A couple questions and a lesson learned

[Matthew Montalto]

Hello all,

I have a couple questions and a little story of a lesson learned. First question is this…. I have to buy 2 new tires for my 2009 Honda Odyssey LX. I can go to Costco and have them install 2 Bridgestone tires or I can have a local shop install 2 Goodyear Assurance All-Seasons tires for roughly the same cost….

Any opinions on which would be the better choice?

On another note… I had a problem with my inner tie rod (same vehicle).. so since I needed to rent the tool for that I decided to buy my parts at Autozone. I bought and inner and an outer tie rod… links below… both parts were Duralast parts.

I completed the inner and did the outer…. however the castle nut wouldn’t tighten but the top was NOT spinning… the nut had stripped and consequently ruined the bolt…. now I had been careful not to cross thread and went slowly and was using a torque socket wrench and was tightening incrementally… and then the stripping happened before even passing 25 ft lbs….

Long story short… I got the part off with the impact wrench and was able to return it for a refund. I have since bought a Moog tie rod end and before I install it I am considering taking the Autozone Duralast inner rod out as well and changing that to a Moog….

Question is…. am I being too fussy here?… the Duralast did install alright and I used thread locker on it…. by the way… you know that one time use clip for the inner rod dust cover (boot) that you have to break to get the boot off… and usually the replacement is a tie wrap to replace…. Well I found metal tie wraps at autozone that work perfectly……. (just wanted to pass that on here)

So I am torn… not sure if its worth the trouble to change that inner one or not… but I will say this… the difference between the duralast outer rod and the moog one is like night and day… and believe it or not…. the moog one actually cost me less than the crap Duralast one….

Just looking for some constructive feedback here… trying to find that fine line in between being an OCD perfectionist and being conscientious about doing the job right…

Thank you all

Matt M

Inner – http://www.autozone.com/suspension-steering-tire-and-wheel/tie-rod-end/duralast-tie-rod-end/55809_472988_4988/?checkfit=true
Outer – http://www.autozone.com/suspension-steering-tire-and-wheel/tie-rod-end/duralast-tie-rod-end/55810_648825_5770/?checkfit=true

Topic

[college man]

For me I stay away from anything auto zone period. there parts are cheap quality.
As for the tires I have never liked Bridgestone tires But have had very good luck
with Good year. I would go moog and return duralast. Just my opinion.

[Matthew Montalto]

Thanks for the advice… Though I have nothing against Bridgestone specifically, and have limited experience with them… I have always felt the Goodyear was a pretty solid brand as they have been around as long as they have…..

I agree with you 100% on Autozone parts…. I had no idea before this experience that they only carry these inferior parts… and I will never get parts there again….. but now that half this job is done I have been quibbling with myself that I am just being a perfectionist… and ultimately I think I may just be looking for someone to tell me to leave the Duralast in… that it will be fine..

I guess if I get that confirmation from enough people then I would be comfortable with leaving that one in… but as of now…. I don’t feel comfortable with it and your assessment is definitely helping me move toward my original thought of changing out that Duralast part for a moog. Thank you for your thoughts and help…..

Another quick question… if you don’t mind…. when I put the outer tie rod in… do I pump it full of grease before or after I tighten it? Thanks

Matt M

[college man]

After its installed. 🙂

[Rob]

with tires I useely look at how stiff the tire is to bend in you can then tell how good the quility is… take your hand and push it in by the center… and feel the resistance it gives you… FYI dont do it to the show tires in the room do it to one of the tires your going to buy… have them get it from the yard and do the test on that one… it will show how good the bands are inside the tire… also look at the miles the tire is rated for and the pattern on the treads… you can tell alot by that… I sometimes have found the cheaper no name tires to be a lot better then the name brand tires..
as for autozone durlast parts I have never really have had any problems with them… tie rods and more comman parts to go bad… I recond check ing out the wanty… and make sure its life time… also thing about how you will have to do to get a warrty replace ment… some ppl go like online parts like rock auto… you will haveto ship the part back to them and wait untill they get it before they will ship you back a new one… but with an auto part sotre you can just exchange it… some thing to think about… example a tie rod is like 30k-50k miles life is what I see on avg even with mfg ones

[Ole Eggers]

I think Eric is recommending Michelins for Hondas. As I recall it, he claims every other make he has tried on a Honda gives an inferior driving experience.
I´ve never owned a Honda, so I wouldn´t know, but I´ll take his word for it.

[Ken]

I’d opt for the Bridgestone tires over the Goodyear all seasons simply based on the fact that I had a bad hydroplaning incident with GY all seasons, not trying to scare you into choosing Bridgestone cause personally I always now buy expensive performance tires, Eric’s mentioned several times how important good tires are, and how they drastically change the feel of the handling.

Now in regards to the inner tie rod, I’d leave it be, I personally know that Moog makes excellent parts but if the job is already done I wouldn’t redo it.

[Matthew Montalto]

Thanks Kenzo and Iznogood for the info…. appreciate the feedback

Kenzo… I kind of agree with leaving the Duralast inner rod as I feel that even if it is a crappy part… I would think its not likely to snap and create an accident, but rather maybe prone to fail in as much as some noise like the original reason I changed it in the first place…. but I may get a year out of it before I even need to think about it….. (this is the other side of my thought process over whether to change it or leave it in)… if I thought for a moment that its a safety issue then I would change it in a second…. regardless of the work involved… thanks for the thoughts…

Matt

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