GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

My 2005 Salsa red Vibe arrived this week after a wait of 14 weeks. Is the Goodyear RS-A a decent tire? The customer reviews on Tire Rack's website are not very flattering, but I'd like to know what other Vibe owners think.

Those are what came on my Vibe, and they're not the best tire in the world, and they are more worn than they should be after 25,000 miles, but they aren't as crappy as the Continentals other people's Vibes came with...heh.

If you're Vibe is still on the lot, try negotiating an upgrade with your dealer. When my Vibe arrived, I was able to get them to swap out the RS/A's and put in some Goodyear TripleTreds (before I drove it off the lot, of course). Only cost me $50 for the labour. I'm VERY happy with the TripleTreds....to me, it was well worth it.

Anything is better than that Conti's that came on my first Vibe! I hated those tires... Goodyear's on mine now and I like them so far, but only about 2k miles on them.

Quote, originally posted by Kari »Those are what came on my Vibe, and they're not the best tire in the world, and they are more worn than they should be after 25,000 miles, but they aren't as crappy as the Continentals other people's Vibes came with...heh.Agree 100%. After 55,000 miles, I got rid of the Goodyears and bought Kumho tires. So far I am very happy with them. The Goodyears gave decent tread life, but traction was AWFUL, and in a light car like the Vibe you need all the traction you can get.

just bought Vibe # 2, am hoping the Goodyears are goodVibe #1 had Continentals, and they were crap!

eagle RS-A are what my grand prix had. yuck. replaced them with bridgestones and it was likea different car. much better grip.

My 04 GT came with Bridgestone Potenza's and I like them

The RS-A's are what I got on my 05 AWD. They're not too bad, of course I only have 4K miles and then again, my AWD may compensate somewhat. Seems like nobody gives you a decent tire OEM tire, thats just the way it is.

Got about 43K out of my Goodyear Eagles on the '03 Vibe but it was because one of the tires developed a bad section at 35K and gave me that old whoop-whoop-whoop.

When I traded my 17s for 16s, the 16s had rs-a's they were THE worst tire I've ever experienced. Try and get the dealer to sway them out.

I haven't found the Contis to be as bad as people mentioned, but the Vibe did have a noticeable amount of body roll and 'sway' in the rear. Not very confidence-inspiring.Because I'm cheap, when I bought my 16" winter I put them on the stock wheels, and the Contis on 16x7" wheels. MUCH better handling, all they needed was the extra sidewall support from the wider wheel.

I had the rsa's on my zx2, I hated them, I had 17" potenza's on my vibe gt. soooo sucky.

Oh yeah, not diggin' the Eagles... they're about as sticky as wet silly puddy and break traction at the drop of a hat. It seems these doughnuts like to squeel on gentle starts on painted sections of the streets - like crosswalks or turn arrows... very lame when you're around patrol cars!!!They have little road noise and seem to give a comfy ride... but worthless in about every area I'm worried about.Typical OEM choice - buy the cheapest to apeall to the lowest common driver.

Quote, originally posted by binary »Oh yeah, not diggin' the Eagles... they're about as sticky as wet silly puddy and break traction at the drop of a hat. It seems these doughnuts like to squeel on gentle starts on painted sections of the streets - like crosswalks or turn arrows... very lame when you're around patrol cars!!!They have little road noise and seem to give a comfy ride... but worthless in about every area I'm worried about.Typical OEM choice - buy the cheapest to apeall to the lowest common driver. Yeah I get the painted line chirps as well had it worse with the conti's!!May go with the GY Tripple Treads when i get these RS-As worn!At least they were replaced free of charge

My '03 GT has the RS/A on them.The car now had 33k mile son it, it had about 25k when i bought it. I like the tires. they let go in a corner when I hit the lift and sometimes in the wet - but not too bad usually.I've rotated them once already. When its time to replace them I'll look for something better.

My Contour had come from the factory with Goodyear Firehawks, after about 23k on them - they turned hard as a rock. Mostly summer highway miles.Anyway, I did an e-brake assisted burnout in the parking lot at work on my last day... new blacktop. Phew - smoked the living crap out of them and left a nice long two wheel burn out that stands to this day.Moral of the story - make sure the OEM tires go out with a bang so you have stories to tell your kids or internet forums. And make sure you have tires already being shipped to you!

Seems to me the auto companies are leaving a lot of money on the table - they ought to offer added cost "tire options".

Quote, originally posted by binary »My Contour had come from the factory with Goodyear Firehawks, after about 23k on them - they turned hard as a rock. Mostly summer highway miles.Anyway, I did an e-brake assisted burnout in the parking lot at work on my last day... new blacktop. Phew - smoked the living crap out of them and left a nice long two wheel burn out that stands to this day.Moral of the story - make sure the OEM tires go out with a bang so you have stories to tell your kids or internet forums. And make sure you have tires already being shipped to you!There is no such thing as a Goodyear Firehawk, that would probably be a Firestone. Which tires are you dissing?I think the real moral of the story is, if you buy a non-performance family car, like a Contour, they come with non-performance tires.

