Bridgestone Tyre Quality

[PeterVX2]

I once considered Bridgestone produced quality tyres, but not any more.


About 5 years ago I purchased Bridgestone Turanza T001 tyres for my second car, which does local trips at mostly 60 to 80 Kph.


These Japanese manufactured T001’s lasted 55,000 KLM. I was very happy with them, a quiet good wearing, and a good handling tyre for my use in the VX II Commodore.


I kept the best one as a spare when about 2 years ago I purchased 4 more Turanza T001’s.

I noticed that these ones were made in Thailand and had a slightly different tread pattern.


When I just did another tyre rotation ( every 10,000 klm ), I ran the digital tread gauge across all 4 and was shocked at the amount of wear. The worst tyre had 3.8 mm tread, and the best tyre was 4.4 mm ( average ). These tyres have done only 34,000 klm.


When I checked the Japanese made spare, it had 4.6 to 4.8 mm tread. This tyre had done 55,000 klm !


I rang Bridgestone Australia and was referred to a Technical Rep who was not interested in the wear and different tread pattern. He must have been reading from a prepared script and it went like this.


Bridgestone have the Turanza T001 manufactured all over the world in different plants, and all to the exact same high quality. The problem is your end, poor maintenance will cause this wear.


When I told him I rotate every 10,000 klm, do an alignment every 12 months, fastidiously keep the pressures even at 230 KPA cold, he then suggested that the alignments were not done properly. He then had the hide to suggest I send the tyres back to Bridgestone for analysis after I replace them.


Well I will replace them when the time comes ( at about 40,000 klm ), but it will NOT be with Bridgestone tyres ever again.

Any other forum member had a similar issue ?

 

[EYY]

There are too many factors, and it's not necessarily a problem with the tyres themselves. Driving style, road surface, wear in bushes, accuracy of wheel alignment (most places don't give a ****).

I've had poor experiences with a certain tyre franchise (Initials BJ). I asked for toe and camber adjustment, and they just adjusted toe. I got the car back and the steering wheel was off centre by about 25mm. When I took it back the clown adjusted it by eye to get the steering straight and called it good. I was also left with positive camber on one wheel.

Granted, Bridgestone have some poor tyres (re92 comes to mind - scariest tyre I've ever had on a car), but they have some great ones in their more premium range.

Btw I'd consider 40,000km tyre life on a Commodore pretty good going!

 

[BLACK-VE]

as above 40K is a good run on passenger car

 

[dgp]

I had the T001's on my VF Calais V series I from factory, the first set lasted 60,000km's, the second set lasted 45,000km's. I was a little shocked at the difference but put it down to less highway k's, more urban k's. I don't know where either set were manufactured.
I have always liked Bridgestone tyres and will replace the RE050A's on my Redline with another Bridgestone product when the time comes.

 

[Zeke Topanaga]

I do easy 50,000km a year and go through tyres a lot, I had 3 sets or the same brand Yokohama and type, one set I knew were different right from new, softer as the rubber compound was different.
I suspect that they can bugger up on the brew from time to time.
I informed the tyre dealer of what I thought and he went into spin mode, I was not after anything but just pointing out the fact.
Nothing wrong with the tyres but I just knew they were not the same as the others I had, it wore out a little faster but that did not bother me.

And yes I do look to see the date that the tyres are made and all and have found tyre patterns can change a little bit on some at times but the dates are different and come from the same country.

When it comes to wear I don't care about that so much, it's that they do perform that I am after.
In the days before say 1985 I would by a new tyre and then get rid of them before they were half worn, because the crappy rubber compound would start to get hard and lost the grip that they once had, so I thought it good insurance to trade in the old tyres for new ones.

A lot of old people would piss on about the mileage they got and think that was what tyres were all about and one could not convince them of anything other.

 

[Sean880]

1. The "quality" of the tyre has nothing to do with how many KMS you or someone else gets from that tyre. Manufacturers can build a tyre that will give you 80000 kms of life but the level of grip won't be very good. Every tyre is a compromise between grip and wear among numerous other factors.

