FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT BUY FIRESTONE!

[PekingMan]

Here is once again another story on the horror of Firestone tires. I am not one to complain or gripe but this incident has me fuming. On the way home today, my left rear tire decided to have its tread seperate. Cruisin down the freeway at 60MPH, nothing special, then, a slight shaking that became more severe quickly and then BOOM! Tire destroyed!! This tire literally exploded. I have never seen a tire come apart this way before. I somehow managed to get over to the side of the road. The story gets WAY better though. 1) These tires only have about 35,000 miles so the wear is not that bad, 2) the damage to my beauty. When the tire seperated, a number of things happened. 1) The pieces caused the running board to be almost completely ripped off. 2) The rear fender sheet metal was wrapped under the body (will require body work). 3) Last, but certainly not least, the &*%%@!% tire cut my fuel filler hose right in half! Now I have no way of filling up my tank until I get a new one. (A trip to the dealer for the part should fix it but its the principle of the thing.)For now, I taped the open end of the hose with Duct tape to prevent dirt and such from getting in the tank. NEVER BUY THESE DAMN TIRES!! I am going out tomorrow or so to go buy some BFG All-Terrains to have some quality tires on my rig.

A few questions though. I know that this problem has been common on Firestones, is there any way I can claim a factory defect and make Firestone pay for the repairs that THEIR tire caused or am I just going to get shafted with this event? Has anyone ever had their filler hose cut off as a result of a blowout? I have never heard of such a thing and I was shocked when I saw it happen to my rig. Firestone is going to get a nasty phone call tomorrow.

 

[Rhett]

Firestone ATX or Firestone Wilderness AT are NOT designed to run even 35000 miles. The tire may look ok, but a Firestone down even 25% tread is a dangerous tire. A good tire like a BFG, Michelin, Dunlop, etc. can run 25% down and still be a good tire...

 

[Weatherman]

It's rather odd that all of these firestone horror stories are coming out now. They must have bee using a bad type of rubber mixture for a few years or something. Personally I wont take the risk of running them on my explorer. What suprises me is that we ran the stock set on our 91 explorer EB about 75,000 miles, and only replaced them because there wasn't much tread left. We also ran the stock firestones on the 94 Thunderbird about 80,000 miles, only replacing them because winter was approaching last year and there wasn't much tread left. And that set stood up against numerous slides, skids, ad 180+ degree spins on dry pavement; never had a problem with them at well over 100mph, although they were car tires, not truck tires. MY father put new Wilderness AT tires on his 91 explorer last time, only to suffer one or two broken belts on the front tires. The egg shape was annoying to drive with. But based on what I've heard, I think we will probably lay off the firestones for a little while. I assume no one was hurt PekingMan?

-Ben

 

[Jim F]

I am a strong believer in the fact that rubber will age and start to crack no matter how much tread is left on the tires. I just recently replaced a set the OEM General tires on a 94 Cavalier. The tread was fine with only 38000 miles on them, however, luckily I spotted a couple of large blisters that formed on one of the rear tires. There were also small signs of cracking on the sidewall so I was keeping an eye on them. I am the original owner of the car and rotated them religiously. They just got old.

Were these tires the original ATX's on your 93? If so, they were probably in the same condition as the ones I had to have replaced.

All of the stories I have read about blowouts were ATX's and Wilderness model, not the newer Wilderness AT's which have been installed since the 98 model came out replacing the Goodyear Wranglers.

As a matter of fact, I replaced the General tires on the Cavalier with a set of Firestones FT70c (I liked the traction rating). The tire is designed with a more perfect circle for the bead. The bead core over laps itself eliminating any high spots. It's hard to describe, but these tires have no high spots, they roll forever without any sound. Like I said it's hard to describe and it's not from driving without blistered tires.

I would like to strongly advise anyone with tires that are 5 years or older to keep an eye on the sidewalls for signs of cracking. Even if they have original depth tread, if there are cracks, REPLACE THEM or suffer the possibilites of body damage either to the vehicle or to a loved one!!!!!!!!!

One more thing, SUV's in general are becoming, if not already, targets for abuse by government agencies. They seem to have a lot of theories about how unsafe they are and such. Please, do not give them more to use on the Explorer with tire blow outs and loss of control. Is it my imagination or is all the blow outs occuring on the driver side rear?

The tires are the responsibily of the owner. In most cases the tread will wear out first, but if it doesn't there must be a second rule of thumb. I am tire of hearing "but they still had plenty of tread", well tell your body shop that and see what comes of it. Or better yet, tell Firestone that and see how quick they ask how old the tires were.

Sorry for the rant.

[Edited by Jim F on 06-20-2000 at 10:20 AM]

 

[Ricardo Miramontes]

I strongly agree with JimF

I'm sorry if this annoys anyone but I strongly agree with JimF. You are responsible for the care of your tires. tread life doesn't always give the full story. Also, check the inside of the tires, not the interior but the walls facing the shocks, a lot can happen in those areas without you noticing.

Ricardo

 

[donkey boy]

Tire aging can be a factor, specially in sunny places. And I think it is common sence to inspect the tire from time to time, not just for "natural" cracks.
But with todays rubber technology, I think it's a wast of money and resources to just change the tire every 5 years or so. I was running a lot older tires in the past.
And this about the Firestones not being designed to last 35'000 miles? I think this belongs to the same chapter as the tranny having a purpose built in week link to break at 75'000 miles. Most of all, it depends on your driving style. (Strange enough, the older I get, the longer my tires last
Peking Man, supposing you are taking care of your car and tires, your tire had NO excuse to explode. I'm happy nothing worse happened to you or others on the road.

