Firestone/Explorer
Question:
Well, I don’t know about the firestone tires, but I’m glad to hear that everybody made out of the ordeal alive. Feel bad about the vehicle, but that’s repairable. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> While driving from Houston back to Austin yesterday, I had a ‘blowout’ > and nearly lost control of my 94 Explorer. When I finally managed to > gain control (after hitting a concrete barrier on the freeway and > crunching my right rear Qtr panel), I found that my left rear Firestone > tire had lost the tread-separated completely from the tire, but did not > actually ‘blow out’ with a flat. Now, it was not a brand new tire, but > it was in very good shape, and my tires had been rotated regularly. A > guy that was behind me and saw everything said his daughter had an > Explorer and the same thing happened to her-twice. > Has anyone else had this happen with Firestone tires (they actuall have > been VERY good ties!), and what was done about it? Thanks. > Frank in Austin
Response:
I might be in the minority here….but I have had nothing but good luck with Firestones, both on my 88 Ranger, 99 Explorer and going all the way back to a 79 Mustang. They might not be the ‘best’ tires but all have given high mileage and dependability I have had tread separation and complete loss of tread on two Michelins on my wife’s Tempo, and 3 blowouts of Michelins on my 69 Datsun sports coupe. All the Michelins had less than 20,000 miles on them. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> While driving from Houston back to Austin yesterday, I had a ‘blowout’ > and nearly lost control of my 94 Explorer. When I finally managed to > gain control (after hitting a concrete barrier on the freeway and > crunching my right rear Qtr panel), I found that my left rear Firestone > tire had lost the tread-separated completely from the tire, but did not > actually ‘blow out’ with a flat. Now, it was not a brand new tire, but > it was in very good shape, and my tires had been rotated regularly. A > guy that was behind me and saw everything said his daughter had an > Explorer and the same thing happened to her-twice. > Has anyone else had this happen with Firestone tires (they actuall have > been VERY good ties!), and what was done about it? Thanks. > Frank in Austin
Response:
No separation problems (yet), but I’ve had 4 flats in a year. Firestone is at the bottom of my list for tire suppliers. Am about to throw them away even tho 50%+ tread left and put on some decent LT tires. These are just too light for the job if you have any need to drive on (good) gravel roads. wm – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >While driving from Houston back to Austin yesterday, I had a ‘blowout’ >and nearly lost control of my 94 Explorer. When I finally managed to >gain control (after hitting a concrete barrier on the freeway and >crunching my right rear Qtr panel), I found that my left rear Firestone >tire had lost the tread-separated completely from the tire, but did not >actually ‘blow out’ with a flat. Now, it was not a brand new tire, but >it was in very good shape, and my tires had been rotated regularly. A >guy that was behind me and saw everything said his daughter had an >Explorer and the same thing happened to her-twice. >Has anyone else had this happen with Firestone tires (they actuall have >been VERY good ties!), and what was done about it? Thanks. >Frank in Austin
Response:
Firestones are crap..I had them on my GMC Jimmy..I had one blow without any warning..The tires only had like 10k miles on them at the most..My friend has a 96 Explorer XLT..It came with Firestones, one of them blistered to bad he couldn’t drive the car…He replaced them all with Uniroyal Tiger Paws…nice tires…My bro had a 96 Bauer and i wonder when his firestones will crap out…oh well..just don’t buy firestones if you can avoid it… Matt
Response:
While driving from Houston back to Austin yesterday, I had a ‘blowout’ and nearly lost control of my 94 Explorer. When I finally managed to gain control (after hitting a concrete barrier on the freeway and crunching my right rear Qtr panel), I found that my left rear Firestone tire had lost the tread-separated completely from the tire, but did not actually ‘blow out’ with a flat. Now, it was not a brand new tire, but it was in very good shape, and my tires had been rotated regularly. A guy that was behind me and saw everything said his daughter had an Explorer and the same thing happened to her-twice. Has anyone else had this happen with Firestone tires (they actuall have been VERY good ties!), and what was done about it? Thanks. Frank in Austin
Response:
Yes… my left rear tire (Firestone OEM0 on a 98 Xlt 2wd with about 40,000 miles at the time…same failure mode…heard a pop… slowed down (without braking and pulled over to check it)… flat! The tire place found no holes, just separated tire… I would suggest no one drive too fast on these things… and if you even THINK you have a flat, slowly pull over to check… – matt – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->While driving from Houston back to Austin yesterday, I had a ‘blowout’ >and nearly lost control of my 94 Explorer. When I finally managed to >gain control (after hitting a concrete barrier on the freeway and >crunching my right rear Qtr panel), I found that my left rear Firestone >tire had lost the tread-separated completely from the tire, but did not >actually ‘blow out’ with a flat. Now, it was not a brand new tire, but >it was in very good shape, and my tires had been rotated regularly. A >guy that was behind me and saw everything said his daughter had an >Explorer and the same thing happened to her-twice. >Has anyone else had this happen with Firestone tires (they actuall have >been VERY good ties!), and what was done about it? Thanks. >Frank in Austin > Over the years the one tire brand that I have consistently had bad > experiences with has been Firestone. Even as recently as the last 3 > years I’ve had a couple of heavy duty truck tires (that were not > loaded to anywhere near capacity ever) blow out with at least 2/3rds > the tread still on them.
