I have a 2002 Ranger 4x4 V6-208 HP with 37k miles on it. The original stock "Wrangler" radials will need replacing soon.
I live near Indianapolis, so tires that give acceptable ice/snow performance are in order. I do mostly suburban city driving, high-speed tires are not needed.
What tires would give a combination of quiet smoot ride, acceptable all season performance, and longevity?
Best suggestion I could give you would be to go to
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Enter you truck info and you'll see tires for sized your truck even if you don't get them through the site. Be certain to read the user reviews as people with your exact truck will write on if a particular tire worked well on that truck, and in what weather.
You'll get the answers your looking for faster & more data than on here...
I'd research your tires on Tire Rack (which is in South Bend, so shipping should be quick for you.)I can't speak to the bad weather performance or longevity, but I just bought a set of Michelin LTX AT/2s for my old F-150 and the ride is buttery smooth and actually surprisingly quiet for an all terrain tire. IMHO it's hard to go wrong with a Michelin tire; never had a bad set. (mostly passenger car tires; this is my first full set of truck tires, rear tires on the truck when I bought it were Michelins but the front were some off brand, which probably explained the inability to balance them)
Surprisingly, they were pretty price competitive with other similar tires.
The last several sets of tires I've bought were Michelin LTXs but not the AT/2s. Not familiar with those. I've been putting them on Explorers (4wd) and a Nissan Frontier (2wd). The Explorers get around 70-80K miles on a set and the Frontier had about 90K miles on them and they still looked like they had a long, long ways to go. The "P" tires will give you a smoother ride but the "LT" tires have an extra sidewall if you happen to encounter rough terrain a lot. I've found the LTXs to be satisfactory in mud, light snow, and ice. I like them a lot better than the BFG All Terrain/TA tires with the agressive tread.
I just put a set of these BFG tires on my 2004 F-150 4x4 and they work great. They roll right over most pot holes and seams in the road with little transfer of the shock to my truck. The ride is smoother now, even with the agressive tread.
I believe that the shop that installed my Michelins actually recommended those exact BFGs. I chose the Michelins simply because they were about the same price and I've had good luck with them in the past. So both are probably a decent choice.
Thanks to all for the information. I think the "BFG All Terrain/TA KO" tires are a good choice. At $172 each, it appears they will cost me about $200 a set more than other tires. I don't drive much, so these tires may last 15 years. An extra $200 for tires that will probably outlast my Ranger is not too much, I think.
Two of my BFGs had tread seperation and my tires store gave me full credit for them toward some new Michelins.
I also did not like the BFGs on an icy mountain trail. The Michelins seemed to handle that particular situation much better. I tried putting chains on them for the trip back and it was a nightmare trying to slip the chains past the tread. Plus the BFGs kick up a lot more dust on dirt roads which is basically just kinda rude to the car behind you and houses along the road. I have heard that the BFGs perform very well in sand and loose dirt but I rarely encounter those conditions.
FWIW the Michelin LTX AT/2s got lots of comments on Tire Rack about kicking up gravel and I have found that to be the case. Of course, there are less aggressive treads available, but I have a 2WD non-LSD pickup and do plan to use it in bad weather (I know, not the best choice, but I was unable to find a decent 4WD pickup in my price range, and MOST of my driving is done in at worst rain, and I hardly ever drive the thing, so it's not like noise or fuel economy are real concerns to me.)
From years of selling and installing tires, I can tell you that if "quiet" and "smooth" is what you are looking for, the BFG AT/TAs are NOT what you want. They are good, tough tires. They should last you quite a long time but ....... the tread compound is very hard, so they wear well but don't grip ice or hardpack snow well, and are not smooth riding. This is exacerbated by their rather inflexible sidewall compound. They don't flex very much which is good for rough, rocky terrain but ....... again they aren't smooth riding. Lastly, their tread pattern is a bit on the agressive side. Good for off road but not very quiet on paved surfaces. Just my experiences.....
Well, I currently have BFG All-Terrain/TAs on my old pickup that is also non-LSD and basically it makes driving on dirt roads worse in some ways. The tire used to spin and dig a small hole and now it digs a big hole really fast. They do, however, as someone pointed out, make small ruts and such disappear when driving over them. Of course I have learned how to deal with them and rarely get stuck mainly by starting out very, very slowly, sometimes in 2nd. They seem to help prevent sliding sideways on turns on dirt roads too.
I read some posts a while back about some tires that are becomming popular for Explorers and I think they were Firestones so maybe those are the ones. I really liked the Firestone Wilderness tires that got recalled. I seem to be the only one though.
Errors at Firestone Shop: Mine, the Retail Location, or are they Dishonest?
I need 4 new tires for my 2002 Ranger 4x4 XLT Supercab. The "Destination A/T" tires I saw from the link seemed OK. I figured I got a fair/competitive price for a complete install: balancing, stems, taxes, disposal, etc at ~~$495 after buy3/1free. 8:00 AM Sunday morning appt. out before 9:00 AM. "Destination A/T" tires have great customer reviews at tirerack.com. Cool.
Yesterday, Saturday morning, from Firestone's online appt and ordering site, I ordered 4 15" tires. I incorrectly assumed all 4x4 Rangers with factory tires would take the same size replacements.
There was no option on their on-line order/appt web site for anything except 15" tires, certainly no 16" tires. I didn't know my truck needed 16" tires, I've never bought tires before. At the facility, I was told my 2002 Ranger 4x4 XLT Supercab needed 16 inch tires, my on-line order was for 15" tires.
After they got my truck up on the rack and dismounted one or more of the tires, I was told 16" would cost $45 extra over the 15" tires. Also I'd need to wait several hours until they got the correct tires from a near by town.
Next, the service manager offered me four other Firestone tires, he said were less cost. I could have all four for the $495 without a coupon and leave about 9:00 AM.
I told him no, I'd need to shop more. I may return in a couple days for my original "Destination A/T" tires, in the correct size.
Did the retail shop make an honest error by not checking with me for tire size before OK'ing the appointment? I think the tire retail shop people know to verify tire size before putting a vehicle up on a rack and removing the tires.
My options:
Wait to get the correct tires at a price 10% higher than quoted;
Buy other lesser rated tires now-on the spot, at about ~~$5
Leave and MAYBE come back later for correct install ~~$5, 1. Wait to get the correct tires at a price 10% higher than quoted;
2. Buy other lesser rated tires now-on the spot, at about ~~$$495
3. Leave and MAYBE come back later for correct install ~~$$545, $0 now. now.
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