I work @ a tire dealer and have been working here for over 15 years. It is a very rare occasion that we see a tire blow for the reason of a manufacturing defect. Yes Firestone had there issues with the ATX, but to me it's kinda odd that most of the vehicle that had the problem were the Ford Explorer's and I think they were mostly on the driver's rear. It is a proven fact that most people do not maintain their tires. We deal with about 60-70 cars a day, for all service work. We are considered a full service tire store with 18 bays. We sell our fair share of tires.
Main point is what I think DARK said, and I learned this @ one of the 1st ride and drives that I have attended. "TIRES ARE THE ONLY THING MAKING CONTACT WITH THE ROAD ON YOUR VEHICLE"!! I have quality tires on my Stang, and definetly my wife's Slugburban.
Old tires are like TIME BOMBS. It kills me to see all the money some of us have put into our cars performance and appearance wise, but then choose to go with the cheapest tire that is avail???? I don't get that... I don't bash it either. I just look @ it as some just need to be a bit more educated about their tires.. Your car , your decision. I run BFG's on mine, Goodyears on the slugburban.
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Here is a prime example for our folks on here.
My sister just went 3 weeks ago and bought a pretty sweet 1971 Corvette Stingray. This car sold for just under $20k. They towed it back to Charleston and drove it to our shop to get it in the air and really do an inspection. Her 1st question before it got here was "Bub look @ the tires good for me" . The tire's the previous owner installed were Uniroyal GTS white letters. Not a bad tire at all, very popular because of the lettering. Seen them on many Hot rods. Would sell them in a heartbeat. The dates however were 2000. Thread looked like they only had about 1k miles on them. I told her 1st thing replace the tires. Her response, man they look so good though. I said sure they look great, but are you going to drive the car? Answer well yea.. Enough said we are replacing the tires. Best case senerio you get a flat and pull over and change it. Or one comes apart and rips the hell out of the fender on this car. HMMM how much will that cost? Or one comes apart and you lose control and kill yourself? Point was taken, we put BFG Radial T/A's which is the most popular tire for this type car. Dates were 2008's.
Guys SORRY TO RANT, but I feel it's important for everyone to understand.
Let's face it WE ARE NOT PROF RACE CAR DRIVERS so we really don't know what to expect when a tire blows.
One more thing, if you only buy 2 tires @ a time and your car does not have a staggered fitment. Put the new tires on the rear. You can argue all you want, but until you go out on a test course and get to expeirence the difference, take my or word, or the tire manufactures word. That is the safest place for them..
Thanks for reading and again sorry for being so long.
"GT"
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