Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Ford Explorer Community - Maintenance - Modifications - Performance Upgrades - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street
Explorer Forum Covers the Explorer ST, Explorer Sport, Explorer Sport Trac, Lincoln Aviator, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Ford Aerostar
get bigger tires and go somewhere else.....i know it isnt an option to some.....so if you can and want to do it... if you cant oh well then all you can do is wait....
if you have the cash available upfront, you can get your tires from tirerack since they carry most of the tires on ford's recommended replacement list. once you get the tires, take them down to sears to have them mounted and balanced and everything. then, take your dot codes and receipts from both tirerack and sears to your ford dealer so they can do the paperwork for your reimbursement.
in addition to what you pay for the tires, you may want to call ahead to sears (or any other tire shop) to ask them how much they would charge for the mounting work, just to make sure you don't exceed the $130 you're going to get from ford for each tire.
guys, you do NOT have to get tires from fords list unless you want ford to put them on for free and give them to you for free.
im getting 5 new goodyear wrangler rt/s's next week (265 70 r16) and theyre $137 per tire plus mount and balance. so my total is going to be about $80 or so AFTER i get my reimbursement from ford - which, when you consider getting 5 new tires for $80, thats cheaper than dirt. you do NOT need to get tires from the ford list to get your reimbursement, you can get whatever you want. you go buy whatever tires you want, bring the receipt and the old firestones to ford, and wait a few weeks.
i know some of you dont have the money to go over the reimbursement amount, but it seems to me that some people think they must get whats on fords list or they wont get any money back - this is not the case. ive heard of a few cases that ford is replacing firestones with one brand of tire (which i cant think of right now) that actually has a higher failure rate than the wilderness at!
very true, i heard the same thing, about some of the tires on the recommended list being as bad as the firestones that were recalled. don't want to bad-mouth a good name, but was it possibly goodyear?
i got the impression that drew wanted to stay with tires off the list not because he was afraid he wouldn't get reimbursed, but for some other reason. some people are just more comfortable knowing that a certain tire has been "tested" to work on your particular vehicle.
i for one am the opposite. after the whole firestone fiasco, how can i even consider trusting ford to tell me which tires are "recommended" for my vehicle?
I wanted to keep my replacement tire to ones on the Ford list out of concern for our safety. Given that there are questions as to the stability of the Explorer, the fact that my wife drives the Explorer, and that she usually has the kids, (2 and 4 years old) with her, I didn't want to take a chance.
If she rolled the truck after I decided to put on tires that were not recommended by Ford, that decision would be solely on my shoulders. I feel a little more confident going with a Ford recommended tire. Should we have a problem, I did not do anything wrong.
Originally posted by 98greyxlt is it pretty much a consensus that the bfg long trail ats are the best tires on ford's replacements list? i have to choose a tire to put on my sister's 99 sport.
i understand your concerns. is your x completely stock? you know, there are things that you can do to improve it's handling. by improving it's handling, you make the car easier to manage if you are put in a dangerous situation like tread separation. just a little peace of mind, you know?
give it a thought, some new shocks and a thicker rear sway bar isn't going to cost you much, but should give you a noticable improvement in how your truck handles. some good shocks like bilstein, monroe or edelbrock will cost you about $250-300 a set, and a new rear sway bar probably about $150.
as for the tires, definitely go the tirerack or discount tire route. it's a little more of a pain, because you have to buy the tires separately, then pay to have them mounted, then wait for the reimbursement. not as easy as just pulling up to sears and getting new tires and driving away. you have a 98, so you're probably got some good mileage on your tires already. plus with your wife and kids riding in the truck most of the time, i think the hassle of getting it changed yourself is worth it.
part of Ford's "approved list" is based on what they could provide the dealer network with, and tires that were within Ford's price range (at their volume discount) so you will see BFG's "Long Trail" but not the AT/KO... much of this is going to be based on price and availability, not saftey, being on the list doesn't mean those are the best tires available, just that they met Ford's criteria.
BFG makes both the AT/KO and Long Trail in the 255-70-16 size.
i understand your concern for your family's saftey, but don't let the blinders of corporate beancounters give you tunnel vision in your tire selection. many of the people here give the BFGs high ratings, and i couldn't be happier with my experience with the BFGs since i put them on.
I always wanted to get BFG AT tires and have them now on my ranger. I always thought that the ride would be too harsh and loud to be used on our "family" vehicle. I'll think about getting those instead.
Also, good point that the "approval" might not just be safety related but be supply oriented as well.
The truck is stock except for Monro Reflex Shocks.
