I'm retiring today...

[Jeff_in_Atl]

I hate to post advertisements for a non board sponsor but I just got a set of 4 275-40-17 Firestone Wide Ovals which are W speed rated for $126 per tire. They are on sale for 25% off. That's $623 drive out with all of the garbage fees. I don't think I have ever seen a sale for Z rated tires before.
http://www.bridgestonetire.com/tires...productid=1079

[Blazer]

Firestone they are the tires that kill people.I would never buy from them after the crap they done an Ford. Money Money money Ok lets have a recall an they new all the time. I would run recaps before I would buy a Firestone tire. I was hopeing the law sutes would have put them under. A lot people died because of Firestone.
Blazer

[Al 96 Ram Air T/A]

Now come on...that's an unfair statement. Firestone is and has always been a quality tire company. Ford was the main culprit with the tires issues on the Explorers. If you remember, they recommended running the tires at lower pressures to avoid issues with the Explorer's stability in tippin over. Firestone is guilty of complying with the request (or else face losing the contract, I suspect). But to say Firestone tires kill people...that's not fair.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

I've been running at least V rated tires since 1987 and up until now the SZ50 was the best tire I ever had. Now it's the Wide Ovals. Up until today I have had to drive with at least 1 firm hand on the wheel. Many situations required 2 just to keep it in the lane. Now I can actually let go of the wheel and it will track straight even over bumps and lane seams that don't follow the dotted white lines. Well I do have to say that the alignment was off today but this is the 4th time I've had it aligned since I bought it in 2001. It has never driven this good.

As for the deal with Ford and Firestone there is a lot of politics there. The car manufacturers define a spec for a tire and go to the tire manufacturer for quotes. Usually those specs are pretty low. I would not recommend anyone going back with an OEM tire with the exception of real performance tires and even then you better look around.

Today was a fiasco getting the tires on the car. First something broke on the tire machine. Second the guy who was supposed to pick up the tires decided to stop at waffle house first. He was an hour late in getting there and then we found out he forgot them. Well 3 hours later the car is back on all fours. So he knocked off the mounting and balancing off the price. Total drive out was $572.41. What a deal.

Oh yea, I have never had a problem with Firestones or Bridgestones. My wife had 2 out of 4 Goodyear tires have belt separation problems and grow goose eggs on them. My mom had a problem with a Michelin tire separating too. So problems happen to all of the tire manufacturers.

[Steel2686]

I have Firestone Widetracks on my Acura right now. They're good, all season tires. I may consider Firestone Z-rated for the summer on my new set of rims.

[wolfdogs]

Firestone they are the tires that kill people.I would never buy from them after the crap they done an Ford. Money Money money Ok lets have a recall an they new all the time. I would run recaps before I would buy a Firestone tire. I was hopeing the law sutes would have put them under. A lot people died because of Firestone.
Blazer

you disappoint me with this statement, sir. You have no idea what realy went on with the steeltex problem....but let me en light you some...:

First off, the Firestone Steeltex was selected by Ford as the O.E. tire for the Explorer. It's the vehicle manufacture that sets the inflation pressure for a particular tire size thats placed on thier particular model vehicle. The inflation pressure they selected for the Steeltex was too low for the casing construction design of that Firestone model. Ford missed it, so did Firestone.

The design of the Exporer was a poor one. The wheel base too short and narrow. When the tire blew out from under inflation, the majority of the American motoring public slammed the brakes on....causing the dramatic increase in the force vector created by the flat tire..causing a roll over.

Why do you think Ford redesigned the Explorer? check it out...wheelbase and track. Do you think the Explorer was the only SUV that had blow outs? how many other SUV roll overs did you hear about from blow outs that killed people?..hardly any....right? dont think it didn't happen...it happens all the time. Those Trailblazers, Envoys, RAV's, 4 Runners, Yukons, Suburbans, Expeditions, (the list is long) hardly ever rolled.......and if they did..it was total driver error........not design!

Ford got away with it.........got away with murder.

Firestone has built, and continues to build some of the finest tires the auto industry has run on. All tire companys experience tire problems. The media gets a hold of some and explodes them... some they miss, some they just ignore because it does not get the publics eye.

Michelin has avoided several recalls, jumping right on the band wagon before NHTSA calls them to the deck... and sending out notices to customers for free replacement. Cooper has had more recalls than all tire companies combined in the last 5 years....... Goodyear has been busted for bad UTQG numbers and redesigned major flagship brand designations before the public got wind of the false claims...........

BridgestoneFirestone makes the no. 1 truck/bus tire casing in the trucking industry, rated and selected as the most retreadable (recap is not an industry term...its retread) their casing are guaranteed for 5 retreadings if properly maintained. and they make passenger retreads anymore so dont consider them if you are forced on Firestones (its a dead market industry wide)..other than a few momNpop operations).

I've been in the tire industry and tire testing buss. for the Govt. since 1983......... a lot of what I know I cant even post here, but I know this........to make the statement you made about Firestone is totally off base.

Im done.

[Blazer]

Ok i am sorry but I was only going by what the media was telling at the time an felt sorry for the people that died because of that.An the media made it look like firestone an ford that it was no big deal.I was only going by what i heard from the media an nobody ever came out with the real story or I missed it.
Blazer

[wolfdogs]

Ok i am sorry but I was only going by what the media was telling at the time an felt sorry for the people that died because of that.An the media made it look like firestone an ford that it was no big deal.I was only going by what i heard from the media an nobody ever came out with the real story or I missed it.
Blazer

thats because what i just told you was kept from the media. Ford "bought" their way out of it will their political connections. No one needs to die, thats for sure. Alot of the problem also was people not maintaining proper tire pressure. did you know that only 1 in 17 people check their tire pressures? tires are not bullet proof.....they need care just like every other mechanical device.

[Steel2686]

Ken -

What are your thoughts on filling tires with nitrogen instead of air? I've been doing it for the past two years and have had great results. Several tire shops have converted over as well (Costco is a big one that comes to mind). Nascar uses nitrogen exclusively.

Supposedly it helps maintain pressure longer, and through various temperature changes. I still use air to top it off when needed, but I go to the shop where my friend works to get refilled every couple months (along with a rotation).

[wolfdogs]

Ken -

What are your thoughts on filling tires with nitrogen instead of air? I've been doing it for the past two years and have had great results. Several tire shops have converted over as well (Costco is a big one that comes to mind). Nascar uses nitrogen exclusively.

Supposedly it helps maintain pressure longer, and through various temperature changes. I still use air to top it off when needed, but I go to the shop where my friend works to get refilled every couple months (along with a rotation).

its great if its easily available. it also reduces moisture to nill, saving the danger of corrosion to the rims. race car drivers have been using it for many years. it also does not fluctuate in pressure like straight oxygen does.-