Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Wheels & Tires What do you guys have against Goodyear?

In the broader perspective, I am always interested in buying the best product at the cheapest price. I couldn't care less whether it is made in the United States, Japan, Germany, Korea, or even Mozambique, for all I care.

I own an American car because it had the right mix of features that I wanted at the time and the price was right at the time.

The tires are BFG's (owned by Michelin, a French company) because they had the mix of features that I wanted at the time and the price was right at the time.

My microwave oven is made by Sharp (probably made in Korea (?), if I had to guess) because it had the mix of features that I wanted at the time and the price was right at the time.

It's a free market, and I get rather testy when someone intimates that I am somehow less-than-patriotic if I don't buy an American-made widget, even if I consider it an inferior widget at an inflated price, when compared to a widget made somewhere else.

I don't buy an American widget simply because it is an American widget, any more than I buy a foreign-made widget simply because it is a foreign-made widget.

That having been said, I am very happy with both my summer tires (BFG KDW's) and my winter tires (BFG Winter Slaloms).

I don't advocate buying inferior products. I also don't believe most American products fall into that category. If you are not concerned about buying domestically made made products, then most of us will be flipping hamburgers and will not even be able to afford foreign made products.
America is a materialistic nation built upon industrial and manufacturing might and technology. If we loose this, we loose high paying jobs. Saratoga, where do you work? I'll make sure that I don't patronize your products and buy the foreign competition instead.

America - home of the F-15, Trident submarine and the indesctuctable M-1 tank. Maybe we should have bought the foreign stuff and saved the taxpayers a bundle of money! Ooops! How many less taxpayers we would have then?

This has gotten away from tires & wheels. If you would like to move it to the Off-Topic forum, I'd be happy to continue this thread there.

Please do!

I'm just curious. Does Goodyear make the same tire the Vette uses in a Contour friendly size?

I read the reviews by the people who purchase the tires as well as the reviews of the testers at Tire Rack.

Sure they are motivated by selling tires, however, they have a significant reputation to maintain as being tire experts. If they were pushing sub standard tires, do you think they would enjoy their position in the marketplace?

Globalization is a fact of life. We cannot close the doors to the rest of the world.

America seems to be the land of the mass produced item in many cases. Yes we probably make the best weapons and computer gear, but when it comes to many other items, we have sacrificed quality for quantity.

I think the most anti-American thing to do would be to buy sub-standard American products (not saying Goodyear makes sub-standard products) simply for the sake of buying American. America was founded on individual freedoms and rewarding achievement.

I do that everyday when I choose to buy the product that meets my needs at a price I can afford. If an American made that product great, if someone else makes it, then I guess the American manufacturer needs to try harder next time to earn my business.

That, my friend, is the way the world is, survival of the fittest.

I love America, but I don't think we are as fit as we can be.

TB
Practicing tough love.

I can tell you from personal experience that the Goodyear EMT's that come OEM on the C5 Corvette are crap. They're heavy, lack grip and their tread life is about half of similar (non runflat, though) BFG's, Bridgestones or Michelins.

The Eagle F1's seem to be a good tire (the only one I've heard praised in ages, as a matter of fact), as I've heard nothing but praise about them from Z06 owners.

As far a propaganda is concerned, Tire Rack does a pretty decent job of reviewing tires, given that most of their reviews mirror word on the street or personal experiences...

That is your downfall. There can be only one best product, all others are inferior in some way. If any of the inferior products are still 'good enough' for you, fine. The defintion says something about quality, value, and estimation, not where the profits go or where it was made. What counts is the end result, whole product and how it performs.

In regards to what tire comes on any given vehicle from the factory, there are many economic difference between what you & I buy at the local tire store vs. what an OEM buys. OEM's buy millions oftires every year. Their prices are different. Also, the politics usually mean a single tire MFR for a whole brand. I have never heard of any single company making the best product across its product line, like the best tire line for one's 4x4 pickup is not the same company that makes the best passenger tire or the best all out performance tire. Yet when a company buys a couple hundered thousand passenger car tires for a reasonable price, they also get the inferior sports car tire at a similar price because it would pay a whole lot more to another company because the volume is lower.

Your last line I quoted has already been disproved. You are partially right that if we all start buying forgien products because what we currently produce costs more, then we must learn new skills. I assure you that we won't be flipping burgers as another country could do that cheaper as well. What America has proved in the past and hopfully will in the future is that its business and industry is based on innovation and is dynamic. 40 years ago, did anyone think we would all have computers to almost instantly communicate accross the world? Many US companies lead the technology and made a lot of money doing it. Once other companies figured out ways to do things better/faster/cheaper, the original company must add value to the product in the eyes of the consumer. So, either they keep innovating or the company dies. If it dies and 10,000 people get laid off and have to find new jobs, is that bad? No, but they must learn new hopefully more valuable skills in order to raise his own standard of living.

By your reasoning, the value of the US dollar would always go down. Inflation may cause it to go down over time, but the cost of any particular good or service per dollar has not gone down. The value of the USD vs other currency has gone up over time.

I like these two quotes, BTW.
"I don't buy an American widget simply because it is an American widget, any more than I buy a foreign-made widget simply because it is a foreign-made widget."
"If an American made that product great, if someone else makes it, then I guess the American manufacturer needs to try harder next time to earn my business."

The views are unpopular with American public because people have to continually work harder for their money, instead of sluffing off doing the same thing for the 30-40 years they call a carrer.

I wish I were at work now as the site was temporarily down while I wrote some additional information.

I went to the tirerack propeganda site and looked at Max Performance tires.

The bottom line was Goodyear doesn't bother to make one that fits the Contour, unless you go to Bling Bling 18" wheels, or if you try to stuff a 235MM wide tire under the wheel arches.

So the bottom line is, even if Goodyear did make the best tire, they don't bother making one for the Contour.

I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to see how the Goodyears rank against something like the S03 Pole Position.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/max.jsp

And check out the following areas for each tire:


Surveys/Reviews/Specs/Tests

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Potenza+S-03+Pole+Position

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Goodyear&tireModel=Eagle+F1+Supercar

and http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Goodyear&tireModel=Eagle+F1

TB

What do you mean Goodyear does not make a tire for the Contour?
I am driving on one - the Eagle HP P205/60R-15!

I qualified my statement by saying max performance.

The "best" tire (performance wise) that Goodyear makes doesn't fit the Contour.

I want the max peformance tire I can buy, but Goodyear chooses not to make one.

It is not fair to compare a touring tire with a Maximum Performance summer tire, is it?