Conti Tires > Evaporated!!!!!

[philndz]

Whoa!....I have had my Vibe for just over 6 months and have done 12,000 miles....i would say 70% highway driving and usually over 80mph. HERES THE PROBLEM....i have done two tire rotations already and i probably have 40% tread left!!!!Where did it go? i dont want a 20,000 mile tire! how are everyone elses holding up?around town im pretty peppy on the throttle and get going quickly but come on.....you cant be serious?!-PhilBase Vibe

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[mu_ohio]

I don't see how your tires are going to fast. The Z rated ones on mine have a lot of mileage left after 10k.

[NSimkins]

quote:I did nto knwo Vibes came with z rated Continental Tires on them.They don't. The 17" Z-Rated tires on the Vibe are Dunlop's.

[NY Pete]

I have the same Continental tires (I believe "T" rated) as factory equipment on my bimmer in a 15" size. I got about 18,000 miles out these tires with rotation and perfect alignment; I don't think I'd buy them again based on that...

[NY Pete]

All I know is when I bought the car in 2000 from a dealer, the car had the original Continental ContiTouring Contacts on them, only 18,600 miles and there was very little tread left. I ordered 3 tires from the tire rack that fall, using the new (well, from fall of '96, but was never on the car) spare from the trunk as the 4th tire. All of these have worn evenly, and with the factory wheels only on the car in the winters (I estimate about 20K miles), these tires are worn quite evenly, but onyl have about 3/16" tread left - and I really don't drive aggressively with the stock 15's...

[NY Pete]

You guys might laugh, but I've had really good luck with Pep Boy's Futura 2000 LTE brand tire (made by Cooper Tire) in our stock size 205/55R16. They were only $42 each the last tim eI bought them, and I put about 40,000 miles on them with moderate rotation (about every 8,000 miles or so). They wore very evenly, were quiet on the highway and good in the wet (and snow!). A good bargain for the money IMO.

[Lorin]

I'll be buying Michelin from Costco's when I'm due for tires. They'll order what you want if they don't have it in stock, the shop is clean, the people are trained (at least here in Harrisburg), and you get "the works" (road hazard, lifetime rotate AND balance etc.) for less then anywhere else I found. Plus they have $50 off coupons from time to time.I'll never buy Firestones again (explorer fiasco) and my wife will never have uniroyal again. The OE tires on our G1500 Chevy conversion van started to SHRED! Both rear tires started falling apart just like those Firestones you saw on the explorers! I replaced them with Mich. and wow- what a RIDE - and great in the snow....

[Flip-Side]

quote:You guys might laugh, but I've had really good luck with Pep Boy's Futura 2000 LTE brand tire (made by Cooper Tire) in our stock size 205/55R16. I've used Cooper tires on all my vehicles. They are a great tire for the money, and I lived in Michigan. They handled well year round.

[MiamiVibe]

yah my conti. tires are about gone and i only have 15000 miles on my car, these have been by far the worse tires ive ever had. Mich. and Goodyear are in my book the best brands. Mich is actually great

[Rico Rose]

My Vibe came with Goodyear Eagles. They were worn out at 14000 mi. I had my Vibe alignment checked and it was off, way off, by .89". Since it was off on both sides of the car it tracked straight, and believe it or not the wear was even. I replaced them with Goodyear Eagle LS's, not as aggressive a tread pattern but much better in the rain and snow. I saw the Cooper tires at the tire dealer and he said it was a good tire, I didn't believe him. I wish I would have seen the testimonials on this forum, I would have saved $200....

[Triton]

quote:Hmm, usually Good Year is a decent Tire. I had the dealer switch my tires from Contintental to Good Year, a lot of us on here have had problems with Continentals.When my Vibe came in off of the order I placed, it had the Conti tires on it. I had them swapped for the Goodyear's also. I have always had good luck with Goodyear's so I wanted to stick with them.

[Lorin]

How easy was the swap to negotiate? Did they try to stick you with some tire-change fee or anything

[MiamiVibe]

Cant we do anything cause i really dont want to spend money on new tires

[Turkster]

I have 35,000 kilometers on my continentals & they are about 1/2 worn.

[Chris]

I realize stock tires are usually pretty crappy and it appears the conti's are probably not at the top of the heap but check out how fast you drive. remember, the faster you drive the faster they will wear out. 80mph is pretty fast on long drives so I'd suggest that part was the (lack of) quality tire and part was the extended high speed. I burned off a back tire on my bike in a single high speed weekend and it was a 'sport touring' tire (emphasis on the touring).I've got Conti's on my Vibe but haven't had any bad experiences... a basic 'rim protector' nothing more nothing less. I'll definitely replace them with a better quality tire when required though.

