Need new tires

[MotorCityFats13]

I have lubed up door trim with Vaseline to keep it from freezing to the body... but usually when I know the rain is going to freeze over night ..... you could do this with the garage door seal to see if it works...

 

[jseabolt]

I have lubed up door trim with Vaseline to keep it from freezing to the body... but usually when I know the rain is going to freeze over night ..... you could do this with the garage door seal to see if it works...

I'll give it a shot. Next year that is. Hopefully the subfreezing weather won't be back for awhile...

From the blizzard of 2009:

My 1996 XLT. I liked the color and this body style the best out of all the Explorers. Even though it didn't have that many miles on it as my 2006, I was having to work on it all the time.

 

[thebrakeman]

tires

 

[Flag Gibby]

I've had good luck with Michelin car tires (what I have on my Subaru) but their truck tires are ****. Right now I have Michelins on a 98 Chevy conversion van and one of the rear tires has a big bulge in the sidewall. I'm sort of afraid to drive it to the tire store. I meant to replace it a couple of months ago and the van has not been driven since then but the buldge has gotten worse just from sitting parked.

This makes the second set of Michelins that have bulged from the sidewall. When my father owned this van I warned him not to be driving on these tires and he did it anyway and had a blowout 175 miles from home.

He replaced the rears with the same Michelin truck tires and now one of the rears is buldging out again!

What's weird is the last Michelin that buldged was also on the passenger rear. Could these tires not be rated for the weight of this van? Or is there a problem with this particular Michelin truck tire? They are not buldging on the fronts.

Sorry for hyjacking a tread but since we are on the subject of tires I wanted people to be aware of my experience with these Michelin truck tires.

Is it possible that you have a broken shock (suspension) on that side that is making the sidewall of the tire absorb all of the impacts on that side?

 

[Flag Gibby]

USMC -

any pictures with the Flex rims ?
Interesting that they fit the explorers
That opens up lot of new possibilities.

As far as I can tell by comparing the OEM specs between the two the center bore and bolt pattern are the same but that is where the similarities end on the 18" factory rim. The width is smaller on the Flex rim and the offset is too great for the Explorer (+52 vs. +35).

 

[USMCBuckWild]

I am running 255/60 r18 Hankooks on the 18 x 7.5 Flex rims. No issues whatsoever, other than the axle stub touching the center cap. Rims appear to have same offset as the stock Explorer rims. I'll pop one off and verify.

Please feel free to PM me, I can text you a few pics.

 

[Scorpion8]

Needing new tires again on 2006 Explorer EB. 245-65-17.

If there's any sort of gravel roads, I'd suggest Yokohama Geolander AT/S. We have those on a Expedition we keep on the North Slope of Alaska for oil & gas inspections (ALL dirt/gravel roads w/seasonal snow) and they are superb!!!

Those are my next tire for my Explorer.

 

[Flag Gibby]

Rims appear to have same offset as the stock Explorer rims. I'll pop one off and verify.

That would be good to know because my references say that they are significantly different. The 1/2" width difference between the two isn't really a huge deal, but if the offset is as different as referenced it will cause significant suspension geometry changes.

 

[Old As Dirt]

Surprisingly, Goodrich is now owned by Michelin. I had the old Goodrich Long Trails years ago on an Explorer and they were not that great. My new set, bought a couple of years ago, have been great! Yes, we get snow here...

 

[MotorCityFats13]

as far as I know they have owned them for many years.... I used to use the 295/45/18 T/A's on my roush f150 but the tread started to separate and for a tire in the +350 each range that was totally unacceptable so I had to switch over to the goodyear f1's they put on the lightnings plus they were more than 100 bucks cheaper and lasted way longer too