Yes I know, I posted this in the wrong place. However I want it to be seen by as many of you as possible.

I have been a very vocal proponent of the BF Goodrich gForce Comp 2 A/S for the last 2-3 years. Great grip, very predictable, fairly quiet, one the best tires I have ever driven in the rain and have worn very evenly for me through 2 sets of 2 tires. One of the things I like about them was their UTQG rating of 400 and the fact they have a 45K mile warranty and the combination of all the above are a bargain at their prices. I paid $130/ea. for 245/45/17 that I run on the GTO.

I went to Discount last week to have a leaky tire fixed and the tech surprised me and told me that my front tires, which had originally been on the rear when new and rotated forward, were down to 2/32 which is at or below the wear bars. Long story short the tires had just short of 2 years on the car and had been driven for only 23K miles. My bad of course because since they were relatively new I had not checked tread depth in a long time. So I went through my paperwork to document timeline and miles from 2016 to the current date.

I geared up for a battle with Discount because I went back to make a warranty claim to replace the tires and I was pleasantly surprised the manager I talked to was open and honest about the process. He mentioned to me that those tires are notorious for a shorter life span than the advertised 45K and he wasn't surprised at the least. He was complimentary of their performance but realistic about expectations of long life. I asked him if he had had any warranty claims locally and system wide and his answer was very few. But since their mileage warranty is prorated for any credit issued I didn't expect 2 brand new tires for free. He volunteered to take 50% off the cost of replacements but they had to be the same tire. So knowing what I know now I accepted and have 2 new ones on the way.

Will I buy these tires again, maybe, because I like them that much. But I have begun to look at other alternatives for my next tire purchase. The warranty only covers the tires so I still have to pay in full all the extra costs associated including road hazard protection which I add to all my tires. That gets old really quickly so I don't know if I'll want to go through this again even when they honor the warranty on the 4 tires I will have in the future. Sorry this was so long but I do want to give props to Discount for honoring the warranty without a fight and to the tires because they absolutely kick ***.

 

I'd say that's because many (most) people don't keep track that well or don't care .... or simply don't remember any mileage "warranty". If you normally buy your tires from the same place, it's certainly easier and in many cases, THEY may be the ones that point it out. Why ? The "cost" goes back to the manufacturer. Then, as you point out, they get to charge you again for mounting, balancing, protection plan, etc, etc.

I do like Discount Tire myself. I've bought all of our tires from there for many years. I even paid them for the protection plan on the dealer-installed Comp 2 A/S on my wife's Fusion. Also, on my G35X, they pulled all (4) wheels/tires to try and locate some slow leaks. They found nothing (vs "finding" an issue and charging to fix it) but did re-balance them and rotate them .... for NO CHARGE.

 

Another reason to go for the Comp 2 Sport summer tires instead c: I got 20k out of my last set and love them, excellent in the PNW rain, great for autox, similarly priced (and after your results with the A/S, maybe even the exact same compound haha)

 

I'll join in with props for Discount Tire too. Been a customer at my local store for years. Always accommodating, never a hassle when there are issues, great staff that seems to always be having fun while they work, and they'll even rotate tires for free on a new-to-me used car with tires I didn't buy from Discount. That's enlightened customer service. And to top it off, no one has beaten their out the door prices every time I've comparison shopped (which I continue to do from time to time to check if it is still so). Plus they are national so if I have a problem when road-tripping, chances are much better I'll be able to get it taken care of with a minimum of trouble.

 

I guess I should also throw my hat in for Discount Tire. I ordered my last set off TireRack because I get a discount through work, and figured I'd take them to the Les Schwab (or however tf you spell it) just up the street for mounting. LS tried to charge me 260 F**KING DOLLARS for the dismount / remount / balance / recycle. That price didn't even including new TPMS sensors.

I literally laughed in their face, called Discount from the LesSchwab showroom, Discount said it'd be ~$160, and I was out the door.

After that terrible experience, I remembered why I had previously sworn I would never use LS again. A few years back when I had first gotten my Civic, I bought tires from LS and had to bring them back about a month later because I got a nail in my tire. I dropped the car off and went out to eat, and when I came back they showed me a $260 bill (must be their magic number), saying the nail was too close to the edge to repair, so they mounted and installed a matching new tire and I was ready to go. Being the naive fool I still am, I payed and left, but decided to look up the tires that night, and flew into a rage when I saw they charged me $230 for a $120 tire I went back the next day rolling on my spare, told them to take their now used tire and give my money back.

TL;DR, Les Schwab has overcharged me multiple times, Discount Tire has never done me wrong.

 

Every time I've needed new tires, it's come down to either the BFGs or Continental DWS. Both have very similar ratings and user reviews and pricing is comparable as well.

That said, I've stuck with the Contis the past 7 years. Had them on my stock wheels and after barely getting 2 years out of "summer" tires (one set only lasted a single year), I went with DWS on my 20" wheels. I should note that I put 23k miles a year on my car on average.

Their warranty is cut in half for staggered sizes, normally 50k I believe. I got 3 years out of the last set of fronts, and could have lasted longer if I had caught an alignment issue earlier (bad compression rods caused premature inner tire wear).

Same with the rear, finally installed aftermarket camber arms and toe bolts, and wear pattern looks good after a year and a half. So about 30k miles. I'm expecting another 50k out of a 285/30R20 rear tire, if I can avoid using ARC burnout mode.

So, shameless plug for Continental DWS tires, but also worn suspension components have a huge effect on these cars.

 

I'll second the continental tires, I've been using them on my truck and they're excellent. The company I currently work for has them on the entire fleet of work vehicles from trucks (all terrain) to passenger cars (dws), nearly 100 vehicles in total and you NEVER hear of tire failures, just lots of screws and nails from construction site debris.

I'm still sold on Michelin for the G and my Focus though :P they are expensive however and if I had to make a second choice it would probably be continental for an all-season tire.