Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum, so hi! : )

I have a question for you. I am not a car guy at all. It's all I can do to check the oil and tire pressure. Quite literally. I would love some advice.

We have a 2004 Ion 4dr in need of new tires. I took it to two places so far, a Firestone, and Discount Tire. Firestone, of course, recommended Firestone tires, specifically the Precision Sport tires. Discount Tire recommended the Yokohama Touring S. They would both be about the same price due to some promotions.

Which would you recommend? Would there be a better tire than those two? Discount Tire also does Siping, which might help in the winter, but I'm not too familiar with that. What I'd like primarily are a pretty smooth ride, but particularly something that will give me some good traction in the winter, because I HATE driving in the snow, without having to actually get seperate snow tires.

Thanks for your help.

Rick

 

Most any ALL SEASON tire will do the trick, I understand ION's do rather well in the snow. If you have alot of snow in your area you may want to get snow tires.

Go to tire websites like TireRack and Discount tire and read reviews.

 

I don't know about anyone else here, but personally, I've never had much luck with Firestones of any type. They've either been noisy, wore poorly or didn't handle very good. Given those two choices, I'd go with the Yokohamas. Of course, there are so many tires out there in the same price range, you need to do some customer satisfaction research before any purchase. Just find a tire vendor that has featured tires and look for the customer comments.

 

I'm running Firestones on all three of my Saturns right now, and I've not had any complaints as such. Did have to replace one early because of a piece of aluminum on the road that cut through the sidewall, but other than that, I'm OK. Just remember, for your comparison, I'm in an area where it's warm/hot most of the year, and lots of rain. No snow

 

I think what will find is that there are about as many opinions on tires as there are people here on the forums to express them.
There was a time when the tires available had some unique characteristics that spoke highly of something or another, while others could be best described as round and black. Personally in todays world. The term round and black covers a lot of ground.
Firestone obviously has a long back ground of supplying performance tires and everyday round and black ones. They for a long time were the leading performance tire and they may still be. They also marked one called the 721 that was famous for blowing out the sidewall. That caused them financial problems and ended up being bought by Bridgestone and a long term contract with Ford as OEM supplier was terminated. '
Personally the only experience I had with Firestone tires was unsatisfactory and I refuse to spend money buying another. I'm old enough to know what a Fisk tire is and still see them new.
I prefer round and black.
If all you need is an all-weather tread pattern so it can be driven in the snow with some satisfaction and hold up the corner of your car do not worry about what it is. Look for something you can afford.
To me?
Yokahama's are noisy and I won't buy another set. The ones I had wore well and lasted forever. And I was so glad to see them gone I celebrated.
I like Hankook. Made in Korea or China, Kelley because the ride can be bit softer and I have a bad back and Dunlop. I have had no problems with any of them.
I also have BF Goodrich. But lately I buy Hankook if I can find them. They are a good tire and fair priced.
I have a pair of Hankooks and a Pair of Goodyears on my Saturn, BF. Goodrich on my Spirt, Hankooks on my Town and Country and P235-35-19's that came with the wheels I am using on my Hornet. I don't know what they are, they are new and the price was right.
So if all you want is something to drive with, ask for something better than OEM and buy what you can afford that looks good to you.

 

Oh my gosh - Fisk Tires. I too remember the little kid standing there in his Dr. Dentons, with a candle in his left hand, and a Fisk bias-ply tire over his right shoulder. The sleepy eyes and the huge yawn said it all --> "Time to re-tire"