Better of the worst

SuperKirby said:

So I need to get a set of 31" tires. I was planning on upgrading this fall, but an unrepairable flat has forced my hand. I need to get something now but only have $500 set aside. I called two places, both will work with me to get me in their economy set for $545 out the door.
These are my two options. I'm leaning towards the GT Radials from Discount tire but not sure. The reviews I can find on them say they aren't too bad.

http://www.discounttire.com/infogtradialadventuroat3/gtradialadventuroat3.html
or these
http://mastercrafttires.com/Tires/Light-Truck/Courser-LTR.aspx

I know neither of these are great options. I know that neither of these are going to compare or last like a name brand tire will. Hopefully they'll last me a few years until I can upgrade again.

Thanks for the help.

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i got my 31x10.50r15lt mastercraft courser AXT's for 470.00 installed try ma and pa tire shops.

i love my masercrafts just sayin'.

Also Mastercraft is a Cooper made tire one of the last brands made in the US of A.

The Mastercrafts I can get are from a more local place. I keep checking around. I would like the AXT's but so far haven't found them anywhere affordable, and beggars can't be choosers.

What about used to hold ya over? Or stock size treadwrights?

How about these? Discount Tire currently has "Double Rebate" offer where they double current rebates. That would make these in your price range.

http://www.discounttire.com/infofalkenrockymountain/falkenrockymountain.html

Turned out to be a waste of a day. Called around and couldn't get any Mastercrafts within an hours drive on a Saturday. They all had to order them and couldn't get them until Monday or Tuesday. So I figured I would got to Discount, look at the GT Radials in person and go from there. Got to Discount, tires looked pretty good for the price. I talked to the guy working there. He said they sell several of them and people seem to like them. There was another guy there waiting on tires and he said he has a landscaping business and that's all he runs on his trucks, including his plow trucks. Can't beat them for the money. Fair enough, lets do this. Get everything set up, the guy goes out to get the mileage off it before they start. Comes back in and says sorry, we can't put those on. What??? Stock size on that was 235's, so that's what has to go on. I say no, there's 31's on it now, they fit fine. Nope, can't do it. We can't put bigger tires on Explorers. They're too top heavy and we can't have a lawsuit if you roll it. I tell him I know all about them being top heavy. I'll sign a waiver. He still says no, checks with the manager just to make sure. Manager says nope. Can't even put them on the wheels and let you put them on the vehicle in case we ever have to service it. But he can sell me a set of 235's for the same price.
At this point I'm just irritated, so I left. Called all over town, not a place in town has a set of 31's in stock, save a couple that I can't afford.
Long story short, I call around a few places, talk to another shop that sells both the GTRadial and the Mastercraft. He says he'll gladly sell me the mastercraft as he'll make more off it, but he gets a lot more positive feedback and less complaints on the cheaper GTRadial, so that's his recommendation. He still has to order them, so it will be Tuesday morning before I can get them installed, but oh well.
So we'll see what happens. Not impressed with Discount Tire at this point. I'll let you know how the tires are on Tuesday.

I have had Discount Tire unwilling to mount anything but stock size on my 96. Even talked to small town local independent tire shops, and all them would not mount anything but stock size.

If you want to get bigger than stock tires on an Explorer at places that won't put them on Explorers, just bring them the wheels/tires without the vehicle, and don't mention they are for an Explorer.

Anime said:

If you want to get bigger than stock tires on an Explorer at places that won't put them on Explorers, just bring them the wheels/tires without the vehicle, and don't mention they are for an Explorer.

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x2. When i got my 33's and rims from Discount Tire, they wouldn't even sell them to me but after talking with them a bit, the ended up mounting and balancing the rims and tires no problem. They just wouldn't put them on the vehicle for me. I was there a few times and talked to a few people though so eventually your bound to find some help.

Personally though, with all the crap generated from the Firestone incident, I don't blame places for not touching anything but stock size. Yes its extremely inconvenient and also 10+ years ago, but no shop wants to risk lawsuits. People (not anyone here) will agree or sign for anything to get what they want but when someone gets hurt, suddenly they're not gonna feel like rules apply to them and will point to the previous incidents and say that they should know better.

Just my random unnecessary ranting. Hope everything works out.

Anime said:

If you want to get bigger than stock tires on an Explorer at places that won't put them on Explorers, just bring them the wheels/tires without the vehicle, and don't mention they are for an Explorer.

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I tried that route and that was also a no go.
The thing that irritated me the most about it was that when I was talking to them on the phone before bringing it in, on two seperate calls I told them it was a bigger than stock tire and that it was going on a 93 Ex. Why didn't they tell me then instead of waiting until I drove 40 minutes to get there?
I still think there should be some sort of waiver or something you can sign that says they're not responsible for you flipping your vehicle. But what do I know?

How was that a no go? They told you they wouldn't put new tires on the wheels without bringing in the vehicle they go on? Or they wouldn't mount bigger tires than what was already mounted on the wheels?

The solution to the latter is to have the tires taken off the wheels, and bring in the bare wheels.

If they only do this for Explorers, and not other vehicles, you can also just cover up the Explorer logos, or use Mountaineer logos over them.

You can also buy new wheels and tires of any size you want, and put them on anything you want.

These sort of 'policies', especially those that are Explorer-specific, do have some basis in safety, but only when reasonably enforced, say, to prevent a clueless person from putting bigger tires on just because they are available for a lower price than the stock size, and changing the center of gravity and handling of their vehicle.

Discount Tire and plenty of other places offer 'plus sizing' and routinely put 20 inch and larger wheels, with super-low-profile tires on lots of SUVs - which are often of a larger diameter than the stock tires.

Sadly, it seems that money and profit are the focus, rather than actual safety. Spend a few grand on large-diameter wheels and those low-low-profile tires, and they will probably put on whatever you want.

I asked about bringing in just the wheels. It was still a no per the manager. He said if they ever had to balance, rotate, etc., any type of tire related work where they may be on the vehicle, they would be violating policy so just not worth it.
In the end it doesn't matter too much, just irritating. I get that it's a "safety" issue, but I don't like it when other people, companies, etc think it's necessary to protect me from myself. If I choose to make a decision that could be deemed unsafe, but I'm okay with the consequences, so be it.

Sounds like the manager just isn't interested in customer service.

For future use, or at other tire shops, you could always get a custom-made VIN/tire size label that indicates LT31x10.50R15 as the correct tire size. Plenty of tire shops will go with the label that's on the vehicle, as computer systems often only show the base model stock size and not always all of the larger, optional sizes. It'd be pretty easy to get them to put 31's on, especially once you already have 31's on it. Might not work on this shop right now since you've already given them lots of info, but should work in the future or at other places.

Guy came out and installed the GTRadial Adventuros this morning. I haven't driven it yet but they look good on it. He said he used to sell a bunch of the previous version years ago, then there was a tariff imposed because they're imported, and this made the cost of them about the same as the top of the line name brand tires. His warehouse stopped selling them altogether. About a year ago the tariff was dropped and the company released an updated version and he's started selling a lot of them. I'll post updates on the tire itself once I drive them some both on and off road.

Hello I need some help. I have an 2003 ford explorer limited 4.6 with the tpms I would like to put my after market 20 inch wheels on my vehicle. Can u cut the tpms off , or do I need to buy sensors for my wheels?