Goodyear Exhilarates. Yay or Nay?

[emichel6888]

https://babylonbee.com/news/goodyear-announces-it-will-only-sell-tires-for-left-side-of-car/

"Also, if you come in with four tires, Goodyear will scream and destroy your right-side tires, free of charge. "

 

[Jshinz24]

Drove in a substantial amount of rain today and had a pretty good experience overall. Was running about 75 on the interstate and hit a couple spots of water coming down a hill and hydroplaned just a little.Not used to driving our interstates on good tires. Was nice to actually be able to go the speed limit without worry in the rain. We will be getting around 1 to 2 inches on Saturday so I will report back again after that lol

 

[norsairius]

Drove in a substantial amount of rain today and had a pretty good experience overall. Was running about 75 on the interstate and hit a couple spots of water coming down a hill and hydroplaned just a little.Not used to driving our interstates on good tires. Was nice to actually be able to go the speed limit without worry in the rain. We will be getting around 1 to 2 inches on Saturday so I will report back again after that lol

Nice! Good to know about the rain performance. I haven't had a chance to try them on wet roads yet and I've only been on the tires since Monday, but driving impressions so far are very positive. They grip very well for everyday driving with some occasional spirited fun too and they continue to be fairly quiet. I'm concerned though that I might have some of the droning that some online have alluded to once you're at highway speeds, but I'll have more of an opportunity to test that out over Labor Day weekend. I'll report back after that.

 

[Jshinz24]

Nice! Good to know about the rain performance. I haven't had a chance to try them on wet roads yet and I've only been on the tires since Monday, but driving impressions so far are very positive. They grip very well for everyday driving with some occasional spirited fun too and they continue to be fairly quiet. I'm concerned though that I might have some of the droning that some online have alluded to once you're at highway speeds, but I'll have more of an opportunity to test that out over Labor Day weekend. I'll report back after that.

I haven’t had much issue with drone at highway speeds. However, I usually am jamming music at that point in time and the cabin is full of sonic greatness. I may give it a shot this weekend and check.

 

[chillax]

 

[emichel6888]

Goodyear has already been struggling for a long time now, so they must have figured hey I know let's pander to the left! Because I am sure left wing urbanites buy lots of tires, right? So let's alienate half the country (probably more by now), and make sure it is the ones that actually buy the majority of our tires! A truly masterful decision and a brilliant plan! I am sure the executive team will get huge bonuses! They deserve it!

I stopped buying Gillette products some time ago, and now I will not be buying Goodyear tires either.

 

[norsairius]

Goodyear has already been struggling for a long time now, so they must have figured hey I know let's pander to the left! Because I am sure left wing urbanites buy lots of tires, right? So let's alienate half the country (probably more by now), and make sure it is the ones that actually buy the majority of our tires! A truly masterful decision and a brilliant plan! I am sure the executive team will get huge bonuses! They deserve it!

I stopped buying Gillette products some time ago, and now I will not be buying Goodyear tires either.

That's your right, and anyone's, to not buy products from a company if you do not agree with them for whatever reason on whatever it may be and I respect that. Goodyear's statements since the incident indicate that the offending slide from the presentation was not approved by Goodyear corporate or by anyone outside of the facility it was presented at which leads me to believe that the messaging in the slide was more reflective of the opinions or interpretations of company policy by the employee who created the slide and maybe their immediate supervisor, but not necessarily Goodyear as a whole. Sure, maybe other employees agreed with it too, but a lot of them probably didn't either. Big companies like Goodyear that employs tens of thousands of people will have a lot of diversity of opinions within its workforce. Goodyear has since also reiterated its support for law enforcement and made it more clear in their policies that support for law enforcement through apparel was allowed. As far as I'm concerned, Goodyear came clean and took care of this.

That said, if the explanation from Goodyear and the revision of its policies still isn't enough, it is, again, your right to disavow their brand and products and I have no problem respecting that. It's no skin off my back either way. We're fortunate in that we have a LOT of excellent options for tires from many different companies for our cars that we all enjoy and share an interest in as we come here to discuss them as a community. For me personally, politics had nothing to do with my decision to buy the tires. There are much better ways for people to spite someone or a political party than spending several hundred dollars on tires (or not) and I'm not interested in being motivated by something like that to make a purchase this big. I actually think the idea of buying these tires to spite the president is a silly one.

I otherwise like the fact that Goodyear is an American company and that the Exhilarates are made in the US (I didn't verify by checking the plant code on the sidewall, but a lot of reviews said so at least) which made me feel good about buying them. The tires also use some soybean oil in their production that comes from soybeans grown by American farmers, which is also "greener" compared to the use and sourcing of more traditional raw materials in the quantities they would otherwise be needed in, so that's all really good too.

