I recently purchased a 2006 LX 4WD E as a Honda Certified Used vehicle. The dealership put new tires on it, but I've been told by some tire shops that they are pretty lousy tires (Runway Enduro HT). I don't really like them, either. Wet traction stinks, and they seem to be out of balance.

I've been giving some thought to purchasing a set of General Grabber AT2s or Firestone Destination A/Ts - given my situation, would it make sense to put on new tires and sell the ones that came with it, or am I wasting my money? What would you do in this situation? Thanks in advance for your feedback.

I recently purchased a 2006 LX 4WD E as a Honda Certified Used vehicle. The dealership put new tires on it, but I've been told by some tire shops that they are pretty lousy tires (Runway Enduro HT). I don't really like them, either. Wet traction stinks, and they seem to be out of balance.

I've been giving some thought to purchasing a set of General Grabber AT2s or Firestone Destination A/Ts - given my situation, would it make sense to put on new tires and sell the ones that came with it, or am I wasting my money? What would you do in this situation? Thanks in advance for your feedback.

GITI Tire makes the Runway's in China. Looks like a nice budget all season tire. Not great. Not horrible. Hard to imagine they would be much worse than the stock Wrangler HP's Honda uses on new E's.

If they are really that bad your 2 options are...

Why not run them for the first year to 18 months (or 25 - 30K miles) to get something out of them and then upgrade to a new set of premium rubber?

If that is a big no (meaning you simply can't live with the Runways), then get new tires now and you can unload the set of Runways as barely used tires on eBay or in the classifieds and maybe get a little cash out of them.

If you want to upgrade to a premium tire, I would suggest you bypass the Firestones and go directly to the premium line of that tire company by getting Bridgestones.

LeadFoot

if they stink in the rain...and the wet traction stinks and you dont feel safe driving in bad weather with them,,,,well theres your answer....get rid of them....2 months ago i bought michelin ltx m/s...there expensive but i love them,,dry and wet there awsome,,,this weekend i drove from cooperstown n.y back to nyc,,,300 miles in pouring rain...the tires where perfect..plenty of puddles on the hwy's,,,no hydroplaning....good luck

If they are cheap Chinese made tires and you don't feel safe driving them in the rain and you live in Maine just imagine how bad they are going to be in the Winter of Maine in the ice and snow! Don't let crap tires cost you your life or damage to your Element.

China has a very, very bad reputation when it comes to tires. They have had so many recalls because of these tires. Don't take the risk. I wouldn't even try selling them. Just get yourself some good tires and toss these. It's what I did with the original tires from Honda on my Element. Tossed them in the garbage and got Nokian's.

I've got some GT Radial Maxtours (also cheap chinese tires made by GITI) and although they aren't great, I'd hardly say they are unsafe. They are by no means performance tires, but the element is not a performance vehicle. I definitely won't buy another set of them, but I can't see myself throwing $ away on a new set of tires when the ones I have function fine. Even on my autocross car (a mazda3 set up for ST class), I burnt up the stock tires before going to something stickier.

Of COURSE you've been told by tire shops that they stink, they want to sell you new tires. I'd say just get them rebalanced (since you said thats a problem) and live with them. I doubt you'd get more than $100 for the whole set if you sold them (they are used tires no matter how used they are, and used tires don't fetch much $ unless they are very gently used race tires). Put your $ towards something more useful. What type of performance do you really expect out of the E?

Hmm, I might just re-balance them and see if that helps. The wet traction I can live with, but if they're bad once the snow flies, I will definitely be dumping them for something else.