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  #1  
Old 10-25-2002, 02:52 PM
mtrv8n mtrv8n is offline
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Default no opinion on tires??/ in THIS forum??

Cmon, help me out here..I need new treads...BFG t/a or firestone ss20?
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  #2  
Old 10-25-2002, 02:54 PM
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I'd go with the black round ones. It's friday, right?
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  #3  
Old 10-25-2002, 03:01 PM
mtrv8n mtrv8n is offline
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If I had 16 inch wheels, I'd definitely pick the scorcher t/a..to match my paint!

but I have 14's...
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  #4  
Old 10-25-2002, 03:26 PM
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I got some BF Goodrichs for sale. Check out the parts for sale forum. They are 14's and I have a set of 15's too.
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  #5  
Old 10-25-2002, 03:54 PM
TheTanSedan TheTanSedan is offline
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I suppose you've already gone thru the Tire Rack, but if you haven't, they rate tires according to a customer survey on a number of categories, then against the other tires;

http://www.tirerack/com/

There are certainly a lot more tires out there than the two you've mentioned.

I also go to other forums and see what folks are saying, whether it is the Impala SS guys or others.
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  #6  
Old 10-25-2002, 08:38 PM
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Having worked at a Ford dealership during the Wilderness A/T recall, I must say nay to anything that says Firestone or Bridgestone anywhere on it. My best experience has been with Michelin, but I do like BFGs too! I have some Silvertown bias plys on my '66 Newport--can't say they drive for s**t, but they sure do look just like it did back in the late '60s.
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  #7  
Old 10-25-2002, 10:25 PM
5thAve 5thAve is offline
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Anything but Michelins. We can never get them to last even 1/2 the mileage life if that on average. And when they start wearing down they like to leak quick and suddenly. Only reason why we still use them is because the warrenty is good- with the large wear/milage ratio you pretty much get 4 for the price of 1

Other then the Exploder incidents I've never heard bad about Brigestone/Firestone. Even Ford themselves still puts them on their new vehicles, but then again as I recall they do own part of the tire company.
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  #8  
Old 10-25-2002, 10:58 PM
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Bfg TA's were a state of the art tire when they came out...20 years ago.

I retail tires, and there is no question that michelin is the KING of tires. The only problem with michelin, is that you need to know what you want from a tire, them buy the model that best suits it. Wrong model, you won't be happy. Premium traction and handling. I replaced some michelins on my driver 85 lebaron gts turbo, with generals, and it has never been the same.

5th ave, I'm surprised you've had mileage problems with michelins. I've found that especially in load rated tires, I see double the mileage of say uniroyal or firestones.

Ran 215/60/14's michelin on my 69 dart(with add on rear sway bar, and a 1 1/8" front bar) and it cornered better than MUCH newer, more advanced cars.

That, or the guys didn't know how to drive.

Toyo makes a good tire too. It's the best Japan has to offer. I usually refer to them as "japan's michelin".

Uniroyals last ok, but they don't stay round very long(develop vibration/seperation/out of round)
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  #9  
Old 10-25-2002, 11:13 PM
mtrv8n mtrv8n is offline
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Dave,
I'm surprised you put generals on ANYTHING!
They wers OE on my Pontiac Monatna, WORST crap I've ever had, including the "tiger paws".

I put firestone SH30 on my Montana, and they are GREAT!
That's why I'm leaning toward the SS20, which are also a newer techonogy...
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  #10  
Old 10-25-2002, 11:17 PM
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Perhaps general should change thier slogan to
"Sooner or later you'll own generals, and you won't be happy about it"

Actually I've found that general makes a good off road tire, that last's pretty good on SUV's. Thier performance tires haven't impressed me much.
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  #11  
Old 10-25-2002, 11:23 PM
TheTanSedan TheTanSedan is offline
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Here's a question for Dave571, maybe also of benefit to the original post-writer:

Any strong pros or cons about Pirelli?

I had a set on a car that I greatly disliked many years ago AND had trouble getting them to honor their warranty.

