Yet another TV tire question

[Tinbender]

Hi all,
Just picked up the new TV yesterday and it showed up with
Firestone Transforce HT tires. They are LT245-75-R17 load range E
3195 lbs at 80pst.

Are these tires any good? Last Firestones I got on a new vehicle were nothing but crap, self destructed in about 3-4 K miles. Granted that was quite a few years ago but I have never had a Firestone on anything since.

Can I expect anything but the worst from these tires? Maybe one season of towing?

Thanks for opinions.
Tinbender

[JRTJH]

Everyone has their own "favorites" so I'm not going to offer that kind of advice. Rather I think some "sage observations"

First, as soon as you drive a new vehicle off the lot, the tires on it become virtually worthless to a tire dealer as trade.

Second, Finding a buyer for truck tires is usually a dime on the dollar, so you'll lose if you try to sell them outright.

Third, No matter what tire you buy as a replacement, there's no real guarantee that they will be any better or worse than what you have right now.

Fourth, You paid for them (maybe dearly) so why not use them and see how they do. You'll probably get 30-40 K miles out of them if you care for them properly, so might as well recoup at least a part of the expense of your new truck

[Tinbender]

Well thanks John,
I asked for opinions I guess I got one .

[JRTJH]

What's that they say..... Like something else, everybody's got one and most of them stink ???

[davidjsimons]

I agree with John, my new truck came with Generals. I've never owned a set of them and was not happy to have them at the least. I did however do exactly what John described, I ran them for about 40,000 miles and then bought what I wanted. Moreover to your question though, a friend of mine has Firestone Transforce tires on his F-350. To this point, he seems to be satisfied with them. I ride in his truck a lot and they ride well and offer decent traction. The jury is still out on the mileage though at this point.


2013 Cougar 28 RBS
2012 Ram 3500 Dually
6.7 Cummins H.O.
4.10 rears.

[81SHOVELHEAD]

My RAM 2500 HD 4x4 came with the 265/65/17 Firestone TransForce tires & they are great tires so far .
Pulling a 2014 Cougar 28RLS & 0 Issues.
I have 12,000 miles on these tires & they are showing 0 wear .
Running 80 psi in the rear & 65 psi in the front & it pulls the trailer with 0 issues

[byrdr1]

My friend has 6 of them on his dually. he likes them, they ride fine when I am in his truck. I have looked at them for my F350. Thats about i can tell you,

randy

[Outbackmel]

My Dodge 2500 came with Michelin tires in 2008 with 70,000 mile warranty on tread ( and 5 years). Had plenty of tread remaining at 44,000 miles. Just put new set of same on TV. Had age stress cracks in sidewall and on wet pavement from a dead stop, had slight wheel spin with 5 er hooked.
Moral of the story: regardless of major brand name, they are tires and common sense becomes the deciding factor for replacement. At least it does for me

[Bob Landry]

I took the tires off my previous truck with a couple of hundred miles on them and sold them on Craigslist for $100 each. That helped pay for the Michelins that should have come on the truck to begin with.

[Tinbender]

Bob,
That is what my instinct tells me to do, I have ran nothing but Michelins on my trucks and cars for years, but like John pointed out I paid, probably plenty, for the dam things and I would like to get some service out of them.

Thanks to you other fellas for letting me know that there are satisfied users of these tires out there. Makes me feel that I should be able to get a year or two out of them. There is enough added expense getting the new truck ready for use without springing for new tires as well.
Tinbender

[Alpine]

As much as I would like to not like my Firestone Transforce AT 265-70-17 they have served me well. They came factory on my new 2012 Ram 3500 and from day one been pulling my heavy Alpine 3450rl fifthwheel. They now have 44,000 miles on them and still have towable tread.

[Wally15]

Actually Firestone is back to making good tires. They are now owned by Bridgestone (Japanese, since 1988). They are trying hard to recover lost consumer confidence from the Wilderness AT/Ford Explorer fiasco in the late 90's (and even the Firestone 500 fiasco of the late 70's).
I think you'll be pleased with their performance. Monitor the tire pressures and maintain a rotation schedule (and alignment), you'll get 40-50K of good service out of them.
I spent almost 30 years in tire manufacturing, and not with either Firestone or Bridgestone. But we frequently tested and evaluated our competitors tires. The results were often very surprising.

[sourdough]

My 2014 Ram 2500 came with LT285/60 20 Firestone Transforce tires. I didn't really want them. The last time I had Firestone tires they were OE on a new 1989 Mercury Cougar. They ALL separated within the first 12 months - 2 on the same trip to San Antonio. Never wanted them again. That said:

These Transforce tires were part of a $1200 tire/wheel upgrade so decided I was going to try to "make them work". So far I've been nothing but pleased with them. Tread pattern is pretty good and they ride well enough (as well as a tire that big can holding 80psi rear and 65psi front) I've only got to pull the trailer about 1000 miles with them but they did great. Guess I'm going to give them a shot. As one of the posters on this thread said; they are making better tires. My tire dealer who has been selling me tires for over 25 years said the same thing.

[gearhead]

I had the famous OEM Firestone TPC tread separation on a new 1974 Olds Cutlass on the I-10 Atchafalaya bridge. I think that may have been the start of their downfall. I haven't bought any Firestones since. Since they were rescued by Bridgestone I hear they are decent. If they came on a new truck I would roll with them.

[bsmith0404]

The Transforce is a good tire, a lot of heavier trucks run them for commercial operations. I'll admit my 2011 2500 came with them and I got rid of them after 3,000 miles for Michelins (got $200 for the set on trade). According to the manager at the tire store, they don't like taking in OE tires because they are a different spec than what they sell in the store. Don't know how much truth is to that, but I didn't really care. I like Michelins and bought them as a tire/wheel package with RWL, so the transforces had to go..