Tires: buying tires, gm dealer, tire manufacturers

Question
i bought my 2005 trailblazer with continentals on it and after only 26,000 miles the tires are about shot.  i am looking to get cheep tires as it is a lease and i am turning it in in about 1 1/2 years,  do you get what you pay for in tires or is it true there are only 5-6 tire makers who make the 30-40 different brands and all the tires made by that manufacturer are about the same i.e. Michelin-bf, and uniroyal,  and how do i determine the different sizes that can be used?? i currently have 245/65r17 can i use 245/70r17??  and so on


Answer
Dan,

The first thing you should do is read your lease agreement.  It probably says something about the condition the vehicle must be in when you turn the vehicle in at the end of the lease.  Look carefully for what it says about tires.

Even though it might not say something specific, I'll bet the guy that inspects the vehicle will look at the tire size and expect the same size as came originally.  It's even possible that since this is a General Motors vehicle, he might look for the "TPC" number, which is a way that General Motors indicates that the tire has been approved for fitment on the vehicle.  If that is the case, then you are kind of stuck purchasing the same exact tire, unless there is some approved alternative.  Your GM dealer should be able to tell you what else has the same "TPC" number.

So follow the guidelines in the lease agreement, but at the very least, stick to the original tire size.  

There are literally hundreds of tire manufacturers, but only a couple / three dozen are present in the US.  Some produce multiple "brands", and the list is quite long - much more than I can enumerate here.  In various places on the web some folks have published what they believe is a "Who makes it" type list.  I haven't seen one that is 100% right, so take what you read with a grain of salt.