[Edited by donkey boy on 06-20-2000 at 03:13 PM]

 

[PekingMan]

In regards to everyones concerns about being ok, yes I am ok and there was no one else in the car. I don't where the idea of 35000 miles being the limit for the tires comes from though. The tires themselves were only about 1.5 years old. The Explorer, though, responded very surely and I was able to get off the road quickly and safely. (Thanks to the well built Explorer.) I drove down (very carefully I might add because of the fuel filler hose problem) to the Firestone dealer and the guy there said that this was unbeleivable and said the tire should have been good. So he gave me the information to make a claim for the damage to the tire and vehicle. It will take 3 to 7 days though. He actually tried to sell me a new Firestone in replacement of the spare! To which I replied, "No, I am going out to buy some BFG All-Terrains day after tomorrow. I hate Firestones." I am still wondering though, has anyone ever had their fuel filler hose cut in half as a result of a blowout?

Chris

 

[PekingMan]

Oh, I forgot to add that these tires were not the original OEM tires. They were purchased about a year and half ago and I have kept them in good shape, ie...washing both sides regularly with the rig and putting Armor All protectent on every time afterwards because I also believe that maintaining things is the best way to make them last. I don't understand why this happened except for the idea that it was a bad tire.

 

[Jim F]

Pardon my speculation regarding the age of the tires.

Was the one that blew an ATX or a Wilderness AT?

 

[Rhett]

First of all, here I am talking about Firestone ATX or Firestone Wilderness AT tires. I am not talking about other Firestone tires, such as the Firehawk.

now
35000 was an arbitrary figure. To make it more clear, I'd wager the people that have tread separations had 50000+ miles on the Firestones, which is way too much for that tire. And if they didn't have that many miles on them, then that only makes it even more clear...

Many people run them well past 50000 miles, and think the tires are doing a good job. For NORMAL driving they might well do a good job. BUT it only takes one deer running into their path to find out why a Firestone with 50000 miles on it is a worn out tire. It only takes one downpour. It only takes one aggressively-driven S-pattern in a road...

 

[briantf]

Brand NEW they're bad!

Rhett, good point about one downpour with 50K on them, but how about BRAND FREAKING NEW and one downpour???

With 2K miles on my wife's 98 XLT, we took a sideways jump on an interstate (has rain grooves, designed for this problem) at 50 mph. Lane changes are fine when they're intentional.

I now regret waiting 26.5K to replace them with BFG KO's - I didn't appreciate just how dangerous and poorly designed those Firestones were.

Best,
Brian in CA
*yes, it does occasionally rain here

 

[PekingMan]

mine were the Wilderness AT

 

[95ExplorerLtd]

I havent had any tread separation problems......yet( knock on wood) but they are notoriously poor tires. On the road it jiggles around too much and is a rough ride, and my dad has a 1989 F150 with BFG's and it rides better. Any suggestions on what I can do to prevent tread separation?

 

[MyExp]

The Firestone Tire

I have to say that I disagree with JimF and Ricardo somewhat. A tire with 35000 miles on it should not "explode" like that. I had a tire on one of my very first car go down to the steel belt and never had anything happen. Also if you notice how many different brands are out there, not to mention how many different brands are used on the explorers on this site, no one has ever had experiences like the ones with the Firestones ATX. At least I havent read of any problems. A tire with 35,000 miles should not do this. I have well over 35,000 miles on my tires and they are still okay. They will probably need replacing in another 4 to 5 months.

And I must say that on this site alone I have read numerous posts about the same type of tire problem with the Firestones. If they cannot design and manufacture a tire that cant last over 35,000 when everyone else seems to manage it than something is wrong. I would call the better business buereau (spelling) and the buereau of automotive repair and file a complaint or see if you can find out how many other complaints have been files.

Let it ride...


BC

 

[Jim F]

PekingMan

What air pressure were you running on your Wilderness AT's?

Ford's door panel sticker states 26 front and back. I can't believe that and have been running 30.

On another note. I totally agree that tires should last far longer than 35,000 miles, but OEM tires are OEM tires. They usually are not the best tire for the vehicle, but if it gets the vehicle off the lot safely(???), this is all Ford is concerned about. Keep the costs down, and when the tire wears out, the consumer will replace them usually with something better.

Now after I said that, I am a strong believer that if I am buying a $30,000 vehicle, the tire had better be better than budget tires.

 

[PekingMan]

Jim F,

I too run my tires at about 30 psi for normal driving. I take good car of my rig and the tires are no exception. They are kept in good condition and I don't drive like a maniac on at all. I thought that I was doing a good thing by buying these tires (I was wrong). Oh well, no one got hurt and I am still waiting to hear from firestone about the damage that was done the explorer.

Thanks

 

[01EB5.0]

At least you knew your filler thing was cracked. My neighbor sent her 1995 Windstar in to our local Firestone dealer for the fuel pump replacement. She got it back..drove it and all seemed ok....that is until she went to get gas. She set the pump on automatic and beofre she knew it most of the gas was ending up on the ground under her van! She brought it back to firestone and they said they would fix it, but still charged her for the price of the part...even though they broke it. Maybe something's just up with firestone in general. ALso another neighbor with a 1998 E150 van brought her van into the same firestone dealer and had them do brakes. It ended up being $800! How can you get 800 out of replacing 4 brakes?! Then to top it off she drives home and the next day the front passanger side wheel bearing is torn to bits and pieces. She brings it back and firestone tries to deny it and stuff, but they were supposed to repack the bearings...right? So they had to replace the bearing and all the stuff around it (The rotor and stuff) They charged her for yet another rotor and the bearing but installed it for nothing.