Firestone Destination LE2 W wore out in 30K miles

[OneEyeJack]

A couple of years ago I put Firestone Destination LE2 tires on my 03 4Runner. At first, they rode well and handled well although off road they had no grip on dirt roads. A few months ago I felt a bit of a thump through the steering wheel and that prompted me to take a close look and I was shocked. the tread looked like new but was worn down to the legal limit on all tires at 30K miles on those tires. Tire pressure was checked once a month and the alignment was right on spec, tires rotated every 5K miles.

I went to Discount Tire and they helped me get a $42 rebate on each tire. So I've gone back to Michelin and purchased 4 Michelin Defender LTX M2 tires with a $70 gift card rebate. No more Destination LE2's for me. I tried the Firestone's because of a big sale and a good discount. Big mistake.

 

[50jeffrey]

I have the same tires on my 2011 Mazda CX-7. They have 40,000 miles on them, with plenty of life left in them. But then, I only drive on paved roads.

 

[mrsilv04]

The Michelin LTX? Yet another big mistake. Out of the skillet and into the fire. Good luck.

 

[SZR48207]

Do you run your 4runner loaded with gear? Or did you get a size/spec smaller than factory?

And when you say legal limit on the tread, I assume you mean the Lincoln's head on a penny trick which is around 2/32"?

I often question claims about tire tread life because some people think a tire is toast when it's bald, but the penny trick would be the most consistent measure since you need SOME tread to drive safely on wet roads.

 

[Nick1994]

How far did previous sets go?

 

[OneEyeJack]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
How far did previous sets go?


My previous Michelin CrossTerrain's went almost 80K miles under the same driving conditions.

All tires have been 265/70/16R's.

In a year or so I'll find out if these new Michelin's are as good as the old CT's.

 

[raytseng]

From ehat I can find on Google, the firestones you mentioned i looked up have a utgq of 480 or 520 so its a relatively soft tire. If you take a soft tire offroad or on bad pavement it will get shredded fast,and wear much faster than what you'd expect from thr regular highway or warranty ratings . So im not surprised by your results

thr michelins have a utqg of 780 or 800 so much higher and won't get as shredded by your off road use.

typically you cannot compare utqg across brands but with such a big difference the firestones are clearly in a different softness category.

 

[4WD]

Originally Posted By: raytseng
From ehat I can find on Google, the firestones you mentioned i looked up have a utgq of 480 or 520 so its a relatively soft tire. If you take a soft tire offroad or on bad pavement it will get shredded fast,and wear much faster than what you'd expect from thr regular highway or warranty ratings . So im not surprised by your results

thr michelins have a utqg of 780 or 800 so much higher and won't get as shredded by your off road use.

typically you cannot compare utqg across brands but with such a big difference the firestones are clearly in a different softness category.


Hard Michelin tires chip on the quartz roads around here … Firestone tires have been 40k and done for me …
Last set was the buy 3 sale … so oh well … like them otherwise

 

[demarpaint]

I have a set on my wife's Liberty and found them to be quite good. The friends who recommended them to me had very good luck with them, they are not an off road tire as others said. If these don't give me at least 50K miles I'll switch back to Goodyear. Years ago I swore I'd never own Michelin again, and I've stood by it.

 

[4WD]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I have a set on my wife's Liberty and found them to be quite good. The friends who recommended them to me had very good luck with them, they are not an off road tire as others said. If these don't give me at least 50K miles I'll switch back to Goodyear. Years ago I swore I'd never own Michelin again, and I've stood by it.


Wow … BITOG member brave enough to say they run Goodyear … Ok, I’m coming out of hiding … have run many sets - cars, trucks, trailer … and not a bad run yet … Thanks …

 

[AirgunSavant]

Originally Posted By: 4WD
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I have a set on my wife's Liberty and found them to be quite good. The friends who recommended them to me had very good luck with them, they are not an off road tire as others said. If these don't give me at least 50K miles I'll switch back to Goodyear. Years ago I swore I'd never own Michelin again, and I've stood by it.


