Tire Recommendation

[LMHmedchem]

Hello,

As you may have guessed by now, I am looking for new tires. I currently have GEO-TRACK Radial XLTs. I live near Boston, so I do have to contend with winter driving. I like tires that help a bit with the gas mileage (the 5.0L v8 doesn't help in that regard). Like most, I am looking for good tires that don't cost an arm, a leg, and a foot. I have used town fair tires before and also firestone. I do want to use a full service tire shop that can do tire repairs and such and I also like a shop that offers road hazard insurance.

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

LMHmedchem

 

[Tyleryac]

Michelin tires are the best. I use them and love them.

Do they cost a lot? Yes.

Are they worth the price?
Absolutely

 

[LMHmedchem]

Michelin tires are the best. I use them and love them.

Do they cost a lot? Yes.

Are they worth the price?
Absolutely

Something like the Michelin LTX would be $850 installed.
http://www.townfairtire.com/brand/tires/michelin/ltx-m~s-2/235~70r16t/07253/

This is quite a bit more than some other options I would consider quality,
YOKOHAMA GEOLANDAR ($700)
http://www.townfairtire.com/brand/tires/yokohama/geolandar-a~t--s/235~70r16s/01239/

FIRESTONE DESTINATION A/T ($630)
http://www.townfairtire.com/brand/tires/firestone/destination-a~t/235~70r16s/026767/

These are all-terrain, so I am guessing they would not be the best for gas mileage.

This might be a bit better in tha regard,
KUMHO ROAD VENTURE APT ($630)
http://www.townfairtire.com/brand/tires/kumho/road-venture-apt-kl51/235~70r16t/1855513/

I guess the question is, what justifies that $200+ difference in moving up to the Michelin?

Is there some vendor that you prefer for this sort of thing? I guess that is a regional question more or less. I have checked the PepBoys site and a few others and I don't find any that are less than TownFair.

LMHmedchem

 

[Tyleryac]

I got my tires done at a local STS. They give you life time tire rotations.

I got the LTX M/S tires because they offered everything I was looking for in an all-season tire. Some people claim to have had these tires last 100,000 miles with regular rotations.

 

[rocket22]

+1 on the FIrestone Destination A/T

These are all terrain tires that are also good on street. I bought at $110 a tire plus mounting so, $600 is about the price for four. Great in snow and have good ratings.

 

[Joe in NY]

I bought the Firestone Destination A/T for my explorer. Let me tell you. Great all year tire! They have saved my dads life in the winter when driving our Suburban when a snow plow decided to cut across the highway in front of traffic!

I got 265X70X16 for $536 and lifetime alignment for $140. I forgot to get lifetime balancing but will get that soon.

 

[LMHmedchem]

One of the reasons I use Town Fair Tire is that they include lifetime flat repair in the price, which I have used a few times for a bad seal or wayward screw that I always seem to find. You also get lifetime rotations and a free front alignment. Except the right to pay your taxes, nothing is ever really free but it seems like a decent package for the price. I know my local Sears doesn't include the flat tire repair or front alignment. The road hazard insurance at TFT is about $12 a tire. I go back and forth about getting that kind of thing, but I have blown out a few tires on the granite curb stones we have around here and $12 seems pretty cheep if you do bork one of your tires. For me, the FIRESTONE DESTINATION would be $628 for 4 tires, balancing, front alignment, valve stems, disposal, and tax, along with the lifetime flat repair and balancing. That sounds reasonable to me, but I will check at Firestone as well.

Does anyone have experience with the KUMHO ROAD VENTURE? These are the same price for the same deal. These have a very high rating on the TFT site, but that is just a retail site rating and I don't put much stock in such.

The YOKOHAMA is sort of in between the Firestone and Michelin in price. Do folks here have an opinion on those. Even though the Michelin is $200 more than the Firestone, I will still consider it if it does last a long time. I typically drive less than 10,000 miles a year with my Explorer. The tires I have now are less than 4 years old and only have about 28,000 on them. They are not totally gone, but they are closer to gone then I would like for that kind of use. It's not much of a deal to spend less and end up having to replace them every 4 years. GEO-TRACK is a brand I know nothing about and I would not use them again.

LMHmedchem

 

[Joe in NY]

If you find the manager at a firestone and he is a good guy, just talking to him for a bit saying that you are interested in trying out firestone, its your first time. He will probably give you the Customer Satisfaction discount which they are allowed to give. Pretty much to keep their customers coming back happy and keep their image up. What is it? Its one free tire.

We are getting new tire for the burb on the 22nd and we have the road hazard, and tires are at 30% life with some dry rot. Because we have no rotation records that would allow our manager to say no discount. (Road hazard works by paying the difference of life left and new tires for all 4) Instead after giving them a quick look over and discussing road hazard he instantly gave me the 25% off (tires only). Plus Road hazard again at 50% off because we did not use it for the two previous purchases. And because we have life balancing, alignment, and valve stems, the online quote was $890 (with out alignment or road hazard), now the bill is less then $800 with alignment and road hazard. (but is the road hazard really worth it...???)

