Firestones - "It had em when I bought it"

[Joe Mc]

Guys,



Just picked up (5/30/01) a 99, quad, lwb 4X4, Auto slt larry, with 265/75/16 Firestone Steeltex's. Why it had to have them I don't know but, anyway. When I first saw it and made the deal I noticed the tires were still in fair shape 1/4 - 3/8" to go before they hit the wear indicators. I told myself when I pick it up I'll drive it home (only 120miles) and then get some really good rubber. So when I go to pick it up the salesmand proudly announced that he had 2 (yes just 2) new tires put on for me, after I asked him why, he replied because it needed them.



We are going on vacation from N/E Pa in two weeks to Yellowstone, then south to Colorado (4 corners) and back home. Am I fooling myself by thinking we'll be safe? Should I go and get some new rubber now . . . do you think I'll end up buying a new set on the road if I don't? I just read a thread about tires and noticed someone saying "any tire is a good tire except Firestone as they explode".



If you guys are going to suggest I get new tires, my type of truck driving is mostly to and from work, an occasional light load, no towing (yet) and the proverbial lead foot (like Sammy Hagar said, "I can't drive 55"). Price is not to be confused with the safety of my family, I'd appreciate your input re: safety, comfort, handling, noise, life expectancy and price (last on the list of my tire priority concerns). Oh yea, tire pressures you have had the best results with.



Sorry I haven't quite figured out how to effectively use the this site yet. I. E. nothing listed as far as type truck at the bottom of the post etc. I'm a newbe here . . . for now.



Thanks for your comments/help. This is what it's supposed to be all about . . . right?



Joe Mc

 

[ANCIENT WOOD]

Just from intermittent visits to the Ford Diesel site it sounds like they have pretty good luck with the steeltex tires. I think most of the problem you are referring to is the cheaper tire on the Exploder. If it was me I would feel OK with them.

 

[Shooter]

I had F / steeltex on my 97 ford. They had a recall in 99 for the mexican built tires. The local tire dealers were reselling the recalls for trailer tires. Other than that the m/s were the worst tires I ever had for traction. Got stuck on level ashfalt in 1" new snow ( 4x4 ). slide on wet pavement and tread would clog w/ mud for no traction. IMHO a lousey tire. Never had a problem cept traction, had a few perminant puckers in the front seats, I live in the mountains. I replaced them during the first winter.

 

[jsimpson]

I've had no problem with my e-rated Firestones. They balance better than my BFG's. They handle loads far better than my Daytonas (both of which suffered tread separation). They are wearing as well as my Coopers. The only Firestones which I know of that have ha problems are the OE tires that are built on bid specification for Explorers at about $8 per tires. But hey, I've NEVER had an OE tire that would make it past 12,000 miles!

 

[tntway]

think about this...

just a couple of thoughts... why were firestones only having problems on the Exploder, adn why, after ford changed tires,

are the exploders still rolling over. my brother-in-law has an exploder w/ non-firestone on it and says its all over the road...

 

[SLang]

JMcCasland

I run the 235/85R16 steeltexs on my dually. Good tires. The truck has 152K on it and this is the third set of these. I say the get 60-65K per set. I wouldn't be scared of them at all.



tntway

The tires on the Explorer were manufacture defects to a point. When ran on low pressure the adhesive (falcanizing) used to bond the tread to the tire would fail and the tread would seperate. Also this would happen in certian conditions on full pressure tires.



As far as all over the road, that's a "truck" (wannabe) chassis with a tall stance, narrow track, and wide rubber. Have him ride in a lifted Dodge with >14" tires. He'll see alot of the same traits. Just the person with the lifted Dodge expected the handling charateristics. Most people in Explorer (read all small SUV) don't know much about vehicles and expect a truck chassis to ride and handle like a car chassis.

 

[Deezal Man]

Joe,



Please don't fall into the Media hipe trap of thinking your gunna die because you have Firestones. I'm not a big Firestone fan myself... . but it piss's me off when the media doesn't tell the whole truth.



Anyone who has done a little truth seeking, and research into this topic will quickly learn this is yet another media scare of something that exists within our lives everyday. Every tire manu'f has admitted to having tread seperation problems. The difference is, Firestone got caught.



FWIW: Tread seperation of Firestone Wilderness tires generally occurred in hot temperature, high speed, low air pressure conditions. The nightmare of every tire manu'f.



Most people don't realize tires lose about 1 psi per month (including the spare!!) and about 1 psi per 10 degree drop in temp.



IMO, you are going quite far. I would suggest getting new tires a few hundred miles before the trip, to break em in before you leave.



Tire brand aside, thats a long ways to go on 1/4 tread tires.

 

[RustyJC]

Like Deezal Man, I'm afraid we're watching a media and political "feeding frenzy" that may well end the Firestone brand name - its parent, Bridgestone, will undoubtedly survive and just market tires under the Bridgestone banner.



Goodyear has a silent recall on a batch of Marathon 225/75R-15 Load Range D trailer tires that were prone to tread separation - we lost one of these on our previous 5ver. Goodyear replaced the tires and paid for almost $2,500 in damage to the trailer. They currently are having the same problem with a batch of LT235/85R-16 Load Range E Wrangler HT tires used on larger 5vers and have a silent recall going on these - as a matter of interest, these are the same tires used on many 1-ton dually applications.