I generally think it's too bad that we live in a time where everything has become so politicized and polarized. I have a lot of friends who identify with the left and right sides of the political spectrum and we all get along fine, even at times where more political topics come up. It's not impossible to have a civil discussion about it, but unfortunately social media puts a lot of people in an echo chamber where their beliefs are constantly reinforced instead of challenged so people tend to only become further entrenched in their beliefs and dig in more and more. It's far too easy to find only what you want to hear/see online. It also doesn't help that many politicians don't exactly set a good example for everyone either, and I mean this across the board, not just pointing to one side. I'll add though that some, on both sides, do act as good role models though none of them are perfect all the time. I wouldn't say I am either. We're all human.

As for the actual topic of this thread, the Goodyear Eagle Exhilarate tires: The last time I ran Goodyears on anything was a on 1999 Nissan Altima around the early 2000s. That was at a time when Nissan was still pretty cool too, if you ask me. CVTs hadn't ruined their cars yet and the Maxima being the "4DSC" (four door sports car) actually meant something.

I can't even begin to recall what the Goodyears were like to drive on back then, but I remember Goodyear being a brand that was highly regarded. I didn't realize that they've slipped since then but I did see some evidence of that as I was researching the Exhilarates. I actually have a strong preference for Continental tires, but I was convinced by the reviews/ratings from TireRack and Consumer Reports and some limited consumer reviews via other car forums to give these a shot.

As I said, so far, so good on the tires except for some initial concerns about noise at highway/interstate speeds, but it's yet to be determined how much of a problem that may be. I'll be doing more running around the area over Labor Day weekend so I'll have a good amount more miles and highway driving on these to see how they do.

 

[emichel6888]

That's your right, and anyone's, to not buy products from a company if you do not agree with them for whatever reason on whatever it may be and I respect that. Goodyear's statements since the incident indicate that the offending slide from the presentation was not approved by Goodyear corporate or by anyone outside of the facility it was presented at which leads me to believe that the messaging in the slide was more reflective of the opinions or interpretations of company policy by the employee who created the slide and maybe their immediate supervisor, but not necessarily Goodyear as a whole. Sure, maybe other employees agreed with it too, but a lot of them probably didn't either. Big companies like Goodyear that employs tens of thousands of people will have a lot of diversity of opinions within its workforce. Goodyear has since also reiterated its support for law enforcement and made it more clear in their policies that support for law enforcement through apparel was allowed. As far as I'm concerned, Goodyear came clean and took care of this.

That said, if the explanation from Goodyear and the revision of its policies still isn't enough, it is, again, your right to disavow their brand and products and I have no problem respecting that. It's no skin off my back either way. We're fortunate in that we have a LOT of excellent options for tires from many different companies for our cars that we all enjoy and share an interest in as we come here to discuss them as a community. For me personally, politics had nothing to do with my decision to buy the tires. There are much better ways for people to spite someone or a political party than spending several hundred dollars on tires (or not) and I'm not interested in being motivated by something like that to make a purchase this big. I actually think the idea of buying these tires to spite the president is a silly one.

I otherwise like the fact that Goodyear is an American company and that the Exhilarates are made in the US (I didn't verify by checking the plant code on the sidewall, but a lot of reviews said so at least) which made me feel good about buying them. The tires also use some soybean oil in their production that comes from soybeans grown by American farmers, which is also a "greener" compared to the use and sourcing of more traditional raw materials in the quantities they would otherwise be needed in, so that's all really good too.

I generally think it's too bad that we live in a time where everything has become so politicized and polarized. I have a lot of friends who identify with the left and right sides of the political spectrum and we all get along fine, even at times where more political topics come up. It's not impossible to have a civil discussion about it, but unfortunately social media puts a lot of people in an echo chamber where their beliefs are constantly reinforced instead of challenged so people tend to only become further entrenched in their beliefs and dig in more and more. It's far too easy to find only what you want to hear/see online. It also doesn't help that many politicians don't exactly set a good example for everyone either, and I mean this across the board, not just pointing to one side. I'll add though that some, on both sides, do act as good role models though none of them are perfect all the time. I wouldn't say I am either. We're all human.

As for the actual topic of this thread, the Goodyear Eagle Exhilarate tires: The last time I ran Goodyears on anything was a on 1999 Nissan Altima around the early 2000s. That was at a time when Nissan was still pretty cool too, if you ask me. CVTs hadn't ruined their cars yet and the Maxima being the "4DSC" (four door sports car) actually meant something.

I can't even begin to recall what the Goodyears were like to drive on back then, but I remember Goodyear being a brand that was highly regarded. I didn't realize that they've slipped since then but I did see some evidence of that as I was researching the Exhilarates. I actually have a strong preference for Continental tires, but I was convinced by the reviews/ratings from TireRack and Consumer Reports and some limited consumer reviews via other car forums to give these a shot.

As I said, so far, so good on the tires except for some initial concerns about noise at highway/interstate speeds, but it's yet to be determined how much of a problem that may be. I'll be doing more running around the area over Labor Day weekend so I'll have a good amount more miles and highway driving on these to see how they do.

