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Horrible tires - Firestone Insignia SE's

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by btrotter, Mar 29, 2009.

  1. btrotter

    btrotter Junior Member

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    Horrible tires - Bridgestone Insignia SE 200's

    (NOTE: The original link said Firestone tires, but they are actually Bridgestone's.)

    I had new tires put on my wifes 05 Prius 2 weeks ago, and I can now officially give them 2 thumbs down....1 out of 5 stars....an F-....however you want to score them.

    My father-in-law gets a 35% discount on Firestone tires, so we always get tires through them when we need them.
    We went 2 weeks ago to get tires, and they said the only ones they had in stock that would fit the Prius were the Insignia SE 200's, so that is what we bought.

    My wife drove the car home from the tire shop, and when I drove the car for the first time, I thought something was wrong with the tire. At about 20mph, the tires start buzzing and the vibration from them can be felt through the pedals and steering wheel.

    If you can picture standing beside the road when a 4x4 truck with big knobby tires comes riding by, when it passes, that buzzzzzzz sound those big knobby tires make...that is what these tires sound like...just not quite as loud.

    I thought at first the wheels werent balanced right or something, but I started reading other posts on these wheels, and it seems like it is common. Yikes!

    I guess it isnt bad enough to take them back and shell out an extra $100 on non-Firestone tires, but I have to admit that I wont be sad to buy new tires in 30k miles.

    So there you go...my opinion on the Bridgestone Insignia SE 200 tires....
     
    #1 btrotter, Mar 29, 2009
  2. Celtic Blue

    Celtic Blue New Member

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    If they don't give a proper ride then do you really feel safe in having them on?

    We used to have a Honda Accord. I put a brand new set of Bridgestone Potenza's on it a few years back, inflated to placard pressures. The driver's side rear spontaneously blew out on a curve on the interstate about 24 hours after I had rechecked the pressures. The wheel dug in, the car hit the barrier and rolled, no more Accord. There was no indication that it had lost pressure prior to the blow out and it had only been driven about 50 miles total since the pressure was checked.

    The rubber did appear defective, particularly around the bead where it had no integrity. These were recently manufactured tires from TireRack, but the bead compound gave the impression of rot as I could pick it apart with a fingernail. The entired tread separated from the sidewall, complete collapse. There were no punctures/nails found anywhere in the tire.

    I won't use Bridgestone again for passenger car tires as a result of this. (I've had good luck with them on the truck though...and reluctantly put another set of REVO's on because nobody else's tires were as well rated for the way it is used and the REVO's had been great.) The OEM tires on my 240SX had also been Bridgestones and were the worst tires I had ever had (no grip, wore down in only 12,000 miles even though I drove it like a granny back then)...until the Potenza blew out.
     
    #2 Celtic Blue, Mar 29, 2009
  3. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

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    Road noise on new tires is self correcting. My new Integrities on concrete were past annoying. What is the tire pressure stamped on the sidewall and what is in the tires? Are you sure they are balanced? If the tires are only going to last 30,000 miles it sounds like you bought low end. There's a reason cheap stuff is cheap. One has to pay for quality.
     
    #3 JimN, Mar 29, 2009
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