OT SUV tires

[jimcav]

so my wife just had minor service on her jeep, and the guy told her she needs new tires. about 18 months old and not high miles, so I don't see how it is possible, but the tread is worn. I've never bought tires that didn't have at least a 40k mile warranty and many have higher. The guy told her something inane like sometime the factory tires on the new cars just aren't that good. I'm thinking Michelin defenders, but thought I'd seek advice here too?

[William]

Full time four wheel drive?



William

[ultraman6970]

The tires that new zero miles cars come with usually dont last that long IME. Not that I have had a lot of new cars but the couple we had already were replaced after like 2 years or so. IMO manufacturers have to cheap out and the tires are manufactured with less thread and somehow maybe softer, have you ever noticed that your new car glides and is super soft? there is no way to know if its true because doubt somebody ever did a study about it.

Sucks to spend like 1000 bucks in tires for a new car... :(

[jimcav]

Full time four wheel drive?



William

I can't remember if it is Quadra trac or select tract, but we have to put it in 4x4 and I think we've done that once since buying it.

[Ralph]

I currently have 56,000 on original tires on a Ford Edge. Tread still good. Probably going to have to change them out because of age, and not miles. Very impressed. They are Michelin Latitudes. Believe Defenders have even longer life. Just put 4 Defenders on daughters CRV. Good choice I think, but believe they are being replaced with a newer version (different name). But I do alignments and rotate regularly. Kinda anal about all that. These are fairly good long life all around tires in a popular price. For specific uses.... snow, ice, sleet, high speed, etc.....probably better choices out there. But these are all we needed.

[William]

I can't remember if it is Quadra trac or select tract, but we have to put it in 4x4 and I think we've done that once since buying it.

Sometimes with all wheel drive vehicles if one tire get's out of tolerance they want you to replace all of them. If you have to put it into 4 wheel drive then probably not.





William

[BobO]

Any semi-off road tire is going to have awful wear on the street. Unless you spend a lot of time in places where you need the A/T tire, get an H/T tire instead.

I've had great luck with the Cooper Discoverer H/T. Good price, long wear, good hydroplane resistance, rides well. They're not great in mud and snow.

[jimcav]

I currently have 56,000 on original tires on a Ford Edge. Tread still good. Probably going to have to change them out because of age, and not miles. Very impressed. They are Michelin Latitudes. Believe Defenders have even longer life. Just put 4 Defenders on daughters CRV. Good choice I think, but believe they are being replaced with a newer version (different name). But I do alignments and rotate regularly. Kinda anal about all that. These are fairly good long life all around tires in a popular price. For specific uses.... snow, ice, sleet, high speed, etc.....probably better choices out there. But these are all we needed.

we'll probably go with defenders, being in southern California high speeds is likely the most significant "abnormal" condition we face

[old fat man]

Buy from Costco if you can. Great service and warranty. They took back some tires from our Pilot that cupped inside of 20,000 miles

[ofcounsel]

so my wife just had minor service on her jeep, and the guy told her she needs new tires. about 18 months old and not high miles, so I don't see how it is possible, but the tread is worn. I've never bought tires that didn't have at least a 40k mile warranty and many have higher. The guy told her something inane like sometime the factory tires on the new cars just aren't that good. I'm thinking Michelin defenders, but thought I'd seek advice here too?

That doesn't sound right. Maybe the tires were over inflated/under inflated or were thrown out of alignment.

Anyway, I run Michelin Defenders on my Ford F-150. I've been pretty impressed with them so far, primarily for how quiet they are. Additionally, they have a very long lasting tread. I've had them for about 30k now and they have tons of life left. I'm not looking for outright grip on the F-150, so I'll gladly trade that for tires that last 60-70k like the Defender's should.

Al

[tylercheung]

I've always used Tirerack.com, their prices are pretty good but you have to arrange for an installer (which they help you do).

Have not tried Costco but that may be a good idea

[Tickdoc]

how many miles?

I have 50,000 on my continentals and still going strong. My wife's volvo suv on the other hand also have continentals and are looking a little worn at 14,000 miles.

Suv's are heavier, which is a huge factor. All season rubber compound v. summer makes a big difference as well.

[PeregrineA1]

I've BF Goodrich TA KO2 All Terrains on my F250 4x4 for seventeen years. I get 50-55K out of them without any issues. I do ~35-40K miles per year and significant amounts of dirt roads and lousy pavement.

Depending on how you use the Jeep, the TA KO2's may be more tire than you need. I need the ability to run in sand, rock, and mud.

Tire Rack is a great resource for tires.

[likebikes]

i love my defenders. (i run them on a small honda)

90k mile rating, i should have them the life of this car and maybe then some. (bought the car with 162k on it, have snows for winter use.)

[loxx0050]

When you say the tread is worn, how much is it? Are all the tires near or at the wear bar indicator (the little raised strip in between the treads). Or does it pass the penny Lincoln head test?

Or are they worn unevenly where the outers (or inners) are significantly worn more than the rest of the tires?