2. I would not be complaining if you are going to get around 40000 kms from your current set. There are many factors which determine wear and if you do lots of start - stop city driving the tyres will wear faster, especially the rear tyres on a Commodore.

3. Bridgestone market the Turanza T001 tyre as a "superior grip" tyre. So given that, they will be using a compound that will deliver that grip. It will not be hard compound tyre that will provide high wear mileage.

4. It is possible that a softer compound rubber has been used in the second set of tyres you bought because the tyre engineers wanted to improve the handling and grip performance of the tyre and that will affect tyre life. It's got nothing to do with the quality of the tyre. High quality tyres don't = lots of mileage. You can buy numerous quality tyres from various manufacturers that are way better performing than the Turanza but they will wear out sooner than the Turanza.
Don't assume because you bought the same brand and model of tyre that the next set you buy years later will not have some changes to it like the hardness of the rubber compound used.
It's completely irrelevant which Bridgestone factory the tyres came from. Have you ever seen how a tyre is made?

5. I normally buy Bridgstone Tyres because over decades of using them I have always found the build quality and the performance of the tyres to be excellent, including noise levels. Tyre life various depending on the model tyre, the type of driving, the vehicle they are fitted to and keeping on top of the vehicles' wheel alignments.

6. The most important issue is the level of grip your tyres offer you especially in the wet. Those 4 little patches of rubber touching the road is all that is keeping you from skating off into the gutter or into a tree. So if you are happy with the level of grip you are getting from the Turanza tyres you have I would not be complaining about getting 40000 kms from a set.

 

[PeterVX2]

Gentlemen, thank you all for your replies which I have taken on board.

 

[PeterVX2]

1. The "quality" of the tyre has nothing to do with how many KMS you or someone else gets from that tyre. Manufacturers can build a tyre that will give you 80000 kms of life but the level of grip won't be very good. Every tyre is a compromise between grip and wear among numerous other factors.

2. I would not be complaining if you are going to get around 40000 kms from your current set. There are many factors which determine wear and if you do lots of start - stop city driving the tyres will wear faster, especially the rear tyres on a Commodore.

3. Bridgestone market the Turanza T001 tyre as a "superior grip" tyre. So given that, they will be using a compound that will deliver that grip. It will not be hard compound tyre that will provide high wear mileage.

4. It is possible that a softer compound rubber has been used in the second set of tyres you bought because the tyre engineers wanted to improve the handling and grip performance of the tyre and that will affect tyre life. It's got nothing to do with the quality of the tyre. High quality tyres don't = lots of mileage. You can buy numerous quality tyres from various manufacturers that are way better performing than the Turanza but they will wear out sooner than the Turanza.
Don't assume because you bought the same brand and model of tyre that the next set you buy years later will not have some changes to it like the hardness of the rubber compound used.
It's completely irrelevant which Bridgestone factory the tyres came from. Have you ever seen how a tyre is made?

5. I normally buy Bridgstone Tyres because over decades of using them I have always found the build quality and the performance of the tyres to be excellent, including noise levels. Tyre life various depending on the model tyre, the type of driving, the vehicle they are fitted to and keeping on top of the vehicles' wheel alignments.

6. The most important issue is the level of grip your tyres offer you especially in the wet. Those 4 little patches of rubber touching the road is all that is keeping you from skating off into the gutter or into a tree. So if you are happy with the level of grip you are getting from the Turanza tyres you have I would not be complaining about getting 40000 kms from a set.

I agree with all your thought out points.

It looks like other tyre manufacturers besides Bridgestone have reduced the longevity of their tyres. When it all boils down, my issue is that for a given product ( ie Turanza T001's ), I am getting less usage. I might add, I have been a big fan of Bridgestone tyres for probably 30 years or more. As a few posters have said, 40,000 klm should be acceptable. Philosophically, white goods, computer monitors, spectacles, carpets, tap washers, etc, do not last as long as they once did.

 

[lout]

regularly get 70,000km to 80,000km from yokohama c drive
which are no longer available in 215/60/15
so am now going to pirelli p1 centauro

 

[commodore665]

I had MY-02 , on my VZ , never again .