Update on Firestone tires

[BGN]

For more information on this take a look at; Dead Link Removed

Can someone explain to me exactly what tread seperation is and how it occurs as compared to a blowout?

Regards,
Barry with 40,000 miles on latest set of Firestones and loosing nerve very quickly!

 

[AgExplorer]

Barry,

Tread seperation is when the tread portion of the tire seperates from the underlying belts. If you have ever seen portions of tires lying on the road from 18-wheelers, this is the result of tread seperation.

I replaced my Firestones at 25,000 miles after the first reports of the problems with the ATX's were in the news. My wife is the primary driver and I didn't want to take the chance of anything happening while she was behind the wheel.

 

[01EB5.0]

i am wondering if the seperation only happens to tires made during a certin time period. one of our friends has a 1996 explorer with 178,000 miles and has always run firestone ATX's till they were worn out and has never had a problem. He tows a lot and carrys heavy load a lot of the time. His other Explorer...a 1999 XLT still has the Firestone Wildernesses and they have 45,000 on them. They still look great too. My truck ran the Firestone ATX's for 72,000 miles and no problem. I thik getting rid of the tires prematurly isn't cost effective, but I would watch for signs of cracks, and if I saw cracks that mean truoble then I would replace them. Also in almost all of the cases where i have heard the tires seperated people were doing 75 or 80 down the highway. Maybe if the people weren't speeding so much it would not have happened. Also keep the tires up to pressure because low tired create more heat and wear ands could cause the problem to happen faster! Good Luck!

 

[Jim F]

From what I gather, the Wilderness line is different than the Wilderness AT line on the newer Explorers. I believe strongly that Ford new something about the ATX problem. Seeing other Explorers on the road, it appears that 96 was the last year for ATX's. Ford went to Goodyear tires for 97, then to back to Firestone with a Wilderness AT in 98,99,& 2000. I have even seen some Wilderness HT (highway terrain??). These may have been replacements for worn tires.

When I was deciding on an SUV, one of my alternate choices was the Forester. They have been using the Wilderness AT since it was first introduced.

So what I am getting at is if the Wilderness AT line has problems, then these thread separations would not be only with Explorers. Granted the Forester is a whole lot lighter than the Explorer, but a bad tire is a bad tire.

 

[William Schumacher]

I got rid of the stones at 18,000.I just could not put up with the wandering,highway shake,and hydroplaning these car tires with a bad truck pattern had.
when I went to the BFG T/A ko's it all went away,what a great tire.

 

[01EB5.0]

Yeah...if anyone is getting rid on the stock tires before they are worn, I'll take em. They can be my "summer" tires. I need 15" ones, though! Thanks

 

[98/92EB]

After watching the TV show about the Firestone tires, I went to NTB to inquire about the Firestone AT Wilderness tires. While there, a guy just replaced his ATX tires because he said one of his friends had a tire seperation and roll-over. The manager there told us that our AT did not have the same problem as the ATX. Guess I will just keep an eye on the sidewalls and treads..

 

[Robert]

Originally posted by 95XLT
...Also in almost all of the cases where i have heard the tires seperated people were doing 75 or 80 down the highway. Maybe if the people weren't speeding so much it would not have happened. Also keep the tires up to pressure because low tired create more heat and wear ands could cause the problem to happen faster! Good Luck!

Here in Arizona the speedlimit is 75 MPH outside of town. I certainly wouldn't expect a tire that is rated for around 106 MPH to fail at 75 or 80. There was a story on the news last week though about all of the tire failures that are happening (to everyone) because of the very hot pavement. If your tires aren't in good shape, you run the risk of it blowing out from the high heat. I just replaced my Wilderness ATs on my '97 due to an annoying clicking noise on smooth pavement and bad vibration. They had 54,000 miles on them. The noise and vibration showed up around 48,000 miles. The tires had enough tread to easily go 60,000 miles but with all the heat related blowouts, the bad vibration and the clicking noise I wasn't going to take any chances. I replaced them with Michelin LTX ATs. Tire problem solved.

Robert

 

[Turner55]

how strange, my dad has a '98 F150 and it has some type of firestone wilderness's on it, and he has 75,000 miles on it already. the firestone's still have plenty of tread left and showing no signs of fatigue...guess what kind of tire he's getting when they wear down? you guessed it

 

[01EB5.0]

WHat is the speed rating of standard tires anyway? I thought it was 80 or 85 MPH??

 

[Robert]

Originally posted by 95XLT
WHat is the speed rating of standard tires anyway? I thought it was 80 or 85 MPH??

All Firestone Wilderness AT tires that are used on the Explorer are S rated. This means that they are rated for 112MPH or 113MPH depending on which tire company you ask. The Tire Independant Safety Council lists S speed rating as 113MPH, but I remember a lot of sites listing it as 112MPH. I found the S rating on Firestone's website (http://www.bridgestone-usa.com/). I found it through their tire catalog/Firestone/light truck/wilderness AT. Here is the unformated clipped text from the list:

OWL Ford Ranger 25 P215/75R15 100S - (6.0) 5.5-7.5 28.1 8.7 6.3 - 12.4 750 13

OWL Explorer/Ranger/ Mazada/Pickup 28 P235/75R15 105S - (7.0) 6.0-8.5 29.3 9.6 6.9 - 12.8 721 13

OWL Ford Bronco/Ranger 34 P265/75R15 112S* - (7.5) 7.0-9.5 31.3 10.5 7.7 - 13.5 679 14

BL Ford Bronco/Ranger 34 P265/75R15 112S*** - (7.5) 7.0-9.5 30.7 10.5 8.1 - 13.5 679 15

OWL Ford Explorer 34 P255/70R16 109S - (7.0) 7.5-9.0 30.5 10.2 7.4 - 13.4 690 13

Robert

 

[Robert]

Originally posted by 95XLT
WHat is the speed rating of standard tires anyway? I thought it was 80 or 85 MPH??

More information:

"The speed rating symbols may currently be marked on the tire in any of three ways, as shown by the following examples:


205/50HR-15
205/60HR-15 89H
205/60 R-15 89H
However, worldwide, the tire industry is committed to standardizing tire markings according to the International Standard Organization System. Therefore, at the end of a transition period, any speed symbol denoting a fixed maximum speed capability will be at the end of the service decription, which follows the tire marking, as shown in the second and third examples above (i.e. 89H).

Q = 100 mph H = 130 mph
S = 112 mph V = 149 mph
T = 118 mph Z = 149+ mph
U = 124 mph W = 168 mph
Y = 186 mph "

I doubt if you could find a tire rated less than a Q.

Robert

 

[01EB5.0]

Thanks Robert for the info...guess it throws my theroy out..:-(

 

[Goober]

Thought I'd throw my 2 pennies in on the action..I had a set of Firestone(factory) on mine for four years. They had 65,000 miles on them and STILL had tread left. The only reason I even got rid of them was because I was going on a long trip and the cracks(between the tread) and a couple patches(inside) were making me nervous. BTW,..truckers call the pieces of tread on the road 'gators'. Just a bit of useless trivia.

 

[BGN]

I just got back from an independent front end shop here in town. One of my front tires has what I would call a hairline
crack along the outer sidewall. The shop owner thinks this is tread seperation just beginning to happen. I guess I'll be going to NTB soon (where I bought these) to see if I can get a new tire out of them.

Barry