Many reasons tires can wear very fast from bad alignments, tire pressures too low, too high, softer compounds (great feel but wear fast). Driving pretty aggressively, braking too hard, rough driving surfaces....list goes on.

I've had a set of brand new summer only performance tires last barely 20k (some Hankook tires) and the set that replaced it at 20k had plenty of tread left (some Goodyear summer performance tires that cost 2x per tire actually).

My current car I bought brand new coming up on 4 years in a few months. The OEM tires on those have plenty of tread left on Continental all-seasons but I do swap those out for dedicated winter tires though. Haven't looked it up exactly but I have maybe 25k miles on those Conti's and I probably can get another 20-25k easily out of them if I wanted. But, I'll probably replace them in a 2-3 years because these Conti's kind of suck in rain and don't channel water as well as my winter tires (noticed this when it rained more than snowed one winter..that was a warm winter where I rode in MN the day before Thanksgiving in a normal late spring/late fall attire).

[bigman]

Firestone Destination LE's on my 2005 Escallade - best tire I have used on this vehicle.
Do little off road riding.

[jimcav]

My wife does dealer service, on schedule, so they have been rotated, being a new car and all, she is always on top of the maintenance. Goodyear tires 265 50 r20, she didn't see a "name" other than radial tubeless" 19.5k miles on the car and they are worn to markers but not quite to the penny test, but it is definitely and obvious fast wearing from my experience with tires, and this is the 3rd SUV she has bough new in the last 19 years (98 grand Cherokee) 2003explorer and a 2015 grand Cherokee, bought May '16. This is noticeably short life to the tires--her service guy says there is no new care tire warranty, which I find odd, but we will look at Costco. We used discount tire the last time we got tires on a car.

When you say the tread is worn, how much is it? Are all the tires near or at the wear bar indicator (the little raised strip in between the treads). Or does it pass the penny Lincoln head test?

Or are they worn unevenly where the outers (or inners) are significantly worn more than the rest of the tires?

Many reasons tires can wear very fast from bad alignments, tire pressures too low, too high, softer compounds (great feel but wear fast). Driving pretty aggressively, braking too hard, rough driving surfaces....list goes on.

I've had a set of brand new summer only performance tires last barely 20k (some Hankook tires) and the set that replaced it at 20k had plenty of tread left (some Goodyear summer performance tires that cost 2x per tire actually).

My current car I bought brand new coming up on 4 years in a few months. The OEM tires on those have plenty of tread left on Continental all-seasons but I do swap those out for dedicated winter tires though. Haven't looked it up exactly but I have maybe 25k miles on those Conti's and I probably can get another 20-25k easily out of them if I wanted. But, I'll probably replace them in a 2-3 years because these Conti's kind of suck in rain and don't channel water as well as my winter tires (noticed this when it rained more than snowed one winter..that was a warm winter where I rode in MN the day before Thanksgiving in a normal late spring/late fall attire).

[Ralph]

Last couple of sets of tires I have bought for our 3 cars, just bought from the dealership. I did some research, figured out what local tire store charges, then asked dealership to match that. Reason I like the dealerships is they usually have better tire balancing equipment and aligning equipment than a tire shop. They have to be able to fix drivability issues. They are accustomed to complaints from customers of your particular car, about driving issues, and they know how to fix. That way....tire shop can't blame a dealership alignment, or dealership can't blame a tire shop balance job. Most new car dealerships now are also tire sales shops.

[jimcav]

that is a good gambit--I'll tell her to try this, as I'm sure Costco (which sells the defender) is cheaper
Last couple of sets of tires I have bought for our 3 cars, just bought from the dealership. I did some research, figured out what local tire store charges, then asked dealership to match that. Reason I like the dealerships is they usually have better tire balancing equipment and aligning equipment than a tire shop. They have to be able to fix drivability issues. They are accustomed to complaints from customers of your particular car, about driving issues, and they know how to fix. That way....tire shop can't blame a dealership alignment, or dealership can't blame a tire shop balance job. Most new car dealerships now are also tire sales shops.

[jmoore]

I ran Yokohama Geoloanders on our Tahoe for a long time. They ran well and lasted a long time. Not super expensive either.

[jumphigher]

We need new tires soon too for my wife's '05 X3. We both love the P-Zero tires we've always run on the vehicle, but they do seem to wear out fairly quickly compared to the miles I'm seeing in this thread. I realize better handing tires dont usually last as long but nonetheless.. does anyone have any recommendations for tires that handle well but also last a long time? I'm talking street here, we dont do any off-road driving.

[Ken Robb]

I've always used Tirerack.com, their prices are pretty good but you have to arrange for an installer (which they help you do).

Have not tried Costco but that may be a good idea

You can get lots of GOOD info from Tire Rack site. They test tires at their own facility PLUS publish extensive evaluations from their customers. Their prices and installers are good. OTOH I have had good service/prices from Discount Tire and COSTCO too so it's been a few years since I bought through Tire Rack.

[Mikej]

I can second the LTX Defenders - put them on our Pilot in July, very comfy and pretty quiet.

[Birddog]

I bought a used E150 van that had brand new Hankook tires on it. Swapped em out at 12,000 miles, they might have made 15 if I left them on. Worst tire I've ever seen.

