In the car biz, tire makers are something of a canary in the coal mine. And they're coughing like crazy. As America's car market falters, tire manufacturers are facing some plenty tough choices, as they try to manage rising prices and falling demand. Goodyear, America's largest tire company, is seeking relief abroad. Trading Markets reports that they're focusing on growth in foreign markets like Russia, China and Brazil, investing $500m in Chinese production and $600m on plants in Brazil and Chile. Goodyear hopes the investment will pay off with over $2b in savings by 2009. Some of those savings will come from plant closures (e.g. Australia) and longer-than-usual summer production lulls at plants worldwide. Meanwhile and in any case, most tire makers are increasing their prices. Bridgestone, Goodyear, Hankook, Yokohama, Michelin and Continental have all announced some kind of price increase this month alone.
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I tried to get a set of BF Goodrich gForce T/A blahblahblahs for my S2000 after reading good things about them on forums, and a couple friends having them on their vehicles (Cobra & Lexi). They were back-stocked by the manufacturer for months.
So I went with the OEM Bridgestone S02 blahblahblahs and still had to wait 3 weeks to get them in.
Oh yeah, the naming convention on tires from these companies is completely ridiculous. One (or two) letters make the difference form a tractor tire to a performance tire in the long BF Goodrich gForce T/A SK pro super-hyper turbo extended enditions.
Also, because of high fuel costs, many of us are driving less these days. I hadn’t thought about it until I read this story, but that means our tires are going to last longer.
Looks like I just saved a little more money.
I guess it’s because of a uniroyal cock-up that won’t make them good/rich…
Wah wah!
looking at a pic of firebird, I realize how much it has common with Firestone.the reason Gm is actually bleeding cash is the same one why Firestone went belly up.And judging that most russians either ride new 7K ladas or cheapest koreans and couple of thousand cayennes, what relief is Good year seeking in non-middle class country? Right, you think russian and chinese are going to put Good-year f1 on their tacumas and nexias?
Falken Azenis, #1 tire of choice for people who know tires (autocrossers).
$100 each, and staying that way (don’t know if I’m allowed to post web links to tire sales)
Better than any overpriced garbage mentioned in this thread.
Any solid speculation as to why?
(a) Are all tire companies hurting?
(b) Is is cause people are driving more on the tires they have?
(c) Is is cause people are driving less?
(d) Is is because their material costs are eating into their profit margins?
(e) Is is because the US dollar is eating into their profits?
My guess is that a lot of steel and oil going into each tire, and the cost of both commodities has increased significantly recently.
The crash of the SUV/Light truck boom has got to hurt too.
Getting new shoes for your Dune Crusher cost 2-4X what getting new tires for a sensible mid size car does.
I suspect current conditions have also curtailed the number of fools who pull off the stock rim/tires and add $3k+ of lo-pro Bling Bling or the bigfoot wannabe Mud Tires.
I’d say all of those yankinwaoz. However, I see the other issue that arises from this. People will buy cheaper tires, possibly lower quality(?), or with less capabilities in terms of traction, heat, or wear. Does that make more “unsafe” vehicles on the road? I’m a big proponent on having a great (not good) set of tires.
For me, that has usually been Michelins too…if they become too pricey (we all have a pricepoint) then should I go down to BFG, Falken, Bridgestone? Maybe but hard to tell right now as both cars have relatively new shoes on.
I have a cheap ($65/ea) set of Kumho’s on my Infiniti and except for their embarrassing name, they’ve been flawless, knock on wood. They’ve gotten me through a wind and ice storm in Wyoming and have seen 120 mph a few times.
I’m not aware of any independent organization that tests only tires and publishes the results for the public. At what price is a tire just a tire? Or, is a $100 tire that much better than a $65 tire?
Theres plenty of independent testing on tires. Consumer Reports is a popular one.
Tires make a tremendous difference,- they’re the only part of the car that actually touches the road.
Unfortunately, high performance summer tires are more costly and have considerably shorter life and can be noisy as well… but are entirely worthwhile if you track your car or drive aggressively.
Like all consumer products, not all 100 dollar tires are better than all 65 dollar tires but certainly the quality and performance of tires varies greatly as a whole.
TEXN3, Bridgestones are pretty pricey wherever I’ve looked. Did you mean Firestones instead? (And yes, I’m aware they’re the same company.)
No, I meant Bridgestone. Seems they’re always running deals on them at the local Commercial Tire.