I'll look into the beefier rear sway bar idea.
the Long Trail is an all season tire with a less agggressive tread. if you have a 2wd it should be just fine and may give a little better gas mileage.
Wal-Mart carries the Long Trail and this tire is probably less expensive than the AT/KO
Originally posted by Drew98xlt I always wanted to get BFG AT tires and have them now on my ranger. I always thought that the ride would be too harsh and loud to be used on our "family" vehicle. I'll think about getting those instead.
Also, good point that the "approval" might not just be safety related but be supply oriented as well.
The truck is stock except for Monro Reflex Shocks.
I'll look into the beefier rear sway bar idea.
i don't think the AT/KO will be any louder or harsher on an X than a Ranger. a buddy of mine has another brand of mud terains on his J**p Grand Cherokee and with the unibody they do make a WHIRRRrrr on the road, but i still wouldn't call that "too loud" compared to some of the super swampers i hear.
some of the guys posting in the suspension suggest urethane sway bar bushings to replace the factory rubber. that's only $25 or so and may give enough improvement that you don't need the heavier sway bar.
I don't understand why people don't get their new tires too. I mean, they're FREE. Just my spare tire was a Firestone recall and I brought it in ONE day after I bought my Explorer. Hmm, that makes me curious, why do I have weird WildCats or something for my 4 tires when my spare was a Firestone? Maybe the previous owner replaced the Firestones with cheapies. dumbo
Ford told me that my Firestone ATX was not a recall and told me to keep it. Yeah, like I want to get a flat, then change it to an explosive Firestone! I took it into the Firestone store and they replaced it in a 1/2 hour with a Denali (sp?). Is that a good tire? Not like I really care for my spare, as long as it won't explode!
There are other reasone why the stones haven't been replaced... like mine's been parked since January 4th, I canceled the insurance and let the plate expire. When I start driving it again (IF I start driving it again) that'll be the first place I take it, but for now, it's just fine the way it is.
Man its amazing! Has anyone seen most of the reports where people do get killed? Most of the people that get killed are working in darwins theory! Every report I have read had somewhere in the small print that the person that got killed was not wearing their seatbelt. Um hello? Also some of them were carrying more then 4-5 passengers. Hello? Most of all, none of them knew how to drive! If you have a blowout your not supposed to stamp on the brake! I guess I don't see the problem. Sure some of the tires had a problem, however not all of them.
I would think most of you would not want to be driving next to my truck! It has 33" TRUCK tires which are probably considered way unsafe of a vehicle like this. After all I can't corner at 55mph without rolling anymore! OH MY GAWD! WHAT WILL I DO?! Heck there are times when I run without my sway bars on the hi-way. This may be un-safe for normal everyday don't know how to drive drivers but not for someone who has learned to expect the unexpected and expect the weird habbits of the truck like that.
That the other problem with all these people. This is a freakin truck not a freakin sports car! If you expect it to handle like one fine but don't come whining when if flips on you.
Its funny Stephen has raced his Explorer on a race track. He says its VERY stable. Car and Driver did a blow out test and said the truck is VERY stable. I would belive these folks over any news report about some 7 or 8 people who were in an Explorer and killed or hurt badly in an Explorer.
I'm not sure how many of the blowouts are caused from this.. but the ones that I have read about (only about 5 or so) are still running the original factory tires.. Sure they only have 40k miles on them.. but the they were all in southwest states.. Tires in the Sourthwest are like batteries in the southwest.. unless you do something special.. If you don't garage your vehicle.. and you always park out in the sun.. tires in the southwest (hot clmates) start to dry rot.. They usually start to split between the treads on between the tread the carcass.
On top of that.. I do think the 26psi recomendation for the tires was too low. Looking at what the tires could hold at 35psi.. and looking at the weight of the explorer.. to me it seemed that 30-32psi was the right setting.. not 26..
So is there any concern about the BFG AT KO's not being available in a "P" tire? They are all "LT" type. Is the stiffer wall a concern on a vehicle that is designed (??) for Passenger car tires? Will the "LT" tires change the ride characteristic of the Explorer or will it improve it?
Originally posted by Jim F So is there any concern about the BFG AT KO's not being available in a "P" tire? They are all "LT" type. Is the stiffer wall a concern on a vehicle that is designed (??) for Passenger car tires? Will the "LT" tires change the ride characteristic of the Explorer or will it improve it?
jim, this means that the sidewalls are a little more load carrying capable.... this will greatly improve the ride and make the vehcile more responsive to the driver....
