Tires: tire quality, auto body shop, quality tires

Question
Barry,

I'm having an issue with a vibration at high speeds (65+)that led me to a dealer that recommended new tires, struts, etc.  I then spoke w/a friend of mine who's in the business (auto body shop) and he said change the tires first w/an alignment and see if that fixes problem.  My tires, Cooper (premium line, can't remember name)have only 40K on them and I was surprised it could be the tires and my friend mentioned most tires now just stink and don't last like the used to.

So there are two questions:
1) in general has tire quality deteriorated and if so where do I turn for good quality tires?

2) is the recommendation to replace the tires first for my vibration the best start?  How quickly (miles) could tires be adversely effected by bad struts?

Thanks so much,
Dave

Answer
Dave,

I totally disagree with your friend.  He has obviously been out of touch.  Tire quality has never been better, but the media's ability to "hype" a problem - to promote their ratings - is making folks to think the situation is worst - especailly those who don't have access to the actual statistics.

I think it is a good idea to change your tires, get an alignment, and see what happens.  I'll bet the alignment is out on your vehicle - and if the alignment is out, then the vibration was caused by that and not a quality problem with the tire.

How quickly can bad struts affect tires?  It depends on how bad the struts are.  It could take 100 miles or 10,000 miles.


Hope this helps.