Before you buy a tire, it never hurts to find out what people think of the brand and tire line you’re considering. If you have a relative or know a neighbor or two who own the tire, just ask. You probably know them well enough to figure out whether the comments are valid.
If you don’t know an owner of the line you’re considering, just go online. The Internet is full of reviews by tire owners. Just search “review brand line” and you’ll come up with owner-written reviews, often posted on websites of new tire dealers.
Are they worth reading? Sometimes. If 20 people say tire XYZ by the United Amalgamated Tire Manufacturing Corp. wears out at 18,000 miles, it’s a pretty good bet that’s a real number. The same could be said of frequent reports of ply separations on a specific line, or elevated road noise. If the complaint comes up time and again from different owners, the tire line may be one you want to avoid.
If a complaint stands out, however, because it’s unique—one owner says the tire wears out at 18,000 miles but 20 other people say they typically get 40,000 from the same line—it’s probably not a reliable claim.
Sometimes consumer reviews are laughably bad. Have reasonable expectations, especially when a reviewer does not. For instance, you’ll find Internet reviews by owners of summer tires complaining that theirs are absolutely worthless in snow. Really? Summer tires no good in snow? How about that? Just move on for reviews of how the tire does in warm weather, which is when you’ll use it, or for reviews of all-season or winter tires, both of which are made for snow.
Official Word
To find out about recalls, investigations or just complaints that have been filed with government watchdogs, visit the following site:
Then click on Tires among the topics inside the lower portion of the photo at the top of the web page.
The site is run by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The NHTSA gathers, considers, and—if it believes it ought to—investigates tire complaints. When you read in the newspapers or hear on TV news about a massive tire recall, it’s likely that the NHTSA ordered the recall. Some recalls, however, are done voluntarily by the manufacturer to avoid the stigma of a government-mandated recall.
To check out a tire, just type in the brand and line you’re considering. For instance, type in Cooper CS5 Ultra. This line is a popular, long-lasting, and strong-performing touring tire. A recent search on the NHTSA site came up empty because there were no complaints, and there were no investigations. That tells you pretty much all you need to know about the tire’s safety and reliability.
If, however, you were considering the Triangle TR643, a trailer tire, and you typed that into the box, you would find there is one active recall for 324 of the tires in size ST225/75R15. When you click on the recall number, NHTSA explains what caused the recall (in this case, a tire mold defect created in a hole in the bladder, which resulted in pressure loss), and when and where the tires were manufactured. (That information appears in code on the side of the tire. The last four numbers after “DOT” are the week and year of manufacture (for instance, 0215 is the second week of 2015). Two- and three-letter or number codes are the plant, explained here. The NHTSA site also tells you the phone number to call if you have such a tire, and what will be done to help you.
Take Complaints With a Grain—or a Box—of Salt
When your search yields results, take the time to click the “plus” buttons, which open up individual complaints. Read some. One negative aspect of the site is that sometimes the tire you’re searching has no real relationship to a complaint but simply was on a vehicle cited for such mechanical issues as stalling or engine noise.
Do the same thing you would for informal reviews: Put the information into perspective. Frequent complaints on the same issue for the same line may indicate a legitimate problem to avoid.
Others may be downright silly. This comes from a real complaint to NHTSA: The owner said the tires on his pickup truck wore prematurely. The tread was nearly bare—at a little over 85,000 miles. Now, that’s pretty good mileage on any set of tires, unless you’re naïve enough to think that a manufacturer’s tread warranty figure is actually how many miles your tires are likely to go.
Like warranty figures, consumer reviews and complaints are best used as guidelines.
As for recalls, take them very seriously—the more tires in a recall, the greater your concern should be before buying that line. And always follow up if one or more of your tires is recalled.