[NY Pete]

Hey guys - an update - I picked up my vibe this past Thursday and it has Goodyear Eagle GS-A's on it (205/55).

[pmh013]

I really wasn't paying attention to my Vibe's tires (shame, shame, especially after having owned an Explorer), so I got my first rotation at 35000 km (22000 mi). The garage (not Pontiac service) said my tires were "cupping" and should be rotated more often. Now I rotate them every 10000 km (6000 mi). Haven't checked how much tread is left, but I have a feeling that the conti's are not top of the line tires.

[pmh013]

quote:We will add you to the list.Oh, boy, I'm on another list. I'm pretty sure I'm already on Pontiac'(removed) list (Do not sell vehicles to the following: ... These people are ****-disturbers and get very cranky when their car doesn't work right.)

[NSimkins]

quote:They are terrible tires.I personally don't feel these are bad tires... they equal the quality of all the other all-season initial factory tires I have had on vehicles. I am quite pleased with my Conti's at this point in time (approaching 9000 miles). Rotate properly and keep them inflated and don't go offroading and you should have no problems.

[NSimkins]

Me too.. to a point however. To contradict others I have Goodyear RS-A's on my '01 Cavalier and they have had horrible wear after 16,000 miles already. This is partly due to suspension/alignment problems with the vehicle since day 1, but many people don't take that into consideration and immediately blame the tire itself. Now I'm not saying anyone here is in the same boat because as we all know there have been bad batches of tires produced (ie. Firestone tabacle) and some tire models may be known for just being plain cheap.It's all luck of the draw.

[ragingfish]

Mine came with Goodyear Eagle RS-A P205/55R16 tires....and while they seem to wear pretty evenly, considering I drive pretty hard... they suck on wet or snow-covered roads. Very disappointed. Even feel the car "skid" when driving through a puddle. Will definitely ask for coopers when it comes time for new tires...Overall, what are the ideal brands to get? The majority appears to favor cooper, and I personally will never allow my car to have firestones...what are people's feelings about Michelin, Bridgestone (are they as unreliable as firestone, seeing how they're the same company (or at least used to be)), Pirelli, BF Goodrich, Dunlop, or Yokohama (i thought I read somewhere yoko's are good?).

[Rouse]

My brother in law has Goodyear Eagle RS-A P205/55R16's on his car and just the other day he notice he had a cut in the side wall from who knows what. The point of the story is though, that when he went to buy a new left front tire no matter where he goes they run $190 - $240 Canadian a tire. That just not right.I haven't had the conti's on my car long enough to complain but when they need to be replace I wont be looking at Goodyear or Continental.

[yooper_bob]

yah. just took a look at my tires (16" contis) today while filling up and noticed the wear bars were showing on the front. Only have 27k miles. I do have a GT but I don't drive too aggressively. They were last rotated at about 10k.Any chance at warranty replacement?

[ragingfish]

I would check the warranty info that came with your car...a lot of times they throw the tire waranty cards in the glove compt. with the other owner shtuff...or go to Conti's web site...but it def sounds like they should be covering it...

[Lorin]

I've been happy with the Conti's in the snow, but they are terrible on wet. I'm jealous of those who lucked out and got Goodyears. I just hope the French stop "acting up" by the time I need replacements so I can get a set of Michelins.

[ragingfish]

I have the Goodyears, and hate their performance in all conditions: dry, wet, snow, rain, ice. They are horrendous. When it comes time for new ones, I'm goin Cooper, cause it seems like overall they're preferred.

[ragingfish]

Found this graphic on Cooper Tire's web site...thought it might be useful to those of us who aren't very car saavy...tells ya how to decode your tire "script"...Check out the whole page at Cooper Tire Sidewall Info Very interesting stuff.

[redtrdmatrix]

15k miles on my Firestone SZ50 215/50ZR17 tires and they are still holding up great and not a single problem. And one more thing these tires have a UTQG rating of only 200 but even with such a low number they are wearing evenly on all four corners and it still has a great deal of life left on them even after 15k miles on them.

[ragingfish]

Did some research, Consumer Reports did a review of tires in 11/2001...the best rated overall tire in the premium category (80000 to 100000 mile warranty) was the Michelin X-One. Best overall midline (60000 to 70000 mile warranty) was Pirelli P400 Touring. Best overall economy tire (40000 to 50000 mile warranty) was Uniroyal Tiger Paw ASC.If anyone wants the report, I have it in PDF format, drop me an e-mail and I'll send it to ya!