Update: Due to a nail in the no repair zone, I replaced the LE2s with LE3s. I am taking a trip soon and will be evaluating them.
Firestone Destination LE - anyone have these?
- Thread starter bighead2586
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Due to a nail in the no repair zone of one tire and tread at 5/32, the LE2s were replaced with LE3s.
Did not intend to double post.
to update....I bought these tires for a family member, checked up on the tires.
The tires have a UTQG wear rating of 700 which is a lot, but after 40,000 miles they were worn about 75%. (as roughly 20 to 25% of the original tread left) Tolerable if this was the Sun Belt, not ready for winter if you want to be on the very safe side. (you could squeeze another winter out of these tires if you are aware of its limits)
So the LE3's wear rating is honest, but with an asterisk if you live in a place that may get ice/snow.
The tires have a UTQG wear rating of 700 which is a lot, but after 40,000 miles they were worn about 75%. (as roughly 20 to 25% of the original tread left) Tolerable if this was the Sun Belt, not ready for winter if you want to be on the very safe side. (you could squeeze another winter out of these tires if you are aware of its limits)
So the LE3's wear rating is honest, but with an asterisk if you live in a place that may get ice/snow.
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How has their rain grip performed as they’ve worn?
No complaints. but this is my 70 y.o. aunt, so she drives fast, but steady. 100% straight line suburban and highway driving. no hard cornering, lol.
and with the way traffic is around here...if it's raining and rush hour, you aren't moving. so not much opportunity to test panic braking or cornering in the wet.
Garbage
That's kind of a " hit and run post". Please articulate why you feel they are " garbage".
I have 265/75/16 LE3's on my Frontier. New there spec is 10/32 tread. There pretty consistently at 6/32 on my tool - with 42,000 miles. There supposed to be a 70K tire. They might make it to there before hitting the wear bar but it would be close. I will likely swap these out pretty soon, I have no interest in running on 4/32 or whatever they say is minimum.
They are wearing very evenly - and I do not rotate my tires. These haven't been rotated at all - not once.
Still pretty happy with the wet traction - why I bought them.
I do feel like my LE2's lasted longer.
They are wearing very evenly - and I do not rotate my tires. These haven't been rotated at all - not once.
Still pretty happy with the wet traction - why I bought them.
I do feel like my LE2's lasted longer.
I, personally, don't like Firestone's track record. Recently, one of the Firestone's on the front of my Toyota sedan tore itself up from the inside out. It was 3 years old. Plenty of meat on it. ( It was a Firestone Fuel Saver ). It was not underinflated. Took it to a local tire shop. They dismounted it. The inside of the tire just turned to dust. The rim was coated in a 1/4" layer of rubber dust. It was the correct tire for the car. I will never put Firestone's on any of my vehicles again. Remember the Firestone 721 ???? Research that tire. This is my personal opinion. My peace of mind. My family's life at stake. I just don't trust Firestone. To each their own. Sorry for the broad based post.
Tires don't turn into dust on the inside on their own. Was either run flat or over-heated at some point. Were they OEM tires? Possibly run low prior to your ownership?
I personally have had very good luck with every Firestone I have owned, and I have owned plenty. My dad also used to run them on all the farm stuff and heavy equipment with very good success there also.
No they were not OEM tires. They were installed at a Firestone shop 3 years prior. No they were not underinflated. One tire turned to dust, the other front tire was fine. Defective. I was the sole owner and always kept tires inflated. Again, you like Firestone ? So be it. I got burned. End of my posts on this matter.
As someone who used to make his living analyzing failed tires, my opinion is that rubber dust means a run flat, and I would go looking for a puncture. 90% of the time I'd find one. The 10% of the time I didn't was in line with known statistics with punctures disguised in the damaged area.
This is my last post regarding Firestone Fuel Saver. I am a mechanic. I drove that car 1/2 hr @ 65 mph. Smelled burning rubber. Made no sense. Brought car back to garage, performed a heat test on tires. 3 were normal. One, left front, was off the charts. Rims were normal. Brakes were normal. Took car to local tire shop. Watched tire being dismounted. Nothing but rubber dust came out. Tire never went flat. All tires 3yrs old. Tire shop had no explanation. Neither did I. It was headed toward implosion. Steel belts were visible. Defective. End of story. End of post. End of Firestone on my vehicles. Please cease discussion. Thank you.
It seems there are often batch to batch inconsistencies and or inconsistencies between models within brands.
I'm kind of the same on Michelin, I've had issues.
My primacies weather checked so severely after 3 years the rep came out and inspected them himself and gave me a credit for a new pair - to be fair they sort of took care of me.
I traveled approximately 500 miles mostly highway including some mountain roads. Road conditions varied from smooth to rough and noise was minimal. No rain encountered so nothing to report on wet handling. I did notice an improvement in the handling vs the previous LE3, just a little firmer which is welcome. Overall, I am satisfied.
I've had Firestone tires on several vehicles. Some were good and some weren't. Probably the worst set were Firestone Wilderness HT that I put on a 1991 Ford Ranger. I had equally bad results from a set of General Altimax RT43 tires, on a 2006 Hyundai Tucson.
The place I retired from ran Firestone Destination LE2 on all 1/2 ton pickup trucks. They were very good tires overall.
There will be bad tires in different production runs across all major brands.
Save the headaches and stay away from weird named Chinese brand tires.
The place I retired from ran Firestone Destination LE2 on all 1/2 ton pickup trucks. They were very good tires overall.
There will be bad tires in different production runs across all major brands.
Save the headaches and stay away from weird named Chinese brand tires.
I'm sorry, but your post stimulates discussion. If you feel you've said everything you want to say, fine. But there are those of us who have much more experience than you on diagnosing the cause of tire failures and feel the need to add color and texture to the conversation. For example:
You mentioned steel belts being visible. What does that mean? You didn't mention that earlier.
I have seen individual belt wires sticking through the innerliner and that's the result of poor adhesion between the belt rubber compound and the steel cords. That usually results in a slow loss of pressure and ultimately a run flat condition with rubber dust. The tire doesn't have to be fully deflated to get this condition and sometimes there's enough pressure to make the tire not appear underinflated.
Further, I would not expect a tire shop to have the expertise to make this kind of diagnosis. The main reason I have this expertise is because I've seen a lot of failed tires and my job was to report on the cause of the failure so changes could be made to prevent these in the future. I had access to all kinds of tools to help in this regard, including rubber chemists, X-Ray machines, and the like to add substance to my analysis. It's quite possible that the tire in question did have a manufacturing problem, but your earlier description didn't include any items that would indicate such.
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