Quote, originally posted by binary »They have little road noise and seem to give a comfy ride... but worthless in about every area I'm worried about.Typical OEM choice - buy the cheapest to apeall to the lowest common driver. I'm actually amazed the Vibe came with RS-A's, it is after all a wagon/SUV'ish econo car, not a performance car. Performance tires don't often make it onto cars like these because they give lower CAFE ratings as they have slightly higher rolling resistance and most people who buy them don't care about performance. They are certainly not the cheapest tires that could have been sourced.I bet most Vibe owners replace them with even cheaper and lower performance tires.

I still have the original Contis on my Base Vibe and have had no problems, 26,500 miles and plenty of tread left. Also, I make it a point to follow the rotation schedule, check tire pressure etc. Was also very pleased in the winter here, handled up to 8" of the white stuff pretty well. Maybe just lucky.

Quote, originally posted by bvibert »There is no such thing as a Goodyear Firehawk, that would probably be a Firestone. Which tires are you dissing?I think the real moral of the story is, if you buy a non-performance family car, like a Contour, they come with non-performance tires. Yeah you're right - I goofed - they were Firestone Firehawks thanks for pointing out the obvious. Also the moral of the story was it wasn't a non-performance family car... DOHC 2.5L V6, 5 Speed, 4 wheel disc, sport package with "high performance all season" tires.If you thought a GT had lift, I'd like you to drive a car with a duratec v6 with it's dual runner intake and a 5 speed... it wasn't a grandma car.And yes I'm dissing the RS-A's, even with 9k miles on them I'm still not as satisfied as I was with the Dunlops

Quote, originally posted by bvibert »I bet most Vibe owners replace them with even cheaper and lower performance tires.Most vibe owners replace them with cheaper and BETTER performing tires.I replaced them with Kumhos which were about 20 bucks less per tire, but provided more traction per tire then the four eagles could combined.The goodyears are overpriced and underperforming.

Anyone who drove the Conti's first, then got the RS-A's will tell you the RS-A's are decent tires.

Quote, originally posted by binary »Yeah you're right - I goofed - they were Firestone Firehawks thanks for pointing out the obvious. Also the moral of the story was it wasn't a non-performance family car... DOHC 2.5L V6, 5 Speed, 4 wheel disc, sport package with "high performance all season" tires.If you thought a GT had lift, I'd like you to drive a car with a duratec v6 with it's dual runner intake and a 5 speed... it wasn't a grandma car.And yes I'm dissing the RS-A's, even with 9k miles on them I'm still not as satisfied as I was with the DunlopsI went for an autocross run in a Contour SVT once, it was pretty good, but it came on Eagle GS-C's(I think), better than the RS-A, but not all-season.I actually don't like the RS-A much for myself, but they are a decent compromise all-season tire.The best is of course going to a summer-only high perf and snows for the winter, as many of you have done.Did you know OE tires are "tuned" for the specific vehicle they are going on? Some tires have built in conicity or other features to cure "handling problems", once the OE tire is gone suddenly there is a problem and the new tire is blamed. Auto manufacturers can also ask for different construction and compounds depending on if they want more traction, bettter fuel economy, less noise, etc.

Quote, originally posted by ragingfish »Most vibe owners replace them with cheaper and BETTER performing tires.I replaced them with Kumhos which were about 20 bucks less per tire, but provided more traction per tire then the four eagles could combined.The goodyears are overpriced and underperforming.Those are the tires my 'tour was traded in with... the car's 4th set of tires, and they were the best ones yet. And a fair bit cheaper in price than the RS-As, Firehawks, and Dunlops...but for the life of me I couldn't remember the name of them

Quote, originally posted by ragingfish »Most vibe owners replace them with cheaper and BETTER performing tires.I replaced them with Kumhos which were about 20 bucks less per tire, but provided more traction per tire then the four eagles could combined.The goodyears are overpriced and underperforming.While I do agree that the Goodyears are somewhat overpriced and underperforming, I bet most of the grey haired grannies I see driving many Vibes could care less about performance and just want cheaper tires that last longer.The demographic of people who care enough about what they drive to post on forums like this are the kind of people who would be more likely to install performance wheels and tires, but likely aren't the majority of Vibe owners.YMMV

Quote, originally posted by bvibert »While I do agree that the Goodyears are somewhat overpriced and underperforming, I bet most of the grey haired grannies I see driving many Vibes could care less about performance and just want cheaper tires that last longer.The demographic of people who care enough about what they drive to post on forums like this are the kind of people who would be more likely to install performance wheels and tires, but likely aren't the majority of Vibe owners.YMMVYeah, true - we're all pretty sure these are better than the Contis... but what else would we complain about then... I think it's a pretty sure bet most people will get a better tire for less money compared to replacing them with more RS-As