Need New Tires. What to get????

[gruett84]

Looking to get some opinions on what tires people have found to work good on there Explorers. I have a 06 XLT 4.6L.(17in tire if it matters) We just got our first big snow fall of the year here in Wisconsin, and on my way to work this morning I almost found out the hard way that I need new tires!

Just looking for ideas on what maybe good and what to stay away from. As of now I'm looking to buy them off Tirerack.com, unless someone else knows of a different place that may have a deal.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

 

[Radar2819]

I am picking up some general grabbers a/t2. I don't know if it's going on but farm and fleet was (or still is) having a sale buy 3 tires get the 4th free any tire. I don't know if you have a store by you but there is on here in Racine right on hwy 11

 

[Baddecision93]

Hands down the best tires I've ever owned are BF Goodrich All Terrains.
They aren't the cheapest tire out there but they're an excellent all-purpose tire. They consistently place high in tire tests by Peterson's 4-Wheel mag.
I've had the BFG Mud Terrains (which look sweet but don't clear worth a darn in the snow), BFG All-Terrains (which actually hold their own in mud too), and now have some kind of Safari all terrain. They came on the Exp when I bought it. They look sweet but I'm getting some BFG All-Terrains back on as soon as I can find the extra $.
We had our first decent snow last night and I was out playing this morning Not too hard to spin around with these Safaris!

 

[thebrakeman]

I'm watching for BFG to put out a rebate on their Long-Trails for the 18" on our Mountaineer. The are rated "Best" by Discount Tire, and have the highest customer ratings too, yet the cost is reasonable.

If you need more off-road capability and can sacrifice a little in the quiet department, the BFG Rugged Trail are highly rated around here, too.

 

[Beargap]

The absolute best tire for the Explorer is the Michelin LTX M/S. Wonderful traction and ride in all conditions and they last forever! I've had 3 sets on my 1997 Explorer, which now has 275K miles, and they typically go for 90-100K miles, so the added initial cost is well worth it. Note, this is absolutely a different tire than the Michelin Cross Terrains that newer trucks come with. The Cross-Terrain is a nice enough ride, but won't even last 40K miles and is too pricey for what you get.

Unfortunately, our 2008 Mountaineer has 18" wheels and there is no viable version of the LTX series that fit that wheel, so we went with BFG Long Trail Tours. Only about 5K miles so far, but they ride well and seem OK. We've only had a little snow, so not enough experience to really judge them for traction, but they don't seem any worse than the Cross Terrains and were quite a bit more reasonable in price.

=Vic=

 

[Alan Lloys]

I'm watching for BFG to put out a rebate on their Long-Trails for the 18" on our Mountaineer. The are rated "Best" by Discount Tire, and have the highest customer ratings too, yet the cost is reasonable.

If you need more off-road capability and can sacrifice a little in the quiet department, the BFG Rugged Trail are highly rated around here, too.

I second the BFG long trails.
I had an 02 Mountaineer with the BFG Rugged trails on it. They worked really good in snow but were a bit noisy on the highway. Since I don't do off-roading I changed them to BFG Long Trail tours when they were worn out.
It was like getting a new truck as they were so quite on the road.
The grip was slightly reduced in deep snow, but in average snow covered roads they were as good as the Rugged trails. On dry pavement the Long trails were much better on grip also.

On my "new" 2008 Mountaineer I have Goodyear Fortera.
Jury is still out on these. Need to test in the new snow as I am in WI also

 

[Ronin8002]

Another good one if you can find a good price are mickey thompson baja ATZ's. Good tread, but not loud on the road and they clear out really well in mud and snow

I second the BFG long trails.
I had an 02 Mountaineer with the BFG Rugged trails on it. They worked really good in snow but were a bit noisy on the highway. Since I don't do off-roading I changed them to BFG Long Trail tours when they were worn out.
It was like getting a new truck as they were so quite on the road.
The grip was slightly reduced in deep snow, but in average snow covered roads they were as good as the Rugged trails. On dry pavement the Long trails were much better on grip also.

On my "new" 2008 Mountaineer I have Goodyear Fortera.
Jury is still out on these. Need to test in the new snow as I am in WI also

Posted via Mobile Device

 

[joachimf]

Well, depends on what you need.

We do 95% street use and 5% gravel roads and pasture.
Tire should be good in winter and smooth/quiet for normal road usage.

Had used Coper Discoverer A/T for some years on the 2002 4x2 (235/70-16). Was very satisfied. Switched the 2002 in summer 2009 to Cooper Discoverer AT/R and did the same with the 2007 EB (245/65-17) this summer.

The Cooper Discoverer AT/R was very good in deep snow even with the 2002 4X2. Two weeks ago winter started in our region with some snow and I tried the 2007 EB 4X4, very nice driving manners.

Hope this helps.

 

[willied]

My brother has some General AT2s (similar tread pattern to BFG All-Terrains) on his F-150. Great tires and cost a good bit less than the BFG All-Terrains.

 

[A Wise Guy]

I am running the Goodyear Silent Armors. Check these out in your research. Extremely quiet on road for a tire that is more aggressive than many.

 

[DavidEBSmith]

We just put BFG Long Trail Tours (18") on our Mountaineer, replacing the original Michelin Cross Terrains (that went 56K miles).

First impression of the BFGs is that the ride is a little stiffer than with the Michelins. That's good in that the handling is a little quicker and better, bad in that the ride is a little harsher. There's some patches of grooved pavement on the expressways around here where I notice some noise, but it's random and apparently depends on the orientation of the grooves or something. Haven't had enough snow yet to see how they handle snow.

As far as where to buy - I've bought tires from TireRack before and like them. The last couple of sets of tires we bought were from Costco. TireRack + shipping + local mounting price was comparable to Costco + sales tax + Costco mounting and Discount Tire + sales tax + DT mounting. Plus Costco does free rotations. As it turned out, we were taking the Mounty in to the local Ford dealer for a $20 oil change anyway, we mentioned tires, and they met the Costco price, charged about the same for mounting, threw in free rotation every other oil change and one year road hazard, and had a $60 rebate. So tires at the Ford dealer were a good deal.

 

[aleutianman]

BFG AT is the way to go. Here in the Interior Alaska we can get cold - 50 far. Anyway the AT handles the deep snow, ride is good and the mileage out of them good. I have used them on F-150's, explorer expeditions etc. They work.

 

[wffcatron]

I put Cooper Discoverer HT's on my Ranger back in December '06. I've put a little over 65,000 miles on them (mostly interstate) and they still have great tread. In light snow (enough for the road to be slick but not enough for the lower control arm to have to plow through) I don't even have to use 4WD - and that's on a Ranger Supercab (I'm sure the Explorer is even better balanced front-to-rear than the Ranger is). It's not a real aggressive tire but I've been through slick weather and off-road on farms plenty with this tire.

Hope this helps...

 

[EmJay]

I had Michelin Cross Terrain SUVs on my '99 EB Explorer and when I replaced the OEMs on my '06 Limited, I never hesitated before buying another set.

http://www.michelinman.com/tire-selector/name/cross-terrain-suv-tires
http://www1.epinions.com/reviews/Michelin_Cross_Terrain_SUV_Truck_SUV_Tire

 

[XLT]

I will 2nd the general grabber 2. You cant fnd a better all around tire for the price!

 

[therover1991]

Had 2 sets of Michelin cross terrains on my 02 explorer (including the set from the factory). Decent tire, performed fair enough in snow. Recently just replaced them with a set of Michelin Latitudes, only put about 200 miles on them or so but they perform well, handle nicely, provide a smooth ride etc. Once the snow starts coming down I will be able to see how they do in the snow.