About to replace three of the four original tires on our 2007 Explorer. One was replaced when one blew in 2009 on our moving trip from Syracuse, NY to West/Central FL. Managed the rest of the trip on the spare and replaced it with a local Firestone dealer. Now looking at Firestone (think the card says Dest. LE2 - my husband got estimates today) and BF Goodrich Grabber. Both dealers are small businesses (in a small community I might add) and like the idea of keeping those types of people in business. Original tires were Goodyear Fortera btw. Any opinions out there about one over the other. Also have an estimate from Tire Kingdom for Mesa (some sites say made by Goodyear, some say by Cooper?). Thanks for any input.
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Tires
- Thread starter rcraner
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The Firestone Destination LE2 is a good all-season tire.
"Grabber" is a model made by General Tire, not BF Goodrich. General Grabbers are ok if you can get them for a REALLY good price.
BF Goodrich makes the Long Trail T/A Tour, which is a decent all-season highway tire.
My suggestion would be for Michelin LTX M/S2 tires if you can get them. They are better in the dry and wet than most other tires out there, and they have a 70,000 mile warranty.
Otherwise the Firestones are fine.
I'd suggest getting 4 new tires, and keeping the replaced tire on the spare. I would not advise putting a 5 year old tire on as the 4th "new" tire with 3 new tires.
Depending how much tread is left on the old tires, and if you want to go to the trouble, you could try to sell the old tires on craigslist for a few bucks to defray the cost of the new tires. Plenty of people seem to want inexpensive used tires for trailers.
"Grabber" is a model made by General Tire, not BF Goodrich. General Grabbers are ok if you can get them for a REALLY good price.
BF Goodrich makes the Long Trail T/A Tour, which is a decent all-season highway tire.
My suggestion would be for Michelin LTX M/S2 tires if you can get them. They are better in the dry and wet than most other tires out there, and they have a 70,000 mile warranty.
Otherwise the Firestones are fine.
I'd suggest getting 4 new tires, and keeping the replaced tire on the spare. I would not advise putting a 5 year old tire on as the 4th "new" tire with 3 new tires.
Depending how much tread is left on the old tires, and if you want to go to the trouble, you could try to sell the old tires on craigslist for a few bucks to defray the cost of the new tires. Plenty of people seem to want inexpensive used tires for trailers.
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I bought a set of Firestone Destination LE2 to replace the older Michelin LTX M/S on my Explorer.
The Michelins are an excellent choice. The only reason I went with Firestone was that I could get four of them for the price of three Michelin tires. I think I paid around $440 mounted/balanced/tax after a $50 coupon I got from when I went in and priced a set. No problems with the Firestones so far. They are quiet, ride nice, and performed well in winter. If you are looking for an aggressive looking tire, these are not it. They look more toward an all-season car tire.
High ratings on Tire Rack... http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=HAS
The Michelins are an excellent choice. The only reason I went with Firestone was that I could get four of them for the price of three Michelin tires. I think I paid around $440 mounted/balanced/tax after a $50 coupon I got from when I went in and priced a set. No problems with the Firestones so far. They are quiet, ride nice, and performed well in winter. If you are looking for an aggressive looking tire, these are not it. They look more toward an all-season car tire.
High ratings on Tire Rack... http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=HAS
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If you do go with BF Goodrich, make sure they are NOT the Rugged Trail model. Nicknamed Rugged Fails.
They came stock on my g/f's 2012 Nissan Xterra PRO-4X. Mediocre in everything. For some unknown reason, two of them are almost at the wear bars, and that's at 12K miles. No off-roading. No aggressive driving.
They came stock on my g/f's 2012 Nissan Xterra PRO-4X. Mediocre in everything. For some unknown reason, two of them are almost at the wear bars, and that's at 12K miles. No off-roading. No aggressive driving.
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BF Goodrich no longer makes the Rugged Trail tires. They were discontinued and have since been replaced by the confusingly similarly named Rugged Terrain tire.
The Rugged Terrain is made for those people who drive on pavement 90-99% of the time and need an all-season tire, but want a tire that looks like it's an all-terrain.
So far the Rugged Terrain has good reviews and seems like a decent tire. However, for the OP's application, it seems they are interested in mostly on-pavement driving, hence the suggestion for the Long Trail T/A Tour in the BF Goodrich product line.
The Rugged Terrain is made for those people who drive on pavement 90-99% of the time and need an all-season tire, but want a tire that looks like it's an all-terrain.
So far the Rugged Terrain has good reviews and seems like a decent tire. However, for the OP's application, it seems they are interested in mostly on-pavement driving, hence the suggestion for the Long Trail T/A Tour in the BF Goodrich product line.
Mark Salerno
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If you are looking for quiet...Cooper Discoverer HTP have lasted 90,000 miles, quiet and about $40 a tire cheaper than the Michelins. I inherited some General Grabbers and they fest good but did not last.
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