Well said, however I do not believe for one second that these policies are the result of some rogue employee. As you said the response was extremely weak, which would not be the case if this weren't in fact a top down company policy. All they really said is that they do support law enforcement, of which they sell a lot of tires too, how brave and ethical of them.
They do not endorse any political party? What exactly do they think BLM/Antifa is? I am all for law enforcement reform, but BLM/Antifa is not about saving black lives, far from it. It is a Marxist, racist, fascist, political terror group, they incite fear and division, destroy communities, and advocate violence, rioting, and looting. Any company or individual that is okay with that, is not okay with me.
Our political system is broken in many ways but the one most powerful form of democracy that still exists in our capitalist society is voting with our dollars and our feet. The woke left have been using this tactic to great effect for many years, if we don't take some sort of stand when our cities are burned and looted, people are attacked and and even killed in the streets, and at the same time law enforcement as a whole is demoralized and defunded, then when? Will it be when they start "protesting" in your neighborhood?

As for the made in the USA angle, like everything else most of their tires are made all over the world, mostly places like Mexico and China. Also many other foreign based tire companies also manufacture some tires here as well. BFGoodrich, Cooper, Dunlop, Firestone, General, Goodyear, Michelin, and Yokohama currently build tires here in America as well. See here: https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/tires/where-are-tires-made and https://www.moderntiredealer.com/suppliers/77512/2018-facts-issue-tire-plant-capacities

Abstaining from purchasing one particular tire brand isn't exactly a huge sacrifice, especially when they aren't the cheapest or even the best option. They are going to have to do a lot more than put out some weak statement if they ever expect to sell another tire to me, and I am far from the only one that feels this way.

 

[Litterbug]

I'm impressed by my Exhilarates to date. The 245 35r 18 size on 18 x 8 45 offset is working perfectly on the GTI. The combination of size and tire choice has added traction, decreased undesirable noise/harshness issues while also improving steering feel.

As others have said I also have issues with Goodyear tires in the past and was reluctant to purchase another set of tires from the company. At this point, I am delighted I took a chance on a great product.

 

[w124_karl]

It’s good news that there are so many good choices available. For me right now, I’d probably get the Goodyears. The incentives seem better.

In the overall, I sure wish the tire industry wasn’t so attached to mail in rebates. We bought Pirellis for our Q5, and though we recently got the rebate card, it took a few months. Seems like there should be an easier way, although I suspect the rebate model is in use because companies are hoping that people will forget to submit the paperwork.

 

[Jshinz24]

It’s good news that there are so many good choices available. For me right now, I’d probably get the Goodyears. The incentives seem better.

In the overall, I sure wish the tire industry wasn’t so attached to mail in rebates. We bought Pirellis for our Q5, and though we recently got the rebate card, it took a few months. Seems like there should be an easier way, although I suspect the rebate model is in use because companies are hoping that people will forget to submit the paperwork.

Yea, I was very surprised to see my rebate card after like a week and a half or so. I did everything on the website and it seemed to work pretty well.

 

[JWTS]

These tires look really good based on the testing that's out there. Looks like the first really good tire GoodYear has had in this category in a long time. Had these been available when I got tires I probably would have tried them.

I'm using the Vredestein Quatrac Pros mentions early on in this thread, and quite like them. The wet traction is amazing, which is really my number one concern. I'm not going to hit the limits of any good tire on public roads in dry weather... I originally got these a my "winter" tire, since winter for me is a lot of rain, but I've run them all year and they've performed great. Wear is also good. At 15K miles, I'd say I will likely get at least 30K miles out of these and still be at 4-5/32's.

 

[norsairius]

Well, I've put ~450 miles on these tires since I last posted in this thread.

That noise I had concerns about at highway/interstate speeds isn't really as big of a concern as I thought. It doesn't even seem to increase in volume much once you're over 60-65. Playing music or even running the air conditioning easily drowns it out. We'll see if the noise gets worse as the tires wear further. Seems dependent to some extent what surface I'm driving on too, which makes sense.

I didn't notice any appreciable drop in gas mileage and averaged 35 MPG on a ~1hr 45 min drive with speeds mostly between 45-65. Still no real bad weather experience with these, but I'm not too concerned.

I tried launch control for giggles and found that the tires gripped well and wheel spin was less than I expected.

The tires did see some time on a gravel road and they did fine. I didn't drive like a maniac either. Not much else to say about that.

All that said, the tires handled my Labor Day weekend driving very well and without drama. At this point I don't think I have much else to say about them except that they've been very good so far. I'll post again here if I get a chance to drive them in more appreciably rainy conditions or if I run in to any issues.

Otherwise, I may just start a new thread with some impressions on these once I get chance to try these in the snow so that it's more easily found via search for people who may be interested in that specifically.