Were Soviet Tanks Ever Better Than Western Tanks?

[Zardnaar]

The factory cut corners in order to meet production qoutas. Some of it made sense like the prototype had rubber rim wheels, given the rubber shortage these were cut from the production model
But they cut important things like steel hardening process for internal parts like the final drive, removed sealent from hatchs which meant water got inside, insufficent welding might be a skill issue, it was not a joke when they considered T-34s almost like a one use weapon, good for one battle due to the unreliability at the manufactoring stage

Issues like the high death rate of Russian crews were identified, to the ammunition storage in the turret ring and the engineers worked out solutions with ammo racks. But these improvement were held back by stalin to keep production numbers high
Even better couplas for viewing were ignored only highly decorated tank aces were premitted to voice these sortcomining to higher command and ask for fixes.

2022 they still haven't fixed exploding ammunition problems going by the T-72 turret throwing Olympics in Ukraine.

 

[Sarin]

2022 they still haven't fixed exploding ammunition problems going by the T-72 turret throwing Olympics in Ukraine.

T-72, no matter which designation you slap on it, was designed for a tank doctrine that evolved from Kursk. Crew safety, working conditions and even all-round situational awareness have been secondary priority, because they were expected to operate either en masse, or from ambush position. Issues like urban combat weren't considered, but ease of production was.

 

[PhroX]

My understanding of the T-34's main issues were that while the "hard" numbers (armour, weapon, mobility etc.) look great on paper, it was an absolute nightmare for the crew, meaning it would rarely if ever actually live up to said numbers while in combat. The -85 addressed some of the issues (e.g. adding a 3-man turret), but it was still not easy on the crew (the Sherman and Pz4 were the opposite - they might seem a bit worse on paper, but were much easier for the crew to operate to their full potential).