Am I crazy for thinking that most Firestones suck?

[Cardenio327]

Originally Posted By: Rock_Hudstone

The new Affinty Touring and Firestone Precison Touring only have three S rated tires in 14-15 inch 70 series and unlikely to see sustained high speeds. The rest are all T or H rated.


I'm glad to see someone defending Firestone Rock Hudstone, they really have learned their lesson from the Explorer fiasco.

To tell the truth I wasn't thrilled at the thought of selling Firestone tires when the business opportunity came up, I expected zippered and separated tires being returned on a weekly basis. I was wrong. In 3 years and about 4,000 Bridgestone/Firestone tires sold we have only had one tire come back zippered and none with catastrophic separations (knock on wood). The zippered tire was a Steeltex FSR designed about 20-25 years ago. I immediately dropped the Steeltex line and started my crusade against old designs and models w/o nylon cap-plies. Modern well made/well designed tires will still fail from under inflation, but not in the spectacular way that old designs will.

 

[SS1970chrysler]

I've been using the same set of F-stone's on a '78 LTD for 12 years now. No complaints and they are still good.

 

[rslifkin]

I liked the Destination LEs that were on the back of the Jeep when I bought it (pretty grippy, seemed to last well, but I replaced them before they were worn out). The Destination A/Ts on there now have been wearing a bit quickly, but I do drive hard, so I wasn't expecting them to last all that well. Other than the wear, they've been great. Surprisingly grippy on pavement for an A/T, nearly impossible to hydroplane, etc.

 

[NHHEMI]

I am a big Bridgestone & Firestone fan. As others have said they have their poor tires like all mfg's. However, they both offer some excellent tires as well. Most of my recent experience( past 15+ years or so )is with light truck/suv tires but that experience has all been great when Bridgestone and/or Firestone tires are involved.

Bridgestone offers some excellent options( Dueler AT REVO, Dueler AT REVO2, Dueler AT D695, Dueler H/L Alenza ). Firstone offers a great light truck/suv line that others have already mentioned as well which is the Destination line. The Destination AT is one of the most popular AT's out there. The Destination LE's are one of the best all season tires there is for light truck and suv use and they are also one of the most affordable. There is a new Destination LE2 that has just come out with a very different tread pattern. Too early to tell if they will live up to the original LE's?

I have run the LE's on my last 3 vehicles( not counting current one ). 2 full sized 4WD trucks( Silverado and Ram )and a AWD suv( Equinox - they were the OE tire ). Absolutely LOVED them. I would already have LE's on my new Jeep but unfortunately they are not available in the size I need. The Jeep came OE with Firestone Affinity's and they have been "ok". Not great but not bad.

For me Bridgestone and Firestone are now the 1st stop for tires when they are needed. I have a couple Firestone Service Centers locally. One is( was )only so-so as far as customer service goes but they other one has been great to deal with.

 

[CharBaby]

Every tire company seems to have 1 or 2 tires in their whole line of tires that are actually competative with the other tires in their segment(good overall professional testing score and good customer reviews).

That being said, Firestone tires are, IMHO, just another tire on the market trying to keep some of the market share. That's it!

Yeah, the DESTINATION line of Truck/SUV tires are held in high regard and there may be a Firestone passenger/touring/grand touring tire that competes well in it's segment but, Firestone tires aren't MICHELIN's. No tire company is!

And as stated by other members here...You can even have an issue with a Michelin. But, their tires(Michelin) always seem to lead the pack now, don't they?

I have Firestone FIREHAWK INDY 500 on my old Firebird and like'em better than any other tire(on this car) in the past 32 years. The INDY 500's are only "S" speed rated but, they feel more like a "T" or "H" rated compared to other tires I've had on this particular car.

And, Firestone has a national chain of service centers where they can try to sell tires to customers coming in for other service. But, that's it!

I mean really! How many people do you know that frequent their local Firestone Service Center for all their tire needs? Vehicle service repairs and brakes, exhaust, inspections maybe but, tires?

If Firestone tires are a "must have", buy'em online!

 

[CharBaby]

[quote/Char Baby:]I mean really! How many people do you know that frequent their local Firestone Service Center for all their tire needs? Vehicle service repairs and brakes, exhaust, inspections maybe but, tires?

If Firestone tires are a "must have", buy'em online!

EDIT Expired:
These last 2 paragraphs were supposed to be a bit humorous but, somehow after reading them myself, I didn't find'em funny

So please, no offence to others! I do frequent my local Firestone Service Center

I guess you'd have to "read into" my post!