My point - as Deezal Man said, Firestone isn't the only company whose tires experience tread separations! (By the way - I only use Goodyear as an example. I'm not necessarily anti-Goodyear as I have Wranglers on both the 3500 and the 5ver. )



Rusty

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

I wouldn't worry about the firestone tires either. Another thing that Deezal Man didn't note is that most of the rollover explorers were also overloaded. It's a 1/2 ton truck chassis that can seat 8 people. Put a bunch of people and a bunch of bags in it (like on a trip) and you are almost guaranteed to be over gross. MOST people have no idea that vehicles have a gross weight rating - they figure if you can stuff it in the vehicle it can carry it. Think of all the cars you see driving around dragging their rear bumper on the ground because of the load they have in them! My dad has ordered a 3/4 ton Chevy Avalanche to pull a 23ft TT they just bought. I was taking their trailer back to storage for him yesterday and I've been discussing with him towing issues, etc. I mentioned to him about needing to check his tire pressures regularly and the need for different pressures depending on whether he's driving around unloaded or towing the trailer, etc. He had NO IDEA that was necessary, thought you just filled the tires to what it said in the door and forgot about them - and he's in senior management at GM! There's also no mention of that in the owner's manual, btw (a quote from him "if that was necessary it would be in the owner's manual wouldn't it?")! SCARY - IMO most people are grossly unaware of things like this, and most people driving explorers have not owned trucks before nor have they been properly informed on loading and setting up vehicles properly for their load. JMHO

 

[jarsong]

Originally posted by RustyJC

[They currently are having the same problem with a batch of LT235/85R-16 Load Range E Wrangler HT tires used on larger 5vers and have a silent recall going on these



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Really? Is there any documentation on this? These are the tires that came on my truck. They were almost flat from the factory and on our first trip with them they were NOISY! Pumped them up and they have been quiet ever since.

Jarrett

 

[RustyJC]

Yep, you can take a look over on some of the RV forums. iRV2.com would be a good place to start. As I understand it, the tires that were/are having tread separation problems were the LT235/85R-16 Load Range E Wrangler HT with a 5-ply rating. When Goodyear "fixed" the problem, the tires went to a 6-ply rating (2+2+2 - an extra reinforcing belt in the tread), and the model designation was changed to Wrangler HT-S (these are the tires on our 5ver. ) Some people are reporting that the new tires Goodyear is installing have gone back to the Wrangler HT (no S) designation but still have the 6-ply rating.



Rusty

 

[Dr.Evil]

Firestone does use a harder rubber compound on the tread than other truck tire companies, thats why they wear so well, but traction suffers. I got over 90,000 miles of all Highway use out of My 235-85R16 Steeltex's and have 67,000 miles on My 255-85R16 Wilderness'. Keep them aired up and Your fine. I've put over 275,000 miles on Firestone tires in the last 15 yrs, and only ever had 2 flats due to nails, no blow-outs. I agree that this fiasco going on now will probably be the end of Firestone Tire & Rubber. I read on ford diesel.com what the failure rate of the tires was, but can't remember for sure, something like 8 or 16 tires per million or something. Anyone ever have a GoodYear Aqua-Tred I fail? I had 3 of 4 replaced in less than 40,000 and finally talked the dealer into replacing the 4th. While I was getting the tires mounted 3 other people came in with bad Aqua-Treds to complain. And My wife blew-out a Good-Year Gator-Back tire on Her old Mustang GT (talk about a tire with NO traction) Anyhow, I'm more afraid of Good Year tires that Firestone!

DENNY... ... ... ... ... ... .....

 

[tntway]

what i was trying to say...

i'm not sure if what i said was misconstrued or not. what i was trying to say is that i personally believe that the REAL problem lies with the vehicle itself, NOT the tires as the vehicle manufacturer would have you believe. also i did fail to mention said company's policy of telling owners to run the tires under-inflated to combat a possible ROLLOVER problem...

also, my brother-in-law and his late father both worked for firestone and he emphatically states that his vehicle's problem

is NOT tire related(Not running firestones).

 

[jarsong]

Interesting... Mine has Wrangler AP 6 ply's.

Jarrett

 

[Shooter]

Like I said. I had no problem with the tires cept the traction. They rode good, wore like iron and had the traction of iron

 

[jsimpson]

In case you're wondering why Ford didn't have the same problem on the Ranger that they had on the Explorer, there are two main reasons. The Explorer has a higher center of gravity because of it's permanent rear cap, and it has softer springing to enhance ride comfort, both of which are at the expense of handling. Second, SUV drivers generally run lower air pressures for the aske of comfort than do truck drivers who are more concerned with load handling. That's a disaster in the making. It's no accident (no pun intended) that the latest generation of SUV's are built on car chassis rather than truck chassis. The buyers have spoken; they want comfort over utility. That's why my wife bought a Toyota Tundra instead of my upgrading to a 98 one ton 12 valve. She wanted the comfort of the Buick we were replacing but with the ability to haul her horse trailer and a bed full of hay bales, and my old 89 Cummins still pulls, hauls, and camps just fine!

 

[mike r]

I'm with the majority here. The problems aren't with the majority of the tires as much as all the majority of the incompetence of the vehicle owners that buy a 30+ thousand dollar 4wd CAR and think they're driving a truck safely. The majority of these people don't know how to maintain a vehicle properly or care to learn how. I bought 4 sets of the 235/15s for my Cherokee's and ran them over 200k miles with NO problems. Call me stupid but that's probably what will go on my 99 when the JUNK michelins wear out.