# stock tires



## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Keep in mind that these tires are not real name brand tires. They're TPC spec, made for GM by Firestone. It's not the same as the firestone tire you'll get in a store. In fact, it probably also has less tread depth than the retail tire does.


----------



## GoldenCruze (Dec 18, 2011)

Interesting. The tires on my 2LT are Continental Contours.


----------



## bjballar41 (May 15, 2012)

i think 2lt comes with 17s mine has 16s. never knew that about stock tires. just assumed they were just normal ones my parents had a traverse and came with goodyear fortera and i loved them and could get them off the wall.


----------



## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

bjballar41 said:


> i think 2lt comes with 17s mine has 16s. never knew that about stock tires. just assumed they were just normal ones my parents had a traverse and came with goodyear fortera and i loved them and could get them off the wall.


Yeah, they're not normal. Far from it. For the Cruze Eco, there are some Goodyear Assurance FuelMax tires, but they only had 7/32" of tread depth from the factory. The retail tire has 10/32".


----------



## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

The LS comes with the Firestones. I'll probably put Bridgestone Eccopia on both Cruzes when the OEM tires wear out. I've had close to 400,000 miles of good experiences with Bridgestone.


----------



## Patman (May 7, 2011)

obermd said:


> The LS comes with the Firestones. I'll probably put Bridgestone Eccopia on both Cruzes when the OEM tires wear out. I've had close to 400,000 miles of good experiences with Bridgestone.


i have 20000 mi on the Frisetones and they are not showing wear. I have been considering going to different size wheels/tires(17 or 18) when I need to change them. I see no reason to change the tires much less the change the size right now. Besides changing the wheels and tires would cost @ $1000 +


----------



## NYCruze2012 (Jan 16, 2012)

I have the Goodyear tires and I cannot wait to rip them off my car! I do not care for them at all! I happen to like my BF Goodrich tires and have always had good luck with them, either that or some Michelins.

Sent from my DROID3


----------



## VictoryRedLTRS (Mar 26, 2012)

Dido, firestones will be replaced with some BFGoodrich traction T/A's, eventually white 6 spoke volk racing rims.


----------



## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

I absolutely love that there are as many different opinions about tires as there are brands of tires. This shows that different drivers need and like different tires.


----------



## NYCruze2012 (Jan 16, 2012)

VictoryRedLTRS said:


> Dido, firestones will be replaced with some BFGoodrich traction T/A's, eventually white 6 spoke volk racing rims.


Just FYI? Traction T/A's are no longer produced. If you find them they are old stock. The new ones are the G-Force Supersport.

Sent from my DROID3


----------



## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

NYCruze2012 said:


> Just FYI? Traction T/A's are no longer produced. If you find them they are old stock. The new ones are the G-Force Supersport.
> 
> Sent from my DROID3


They're both awful tires. Feathering around the edges was common on the Traction T/A's and the G-force have the worst traction ever in rain. But they do have a lot of traction in the dry. Had 2 pairs on my old S70. 

Yokohama Avid Envigors are one of the best handling all-season tires I have used. AMAZING traction in dry and wet, like the car is cornering on rails...not so good in snow though. Quiet on the highway as well. 

My complaint with the Firestones is their soft sidewalls. They are great on bumpy roads and on the Interstate, but as soon as you point the car into a corner, they howl and protest and the nose of the Cruze goes straight. I know there's a lot more handling capability in this car with a better set of shoes on it. 


Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app


----------



## bjballar41 (May 15, 2012)

see i hate how the firestones sound on the hwy they are so loud


----------



## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

I like the OEM Goodyears when it's dry and warm out. Not hard to do this time of year. They do stink in the rain, at least on the roads I drive daily. And forget about dealing with NY winter. The once I had them in snow, I was reminded why I dropped $1200 on snow tires and winter wheels without batting an eye and avoided snow driving on those OEM tires. 

Likely I'll get Michelin Primacy MXM4's to replace these tires come next spring. Those are supposed to be quiet, LRR, and still offer good traction dry and wet.


----------



## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

I have the firestones & they are junk compared to my old Yokahama Avid TRZ. My girlfriend even noticed how poor these firestones were and asked if we could replace them before winter. I am probably going to get the Yokahama Avid Ascend, its the more updated version of the old TRZ I liked so well. 

