Financing Arrangements and Derivative Financial Instruments (Details Textual 2)	3 Months Ended								3 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		3 Months Ended															3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			24 Months Ended	62 Months Ended					3 Months Ended				3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2012 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 8.25% Senior Notes due 2020 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 8.25% Senior Notes due 2020 [Member]	Mar. 31, 2012 8.75% Notes due 2020 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 8.75% Notes due 2020 [Member]	Mar. 31, 2012 7% Notes due 2028 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 7% Notes due 2028 [Member]	Mar. 31, 2012 Australia Accounts Receivable Securitization Facility [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Australia Accounts Receivable Securitization Facility [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 $1.5 billion first lien revolving credit facility due 2013 [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 $1.5 billion first lien revolving credit facility due 2013 [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 $1.2 billion second lien term loan facility due 2014 [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 Pan-European accounts receivable facility due 2015 [Member] EUR (€)	Mar. 31, 2012 Chinese credit facilities [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 Chinese credit facilities [Member] CNY	Dec. 31, 2011 Chinese credit facilities [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Euro 400 million revolving credit facility due 2016 [Member] EUR (€)	Mar. 31, 2012 Letter of Credit [Member] $1.5 billion first lien revolving credit facility due 2013 [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Letter of Credit [Member] $1.5 billion first lien revolving credit facility due 2013 [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 German tranche [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 German tranche [Member] EUR (€)	Mar. 31, 2012 All borrower tranche [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 All borrower tranche [Member] EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2011 All borrower tranche [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 All borrower tranche [Member] EUR (€)	Mar. 31, 2012 Amended And Restated Senior Secured European Revolving Credit Facility [Member] EUR (€)	Mar. 31, 2012 Seven Point Zero Percent Notes Due In Two Thousand Twenty Two[Member] [Member] USD ($)	May 14, 2020 Seven Point Zero Percent Notes Due In Two Thousand Twenty Two[Member] [Member]	May 14, 2019 Seven Point Zero Percent Notes Due In Two Thousand Twenty Two[Member] [Member]	May 14, 2018 Seven Point Zero Percent Notes Due In Two Thousand Twenty Two[Member] [Member]	May 14, 2022 Seven Point Zero Percent Notes Due In Two Thousand Twenty Two[Member] [Member]	May 14, 2017 Seven Point Zero Percent Notes Due In Two Thousand Twenty Two[Member] [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Seven Point Zero Percent Notes Due In Two Thousand Twenty Two[Member] [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 20, 2011 Seven Point Zero Percent Notes Due In Two Thousand Twenty Two[Member] [Member]	Mar. 31, 2012 First Lien Revolving Credit Facility Due Two Thousand Thirteen [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 First Lien Revolving Credit Facility Due Two Thousand Thirteen [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 Ten Point Five Percent Notes Due In Two Thousand Sixteen [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Ten Point Five Percent Notes Due In Two Thousand Sixteen [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 UNITED STATES USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 International [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 Global And North American Tire Headquarters Member
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Agreement Period For Occupying Facility																																										27 years
Long-term Debt, Maturities, Repayments of Principal in Next Twelve Months		$ 156,000,000																																						$ 13,000,000	$ 143,000,000
Redemption Price In Percentage With Proceeds Of Certain Equity Offerings																																	107.00%
Percent of Notes That May Be Redeemed With Certain Equity Offerings																																	35.00%
Financing Agreements In China															2	2
Interest on Notes			8.25%	8.25%	8.75%	8.75%	7.00%	7.00%																				7.00%										10.50%
Debt Instrument, Issuance Date																												February 28, 2012
Issuance of aggregate principal amount of senior notes																												700,000,000
Additional notes sold at as percentage of principle amount																																			100.00%
Maturity Date of notes due																												May 15, 2022
Redemption price in percentage																													101.167%	102.333%	103.50%	100.00%
Redemption Price In Percentage Plus A Make-Whole Premium																																	100.00%
Prepayment premium on redemption of notes	59,000,000																																					59,000,000
Debt Instrument Restrictive Covenants																												The terms of the indenture for these notes, among other things, limit our ability and the ability of certain of our subsidiaries to (i) incur additional debt or issue redeemable preferred stock, (ii) pay dividends, or make certain other restricted payments or investments, (iii) incur liens, (iv) sell assets, (v) incur restrictions on the ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends to us, (vi) enter into affiliate transactions, (vii) engage in sale and leaseback transactions, and (viii) consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets. These covenants are subject to significant exceptions and qualifications. For example, if these notes are assigned an investment grade rating by Moody's and Standard & Poor's (“S&P”) and no default has occurred or is continuing, certain covenants will be suspended.
First lien revolving credit facility											1,500,000,000	1,500,000,000
Carrying amount of early debt repayment																																						650,000,000
Aggregate redemption price of notes																																						709,000,000
Unamortized discounts and deferred financing fees	27,000,000																																					27,000,000
Sublimit on letter of credit											800,000,000													50,000,000
Line of Credit, additional borrowing capacity which may be requested from Lenders											250,000,000
Revolving credit facility											1,500,000,000		1,200,000,000									100,000,000		300,000,000			400,000,000
Letters of credit issued under the revolving credit facility																			417,000,000	407,000,000			8,000,000	6,000,000	8,000,000	6,000,000
Amount outstanding under revolving credit facility																		0			0		187,000,000	140,000,000												0	0
Accounts Receivable Securitization Facility														450,000,000
Non revolving credit facilities had unused availability															126,000,000	800,000,000
Unused availability in first facility																800,000,000
Borrowings outstanding for first facility															247,000,000		199,000,000
Borrowings outstanding for second facility															204,000,000		190,000,000
Restricted cash related to funds obtained under credit facilities															30,000,000		9,000,000
Debt Instrument, Collateral									The receivables sold under this program also serve as collateral for the related facility.		Our obligations under the facility are guaranteed by most of our wholly-owned U.S. and Canadian subsidiaries. Our obligations under the facility and our subsidiaries’ obligations under the related guarantees are secured by first priority security interests in a variety of collateral.		Our obligations under this facility are guaranteed by most of our wholly-owned U.S. and Canadian subsidiaries and are secured by second priority security interests in the same collateral securing the $1.5 billion first lien revolving credit facility.	Utilization under this facility is based on current available receivable balances.
Off-balance Sheet Accounts Receivable Securitization	179,000,000	190,000,000
Long-term Debt	5,311,000,000	4,914,000,000							74,000,000	75,000,000																		700,000,000						0		0	0	0	631,000,000
Long-term Debt, Maturities, Repayments of Principal in Year Two		94,000,000																																						4,000,000	90,000,000
Long-term Debt, Maturities, Repayments of Principal in Year Three		1,242,000,000																																						1,200,000,000	42,000,000
Long-term Debt, Maturities, Repayments of Principal in Year Four		490,000,000																																						0	490,000,000
Long-term Debt, Maturities, Repayments of Principal in Year Five		$ 322,000,000																																						$ 0	$ 322,000,000