I am now looking at an SUV tire for my 4800-lb Newport, the Pirelli Scorpion Zero in 255/65HR15. I am aware of the details of the tire as to size, expected life and all. I am concerned about tire quality and company integrity.

It's a good while until I buy, so any advice is appreciated.

Thanks.

(By the way, did you find the cam/convertor/gears for using the van to tow? That was a great thread.)
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  #12  
Old 10-25-2002, 11:29 PM
5thAve 5thAve is offline
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We had Generals on one car, the biggest noticeable difference was you really heard road noise with them.

I've got TigerPaws on one of the cars and in the 5 years I've had them I have no complaints.

Sounds like tires are just like brand of oil and everything else- different people have different things to say about each kind.
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  #13  
Old 10-25-2002, 11:51 PM
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I've found that pirelli scorpions are a good handling tire but have typical pirelli problems.

Poor wet/ snow traction, despite having an agressive tread pattern. Also relatively short life. A friend ran them on his 98 Grand cherokee(245/60/16) and got two summers out of them(not two years, he runs a set of snow tires in the winter)

As for the van, It's great to drive(really upsets people to get thier doors blown off by a van. Doesn't seem to matter what they drive, it offends everyone equally) , but not a great hauler. I still haven't changed the cam. I feel I have too much compression for a cam that is devoted completely to hauling. Going back to the bigger converter did help the trans feel, and mileage somewhat, so I'm pleased with that.

My current plan is one of two options.

Put my closed chamber heads on a 76 440 I have, to give me a little better than 9:1 comp and use a cam specific for hauling. My exhaust manifolds, ect will work fine, I'll just need to pick up a good intake.

That leaves me the chance to get a slightly better flowing set of heads for the 400(not that I think the heads I've got are a probem, just a chance to try something different, either 915's or mayby edelbrocks if I win the lottery), and stuff it in the 78 adventurer I bought, with a nice set of headers and the small converter back in.

OR

Put a set of open chamber 452's on my 400(to get the compression down a bit), and a set of headers with the milder cam.

It may all be mute, as my Dad is looking at buying a new truck, in which case He's going to give me his 74 d250 club cab for towing. He put in/ built a very torqey 440 a few years, and an industrial 5 speed. It tows his 5th wheel like it isn't even there. He also added ac to it. If this happens, I'll hop up the van a little bit more on the performance side(headers, the small converter again, ect), and drive it for fun .
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  #14  
Old 10-26-2002, 04:13 AM
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Other then the Exploder incidents I've never heard bad about Brigestone/Firestone. Even Ford themselves still puts them on their new vehicles, but then again as I recall they do own part of the tire company. [/B][/QUOTE]

A little f.y.i.--Anything that was a Ford that had Wilderness ATs and less than 100,000 miles on it was eligible for the recall. That ranges from Rangers to Explorers to Expeditions to Escapes. Pretty much anything that wasn't a car and was originally equipped with them prior to the date of recall (though Escapes are teetering on the verge of being a Contour) could get the recall. As to why Fird still uses Firestone--(A) Wilderness ATs are supposedly re-designed to correct the fault, (B) Henry Ford and whoever Firestone were cousins so they have been in it since the beginning (C) Cost: Ford and Firestone are virtually one in the same, and it is just plain cheaper to do things that way. I have found out of every tire that I came across in my time at Ford, Firestones and Goodyears had the most overall problems.
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  #15  
Old 10-26-2002, 12:56 PM
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I like the T/A's on an old Muscle car for their look and good price thru www.tirerack.com I wouldn't say they are the best performance tire of course. I also agree Michelins don't wear well for what they cost. I'm not a Firestone fan but I have them on my 2000 Saturn and they still have some thread left with 71,000 miles on them. I'm going to replace them soon though because winter is coming.
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  #16  
Old 10-27-2002, 12:26 AM
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OK so call me confused.

