Where to buy tires

[82sbshortbed]

Fck Firestone!

 

[618Syndicate]

They just left a very sour taste in my mouth, they took all my money for a set of winter tires I needed bad. The website said nothing about them being out of stock or not available or whatever. So they ****** me for a couple weeks, all because they can't put (out of stock) in the ad, or not let you put them in your cart and pay for them, then wait 2 days to email me they're out of stock.

This was a year or so ago.

Also their website kind of sucks to navigate, tirebuyer had the tires I wanted for cheaper and they shipped to my door in 2 days! The last set I ordered from tirebuyer, shipped to my door in 3 days. I have nothing but great stuff to say about them. They also tell you when tires are out of stock!!

That's disappointing to hear. I agree their website is total shìt, but it was worth it because their service and pricing was good.

 

[SirRobyn0]

I would be good with either stock-sized or oversized tires. I have found a military surplus 30 minutes from my house that has 35x10.5x16.5 Good Year wrangler tires for $135 a piece. The tires were made in 2018 and have light tread use.

That’s decent unless they cooked in the sun for 4 years first. Which they probably did.

That's definitely something worth bringing up. Most of us probably know tire stores say the life of a tire in time is 7 years. That's a safe number and it would be pretty rare for a tire to rot to the point of being unsafe in less than 7 years. Working at tire stores back in the day and still at a car shop today we obviously see a lot of tires. Sometimes we are amazed at the age of tires still in good shape. My advise for what it's worth, if a guy is looking to buy used tires look closely for cracks. The area around the bead and just below the tread on the sidewall is generally where dry rot starts, the trouble is the cracks in the early stages can be very small and sometimes can't be seen until there is air in the tire. Also check the inside of the tire for cracks or damage, signs of water having sat in it ect.

Recently, like today, Discount Tire was almost the best price on a set of tires for the wife’s car. Definitely the most convenient. And the tires were $4/ea more than Amazon. And a few bucks less than a couple other online places.
Ordered online and scheduled install appt in one shot. Out in less than an hour with free balancing rotations and tire repair. (Which I don’t usually care bout. Until it basically is free and convenient)

That $4 more than amazon is that tire to tire, or does that include installation at discount where as amazon is obviously not installed?

 

[Grit dog]

^$4/ea purchase price. Install was $100. Typical.

OP is talking used military tires in TX. Never stored in the garage and 100x more UV damage than where we live.
The old tires from the blue truck dated 2005 iirc are in better shape, living on the wet side, than most 5 year old tires from the desert.
Also great selling technique selling bare tires. They don’t show dry rot near as bad as mounted tires full of air.

 

[Ricko1966]

I would be good with either stock-sized or oversized tires. I have found a military surplus 30 minutes from my house that has 35x10.5x16.5 Good Year wrangler tires for $135 a piece. The tires were made in 2018 and have light tread use.

My opinion regardless of tread a 2018 tire is about done with its life,I use 7 years as my cut off.

 

[bucket]

Ya'll would hate to see the tires I run. Lol. I don't care to get into a big discussion about it because I don't want to argue with the "zero tolerance" folks. But I will say that there are different degrees of dry rot and whether or not some people will admit it, dry rot can be superficial and it doesn't always comprise the structure or safety of the tire. Also, there are a lot of 10-15 year old tires out there that are in better condition (as far as dry rot goes) than some tires that are only 5 years old.

But, I do agree that the 7 year replacement recommendation is a fine general rule of thumb. There's millions of people that don't know to judge the condition of a tire besides how deep the tread is.

 

[Grit dog]

@bucket is spot on in his assessment.
But there are even more finite differences between old and newer tires that may or may not make them desirable, aside from holding air and not blowing out on the highway, based on one’s intended use or expectations.
Old previously mounted crusty tires could have bead damage either visible or not. It’s one thing to run an old tire, it’s another thing to stretch a brittle tire over a rim.
Tread compound flexibility. Old tires = hard rubber.
Again the cherry looking 15+ year old Bighorns I just took off the 86 looked and ran out beautifully. No apparent dry rot. Sat for 2 years and didn’t lose any air. 90mph down the freeway smooth as butter, worn perfectly evenly no feathering or cupping of the treads.
But the rubber is hard as a rock!
They are like Bambi on ice, on just wet pavement. Any snow at all was immediate 4wd needed just to move on flat ground. And after countless burnouts that produced curiously little smoke, there was no discernible additional tread wear.
Great tires, right? Yeah for a cruise on a sunny day….

And dry rot hides. It’s most visible on a mounted flat tire where the sidewall is flexed abnormally. Ole Jeep with some guessing 25 year old tires looked great when they were full of air. But one tire had a slow leak and when it was almost flat there deep sidewall cracks that disappeared once it was aired up again.

 

[bucket]

@Grit dog in all fairness, those Bighorns were just about rock hard even when new, lol.

