Best Tires

[Paul Austin]

New to the forum, so hopefully I'm not rehashing a thoroughly hashed question.

I currently chase in a '96 Explorer 4WD. Any feelings on the best tire or tire type for Great Plains supercell chasing? I haven't had much difficulty with hydroplaning, but I have been stuck in some deep ruts with my original tires. I'm kinda looking for a decent compromise between street and mud. Any ideas?

 

[Aaron Blaharski]

BF-Goodrich All Terrain T/A KO, based on your description of what your looking for. I've run them before, well mannered on the street, and I think more than adequate for the mud and ruts kind of driving you might encouter. They wear reasonbly well too, rotating them regularly helps.

There are more out there that are comparable, but these are the only ones I've had first hand experience with. Never heard of anyone being disapointed with them.

 

[Edward Ballou]

There are a couple of threads on tires in the vault.

The consensus from those is that it's best to get tires from Walmart. That way you can get service almost anywhere at any time if you have your receipt with you. Most recommend getting touring tires b/c of all the time on the highway.

I'm personally looking at the HydroEdge from Michelin for this season for my Ford Escort.

There are a lot of good tire review sites out there too...www.1010tires.com/tirereviews.asp

 

[Caleb Lawrence]

If you're looking for a non-Wally World tire, I'd highly suggest Nitto Terra Grapplers. A truly admirable, and useful all-terrain tire. Unlike a lot of other so called "all-terrain" tires that try to do too much and end up being useful for nothing. An ideal tread pattern for something such as a Ford Explorer.

 

[Ben Engle]

I bought a set of Bridgestone Dueler A/T REVO's, and they beat the set of BFgoodrich AT ko's hands down. they wear better, and are quieter. They are THE best tire I've ever owned in the snow and ice. They are probably the best tire I've ever owned in rain too, I have AWD, but even so, with the factory tires, I could still spin a tire when it was wet. Not with the new tires. They are pretty good in mud too, I haven't really gotten in that deep, but I still prefer them over the AT ko's. They are the perfect mix between road tire and all terrain tire that i've ever seen or used. They're a little pricey, but I will be buying another set when these wear out for sure. Here's a list of tires I've bought and used:

1. BFGoodrich AT ko's
2. Baja MT's
3. Bridgestone Dueler MT's
4. Goodyear MTR's
5. Whatever the exploding tire that used to come on explorers was
6. Goodyear ATS
7. Firestone RTS (or something similiar)
8. Bridgestone Dueler AT REVO's


I prefer the Revo's over any other of those tires for chasing. Now on the other hand, those Goodyear MTR's were really nice for four-wheeling in the mud


REVO's: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?ti...re1=yes&place=7

 

[Michael P. Morris]

5. Whatever the exploding tire that used to come on explorers was

Firestone Wilderness AT. After that incident I am wary of any product that is made by Bridgestone/Firestone. Thank you, lowest bidder.

Paul, I have a 98 Explorer probably rather similar to yours. I am currently on my second set of Michelin Radial XT 235/75/15 and I think they are very good tires. I have never had a flat or a blowout (cross fingers) and the ride is very smooth.

 

[Paul Austin]

Thanks so much everyone for the input. I have a little while to make a decision, but I think I now have some direction as to how and where to proceed. Thanks!

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

tirerack.com is the way to go. Cheap prices, shipping isn't that bad. Then just pay for the mounting/balance. I outfitted both of my vehicles for under $500.

Aaron

 

[Janet Lessler]

Bridgestone Revo Tires

I found this website/blog tonight when I was searching for blowout problems with the Bridgestone Revo Tires.
I have purchased these tires twice for my Toyota 4-Runner with the last purchase being in April, 2006. They are not inexpensive tires, at around $160 each tire. I also keep my car in meticulous mechanical condition and make sure the tires are rotated and maintained regularly.

Tonight my 17-year-old son was driving my car and the right rear tire had a sidewall blowout on the freeway. He ended up fishtailing and going head on into the center divide with both air bags deploying and the front end of the car being totally destroyed.

He was incredibly lucky and walked away from the accident with only some minor bruises and burns from the air bags.

We live in So. California so the weather tonight was perfect, dry conditions for driving and, there was no debris on the freeway that would have caused a tire to blowout. The CHP agreed that the cause of the accident was purely a blown tire.

I will have to say that after this accident, with the apparent increased potential of a family member being seriously injured and my car being completely totaled, I will never purchase another set of Firestone/Bridgestone tires because they obviously have not taken care of the quality control and product issues they have had in the past that the company said had been resolved

 

[Aaron Hamilton]

I had some awsome tires on my 01 jeep cherokee. They were the Bridgestone Dueler Revo. Excellent dry, wet, snow, mud, off road tires with great wear, got about 60,000 miles on them. I just replaced them with WinterForce tires for winter. Never had a flat tire or anything. The tread wear was excellent. A year ago, I was working for a construction company that did land work with bulldozers. We were at a place where they were making a road and had it all torn up with a plow that dug about 2 feet deep. I had to leave early and the only way out was through the plowed up road. I figured if I got stuck,there was a bulldozer that could pull me out. I went right through it with no problems, the guy on the dozer couldn't believe it. I'm going to get these tires again, just wanted to test the Winterforce in the snow, plus the Winterforce were only $59 and the Revo were $110.

 

[Bob Schafer]

I just bought 4 tires from Tire Rack. I had been buying Bridgestone/Firestone tires exclusively for many years because of their support of the Champ Car racing series. This time I found that Tire Rack has awesome research tools on their site to enable you to compare tires. I found out that the Bridgestones/Firestones are not very good, at least for the size I needed. I bought some Yokohamas instead, which were rated much better in virtually every category. Not that Yokohamas always score highly (or maybe they do), but they did for my size.

Resistance to hydroplaning and winter weather performance are priorities for me, and I sorted the available tires that way. You can also read feedback from Tire Rack customers. I really recommend that everyone use the site before buying any tires, even if you buy elsewhere!

http://www.tirerack.com/index.jsp

 

[Gene Moore]

As an aggressive alternative (for off road and mud) to the Goodrich TA's check out the Cooper Discoverer series. I have a set of Discoverer ST's and they are much better priced than the $170 Goodrich tires.

Additionally, I recently had the REVO's (sold them with my Tahoe 4X4) that I used mainly for early season chases. (Where storms move fast and there is little gain in getting off road, or in the mud.) They had the best wet traction in heavy rain and ponding of all the tires I've used, but wandered at highway speed compared to other tires I've owned. In 40K miles of wear I had no serious problems such as blowouts.

http://www.coopertire.com/Flash/index.aspx

Gene Moore

 

[J Kinkaid]

Bridgestone Dueler A/T REVO's
are the best tires that I have used so far. Great traction when the weather gets severe

 

[Patrick Martin]

I put a set of the Bridgestone Dueller A/T Revo's on a 2001 4wd Honda Passport 2 years ago, size 245/70 R16. Have been very satisfied with them. They are rotated regularly and I set the tire pressures myself at least once a month, plus immediately after any service work from the local dealer (40 psi cold pressure in this tire the day after a dealer "sets the pressures" is not a good thing), and the wear has been acceptable. They have been excellent in lrain and snow and very stable during off-road treks in the mountains. Excellent all around tire.

Have to agree with the comments on tirerack.com. Excellent resource.