have a couple of tire places I deal with if your intrested that have some of the best prices in the city. Keep us posted & good luck! B) Don't forget to get a 4 wheel alignment. ;)

[SW03ES]

Be aware of the fact that since the Avons only have 350,000 miles reported in the surveys the survey isn't as reliable as it is for some of the other tires that have multiple millions of miles reported. The ratings will go down the more miles there are reported.

[Lexusfreak]

Be aware of the fact that since the Avons only have 350,000 miles reported in the surveys the survey isn't as reliable as it is for some of the other tires that have multiple millions of miles reported. The ratings will go down the more miles there are reported.

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More than fair point sw........the ratings can also go up as well. ;) You start to get a better sense of a tires overall performance & expectations when you get at least a million + miles reported from owners from the tire rack site. There are several other tire sites that have their own ratings 'systems' as well (mainly written reviews as opposed to a number system & some just a number system with a few comments added), but there are different tires carried by other sites (Toyo & Falken as an example) that tire rack do not carry & vice versa. In Imrams case specifically however, I'm afraid there are only 2 'decent' choices that should even be considered as it stands right now.......I'm sure more will be available in the future, but I'm not sure how soon the 'future' will be, depending on how soon Imran wants & needs replacements......my guess is definately before the winter hit's if not sooner. Other options of course include specific snow tires for winter, but that won't solve the wet weather problems he is having for the other 3 seasons of the year. :(

[SW03ES]

the ratings can also go up as well.

But they never do. I check into Tire Rack monthly to read the new tire reviews and I've done this for years, I have NEVER EVER seen reviews for a tire go up as the number of surveys submitted increases. Tires always come out to high 8s reviews and settle somewhere in the 7s.

Its a statistical principle, regression towards the mean. As the amount of data increases the results will regress towards the mean, or towards mediocrity.

So what I'm saying is don't assume that a tire with an 8.8 noise rating is quieter than a tire with a 7.5 rating. Look at the data, most likely the 8.8 rating has 200,000 miles reported and the 7.5 has 20,000,000. Which is a safer bet? The 7.5 because you have more data to form an opinion.

[Lexusfreak]

Well the Goodyear Triple Treads have gone up in their ratings totals as the miles have gone up.....just one example but I hear what your saying. B)

[ImranS]

Does anyone here own a set of Avons?

[Lexusfreak]

Does anyone here own a set of Avons?

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I doubt many Canadians will Imran (there are only 1 Lexus & 1 Toyota review on tirerack to this point). You might want to get in touch with Tirerack directly to find some more details, including shipping up here & what to do if you need a replacement. B) Very good reviews thus far however. ;)

[chajones]

I just replaced the original Michelins on my 1996 ES300 with Goodyear Assurance Triple Treads. So far I am very impressed. It is a quiet tire, good handling and comfort. It is supposed to be an 80,000 mile tire, and we'll see how it does in the rain and snow/ice. It is designed to handle all of these situations well.

[Lexusfreak]

I just replaced the original Michelins on my 1996 ES300 with Goodyear Assurance Triple Treads.  So far I am very impressed.  It is a quiet tire, good handling and comfort.  It is supposed to be an 80,000 mile tire, and we'll see how it does in the rain and snow/ice.  It is designed to handle all of these situations well.

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The Triple Treads are not offered in Imran's size cha. It's unfortunate. :(