Wow … BITOG member brave enough to say they run Goodyear … Ok, I’m coming out of hiding … have run many sets - cars, trucks, trailer … and not a bad run yet … Thanks …


Why not? They are "good for a year"

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: 4WD
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I have a set on my wife's Liberty and found them to be quite good. The friends who recommended them to me had very good luck with them, they are not an off road tire as others said. If these don't give me at least 50K miles I'll switch back to Goodyear. Years ago I swore I'd never own Michelin again, and I've stood by it.


Wow … BITOG member brave enough to say they run Goodyear … Ok, I’m coming out of hiding … have run many sets - cars, trucks, trailer … and not a bad run yet … Thanks …


LOL I was brave enough to say I'll never buy Michelin again, which is the truth, I thought I'd catch heat for that. There's still time for that. LOL I took the OE Goodyear tires off the Liberty that had just over 60K miles on them I believe. They were still good after 10 years, probably another 5K+ miles life but I didn't want to chance another winter with them. Had it been the spring I would have run them longer. When my Rubicon needs tires it will get Goodyear Dura Trac tires, the reviews are fantastic for those. Anyone I know that uses them loves them. I had much better luck with Goodyear than Michelin over the years, and I'm optimistic about the Firestone tires based on the people who use them and recommended them to me.

Tires are much like oil and anything else automotive, lots of opinions and reasons for buying brand x over brand y.......

 

[Rand]

Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
the tread looked like new but was worn down to the legal limit


How can it look like new and be worn down to 2/32?

 

[Traction]

I'm lucky if I get 30kmi out of any tire. My usual driving amounts to like 9 turns per mile, and I love turns. My son just managed to destroy a set $1200 Pirelli tires in 8600 miles on a 17 Jag F-Type. Driving habits, tire pressure, and alignment is what it comes down to mostly, no matter what tire you use.

 

[Bighorn2500]

Factory OE Firestone Destination LE on the Jeep need replaced at 37K, went with Michelin Defender LTX M/S and they are wearing very well with about 20K on them. No complaints about them.

 

[123Saab]

Originally Posted By: Traction
I'm lucky if I get 30kmi out of any tire. My usual driving amounts to like 9 turns per mile, and I love turns. My son just managed to destroy a set $1200 Pirelli tires in 8600 miles on a 17 Jag F-Type. Driving habits, tire pressure, and alignment is what it comes down to mostly, no matter what tire you use.


Agreed.

I live on a mountain, Going up and down on twisty roads every day is far different than a highway commute...

In my situation grip and handling comes before anything else.

 

[sgtrockjoe]

Just put a set of Michelin Defenders LTX on my Xterra. Was going back and fourth between the Firestone Destinations LE and the Michelins. The Michelins have about 500 miles on them now. I think I made a good choice?

 

[xtell]

I had the earlier version the Firestone Destination LE. These tires were good overall and handled snow well, however I could never get them to balance out, even after several trips to different shops for balance jobs. I replaced them with Michelin LTX M/S tires. Wear rate is good, tire grip is good and no more balance issues. Recently, I also put Michelin LTX M/S2 tires on my Ford F350 4x4 Dually Cab Chassis set up as a flat bed. No issues with balance, ride smooth, no traction issues. I paid more for the Michelin's over cheaper tires but I've been bitten in the past with cheaper tires (road noise, poor traction, short tread life, balance problems). After the success with the first set of LTX M/S tires, I stuck with the brand and tire model.

 

[SatinSilver]

Last set of tires on the Matrix were some Hankook Ventus V2 Concept Ultra High Performance tires that I managed to get 65k miles out of. The tires didn't even come with a mileage warranty. After rebates they were $200 installed for 205/55R16. This was last July that I replaced them with some new tires. No more white knuckle trips in the winter mess. Whew!

 

[pandus13]

SatinSilver,
re: white knuckle winter experience,
do you remember what depth where the Hankooks on their last winter?
Also, how many miles you have on the Nokians?