[fa63]

I got 72,000 miles out of a set of Bridgestone Dueler H/L 422 Ecopia on my Nissan Murano. Great tires. They also did well the couple times it snowed/iced in Atlanta, but it is not a tire for a place with harsher winters.

[AngryScientist]

I've had excellent service on my jeeps from cooper discovery tires.

That said, it's worth an honest evaluation of what the primary purpose is. If you are never off blacktop, a highway touring tread pattern will be quieter and more durable than an AT tread design. All terrain tires are quite a bit tougher, but they hum a bit more on the highway, and the knobs generally wear faster than touring tires. Obviously high performance tires are a whole other category.

[regularguy412]

so my wife just had minor service on her jeep, and the guy told her she needs new tires. about 18 months old and not high miles, so I don't see how it is possible, but the tread is worn. I've never bought tires that didn't have at least a 40k mile warranty and many have higher. The guy told her something inane like sometime the factory tires on the new cars just aren't that good. I'm thinking Michelin defenders, but thought I'd seek advice here too?

+1000 on this

Darn good on snow and ice. REALLY good in wet. AND!! you can count on about 60K miles if rotated regularly and not mistreated (too much heavy off-road stuff).

They're also quiet on the road -- no roaring. Lots of siping -- that's the wet/cold traction component.

Highly recommended.

Mike in AR:beer:

I didn't read all the posts.

[carpediemracing]

I work at a Firestone. I am a 30? year customer of Tire Rack; I've bought tires as recently as Dec 2016, rims as recently as May 2017. We've gotten tires at Costco (2015?).

Firestone is a preferred installer for Tire Rack. Ironically Tire Rack is the largest customer of Firestone/Bridgestone, so it's a delicate balance between competing and helping. If a Tire Rack customer calls us we cannot try to sell them tires, offer to price match/etc, we just mount the tires.

Firestones generally have an alignment rack, a good one as far as I can tell. Basically same thing as the one at the Jaguar dealership (sister to where I worked, and the only one with an alignment rack). They maintain the rack diligently, at least where I work.

Generally speaking Firestone matches local vendor prices. Since Tire Rack is local to us (TR 5 min away, work is 15 min away), our policy is that we have to match their prices, even if we're buying the tires from TR. Did that today in fact, and tomorrow morning I'm going to TR to pick up tires and then bringing them to work.

Costco has killer prices. Untouchable, really, unless you have a contact at a tire place. The Missus got snows for her last car from Costco, I'm pretty sure it was cheaper than Tire Rack's price for the tires alone, and they were mounted/balanced. Limited selection but they tend to be a good selection.

[p nut]

I can second the LTX Defenders - put them on our Pilot in July, very comfy and pretty quiet.

They don’t win beauty contests but wear like iron. I’d get these as well. I’m sure Michelin will have some big incentives this month (along with other Tire companies) Definitely check out Costco.

[lzuk]

Anouther vote for Defenders and for Discount Tire. We pull a travel trailer a few months a year and have 35000 miles on Defenders. They hardly seem worn. Only downside is they are a poor choice for off-road in wet conditions.

[jimcav]

since our Costco stocks the right size Michelin defender, I told her to go that route and for fun see if the jeep dealer will price match

[Ken Robb]

Our COSTCO has a sale on Michelins during two time slots this month. $70 off and one cent to mount/balance/recycle fees. Be sure to get this price. The $70 off is all month but the penny mount/balance is only available on certain days. I think that saves about $17 per tire.

[jimcav]

Our COSTCO has a sale on Michelins during two time slots this month. $70 off and one cent to mount/balance/recycle fees. Be sure to get this price. The $70 off is all month but the penny mount/balance is only available on certain days. I think that saves about $17 per tire.

I went to website briefly and didn't see anything but will check again or is this in the coupon book that comes in the mail?

[Ken Robb]

I checked with COSTCO Morena Tire Store. We have to buy at the store 11/17-22. I guess if they don't have them in stock we will have to return in a few days for installation.

[choke]

Any semi-off road tire is going to have awful wear on the street. Unless you spend a lot of time in places where you need the A/T tire, get an H/T tire instead.It's funny, I was thinking almost the exact opposite just this week.

I have only owned SUVs/trucks for the last 20 years and I always ran A/T tires on them....mostly BFG Radial All-Terrains but a set of Cooper Discover AT3 as well. In all that time I can only recall buying 3 sets of tires, the BFGs were nearly impossible to wear out.

Last year I purchased a car and replaced the tires on it with new ones. This week I had to replace them again as two were pretty much shot. I was amazed at how fast the car tires wore out compared to the A/Ts I was used to using.

[wildboar]

Check out the Continental CrossContact LX20.

If you can wait until Thanksgiving to buy them, normally Discount Tire/America's Tire will throw out big rebates. For years I only bought Michelin LTX M/S, M/S2, Latitude, and Pilots for the cars, but these Continentals are a better tire for a SUV that spends a lot of time one the road. They also just started offering the 3 year roadside assistance like Michelin.


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