I got 80,000miles out of a set of TRZs, even when almost bald they were a better tire than these crappy firestones are in the rain. The Avid Ascend uses a slightly different compound than the old TRZ, the ascend is considered a low rolling resistance tire.


----------



## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

A caution to those complaining of feathering or cupping in the tires; most uni-directional tires and those with large rubber pucks (take my Firestone P019 Grids for example, pictured below), require religious tire rotations to prevent said cupping and feathering. It happened to several people I know who didn't keep up on their tire rotations, whether it was these Firestone tires or their Yokohama tires. 










That said, I wouldn't use my experience with an OEM TPC spec tire to base any opinion on the retail version of that tire as I don't believe it would be valid.


----------



## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

> That said, I wouldn't use my experience with an OEM TPC spec tire to base any opinion on the retail version of that tire as I don't believe it would be valid.


The tire performance isn't changed just because the tires are shaved down from the specs on the shelves. That should remain consistent over the majority of the life of the tires - until it's down to the wear bars in the tires.

Road noise might be different because some tires DO get louder as the tread wears down. But the performance, road-holding, and traction, are all the same as the same tire you buy "off the shelf." 

OEM tires, unless on a performance car, are usually a compromise taken by the manufacturer - what suits what the car is probably going to be used for [dry road use, some rain], what they can get for cheap, and relatively good road manners on the highway. They don't put crappy cheap tires on a Corvette, but the stock tires on our Accord, Jeep, and the Cruze have all left a LOT to be desired.


----------



## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

jblackburn said:


> The tire performance isn't changed just because the tires are shaved down from the specs on the shelves. That should remain consistent over the majority of the life of the tires - until it's down to the wear bars in the tires.
> 
> Road noise might be different because some tires DO get louder as the tread wears down. But the performance, road-holding, and traction, are all the same as the same tire you buy "off the shelf."
> 
> OEM tires, unless on a performance car, are usually a compromise taken by the manufacturer - what suits what the car is probably going to be used for [dry road use, some rain], what they can get for cheap, and relatively good road manners on the highway. They don't put crappy cheap tires on a Corvette, but the stock tires on our Accord, Jeep, and the Cruze have all left a LOT to be desired.


Your statement above assumes that the TPC spec and the retail spec tire differ only in tread depth. Are you sure that the tread depth is the only difference?

Edit: you may be right. Turns out the TPC label is only there to indicate that the tire has passed GM's certification. Might not actually be designed for GM with different characteristics than the retail tire, unless the retail tire also has the TPC label on the sidewall.

I'm currently doing some research. I'll post back with my findings.


----------



## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Here's what I found on other forums with regard to a specific Michelin tire:

Posted by an Acura employee:


> Not true. In this case, there IS a difference. In fact, I took a training class in this about 4 months ago.
> 
> They look very similar, but put them side by side and there is a difference. More sipes, different rubber composites. Michelin makes the tires that dealers sell to Acura specs, they aren't off-the-shelf Michelins. One of the most successful dealers in the Acura tire program would show them to the customer side by side, and had the customer look at them closely, then try to squash them down. The Costco Michelin squashed down, and the one sold by the dealership was much more rigid.


They have the same labels, but is the only difference the tread depth?


----------



## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

The short answer is...yes. But the long answer:

As long as they are the same model and have the same "TPC" spec rating as the OE tire on the sidewalls, they are the same. If you look up the same numbers for the tire (tread pattern, wear rating, etc), you can purchase that same tire on the open market.

Some tire manufacturers have different specs of the "same tire" that they sell as OE equipment to manufacturers that suit their needs better (for a balance of noise, handling, traction) than the ones they sell most commonly as an "all-purpose" model for other models of cars. This may include a different rubber compound, tread pattern, wear rating, etc. 

Manufacturers also change lines of tires pretty frequently - like the BF Goodrich examples discussed above. Their Traction T/A's were notorious for feathering even with religious rotations on powerful FWD cars, so they redesigned them to the Touring T/A. Then those were superseded by something else. I refuse to go back because my car wore 2 expensive sets out very quickly even rotating at 4,000 miles with proper inflation. Some tires may have the exact same name (Wranglers), but are changed and look totally different a year down the road when you go to buy new ones.


----------