That reminds me though, about a set of tires my Dad had on his Rendezvous a while back. The tires were only 2 or 3 years old at the time, but the compound had hardened up enough to make them the most dangerous wet/snowy condition tire I have ever experienced. They were unbelievably horrible. I have run 20+ year old tires that performed substantially better than those 2-3 year old tires.

 

[SirRobyn0]

I agree with what @bucket is saying about dry rot marks can be superficial, but I was bit one time by that way of thinking one time, coming home from central Oregon in an old RV we use to have that had 16.5 tires on it. I could see mild cracking on the outer duallys and knew it was superficial. In my case the RR inner dually where you can't see it so well was bad, bad. I had a blow out just over the state line coming home. Got the spare on which was not in great shape and made it to exit 99, when I blew that one out. No one had a 16.5 tire anywhere nearby and it was a Sunday night. Ended up spending the night in rough old truck stop. Not the nice new pilot that is there now, but across the highway was a dilapidated old shell station and truck stop that is gone now.

Monday morning I called around until I found a tire store with a 16.5" tire, was a Firestone and they had two.

Don't get me wrong I'm running 15 or so year old tires on my 77 Cadillac and tires of about the same age on my Dodge truck. I guess the moral of the story is to inspect older tires now and then and realize 16.5" tires can be a pain to get hold of when you need to drive and your down a tire. In another make believe scenario if a guy ran over something and needed a tire in hurry you'd have a huge problem getting one in a hurry. For that reason alone I'd be cautious of 16.5 tires, and I'd hang on to your old ones if they are still usable.

 

[Dooley]

As a side note, Firestone is the tire company with the record of the 2 largest tire recalls in tire history.
In 2000 I got my money back for my ATX's and promptly replaced them with BFG.
They had a large recall in 1978 also.

 

[SirRobyn0]

As a side note, Firestone is the tire company with the record of the 2 largest tire recalls in tire history.
In 2000 I got my money back for my ATX's and promptly replaced them with BFG.
They had a large recall in 1978 also.

I worked for Firestone during the late 90's recall. There were a LOT of factors involved in the blow outs that caused the Explorer rollovers. In the end it would seem the biggest issue was the recommended tire pressure was 26PSI there was no tire pressure warning system in those rigs so loss of just 5 psi of air would put the tire in danger of a blow out. I'm not saying that the ATX was or wasn't defective, I'm just saying that there was more to the issue than just a large recall, due to the tires. When we changed out the ATX's we also stuck a new sticker on the door jam of explorers with an updated tire pressure of 30 or 32PSI of pressure, it's been long enough I don't recall clearly.

 

[Radiohead]

My roller wheels have studded snow tires that have a Y2K date code on them with zero sign of age. Someone unfamiliar with this might get themselves in trouble running tires this old, but not me. They get one of three possible outcomes -
1. Strictly project rollers
2. Limited snow service at speeds under 55
3. (The most likely) BURNOUTS! Why fry new, expensive tires if all you want to know is, will it roast one or will it roast two...

Go Go camper special!

 

[bucket]

I worked for Firestone during the late 90's recall. There were a LOT of factors involved in the blow outs that caused the Explorer rollovers. In the end it would seem the biggest issue was the recommended tire pressure was 26PSI there was no tire pressure warning system in those rigs so loss of just 5 psi of air would put the tire in danger of a blow out. I'm not saying that the ATX was or wasn't defective, I'm just saying that there was more to the issue than just a large recall, due to the tires. When we changed out the ATX's we also stuck a new sticker on the door jam of explorers with an updated tire pressure of 30 or 32PSI of pressure, it's been long enough I don't recall clearly.

I agree completely with all this... except the stinker of a tire in question was the Wilderness A/T. I personally had no gripes with that tire... I think the 26 psi was 100% the issue, but there were indeed other minor factors.

 

[bucket]

Oh, I forgot a story, lol.

In the late 90's, my future brother in law worked at a local Ford dealer. He saved a set of those Wilderness A/T's that were removed from an Explorer and put them on his S-10 pickup. About a year later, he rolled that truck, lol. But it was because he drove like a crazed lunatic.

Later on after the tire recall business, he attempted to blame the tires and we all got a chuckle out of it.




...And that reminds me of another story, lol. When he rolled that truck, he got hauled off in an ambulance and the truck got hauled off to the city impound lot. The next day, we went and got it out of impound and continued driving it. Every body panel was smashed and most of the windows were broke. And it was wintertime. But it sure was a lot of fun. Those were good times, haha.

 

[SirRobyn0]

I agree completely with all this... except the stinker of a tire in question was the Wilderness A/T. I personally had no gripes with that tire... I think the 26 psi was 100% the issue, but there were indeed other minor factors.

They recalled both the Wilderness A/T and the ATX, I think, but even though I lived it I don't think about it much anymore and the memory fades.....