Why does GM use such poorly performing OE tires?

[mrsilv04]

Why does GM insist on using such cheap, poorly performing tires on our trucks?

 

The General Ameritrac? A joke! The Wrangler ST? Even worse.

 

The original owner of my truck had the dealership REMOVE the Ameritracs at 2,360 miles, and replace them with something else, because he simply could not stand them.

 

My Dad suffered with the Wrangler ST's on his Sierra until he no longer felt safe on wet pavement anymore. These were replaced thousands of miles before they would have hit the wear bars.

 

When you look at a new Dodge 1/2 ton (2wd), the factory tires are Michelins, right? But GM uses a second rate brand like General (a brand that most of us wouldn't even consider when buying tires ourselves)... and even on the new '07's as well.

 

The Bridgestone Deuler A/T tire on the '07 Chevy 4x4's have a "B" traction rating. Yes, on a 4x4. Not an "A" traction rating, but a "B". Who makes these sorts of stupid decisions?

 

But more importantly... who gets stuck with these stupid decisions? Yep.

[itsclay11]

i had those same duelers on my 05 silverado 4x4 and only lasted about 20K before they started to crack and fall apart

[99xjsport06]

Dont be fooled by the other makers, they use the same crappy tires on alot of vehicles....Chrysler especially.

 

Most of the new Jeeps come with the crapyear ST's and SR-A's....STREET tires on a 4x4 Jeep.

 

As far as the Dueler A/T's go, my step dad got over 60K on his originals. Put another set once they wore out.

 

I've got another variation of the Duelers on my Jeep, (the 693's) and a 3rd variation on my mom's Jeep (the REVO's). The 693's aren't wearing good AT ALL, but the Revo's look amazing, even after a year.

 

I guess it's hit and miss with the duelers....

[asilverblazer]

Why? Because the money they would spend on tires is used to pay retired auto workers and executives, as well as current employee healthcare, well except for the ones in Mexico.

[Dana_15]

Exactly its not just Chevy....he 05+ Tacomas came with some REAL crappy Dunlops, everyone trys to cut corners.

[redvett]

The tires the MFR's use are good quality but the LD has to use a tire that will allow the vehicle to pass CAFE fuel economy.

[cyoung1253]

Why does GM insist on using such cheap, poorly performing tires on our trucks?

 

The General Ameritrac?  A joke!  The Wrangler ST?  Even worse.

 

The original owner of my truck had the dealership REMOVE the Ameritracs at 2,360 miles, and replace them with something else, because he simply could not stand them.

 

My Dad suffered with the Wrangler ST's on his Sierra until he no longer felt safe on wet pavement anymore.  These were replaced thousands of miles before they would have hit the wear bars.

 

When you look at a new Dodge 1/2 ton (2wd), the factory tires are Michelins, right?  But GM uses a second rate brand like General (a brand that most of us wouldn't even consider when buying tires ourselves)... and even on the new '07's as well.

 

The Bridgestone Deuler A/T tire on the '07 Chevy 4x4's have a "B" traction rating.  Yes, on a 4x4.  Not an "A" traction rating, but a "B".  Who makes these sorts of stupid decisions?

 

But more importantly... who gets stuck with these stupid decisions?  Yep. 

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

 

They use cheap tires to keep the bean counters happy. There is no way the engineering dept selected P-rated Wragler ST's for a 4x4 truck.

[redvett]

The "P" rated tires do an excellent job in #1500 series truck as long as the operator does not overload the truck. Having 4 00,01,02,&04 trucks of my own service truck for my Electrical business in northern Michigan and have always replaced the tires with OEM i get great fuel mileage and reliability. The bean counters have nothing to do with CAFE mileage & safety.

[ZZ327]

theyre especially cutting corners on the Classic 07s

[dewfpo]

It's simple : Low Bid.

 

DEWFPO

[pm26]

It's simple : Low Bid.

 

DEWFPO

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

Exactly.

 

But you can upgrade to a white lettered version of the same cheap tire for a mere $ 125

And for another $ 55 you get on road/off road tread version of the same crappy tire.

 

So for a grand total of $ 180 extra you get both upgrades and still have the same crappy tire quality! I call that bargain!

[Truckin2003]

on my 2003 2500HD it came with firestone steeltex or something like that...just got them replace last friday...actually got 56000 miles out of them...didnt think that was to bad for factory tires....now we got Michilan LTX M/S!

[mrsilv04]

The "P" rated tires do an excellent job in #1500 series truck as long as the operator does not overload the truck. Having 4 00,01,02,&04 trucks of my own service truck for my Electrical business in northern Michigan and have always replaced the tires with OEM i get great fuel mileage and reliability.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

Well... Dad doesn't overload his truck, he's an old retired guy with a bad back... and the previous owner of my truck was a 76 year old gentleman who didn't use the truck to anything near its full potential either.

 

But you're still entitled to your opinion anyway, that's why we're all here.

[redvett]

My previous truck 02 had 56000mi on it when i got my new one and i replaced the OEM Firestone's with same tires and turned truck over to my electrical Co. for a service truck and guess what the boys got about the same miles on the second set of tire.

As for Michelin's my brother-in-law has them on his car and 35000 and the wore out.

[Bruce03Silverado]

I had crappy Wrangler ST's on my 03 when I bought it - only had them on 7k miles and put 285/75/16 BFG AT TA KO's on the truck. Went another 45k miles, put a body lift on the truck and put 305/70/16 BFG AT TA KO's. I haven't been happy with any set of OEM tires except on my 2002 Firehawk.

 

On the other hand, my wife's 06 Explorer 4x4 has Michelin Cross Terrains and I've actually been pretty happy with those. First time in a long time though I've been happy with OEM tires.