Fun Fact

Phillips Petroleum was instrumental in research for synthetic rubber for tires.
They had to reject one of the first Cis-4 formulas because the tires would have
outlasted the vehicles.

Mo

Simple, it's standard big boldness these days. Company A needs tires and they go out for bids demanding all kinds of discounts, some maybe totally unreasonable. If the tire supplier wants the job, no choice but to cut their sale price which forces some sort of compromise in making the tire..

The tires delivered on a vehicle meet the required specification put forth by the vehicle manufacturer, who has an interest in saving money by equipping the vehicle with a serviceable but economical (cost) tire.

Just as when you shop for tires, you can look at treadwear, temperature rating, etc. and arrive at multiple products that fit a "good/better/best" rating, the vehicle manufacturers go through the process and decide on specs for a tire that is "good enough" for the vehicle. They then provide this specification to suppliers who bid a tire/price to them. So while the tire isn't intentionally "defective" it can certainly be "inferior" in that it is not on par with the best that can be had in the open market.

A little tidbit: If you buy a $60k vehicle, guess what? It doesn't typically come with the same (lower) grade of tire as that little $15,000 economy commuter car. There's more $ to work with on the higher value vehicle, so they typically have a bit better tire when delivered. Some auto makers are worse than others on pinching when it comes to equipped tire quality, as some of you may have noted in personal experience.

Yes, those are good tires. Should be for the price.

Did you have them underinflated?

Their products are not inferior,just not the top grade,my daughter has a 2014 Fusion w/27k miles that will not pass inspection,I did a lil price shopping,the same replacement tire at Sams, Goodyear LS set of 4 was $592.20 no warranty.Sams had a Goodyear Eagle set of 4 $801.01 50k warranty

No. Always between 33-35 PSI, depending on fluctuation of temps. Car recommended 32lbs, and we always rotated right on time.

All I know is I just bought a new z71 Tahoe and the tires absolutely suck!!!!!

I cant wait to wear them out and put good tires on the thing. I give em 1 15k max.

In the snow last week in Colorado it was insane how bad they were. Never had that issue with my Michelin tires.

Heck...I'm in the car biz and have always heard that when the car companies go out for bids on the tires, the tire companies are competing on cost. To get the bid they change the formula on the tires. The first set of factory OEM tires will never get the miles that the 2nd set will get, whether bought at a tire store or the car dealer.

I've explained this to customers for years and I assumed it was common knowledge.

It�s just getting significantly worse. I also get the feeling that the people inspecting and servicing your vehicle are doing a better job of noting tread depth.

I bought a Tacoma in 2010 equipped with Dunlop tires. I looked on Tire Rack for ratings after a couple of flats, and they are one of the worse rated tires going. I bought a Jeep in '15 equipped with the notorious Good Year Stranglers. Having learned my lesson, I made the dealer swap them out before I closed the deal.

Bought a brand new 2001 Toy Camry with Bridgestones and they had to be replaced by 17K. I called the factory and local distributors and raised heck with them but got no kind of proration. I but tires for 5 vehicles and we drive lots of miles (because we live in BFE). I've never even considered a Bridgestone since then. That's probably 15 sets of tires or more.

Someone told me that Bridgestone and Firestone is basically the same tire.

Michelins on current Ford truck. Almost 60.000 and still looking good. Always consider tire brand when looking at new trucks.

I put Bridgestone on my old Town Car in 2014 and they rode better than the Michelins...I had 30,000 on them when the car was traded and they looked new. They were rated for either 80,000 or 90,000 miles.

I put some Coopers on my old Ranger around 1998... within 10,000 miles the tread separated on both front tires. I'm guessing it was just a fluke. I've never had anything like that before or since.