Tires

Last Fall I replaced the tires on the woman's car.  The original tires were Bridgestone (AKA Firestone).   

I had never wanted to put Firestone tires on any car of mine with their past history.  I even experienced problems with them back in the mid 70's.  I'm talking major failure of relatively new tires, all four of them and then the spare.  I wonder if the Bridgestone name is an attempt to distance themselves from their past.

My wife's car has one of those doodads that compute the gas mileage for every tank.  So we had a good idea of what kind of mileage we got on a regular basis.  I already knew what brand tires I was going to put on their regardless of what the cost may be.  My choice was Michelin.

It has been over six months and we have both noticed a significant increase in the gas mileage.  Anywhere from 2-4 gallons/mile based on what that doodad tells us.  At least I think that is significant.  No, our driving patterns have not changed, no tune-ups etc.

I had once before settled on a bit cheaper tire than Michelin and there was a definite ride difference.  We had previously had Michelins and went with Continental to save a few bucks.  What a huge mistake.  The ride was much worse, rough, and didn't quite handle as well as before.  This was on a 2003 Exploder.  Since then both of our vehicles have gotten new Michelins.  I am sold on these.  If and when it's time for a new vehicle, they will need to be able to get Michelins on there before we leave the lot or no deal.  Yeah, I think it's that important.

Happy Trails.