Tires Man, Tires

I kept getting cuts in my tires in the years I spent exploring the Alvord desert. Every year when they graded the main gravel road in the area they would pick up bits of broken glass. I finally got tires with kevlar reinforcement and stopped getting flats. Whatever tire you get, get the version that has the most belts. Your ride will be a bit stiffer, but you will spend less time turning lug nuts. Good tires cost more, but when you travel rough roads and off road it's a wise investment.

Almost forgot - check the spare. Too many go bad and are either unusable or flat when you need them.

I actually have three sets of mounted tires for my "new" truck: The mudders that were on it when I bought it, a set of studded snow tires, and a set of 8 ply all season tires. My spare alternates between the one of the studded and one of the all season tires. Each year all the tires get cleaned and treated.

All my tires except the mudders are also siped. Siping is placing shallow cuts across the tire allowing it to better handle slick roads and doesn't decrease the life of the tire.

 

For one of my projects I found a 12 ply Mud Grip that was designed for the rough roads of India.
I run them on a tractor on the fronts and had a sticky substance to prevent flats.
#45

 

I am really running Cooper ST Maxx at the moment. This is my third set of Coopers and I think they are great.

 

I have had multiple catastrophic failures with Firestone so they are shit as far as I'm concerned. I might put them on a lawn mower, a push mower.
Goodyear is over priced and the joke is they are goodforayear.

For fuel economy I went with michelin energy saver A/S to get every possible bit of range out of my electric nissan leaf. They are expensive but in this case worth it. But that's not for everyone unless you want to be a no fuel buying no road tax paying jerk like me.

My wife had a pos VW new bug, had under 50,000 when she got it, I had Yokohama avid ascend tires put on it. When she sold it that car was at almost at 80,000 miles. The tires were maybe half worn down.
I would put them on my leaf but they are only rated as average efficiency and fuel economy.

The OEM tires are made to do 3 things.
Be Cheap, above all else.
Provide a smooth ride to get the car sold.
Help a trim specific vehicle quality, for a 4x4 it might be a little bit more of an off road style tire, for an economy car it would be tires that help hit that mpg number, for a luxury car the tires would be extra quiet, ect.

The OEM doesn't care if the tires wear out 2 years after the car is sold.
The only tires that might last more than 2 or 3 years will be economy car tires.

 

I was sitting in the Back of an ambulance, on a run, when one of those Firestones blew a tread. What a ride, the tread was still attached and the flapping sounded like LIFE FLIGHT was in the unit with us. Of course we had to cancel our run and ask for a backup unit.

Never again a FIRESTONE for me.

 

The last time Firestone killed a few thousand people they just cut a check.
Yokohama higher ups specifically reference the big Firestone recalls as part of their training and say that this will not be allowed, because there will be no more Yokohama tire if anything like that were to happen.

 

Had the sidewall of a Goodyear blow out on me at 75 mph, Sheets got interesting then...If my wife would have been behind the wheel we probably would have been in a ditch....less than 20 K on them...Never again!

 

$200 per tire is pretty normal just watch for labor day sales


Tires, Oil Changes & Brakes at | Firestone Complete Auto Care

 

I installed a set goodyear snows and made it 2 mile max , Came back and installed the summer on rims till I bought a set of Alpine Ice ,heavy sipes took the POS Goodyears back !! they were like jello ride. This on a euro sports car.
Plus if you need to add large weight to balance ,, there crap tires . Max added for me is .75 oz or 21Gram..Match balance method

S

 

Yesterday I got rid of my BF Goodrick KO2's. I didn't even get 40k out of them. Really disappointed. I had one go out of round and it was swapped to the rear then one evening tried to skin itself on the highway. Ugh!

I just put some Goodyear DuraTrac's on my Jeep and love them. Yesterday was a snow day and they preformed 100%. It has only been 24 hours and I am impressed so far. Hoping to get 50K but who knows. They did ask me if I wanted to buy the warranty, road and hazard. Not really sure if it would be a good thing. They said I have a few days to decide. I have a friend that works at Goodyear and he got me 35% off my tires.

Wrangler DuraTrac | Goodyear Tires

 

It seems a lot of formerly good tires are suffering from premature failures, BFG, Cooper, Goodyear, Michelin, Pirelli...you name it.
I truly am sorry to hear of your issue, especially since I was one that recommended the BFGs. I hope you have better service with the Goodyears!

 

Where's oddcaliber? He is up to snuff on tires.

 

The warranty is great, if you need it ,, otherwise,, at the end of your tire life ,, you just figured you wasted that money .
I've had 1 tire replaced under that warranty,, picked up a nail just in the sidewall . Had to pay a little on mileage difference,, but got a new tire.
Had another tire one time ,, the rubber around the bead was separating to the point it looked like the tire was going to blow off . I had to argue that to get it replaced ,, they said it wasn't covered under warranty . I told them to look at all the tires ,, they weren't abused ,, no scuff marks from bouncing off curbs ,, I said it's a manufacturer defect . They replaced it ,, but wasn't happy about it . They were cheapo tires .
I'd say the warranty is up to your own comfort level . If you do a bunch of off road stuff ,, it might be worth it also . Good luck on your choice .

 

The shop I buy from offers full coverage to what it sales.

hankook tires - Google Search

This is what I now run on Ranch truck and glad I purchased last year as price has gone up 50%. Very quiet for off road tires and shows very little wear.

Hankook DynaPro ATM RF10 Off-Road Tire - 265/75R16 114T

I note that Nissan is equipping them on some vehicles, SUVs.

 

I basically run the Hankook Dynapro AT2. I get the Load Range E tires. Granted on a half ton truck they are way overkill and the ride is harsh unless fully loaded. But the tires hardly wear and the sidewall laughs at rocks and brush when bounding off into the bush to get firewood. I've got 70k miles on the current set and only look half used. Unfortunately, they are now 8 years old and are starting to show cracking in the rubber. Probably should replace soon.

 

I am going to get the warranty because as you pointed out, even quality tires have been having quality issues.
My sons were very pro BFG also but one swapped his BFG out after 2 years also and went to Hankook. The other kid was running Continental until he totaled the car.

 

I'll 2nd the Hankook ,,, got good mileage and grip on my last set.

 

All tires are a crapshoot now days. Names you never heard of can be great tires. Names you "know and trust" can be total junk. Local warehouse tire availability is not what it was just a few months ago. Regular car and truck tire prices can change twice a day at the warehouse. Most premixture tire wear is the result of worn steering parts.

Like everything else auto parts are starting to see the supply shortage. Engine oil has been in short supply. Spark plugs, brakes, modules, sensors, and many other things have all been in shorth supply lately.
It's going to be a rough ride, for those that can ride.

 

Hankook Dynapro MT Tire
I Love the hankook Dynapro MT tires on the jeep. They have lasted about 80k miles. I plan on getting more of the same to replace these.

 

You might not want to wait too long. Continentals and Nitto have been longer than normal coming in recently. The way things are going, others may follow suit.