Bridgestone Turanza EL41 - Your Typical Mediocre OEM Tire
Written: Jul 17 '06 (Updated Jul 21 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good treadwear, longevity
Cons: High price, noise and ride, lack of grip
The Bottom Line: It is unfortunate that OEM tires (tires that come with cars) are often not...
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| dkozin's Full Review: Bridgestone Turanza Tire EL41 |
It has been my experience that OEM tires (tires that originally come with most cars) are mediocre at best. Such was my experience with tires like Goodyear Eagle LS, Bridgestone Turanza EL42 and now, Bridgestone Turanza EL41.
The 195/65HR15 Bridgestone Turanza EL41 tires came with the 2006 Honda Accord VP that I bought for my mother. They are rather similar in performance and behavior to the tires that came with my Infiniti G35 Sedan : Bridgestone Turanza EL42, but are slightly better. And in this case, similarities are not good.
Break-in
The tires are supposed to be driven carefully when new and I tried not to judge them for the first 500 miles. Now I can assess their performance. I have seen my 2000 Mitsubishi Galant improve its handling and noise/ride quality dramatically by switching from OEM Goodyear Eagle LS to Kumho Ecsta 716 HP4. Now, I can’t wait to switch from these Bridgestone EL41 to something better: Kumho Ecsta 716 HP4 (now called Solus HP4 716) or perhaps something else. The EL41 is not a bad tire, but it is not a good tire either.
About Bridgestone Turanza EL41
As the name implies, the Turanza EL41 is a Grand-Touring All-Season tire. It was designed to do many things well, but unfortunately it does not excel in any of them. The marketing hype is that the EL41 is designed for sports sedans and coupes and blends low noise and ride comfort with performance, at the same time delivering year-round traction, even in the light snow. The same verbiage that I read for the other mediocre tire I experienced (EL42).
The EL41 is an OEM tire for cars like Honda Accord, Mitsubishi Galant and Eclipse. It is available in sizes fitting wheels from 15-16 inches in diameter and from 195 to 205 mm in width and with 55, 60 and 65 aspect ratios. The tire comes with no treadlife warranty and relatively low UTQG rating (300 in my case), which does not inspire much confidence in its longevity.
The EL41 comes in T and H speed ratings (the latter is up to 130 mph).
Noise and Ride Quality
The tires were slightly overinflated when I picked up the Accord from the dealership. They were 34-35 psi, which I reduced to the factory-recommended 32-30 psi. The tires are slightly noisy and the ride quality is mediocre. Even at recommended inflation pressure, the tires tend to make a lot of noise on the freeway that sounds like they bounce off the freeway surface several times a second.
There is also a fair bit of squeal at the smallest provocation.
Quite a few aftermarket tires are better in this regard, including the inexpensive, sticky and long-lasting Kumho 716 HP4.
Performance
I am unimpressed with the tires' performance. When the tires were new, even moderate braking caused ABS to step in just before the car comes to a stop. This is understandable since the tires were brand new and probably still had the mold-release substance on them. The matters improved after several hundred miles, but the tires still slide in turns and do not inspire much confidence should an emergency situation arise.
They are not bad, but certainly no match for good aftermarket tires.
Regardign snow traction: I have not been able to test the snow traction of these tires since in the Southern California, it is difficult to find snow. The tires behave reasonably well in the rain however - better then what I expected based on their performance in dry weather. They deliver good stops and no hydroplaning so far (knocking on my desk).
The tire wear so far has not been a problem and based on my experience with the EL42, which seems to be a very similar tire, I expect these to last over 40K miles, and taking into account how my mother drives, maybe over 50K. Most likely, however, I will take matters in my own hands and replace them before they are worn.
Just out of curiosity, I validated my own observations by looking at the tire survey results on TireRack.com. It looks like other people do not like the EL41 much.
I have to admit that I tend to demand a lot from my tires, so I might be too harsh here. And for people who are perfectly happy with OEM tires and have never experienced a good aftermarket tire, this EL41 will be perfectly fine. Have I never tried the excellent Kumho HP4, I would probably not know how mediocre the OEM tires like EL41, EL42 or Goodyear LS are. But now I know.
Also, there is a matter of price. The OEM tires are normally pretty expensive and definitely are very expensive for what they are (read “Mediocre tires”). I can get wider-sized tires for the accord that fit on the same wheel (216/60R15) like Kumho 716 Solus or Falken Ziex ZE-512 (both with 50-60K warranty and much better performance), installation included for less than the price of the EL41 (tires only).
Here is how this system works (the way I understand it). A tire manufacturer provides tires to a car manufacturer for a very low price. The tire is mediocre and does not really cost much. But since many consumers do not know any better, when it is time to get new tires they just get the same kind of tire that came with their car, regardless of price. So the tire manufacturer can now sell their mediocre tire for much more than they are really worth.
Durability
Update: as of 07/2009, with 19K miles on the tire, the EL41 still has a lot of tread left. I expect this tire to last at least 40K miles and possibly longer, depending on the driving style.
Conclusion
The EL41 is a decent OEM tire, which means it is a mediocre tire overall. It is unfortunate that OEM tires (tires that come with cars) are often not worthy of the car they come with. I cannot recommend these tires due to their inflated price, noise and ride and performance. There are much better and cheaper choices out there: e.g. Kumho Ecsta 716 HP4.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): OEM
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dkozin
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