I have SS20's on my road runner convertible and BFG's on my Demon street machine. My preference? The BFGs are a good tire for the Demon, I do abuse it and drive agressivly.
The SS20's are great, I drove the car 1600 miles last summer in one month and they handled well.

I'm happy with both tires for they're respective applications, so in my book it just goes back to preference.
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  #17  
Old 10-27-2002, 02:08 PM
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I'm not knocking bfg's. They are a good tire for the price, and give good life and reasonable perfomance. I have recommended bfg ta's before. They have a great look to them on muscle cars, and are an excellant value. If you want a tire that is a good price(really good for that matter) and gives good life they fit the bill.

I'm simply pointing out that there is better stuff out there , as far as performance goes, and that the technology in a bfg ta is getting quite old. The difference between a toyo proxes and a bfg ta is night and day, in the area of cornering. makes it drive like a different car. The bfg will out last the toyo at least 2 to one about a third as much at the same time.

There's no doubt that preferance is key to the tire issue, but preferance would seem to be based on what you want from a tire.
In my example, I'd say michelin pilots would be a good compromise, as they give better life than the toyo, and handle almost as well on a street car.

Just an example.
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  #18  
Old 10-27-2002, 06:28 PM
Doug Wilson Doug Wilson is offline
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I studied up on tires to find the best ones for the Hellfish '66 Barracuda hot 340 canyon carver. Arrived at either Pirelli P-Zero Asymetrics or Toyo Proxis. Talked to tire sellers of all kinds, autocrossers and street rats, from big cars to little cars. The costs were within about $10-$15 of each other. I picked the Toyo Proxis at about $200 per tire. I think they are incredible.

I worked in the tire businees for maybe 15 years, and tires have changed a lot, mostly thanks to the goofball-nitrous-sewing-machine car guys. Tires are waaaay better now.

As for Michilin - I had a new '99 big Dodge high top conversion van with Michilins on it. It had 13 tire failures in 11 months - I hadn't had a tire failure in 30 years before that. I finally coerced Dodge into putting Goodyears on for free, and never had another problem. My opinion is that Michilins will never be on a vehicle that I own, again. If they are OEM on a new car I want to buy, I'll make the dealer put ANYTHING else on - including Firestone/Bridgestones - or I won't buy the vehicle. And I won't like it if they put Firestone/Bridgestones on it.
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  #19  
Old 10-27-2002, 09:48 PM
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But ya know, it seems funny, that on my Jeep Grand Cherokee, I have Dueler H/L's on it and they are quiet, handle well and seem to be wearing nicely. Of course I check the pressures regularly.

I think the Firestone thing is blown (pun intentended) way out of purportion. It is up to the owner to maintain his vehicle not the service guys, and that responsibility also includes TIRE MAINTENANCE!!! The tires PROBABLY would'nt have blown it the maintenance ie pressures were taken care of.

You have no idea how many cars I service have 20psi or LESS in them!!

Just so you know...
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  #20  
Old 10-27-2002, 11:41 PM
mtrv8n mtrv8n is offline
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Great thoughts, you guys, but


I have 14 inch wheels..just can't get anything wider than 215 in the high tech toyo/nitto lines.

I really wanted to get 8 inches of rubber on the pavement..the NIpponese brands only offer 7 inches ( no comment..)

is that worthy trade off?

will 7 inches of Toyo hold a turn better than 8 inches of BFG?
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  #21  
Old 10-28-2002, 12:11 AM
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dwc43 dwc43 is offline
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Ask any racer wider is better. By the way you did just ask a racer. I also have a set for sale that will fit your car. See the for sale forum.
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  #22  
Old 10-28-2002, 02:59 AM
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Post Something to ponder

It's interesting..I have had ZERO problems with Michelin. They were on both my Ram's, and my Oldsmobubble Cutlass came from the factory with Mich XGT4's. They were GREAT handling, got great wet/snow traction(when I lived in NY) and I got almost 70K out of them. My friend has Firestone Firehawks on his '93 FERD Lightning - which he has owned since new. They stuck to the road great, and got good traction, but were only good for about 40,000 (his heavy foot didn't help). He then went to Comp T/A BFG's - they lasted longer (60K) and handled good, but weren't quite as good in the rain.

