mkchad0

Son of a...

Got out of my tC today and noticed that there's a freaking huge knot on the side on the front left tire.

My car had the Turanza EL400-02 tires from the factory. I was flipping through the Bridgestone warranty brochure and it reads that the WARRANTY DOES NOT COVER:

"Road Hazards. Including, without limitation, puncture, cut, impact break, stone drill, bruise, bulge, snag, wheel spinning, etc."

Jeez...guess Bridgestone pretty much covered their **** on every possible defect except premature wear in that sentence.

Also sounds like I'm screwed...and will probably have to drop $169 (as listed on tirerack) for a new tire. Son of a...

arbnpx

yup, usual boilerplate statements, but if any tire ends up having a knot on the side, you need to change it immediately, since IIRC it indicates a sidewall breach. The Turanzas aren't that good anyway; last August I had mine swapped with a set of Falken Ziex ZE512 tires, and they were a lot better than the Turanzas, dry or wet. I have to admit to being a directional tire fanboy; they inherently push water away, and it looks cool having V's on your wheels (like monster truck tires, heh).

sciontc_mich

I'm very surprised you say your car had the el400-02 from the factory? um.. The only ones I've heard of were the Bridgestone Potenza RE92 and the Yokohama 032a. The EL400-02 is a tire they put on the camry, not the tC.

And yes the EL400 are known for their poor quality of workmanship too. Bulges in the side are a common occurance. The tires are bad. Instead of spending money on those and ending up with another bulge (it's going to happen with this model of tire)

You might consider getting something else. Such as the Toyo Proxes4. Why spend money for more bridgestones like you have? When it's just going to bulge again.

Rawkerstatus

[quote="mkchad0"]

"Road Hazards. Including, without limitation, puncture, cut, impact break, stone drill, bruise, bulge, snag, wheel spinning, etc."

Jeez...guess Bridgestone pretty much covered their **** on every possible defect except premature wear in that sentence. quote]

yeah that's basically what you get when you get a new car. i have the same tires and i got a nail in my front passenger. tried to get it replaced. thy wanted like 2 and change i was like.. nah i'm good. i guess only certain tCs came w/ the EL400s and by the way... you probably hit something on the road that caused the plys to seperate inside.

Rawkerstatus

and i totally messed up the reply... need to get used to the tryng to qoute thing... my bad...

CuRiOuSfIsH

For the 07 MY, the EL 400-02 are the standard tires for the tC.
I cant wait to change them out!

L4rry_B1rd

hahaha, I swapped my Falken with ^^^ when I traded it in. The Turanza's were HORRIBLE. I feared for my life driving with those in the rain. I had the Yoko's and those weren't as bad as the Turanza's.

sciontc_mich

Really, for 07 they're standard?!! So we've gone from worse to terrible! Yeah I can imagine how bad they are, the reviews at tirerack.com put them almost at the bottom of the list. I can understand why you want to swap them out ASAP! Well all i gotta say is two words: Toyo Proxes4

davedavetC

iTrader: (4)

the el400s come onteh RS2s as far as i know.

sciontc_mich

Strange that the rs2 get's a Camry Touring-esque tire. Either way, what a terrible tire.

CuRiOuSfIsH

yeah, I made a thread complaining about them pretty much since I got the car in August. I have driven different cars w/ RE92's and the EL400's are pretty bad even compared to the RE92's. Rain was ok at 1st now I have 4K miles and it's not feeling so solid anymore.

sciontc_mich

Yeah I must've miss your thread about them, curiousfish. Definitely makin me sick at how bad they are in comparison to the already bad (in the wet, cold, snow) of the re92's!
Looks like Toyota was saving some $$ or got a deal on those EL400-02's, either way they should be sent to the backyard for the kids to swing on them, ONLY!

yeah whenever you do get some new ones, like I said before Toyo Proxes4. Huge difference, much more stable feeling. Don't mean to sound like a commercial. They're just that good.