Our store manager is a nice guy and wants his customers to be happy and they are always very busy...

For 2007 LTZ Suburban with 20" rims (275 X 55 X R20) the price is $195/tire (used to be $195 in 2009, then $255 in 2012! (when we last bought them!) now back to $195... weird...)

 

[LMHmedchem]

If you find the manager at a firestone and he is a good guy, just talking to him for a bit saying that you are interested in trying out firestone, its your first time. He will probably give you the Customer Satisfaction discount which they are allowed to give. Pretty much to keep their customers coming back happy and keep their image up. What is it? Its one free tire.

We are getting new tire for the burb on the 22nd and we have the road hazard, and tires are at 30% life with some dry rot. Because we have no rotation records that would allow our manager to say no discount. (Road hazard works by paying the difference of life left and new tires for all 4) Instead after giving them a quick look over and discussing road hazard he instantly gave me the 25% off (tires only). Plus Road hazard again at 50% off because we did not use it for the two previous purchases. And because we have life balancing, alignment, and valve stems, the online quote was $890 (with out alignment or road hazard), now the bill is less then $800 with alignment and road hazard. (but is the road hazard really worth it...???)

Our store manager is a nice guy and wants his customers to be happy and they are always very busy...

For 2007 LTZ Suburban with 20" rims (275 X 55 X R20) the price is $195/tire (used to be $195 in 2009, then $255 in 2012! (when we last bought them!) now back to $195... weird...)

I'm still unsure about the road hazard. I have definitely used it in the past. It used to be $7 at Firestone and that seemed like a pretty good deal. Now I think it's $12. I buy extended warranties on more things now because there is so much out there that is just poorly designed, or just plain crap in the first place. I hate to give the extra cash for the warranty when things should be built better in the first place. With the free flat repair, it seems less likely that I would need a new tire but I can think of at least three times that I had problem that couldn't be fixed. I guess I will get it for the $48. That would put me at ~$900 for the Michelin LTX, ~$750 for the Yokohama Geolander, or ~$680 for the Firestone Destination. I think I paid around $630 last time, including the insurance.

LMHmedchem

 

[2Trux]

My $.02 on warranty. The "repairable" area on tires seems to get smaller as time goes by. There is nothing more aggravating than having a nail in the tread but "too close to the sidewall" that they won't repair. Warranty money is well spent.
PS I never buy extended warrantys on any other products.

 

[Number4]

I've seen the Michelin LTX M/S with 150,000 miles on them. F350 that hauled big boats up and down I5 in California. It's a tested and true tire.

Cooper is one of the best for the money. They are in between BFG and Michelin. Just have to find a place that sells them and has good balance and rotation service. For example, Pepboys will put them on quick, but will take half a day to rotate.

 

[swshawaii]

Don't have them but after reading here and other site reviews, the Michelin LTX M/S and M/S2 must be one of
the highest regarded tires ever made. They would be my hands down choice if I needed mud and snow rated tires.

 

[pet575]

I've had BF Goodrich Radial T/A, General Grabber, and Hankook (I think Dynapro) on my Exp over the years. Been happy with them all. General was a little better value for price and I got the best MPG with the Hankook. If I had to rank them overall by price, noise, MPG, treadwear, and ride/performance I'd go:

1. Hankook
2. General
3. BFG

 

[extra-medium]

I am partial to my Cooper Discoverer AT3's. I have 20k miles on them, have rotated them religiously. I have had them in deep snow, mud, muddy water, on rocks in Moab, and they are great for city/highway driving. They show a little rounding on the edges, instead of being a sharp squared off line going from the driving surface to the sidewall, but I think they are a great tire. I went with a 245/75r16, not a big difference from stock, but I think the slightly taller sidewall looks better. I paid $588 out the door for 4 of them February 2013 at Discount Tire.

 

[Reprise]

I just put a set of Firestone Destination LE2's on mine. Haven't really gotten into the deep snow yet (we just got our first little taste), but I will say that these are quiet, and ride very smoothly. Read a lot of recommendations before I settled on these.

From what I know, they're discontinued in favor of a revised design, so if you can find a dealer that has them, you can probably get them for even less than the $630 or so that I paid. Less aggressive tread than the A/T (the A/T is rated a little better in deep snow); these have a 'high load rating' version (which I got, as I use my Ex to haul my heavier band equipment around in).

 

[rocket22]

Destination LE vs AT

Yes, the LE is more of a road tire, great for highway. The A/T will have a little more road noise. We went with the A/T as this, as with previous explorers, is our Go To vehicle when the snow/weather is bad and the A/T is a top rated snow tire that also has all weather ability.

 

[Joe in NY]

I didn't realize it until after I bought them but, the 245X70X16 Destination A/T are rated at 2,000 lbs each tire. The 265X70X16 are rated at 2,400 lbs each tire.