What kind of car are they going on? If handling/cornering is real important for you, have you thought about stepping up in wheel size? That might also allow you to go to a wider tire.
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  #23  
Old 10-28-2002, 05:32 PM
451Mopar 451Mopar is offline
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I'm not happy with my Michelin tires on my 1997 Concord (225x60x16") they ride harder and are louder than the factory tires. The tred wear is OK as is traction. I think this has more to do with the trpe of tire it is, as it is supposed to be a 70,000 mile tire.

My BFG radial T/A's have impressed me (expecially for the price.) They handle good, ride nice, get good traction in all weather, and they have been wearing good too (400 tred wear rating.)
With some good driving (being careful to not spin the tires) I was able to run 13 second flat 1/4 mile times. With sticky (and wider) M/T Street E/T's I have only gone 12.50's.

I haven't ran Generals since the early 1980's, I could not get many miles out of them and they wee not cheap to buy.

I had another vehicle that I put Yokohoma tires on, and I really liked those tires! Nice ride, quiet, better handling, traction and wear than the stock tires that were on the car (I think the car may have had gernerals on it originally?)
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  #24  
Old 10-28-2002, 05:37 PM
Doug Wilson Doug Wilson is offline
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Good question - will 7 inches of a great tire outperform 8 inches of a mediocre tire? I really don't know. It has always been my approach to buy the biggest, best tire available. When we put tires on the '66 Barracuda, we went to a 15X7 wheel and 235s on the rear/225s on the front. Not much clearance, but they did work.

I'm normally oriented to American manufactured tires, but found that all the brands build most of them offshore, so I quit worrying about that.
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  #25  
Old 10-28-2002, 11:23 PM
Jim Rickard Jim Rickard is offline
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The Tan Sedan,

I have a 2001 Ram 1500 Ram Pick-up. I have 90,000 miles on it all from highway driving. I have had two sets of Perilli Scorpion Zero's on the truck. I can only get about 20,000 miles out of a set of these tires. They give the truck handling capability like a race car. However, they are made of a very soft ( 300 ) compound. As a result they are short lived on a hard driven vehicle. I now have a set of KUMHO that are made of a harder ( 425 ) compound and they handle allmost as good as the Perilli's. They cost only 2/3's as much. I really liked the Perilli's for handling on dry roads but they were treacherous on wet/rainy roads. The KUMHO's seem to handle very good on the wet/rainy roads. It looks like the KUMHO's are going to last substantially longer than the Perilli's. BTW..I rotate the tires every 5,000 miles.

Just another opinion... Good luck...
Jim
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  #26  
Old 10-29-2002, 01:07 AM
mauve66 mauve66 is offline
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haven't bought any since 92-93 but I used to like Dunlop, I had a small light car w/ 14's and they offered excellant traction in rain/snow (from Colorado to Missouri every other month) and had good high speed stability, 2 years on the autobahn in Germany, tires only rated at about 120mph 'cuase the car limiter was 110mph. No, I didn't do that speed every day but it did see it occasionally. As hard as I drove it, 5spd, I only got about 30,000 out of the first set.
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  #27  
Old 10-29-2002, 01:12 AM
Doug Wilson Doug Wilson is offline
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How long they last is my last consideration when I pick tires. First is wet traction, then dry traction, then everything else.
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  #28  
Old 10-29-2002, 10:51 AM
TheTanSedan TheTanSedan is offline
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Thanks for the info on the Pirelli Scorpions. Wet weather traction is tops for me as well; I wasn't going to worry about the miles they lasted (don't keep tires past 40K anyway), but thought they'd be a good place to start as the size I wanted was under $100 ea for H-rated tires. The customer survey results at Tire Rack indicated they were quite good, but actual survey comments were mixed.

Gonna have to find something else.
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