Firestone Transforce AT?? Tire Costs

**sourdough** · 05-05-2022, 04:27 PM

On our way back home to TX yesterday and a fellow waved at us, pointed to the passenger side of the truck and made a motion like a rolling wheel. I thought what the heck? Finally found a spot on I20 between Ft. Worth and Weatherford; 80mph traffic flying by....not fun. Found one of my OE Firestone Transforce tires was low and going flat - with the 5th wheel hooked up. Geico got us a guy out and put on the spare and I'm here in an RV park departing tomorrow for our final leg. Long intro to talk about a couple of things;

The Firestone Transforce OE tires; this is the 2nd HD truck that I bought that came with them OE. First set one tire got a cut in the sidewall at about 36k from some unknown anomaly. On this set one went flat yesterday at 35k. Don't know the cause and didn't care to find out, just pulled them all off and had Michelin Defenders put on this morning. I was/am not happy and certainly much poorer.

Has anyone else had issues with the Transforce tires? I don't like them because they are so hard riding, pound/slap on every road irregularity and the rubber compound is just really hard. After 20k or so they just "slap" on everything. I think that hard rubber compound is what is letting the tires fail...and yes, I take care of my tires meticulously. I've only had 2 tire failures in several decades, both Firestone Transforce AT 285/60R 20. I'll be getting a new truck in a bit and wondering if those things should come off before I leave the lot like TKs??

Next, tire costs; boys, tire prices are out of sight these days. Last set of Defenders were approx. $250 or so installed each. Today the Michelins were 358 each; total cost for 4 was $1908....4 tires $1908!! That included road hazard and lifetime rotation/balance.

One last thing to think about; my truck and RV have tpms. I always worry about the trailer tires...not the truck. I checked truck tire pressure yesterday morning before leaving Shreveport and all was fine. Due to my fixation on watching gas mileage to see what the trailer was doing to me I had the computer on gas mileage, not tire pressure - BAD mistake. I should have been watching the tire pressures and not worrying about mileage as it will be what it is. Just some things to think about as you drive, tow etc. and go have fun. Keep safe out there.

**flybouy** · 05-05-2022, 05:00 PM

Wow, had my Michelens installed at Costco on 1/29 for. $1,176.00 all in. Haven't checked the price today but driving to the doctor this a.m. diesel is $5.99/gal so who knows. It's just gotten more out of hand with no end in sight. As for Firestone tires I've never bought a replacement set. Owned several new cars that had them as OE and couldn't wait for them to wear out. Each time it was a short wait, at least that was my experience.

**sourdough** · 05-05-2022, 05:11 PM

These were installed by DT in Weatherford TX. Their website showed the same price and then there is the upcharging of course for "add ons". My last set the manager at that store said he would drop the price per tire to include the lifetime road hazard/rotation balance so the listed price would include them. Asked the guy at this store about it and he said "I don't know xxx (other store manager) and this isn't Lubbock TX".....and they we were. I believe Walmart was also showing the same pricing. The things are just flat expensive nowadays thanks to ..... you know who.

jasin1 · 05-05-2022, 05:25 PM

i bought a set for my last ram 2500 laramie…i wasn’t impressed ….they didn’t last half as long as the factory michelins…they had a irregular wear pattern and it wasn’t suspension related…. went back to michelins before i sold it …i have a ram pro master 2500 that came with continental tires …i switched to firestone and i have a wheel imbalance shudder to the front end …i’m convinced it’s the firestones again. it’s intermittent…will be going back to the continental for that vehicle

Badbart56 · 05-05-2022, 05:36 PM

Danny I have used Firestone Transforce tires on a flatbed trailer used for equipment at the farm with no trouble for years and I'm talking 8 tires on two 10 ton axles. They leak down because it sits a lot but that may be valve stems too, but these are trailer tires.