 

[zerosoma]

Originally Posted By: Char Baby
[quote/Char Baby:]I mean really! How many people do you know that frequent their local Firestone Service Center for all their tire needs? Vehicle service repairs and brakes, exhaust, inspections maybe but, tires?

If Firestone tires are a "must have", buy'em online!

EDIT Expired:
These last 2 paragraphs were supposed to be a bit humorous but, somehow after reading them myself, I didn't find'em funny

So please, no offence to others! I do frequent my local Firestone Service Center

I guess you'd have to "read into" my post!



Firestone always gave us the best deal when we took our vehicles in to get the oil changed. This was before I learned to do it myself. Our local Hy-Vee would have coupons on the back of their receipts from local businesses to attract new customers and Firestone always had a "$4 off Standard Oil Change" that I clipped and would take with me. This actually gave me a reason to take the Grand Am in for a change and have it serviced on a decent schedule. Before that I didn't hardly ever change the oil because I didn't know much about vehicles and I was also poor.

Generally after tax my wife (girlfriend at the time) and I would get away with $22 including tax for the change. They also used Kendall Titanium which is great stuff!

I just don't find their tires appealing at all, however.

 

[Bgallagher]

Originally Posted By: SS1970chrysler
I've been using the same set of F-stone's on a '78 LTD for 12 years now. No complaints and they are still good.


12 years? Aren't you concerned about tire rot?

 

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted By: Bgallagher
Originally Posted By: SS1970chrysler
I've been using the same set of F-stone's on a '78 LTD for 12 years now. No complaints and they are still good.


12 years? Aren't you concerned about tire rot?


I've seen 12 year old tires still be fine on a car that's garaged all the time, depending on climate. However, I've seen tires show cracking on the sidewalls in 2 - 3 years if kept outside, baking in the sun.

 

[Trvlr500]

I have an old '73 Caddy which I have owned for around 16 years. I ran Firestone FR380's on it for most of those years. They sucked on the ice and snow and they sucked on dry pavement for a car that weigh's about as much as a new F150. 4900 lbs to be exact. Not counting the 600 lbs and more I normally carried in the trunk on trips.

However, they worked and handled numerous 1300 mile round trips at 80-100 miles an hour (on dry pavement) and numerous trips on snow and ice at 70 mph at times.

I used them for around 10 years only because they made them in whitewalls and they were cheap. I have since switched to Michelin's. In any case the FR380's worked just fine although they definitely didn't have what the Michelin MS2/s' have in performance. Not even close.

I had one FR380 fail on the front right on a 100+ degree day at 85 mph during one of my trips. It lost a tread but didn't blow. Thankfully.

That set of tires was around 7 years old and I was running 80-90 mph for hours in 100+ degree heat before it lost the tread that day. I had good luck with the second set as well with the same treatment. Never a problem up to the 5 year mark when I switched to the Micelin's.

I never had a problem with FR380's for normal driving but I finally got sick of the lack of traction on ice and snow and seeing scrubbing on the side walls (Almost 3/4 of the way up the sidewall) due to hard cornering (the speed limits where I live are high, as they should be) and bought the Michelin's.

FR380's suck. I'll admit that but for normal every day driving like most people do they work just fine. Firestone makes good, basic tires as well as some very good higher quality tires I would presume and with the abuse I gave mine I'd guess their "cheapies" are even up to par.

I did, however, make sure the tire pressures were always at 36 psi. Cold. I think that bodes well for tire life.

 

[Nick R]

FR710s on my cruze are decent enough. Quiet, smooth and decent dry traction. Wet traction could be better, but I can't complain, they are miles better than the KH16s the focus came with. They also appear to be wearing fairly well (also better than the Kumhos, worn by 14k) last I checked with 7/32nds remaining after 13k miles.

 

[Rand]

the kh16's are definitely OEM style tires.

I had some on my 2009 elantra touring in 215/xxR17 they wore fast were bad in the winter and hydroplaned badly even with 3/4 tread remaining.

they came on my gf's 2010 accent also. They seem to pick up nails in bad places like MAGIC. also are wearing even faster and will be done with about 20k miles on them. She has about 15k miles on them they are at 5-6/32nd on the 3 surviving ones. The plan is use them this summer/fall... her snow tires in winter.. then some new tires next spring.

Hopefully they make it till winter .. if not I'm looking hard at michelin defender, and a few other tires. Not sure I want to buy michelins because she seems to nail 1-2 tires yearly. With about 50% chance of it being un-repairable.


That all being said If you get the right firestones they are as good as pretty much anything... They do have a wide line of mediocre tires also.