Bought Some Tires

Nadine's Focus, our primary vehicle, needed new tires. I shopped around for a good price on tires that I wanted. You see the Focus, a 2002 ZX3 with the "premium package" wears 205/50R16 tires. Most of the tires available are "performance tires." Performance tires are fine on a performance car but this is a bone stock Focus with an automatic transmission. I don't think I've ever even come close to driving hard in it. So why in the world would I need performance tires. Why on earth did Ford decide and otherwise normal econobox needed performance tires?

What I was looking for was a decent price, a long tread life, comfortable ride and good dry and wet weather performance.

I also hate taking my cars to any repair shop. They always seem to want to sell extras. Last time I took the Focus for service the shop tried to sell me rear brakes, tires, and a couple of other things. That was almost four months ago. I finally replaced the tires a week ago; they weren't dangerous, just worn. The rear brakes? Still fine, and I pulled the drums just to make sure.

All I wanted was four tires, balanced and mounted, with a road hazard warranty. I prefer well known brands because if something does happen they are easy to replace. I don't want some tire shop trying to sell me an alignment basically because I don't trust most shops to do it right.

So I went to Costco. They had the tires I wanted at a price that was good. They never try to sell me a bunch of stuff I don't need either. The tires were Bridgestone Potenza G019 Grid, an all-season tire (okay I don't buy the all-season stuff but they are good in dry and wet weather). The description on the Costco site describes them this way, "The sporty flair of the unique tread design gives you the performance look in a tire that is designed with performance driving features and affordability in mind. A package of Bridgestone technologies including UNI-T, a silica enchance tread compound molded into a sophisticated directional tread pattern helps to deliver all-season traction in wet, dry, or snow. While the Potenza handles, brake and corners with the precision you expect in a performance tire, it's engineered to give you driving comfort plus a quiet ride!" So far, and it's only been a week, they live up to my expectations.

It's important to do your homework before you buy anything, tires included. I did the research, make sure you do yours. Know what you want from a tire, check out who you're going to buy them from well before you need them. You will be glad you did.




Comments

Popular Posts