When I ran a fleet of trucks for a State of Florida DOT Road Ranger contractor all the trucks (all Chevy K2500's) used Transforce AT's. This was from 2015 to 2018. We replaced tires weekly due to our guys running in the ditches along I-10 in the Tallahassee area and Pensacola and from all kind of debris at accident scenes. All highway miles and I did have one survivor that lasted 108K miles. I can't say anything bad about them and we put literally hundreds of thousands of miles on those trucks through extreme conditions.

And you think those Michelin's were high, the super singles on our Peterbilt are $1400 each. And Michelin's are all we use, even on the trailers.

**flybouy** · 05-05-2022, 05:55 PM

I know it's off topic but, anyone else remember the "double wide" rim and tires that replaced two tires with one wide tire?

Badbart56 · 05-05-2022, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flybouy

I know it's off topic but, anyone else remember the "double wide" rim and tires that replaced two tires with one wide tire?

That’s what super singles are. That’s all our company runs on the trucks and trailers and disc brakes all around.

rhagfo · 05-05-2022, 06:40 PM

It might have to do with the size 20” tires have always been expensive. Just looked and here in Oregon base price on a set for our DRW comes to about $1,410.

bobbecky · 05-05-2022, 06:53 PM

I’ve had the Transforce tires on our truck for a couple years now, and they have been great, but they are 18” tires, not the low profile 20” tires. Just had the 10 year old original spare replaced yesterday with the same Transforce tire, about $400 just for one with all the add on things they get you for. When we bought the truck new, we test drove it, and the truck was terribly harsh riding. We discovered that the dealer had put on aftermarket 20” wheels and tires, and I made them put the original wheels and tires back on the truck before we would buy it.

**sourdough** · 05-05-2022, 07:21 PM

Thanks all. The first truck with the Transforce tires I told DW that "this ain't gonna be good" because I had previously had a new vehicle (Mercury, late 80s) that had them (Firestones) and they all separated within a year and a half.

First take on the Transforce was that it did great. A little rough and hard but held up well....until that 36k mile mark or whatever it was. I was pretty impressed until then and at the time they were about 100 less than the Michelins. Now the pricing for both the Firestone and the Michelin are about the same at DT and just don't think they are the same quality. I do believe that the 20" wheels and subsequent lower profile tires present problems in the right situations.

My thoughts were that these are the only tires that have failed me in decades and wondering if anyone else had those issues, they were an anomaly etc. I don't really want to pull them off a new truck if/when I buy one like I do the RV, they are considerably more expensive and I'm not convinced they are a bad tire. Thanks to all for responding.

**flybouy** · 05-05-2022, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Badbart56

That’s what super singles are. That’s all our company runs on the trucks and trailers and disc brakes all around.

Thanks, brain flatulence blocked the name in my mind. They were very popular at first but seems like I'm not seeing many these days.

travelin texans · 05-05-2022, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sourdough

Thanks all. The first truck with the Transforce tires I told DW that "this ain't gonna be good" because I had previously had a new vehicle (Mercury, late 80s) that had them (Firestones) and they all separated within a year and a half.

First take on the Transforce was that it did great. A little rough and hard but held up well....until that 36k mile mark or whatever it was. I was pretty impressed until then and at the time they were about 100 less than the Michelins. Now the pricing for both the Firestone and the Michelin are about the same at DT and just don't think they are the same quality. I do believe that the 20" wheels and subsequent lower profile tires present problems in the right situations.

My thoughts were that these are the only tires that have failed me in decades and wondering if anyone else had those issues, they were an anomaly etc. I don't really want to pull them off a new truck if/when I buy one like I do the RV, they are considerably more expensive and I'm not convinced they are a bad tire. Thanks to all for responding.