-doomed-

if you plan on getting new tires and dont mind spending money on pretty much the best all season there is. i would look into the bridgestone re960 pole position.

i know the turanza and the re92 suck. trust me i work for a firestone which is a bridgestone dealer.

but when i put on the re960 it is such a better tire. and it even rates very high on tirerack as well.

i would recommend it to anybody that wants to stay with an all season and doesnt mind spending a little extra, cause trust me its well worth it!

it even performs very well in the ice! we had a big snow storm up hear last january and with those tires i never even needed chains when everybody else was slipping and slidding and getting stuck. i just kept going!

mkchad0

I'm still debating what to do to replace the Turanza EL400-02 tire.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Option#1: Just buy one replacement Turanza
Pros:
1) Cheapest fix. Price + shipping + install = ~$200
Cons:
1) No treadlife warranty on the Turanzas, and no Road Hazard warranty either.
2) If I'm unlucky and bust another tire, I'm screwed for another ~200 turanza.
--> at that point i will have dropped ~400 (almost a whole new set w/ road hazard protecton, and lifetime balancing & rotation).

Option#2: Buy a whole new set of tires now
Pros:
1) I'll at least have road hazard protection and lifetime rotation & balancing paid for. May also have treadlife warranty too (a lot of 215/45R17 tires aren't warrantied for treadlife though).
Cons:
1) Relatively high upfront expense (but could payoff in the end if any of the tires get road damaged).
2) Risk of picking tire with poor wear and no treadlife warranty.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, here's my thinking of possible tires choices for a new set. Feel free to feedback.

1) Sumitomo HTR+
a) $73/tire or tirerack
b) Fair survey and test reviews
c) NO treadlife warranty

2)Kumho Solus KH16
a) $80/tire or tirerack (but on backorder)
b) Good survey and test reviews
c) 60,000 mile treadlife warranty

3) Dunlop SP Sport A2 Plus
a) $84/tire or tirerack
b) Fairly good survey reviews
c) 50,000 mile treadlife warranty

4) Kumho ECSTA ASX
a) $86/tire or tirerack
b) Good survey and test reviews
c) 30,000 mile treadlife warranty

5) Yokohama AVID H4S
a) $92/tire or tirerack
b) VERY GOOD survey and test reviews
c) NO treadlife warranty

sciontc_mich

you'll be very sorry with the Yokohama AVID H4S! Tried them before, if you want to turn the tC into a "grandma's Buick" then that's the tire that will do it! Numb steering, hard riding. I don't care what the reviews say, this tire isn't good for the tC.

I would suggest, as I have before, the Toyo Proxes4. but it's more expensive at about $115. I think someone else found them for like 90.. not sure where.

mkchad0

yeah, edgeracing.com has the Toyot Proxes4 for $81 each. Also, they have hankooks and falkens in the same range.

sciontc_mich

okay yeah that's the place then. well you know what i'd go for.. lol I've said it enough times ;) wanna hear it again? lol okay fine!! toyo proxes4.. come on everyone say it with me

mkchad0

my direction totally changed when I stumbled onto edgeracing.com earlier today.

Now i'm only considering the toyo proxes 4, the falkan Ziex Ze 512, and the hankook Ventus V4 Es H105.

I'm a little annoyed by Toyo though...they don't post any warranty info on their usa website.

sciontc_mich

You're right where is the warranty stuff? I downloaded a pdf of their warranty before. I did a google search and I found it. That's not cool them trying to hide it like that

anyway here's the pdf link to the toyo warranty stuff, seemed decent to me.

http://toyo.tenmagazines.com/pdf/Toy...ne_06_2006.pdf

mkchad0

thanks for the link. i assummed they had the basic workmanship and materials warranty, but it seemed a little shady that toyo's not more open about it.

when i googled, i kept finding warranty info only for tires purchased and used in canada...very strange