The more I think about this, the hotter I get. I went to buy new tires for my 1998 Explorer 4x4 today. I wanted 30 to 32" tires but Discount wouldn't sell me anything bigger than a 235/75-15. So I decided on BF Goodrich All Terrain KO's. Nope, they weren't approved by Ford. Pathfinders? nope. Nothing better than a load rating of "C", either.

Since I live quite a ways from town and came in specifically for tires for this vehicle, and didn't know when I'd get a chance to shop around, I wound up settling for the Michelin LTX M/S.

What gives, anyway? I mean, the vehicle is no longer under Ford's warranty, and I own it outright. Neither they, nor Discount Tires should have any say over what brand or size of tire I want on MY vehicle. Has anyone else run into this problem? If it's already been addressed on this site, then forgive my redundancy.

 

Maybe Ford does this for safety reasons, but still, it sounds a little outrageous

 

I've never heard of that and I worked in the tire industry. Personally, I would have gone somewhere else.

There can be size issues, but as long as the tires clear the wheel wells without rubbing, there's no reason not to sell them to you. As for the rating, they can't sell you anything with a LOWER rating, but if it's a better rated tire than what the OEM calls for, there shouldn't be a problem.

 

That's what I thought about the better rating, but the sales guy was very specific that they could not put on anything with any kind of load rating.

I'm getting hotter the more I think about this. I wonder if Big-O would work out some sort of swap for my business?

 

The only thing close is when I went to Michelin web site to select tires for '00 Expy. The site advised me that they do not offer any tires for that vehicle. Thought that was strange since about 40% of the Expys seem to have Michelins...and mine does too.

 

Sound to me like they were out of everything..... I went to Wal Mart to get tires on my E150. I wanted the LT tires since they were out of the XL tires, they tried to tell me it was illegal. I told the guy to put the thing on or he was losing my business.

 

Unfortunately with the legal system the way it is they would rather lose your business than get sued when you later claimed they said these tires were OK and you had some mishap. More dealers will be doing the CYA thing and just put on the OEM size tire. They can't afford to do anything else.

Pfogle, I put LT tires on my E150 and I quickly put the XL tires back on. The vehicle did not handle well with the LT tires, it was downright dangerous. Strange tho since a E250 works well with LT tires.

 

Soft suspoension = soft tires; Hard suspension = hard tires. Just a guess.

 

You can always order tires on line (eg - Tire Rack) and get them put on at your local service station. Likely cheaper and excellent selection.

Mason

 

My tire dealer showed me a memo Ford sent to tire distributors, to pass on to their dealers several years ago. It said something along the line of the only tire they were allowed to sell for an Explorer would be a 235/70-15 all terrain. At the time I was driving a 93 explorer and had thought of running a "highway" tread.
Big Les

 

I work for a large regional independent tire company with over 350 locations. During the Firestone tire recall, Ford had sent a memo to us stating which tires would be eligible replacements for the Firestones (if we wanted Ford to reimburse us). I have not seen any other memo, but that does not mean there wasn't another one at some other time.
Anyway, is it possible that these tire stores were confusing the strict requirements of the recall reimbursement with general application?

 

If they tried to do that here (Australia) they would be in breach of the Trade Practises Act for anti competition behaviour.
Also, nobody or company can direct you to buy a particular brand.

 

Everyone here should check out
http://www.fordexplorerrollover.com/history/Default.cfm
and read the history of the Explorer and it's tire issues before complaining that you can't change your tires. You might not want to change them after reading the information on this site. They got their asses sued off for rollovers caused by tires. I doubt they are about to let anyone just put any kind of tire on.

 

I've heard of it before, although I think they would want to *sell* anything to the paying customer.

 

Ironic isn't it, that before the the lawsuits, Ford would have insisted you buy Firestone.