If your trading trucks in the near future & the new truck has the POS Firestone tires on it I'd have them swapped for your current Michelins, even with a few thousand miles they'd be much better than the Firestones.
My company required us the run either Firestone or Goodyear tires on their vehicles, personally I wouldn't put either on any of my vehicles.

jasin1 · 05-06-2022, 02:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasin1

i bought a set for my last ram 2500 laramie…i wasn’t impressed ….they didn’t last half as long as the factory michelins…they had a irregular wear pattern and it wasn’t suspension related…. went back to michelins.. before i sold it …i have a ram pro master 2500 that came with continental tires …i switched to firestone and i have a wheel imbalance shudder to the front end …i’m convinced it’s the firestones again. it’s intermittent…will be going back to the continental for that vehicle

edit: the tires i bought for my 2012 were Firestone Destination AT..my Ram Promaster has transforce tires now

gearhead · 05-06-2022, 03:31 AM

I haven't deliberately bought Firestones since they came as OEM on a new 1974 Olds Cutlass. Firestone may have called them TPC, I called them POS. We were constantly having to go to a tire shop and get replacements. After stranding us on the Atchafalaya swamp bridge, I changed them out. I think that is what broke Firestone and they got bought by Bridgestone.
Anyway, I had Firestone Transforce on a new 2016 Ram SRW and hated them. Only tire that I have owned that could be worse was the OEM Nexens that came on the 2018 dually.
Running Coopers now. They're OK so far.

jxnbbl · 05-06-2022, 06:03 AM

To me is this an OEM tire problem. The reason I say this is over the past 2 years I've replaced tires on my wifes car and my truck. In both cases these have been Bridgstones, which I've had in the past and liked. But I replaced both sets with 20k miles on the tires! I currently have Michelin Agilis CrossClimate on the truck and happy with them I had to put Pirelli Scorpion Verde on my wife's car as it requires "run flat" tires....which brings up a question.

Why aren't there run flat tires for trailers? I know there are a few 'tire guys' in this forum.

**JRTJH** · 05-06-2022, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jxnbbl

To me is this an OEM tire problem. The reason I say this is over the past 2 years I've replaced tires on my wifes car and my truck. In both cases these have been Bridgstones, which I've had in the past and liked. But I replaced both sets with 20k miles on the tires! I currently have Michelin Agilis CrossClimate on the truck and happy with them I had to put Pirelli Scorpion Verde on my wife's car as it requires "run flat" tires....which brings up a question.

Why aren't there run flat tires for trailers? I know there are a few 'tire guys' in this forum.

Not a "tire guy" by any means, but I'd suspect it's all about MONEY (cost vs profit)..... For a trailer manufacturer, it would be too expensive to offer, even as an option (if they were available) and to a tire manufacturer, they likely wouldn't sell enough of them to even cover the production/testing costs to introduce a "run flat ST tire"...

jasin1 · 05-06-2022, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jxnbbl

To me is this an OEM tire problem. The reason I say this is over the past 2 years I've replaced tires on my wifes car and my truck. In both cases these have been Bridgstones, which I've had in the past and liked. But I replaced both sets with 20k miles on the tires! I currently have Michelin Agilis CrossClimate on the truck and happy with them I had to put Pirelli Scorpion Verde on my wife's car as it requires "run flat" tires....which brings up a question.

Why aren't there run flat tires for trailers? I know there are a few 'tire guys' in this forum.

just fill your tires with expanding spray foam…problem solved lol

i thought about runflats before but i believe they are generally very low profile tires that you would see on a sports or high performance car

jasin1 · 05-06-2022, 06:51 AM

there must be a tire convention going on ….a couple of newer tire threads and no word from our resident specialists… probably a holiday inn express in Akron with “do not disturb” signs on all the doors after a wild night partying with the michelin man

**JRTJH** · 05-06-2022, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasin1

there must be a tire convention going on ….a couple of newer tire threads and no word from our resident specialists… probably a holiday inn express in Akron with “do not disturb” signs on all the doors after a wild night partying with the michelin man

Now that's a vision that only a mother could behold with a smile !!!!!

**flybouy** · 05-06-2022, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasin1

just fill your tires with expanding spray foam…problem solved lol

i thought about runflats before but i believe they are generally very low profile tires that you would see on a sports or high performance car

Didn't folks put their old shoes inside the tires when the tubes wouldn't hold air? As for the convention and the Michelin Man that's and image I didn't need. Thanks.

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