Fed Up With Goodyear Wranglers

A few years ago, in replacing the original Firestone Wilderness AT tires the local Ford dealer installed Goodyear Wranglers. For the first 10,000 miles they were fine. But then I started hearing a noise that sounded like the front wheel bearings were going out. The dealer said "nope, it's the tires". We rotated the front to back, and the noise went away for a few months and came back. Then my brother-in-law put a nail through a rear tire. I bought a new matching tire, took the spare off, and put both unused tires on the front and the used tire on as a spare. The noise went away for a few months and came back. Frankly I wish I had kept the Firestones, particularly since most of my driving is in cooler climates (west coast).

I'm fed up with these Goodyear Wranglers and I'm about to buy some new ones at Discount Tires. Why Discount Tires? I travel a lot through out the west and they seem to be located all over the west and I've had good experiences with them on their road hazard warranties. That makes me a happy and loyal customer.

So... What tires do you recommend for a 2000 Explorer XLT? Any ones to avoid?

Thanks in advance. No e-mail please.

Reply to
rvfulltime (was xenman)
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The larger percent of the NG seems to favour the Michelins.... and those of us are split about 50/50 on LTX M/S and Cross Terrains.

I've had LTX M/S on a few of my units... I don't think you're going to find a better tire.

Hankook also makes a decent tire.... sold many of these in the oil patch...

Reply to
Jim Warman

I bought my last 6 or 7 sets of tires from America's Tires which is the same company as Discount Tires. For one thing they include everything except the road hazard warranty in their price. They always fix flats for me and rotate my tires for free and with no hassles. They even fixed a flat for free on my wife's Nissan Frontier that had tires they don't even sell. Guess what? My wife went back and bought a set of Michelins from them (after the second flat in two weeks on the stock tires that came on the Nissan). I think if I shopped around I might be able to get tires for a few bucks less but it probably would not be worth the trouble.

The only time they ever "did me wrong" was during the Firestone Recall Fiasco the only tires they had in stock were some knockoffs called Desert Dogs which turned out to be somewhat crappy. I think they were made by Pirelli.

We (me and my wife) tried various tires including the BFG All Terrain/TA tires and like the Michelin LTX M/S the best. We drive on dirt roads a lot and go on the mountain trails when it's snowing and icy. They also hold the road really well (on pavement). They also last a long time. I have not tried the Cross Terrains.

Reply to
Ulysses

About 30,000 miles ago I bought a set of Michelin Cross Terrains for my Expedition. At first they were fine, but now they are really noisy. I've had LTXs in the past (and still have a set on an old F150) and been happier with them. I am unimpressed with the Cross Terrains (at least the ones on my Expedition), and won't buy another set. On the other hand, after 30,000 miles they still look like new. The donwnside is, they may last foreer.....

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

I switched to the LTX during the recall on my 99 XLS, and love them. The '02 XLT came with cross terrain and the are nice and quite also. I can't tell much difference between the two for quietness and comfortable ride. My '01 Supercrew has Generals, and them suckers are about to be replaced with LTX's

/Richard

Reply to
Cedartown Electronics

Generals are what my Frontier had too. I told my wife she could either continue to have roadside adventures or get some Michelins. We now have the LTXs on 4 vehicles.

Reply to
Ulysses

Went from orginal Firestones ATX, to Michelin LTX M/S that finally wore out. I just put on a set of Goodyear Fortera Silent Armor tires

70,000 tread.

Reply to
Fred 2

I've had the Cross Terrains on my 99 XLT for about 25,000 miles and they have been great so far.

Reply to
Mikepier

Another vote for Michelin LTX

Reply to
Bob

Reply to
Jonah

my LTXs have about 50K miles and still good tread left. However, they started making road noise about 10000 miles ago, Dealer said noise due to tire cupping.

i'm not going to replace them right away, but Discount Tire quoted about $125 per tire to replace.

Ford is now recommending replacing tires that are 4-5 years old, no matter what the mileage.

I'm fed up with these Goodyear Wranglers and I'm about to buy some new ones at Discount Tires. Why Discount Tires? I travel a lot through out the west and they seem to be located all over the west and I've had good experiences with them on their road hazard warranties. That makes me a happy and loyal customer.

So... What tires do you recommend for a 2000 Explorer XLT? Any ones to avoid?

Thanks in advance. No e-mail please.

Reply to
stevie

My experience has been that, once cupping or feathered edges happen, the tires stay noisy. My original Goodrich tires got noisy due to slight feathering caused by an alignment problem. I tried to find a tire place that still did tire truing to get the tires evened up again, but could not find anyone still doing that. They have worn down so that they are somewhat quieter, but I can still hear them.

My worst experiences with tire cupp>my LTXs have about 50K miles and still good tread left. However, they

Reply to
Big Shoe

General concensus among many Explorer owners is to go with either the Michelin "LTX M/S" or "Cross Terrains". I have used "M/S's" on a previous truck and currenly have "Cross Terrains" on my 96' and I am very satisfied using either of them. "

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Reply to
gordo

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