Ford Ranger tires.

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DuckRyder

DuckRyder

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Subtitle: Will I be sorry for using BJ's for tires again or will they redeem themselves?

Who would have thunk tires for a Ranger would be scarce...

Anyway, not my truck and was time/price sensitive. My usual contacts on vacation at the dealer.

So we are off to find quality but cost effective tire options.

Michelin appears to make nothing (Michelin Branded) in the correct size (225/70/15), not a Kuhmo fan, not a Goodyear fan, Conti doesn't have a good reputation for the tire that fits the Ranger. So it is basically down to Firestone Destination LE2 or BFG Long Trail T/A tour. Off to find best price on those two...

Wal-Mart Tire and Lube. Best price for Firestone.
BJ's best price for BFG ($70.00 instant rebate)

Essentially same money.

I must say, I'm not a huge Firestone fan either though the Dest LE2 gets good reviews, the original Dest LE on my work truck were unimpressive, particularly through the last half of their life, and the one on the Ranger (long story) wasn't looking too hot.

The gentleman at WMTL was very professional and we looked at what he could get, he took time to write out an itemized quote.

The gentleman at BJ was nice and polite enough, though seemed a bit disinterested. Not as professional in appearance or interaction. Punched it all in his handheld calculator and gave me a bottom line with and without the IR. (Rebate/Coupon ends 10/24)

Now honestly, I've had a not so great BJ's Tire buying experience before, but they did try to make it right.

So, do I go with the guy I like a little more for the tires I like a little less, or do I go with the guy and place I like a little less for the tires I like a good bit more...

As you've probably already surmised, I got the BFG's and they did OK. They arrived when they were supposed to, and the price was what it was supposed to be. They got them mounted and balanced in a timely fashion. The truck rides and drives much better, which is no surprise in light of the 2 different kinds of tires that were on it which varied from one almost new to one almost completely bald.

These tires were all the same DOT code and fresh (Week 32) so that is good too.

No one had this size in stock which I found surprising considering the number of rangers on the road... BJ's got them overnight and WM said they could too.
 
Funny thing is, my nephew needed tires for his 2000 Ranger in the same size that you mention(225-70-15)...We found that by going to the 235-70-15, not only did they fit very well in the wheel well area but, they were $10 cheaper per tire(total $40) for some unknown reason. He went with BFGoodrich Radial T/A's. Not my 1st pick but, they were cheap!

I've been recommending Firestone Destination LE/2's!

You'll have to look around for deals locally and maybe searcy & buy online, which I recommend for many folks(but, not all folks).
 
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When I was looking at New tires for my s10, same stock tire size as the ranger was much more expensive and limited stock / brands. I went with the slightly wider tire for a while lot less. I chose kumho and they are fine for my driving style, 95% city roads and hwy. Most vehicles are going with larger wheel sizes so it will be more and more difficult to find 15" tires
 
I used to own a Ranger with that size on it as well. I put two sets of tires on that truck. I do not know if they still make them but I put on Firestone Indy 500s on there. They were cheap....lasted 50k miles.....never had to rebalance..and once I put those tires on I did not have to put any weight in the bed to be able to get traction in all the rain we get in Florida.....I liked the first set so much I put them on again. They were a great tire for me. I was in college and could not afford the higher end tires but honestly I had 0 complaints of that tire and they were cheap!
 
Originally Posted By: Bgallagher
What about Cooper or General tires? Both are quality brands at a more reasonable price.


Exactly, there are more tires available than one would think! So many choices
smile.gif
 
I have similar sized tires. Look into Cooper. I have the Discoverer H/T tires and really really like them. This is my 2nd set on the escape.
 
Originally Posted By: Bgallagher
What about Cooper or General tires? Both are quality brands at a more reasonable price.


There was a General Grabber available, I think tire rack showed it and it was available (but not in stock) one place locally, I don't remember where... (I went a good many places) for about the same money as the Firestone and BFG. A general would have to be a good bit cheaper for me to choose it. I'm not sure who the local Cooper dealer is, but no one offered me one...

For this particular vehicle, I wasn't interested in a tire size change...

My first choice is always the dealer I used to work at, they treat me right, but my friends there were on Vacation so it didn't work out. My second choice is Tire Rack and have them put on at the dealer, My friends would have been back by then... but see the "time sensitive" part of the first post... Tire Rack would not have been here in time and also did not appear to be cost effective in this case... (Ive found I can usually do better locally on anything but an actual Michelin tire, for whatever reason)
 
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A not-so-great experience describes my dealings with BJs as well, though as with you, I can't complain about their customer service. It appears, after taking a Monday morning quarterback review of my experience with them, that the three sets of Michelins they put on our Acura because they wouldn't balance are indeed because their (BJs) balancer either wasn't calibrated right or used right. I went to a Goodyear Gemini dealer in town and paid 100 bucks for a road force balance and BJs reimbursed me for the 100 bucks out of their petty cash. Goodyear said that all four of the tires balanced just fine...but were way out of balance when brought in.

It also appears that BJs chipped one of our TPMS sensors (Goodyear found it) and they replaced it no questions asked. They were going to use a generic brand, but I insisted on OEM and that's what they bought. I have a fairly good working relationship, now, with the BJs tire center manager, but I still don't believe that I'd buy another set from them. Our local BJs (a brand new store) seems to treat the tire center as an afterthought, and not part of their core business.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
......Our local BJs (a brand new store) seems to treat the tire center as an afterthought, and not part of their core business.


Jason,

You hit the nail on the head, I almost wrote something very similar. At my BJ's you can't even walk from the store into the tire center. The tires are in the store and they pass them through a gate which has locks on it from either side.

I remember reading your story and thinking all of that sounded very familar, I may even have posted. I think I've said in the past I wouldn't use them again, but as I said they did try to make it right so I decided to give them another chance.

The did use a Coats balancer (and rim clamp tire machine) and I watched them and it appeared they used it correctly to the extent I could see.

So they did not really redeem themselves, but they didn't do themselves any further harm either. I'd probably use them again in a time crunch.
 
I didn't have too much trouble finding 225/70/15s, but the last time I bought a set was 2006 or so.

A lot of people just move up to 235/75/15. It's not a drastic size difference, but has much better availability, and as previously mentioned, is often cheaper since it used to be a very common size and many vehicles still on the road use it. My truck originally used 225/70/15, but has been riding on 235/75/15s since 2009. I never bothered with trying to calibrate the speedometer/odometer. It was off from the factory, and comparing with GPS it's still close enough.

I have run four sets of Destinations on two Rangers and a Ranger based Explorer Sport. Three sets were AT, one set LE (the first LE, not the LE2). None let me down, I was satisfied with all of them. I went with Yokohamas this time though because they were the best deal I could get on decent tires.
 
there are many other size tires that you could cross reference that size to to get one with a similar diameter.


i sometimes use a tire calculator and type in several different sizes to see the difference in Revs per miles etc.


like a 225/70/15 compared to a 215/75/15 or a 235/65/15 and so on.
 
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