Business Segments - Segment Financial Information (Detail) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	$ 4,200,836,000	$ 3,907,820,000	$ 3,342,708,000
Operating profit	396,962,000	163,301,000	188,374,000
Interest expense	(29,546,000)	(36,191,000)	(36,647,000)
Depreciation and amortization expense	128,916,000	122,899,000	123,721,000
Interest income	2,560,000	3,190,000	5,265,000
Segment assets	2,801,160,000	2,509,918,000	2,305,537,000
Other-income (expense)	(1,526,000)	3,846,000	2,834,000
Expenditures for long-lived assets	187,336,000	155,406,000	119,738,000
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	368,450,000	134,146,000	159,826,000
North American Tire [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
External Customers	3,011,314,000	2,744,124,000	2,338,631,000
Intercompany	84,244,000	93,464,000	66,901,000
Revenues	3,095,558,000	2,837,588,000	2,405,532,000
Operating profit	295,900,000	77,432,000	130,694,000
Depreciation and amortization expense	76,035,000	72,787,000	76,065,000
Segment assets	1,181,500,000	1,096,083,000	982,001,000
Expenditures for long-lived assets	68,655,000	69,168,000	66,100,000
International Tire [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
External Customers	1,189,522,000	1,163,696,000	1,004,077,000
Intercompany	386,476,000	393,384,000	268,147,000
Revenues	1,575,998,000	1,557,080,000	1,272,224,000
Operating profit	143,589,000	102,720,000	82,081,000
Depreciation and amortization expense	51,846,000	49,778,000	46,728,000
Segment assets	893,390,000	884,337,000	823,011,000
Expenditures for long-lived assets	79,286,000	32,849,000	37,395,000
Eliminations and other [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	(470,720,000)	(486,848,000)	(335,048,000)
Unallocated corporate charges [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Operating profit	(42,527,000)	(16,851,000)	(24,401,000)
Corporate [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Depreciation and amortization expense	1,035,000	334,000	928,000
Segment assets	726,270,000	529,498,000	500,525,000
Expenditures for long-lived assets	$ 57,929,000	$ 53,389,000	$ 16,243,000