Need Feedback On Tires...
 

Am close to needing a new set for our '07 Expy, which has the 20" wheels. So far, we have been very pleased with the Scorpion STRs and will probably put them back on unless some of you have seen the ride improve with THIS vehicle when you switched to another brand.

Not trying to be a smarta$$, but please limit feedback to stock '07 Expies and up. The 26" Nittos or BFGs on your Super Duty may be great for you, but I doubt my wife will go for those!!! I'm really looking for comparisons between Expy/Pirelli vs. Expy/Brand "x". What did brand "x" do for your ride...softer, firmer, louder, quieter, etc. The TireRack reviews are helpful, but would really appreciate first hand experiences from other Ford drivers.

I have had a 98, 02, 06 and now an 09 expedition eb 4X4. Every one of the vehicles worked best with Michelin LTX tires. Best ride, good in the muddy roads where I go, best longevity. Obviously, since I stay with stock wheels, the 09 is my first experience with the 20" STRs. So far, the ride is fine, the mud performance is not quite as good as the LTX, but at just 26,000 miles the tires don't look like they will make it to 30K. I like the looks of the scorpion ATR, but they are an unknown. The stock goodyears on my earlier trucks were total cr*p, one set had to be rotated at 1500 miles to make them drivable, then replaced. I will probably go back to my favorite michelins, but the cost is crazy. I'm open to suggestions too.

best tires on the Market are the Michelin LTX M&S (if you can find them). hands down. you get what you pay for. and it is some serious $$$. I put almost 40,000 on a pair and they were awesome. I would gladly run them again if the $$$ was right. Just kind of hard for me to spend that kind of $$$ when I can get something almost as good for significantly cheaper


This is my 2nd Ford with this suspension (06 F-150, 08 Expy). I hate those STR Pirelli's. Pretty much from Day 1 the tires have annoyed me. They wiggle, are loud and have horrible traction characteristics. At highway speeds (60 mph) my Expedition seems to have a mind of it's own. It has to be the tires. My Expy only has 4,500 miles. If I weren't such a cheapo, I would already change those POS tires out.

It's kind of funny, but the Scorpion ATR is a great tire...somehting happened in the mix between a ATR and STR and their slight changes



Back in February I bought a set of Goodyear Silent Armor for the old SUV. I love those tires. Look great, excellent traction, quiet...a great all around tire and very competetively priced. They are my what I will be buying when i've finally had enough of those darn STR's.


I really recommend the Goodyear tires. Had them on all of my prior Fords until these latest 2. And so far, my BFG's and the Scorpions have convinced me to stick with the Goodyears when replacements are due.

I'd would have to argue that tylus, the best all around tire I've found on the market is Daytons Timberline A/T The reason for this is that the tread is very very agressive for a street tire, it has massive gaps between the treads for getting rid of water and so on, on top of that its cheaper then any other tire I've found. $235 is the highest I've paid for a 17" 265' which is about $50 bucks or so less then other brands. The compound of the tire is soft enough to grip on rocks, agressive enough to work in mud, and hard enough so that is doesn't wear out quickly on asphault. I still have a set of 15" 235s which have seen 3 different trucks! But sadly this tire has been discontinued, but no worries, you can still get it in a commercial truck tire (which only means that you will have to special order the tire which is what I had to do not some 3 months ago) The tires I bought were the 17' 265"s for my dodge for #$235 a piece, its a 10 ply, E range tire, and as far as I know the cheapest on the market as well as the best quality too. However do not get the Dayton Timberline A/T II its junk, compound is too soft, tread is to narrow, is a cheap crappy tire (which is prolly making Dayton alot more money then the regular A/T) If your local tire shop says they can't get it they are lying, Timberline offers this tire to any store that sells Dayton tires because its a commercial tire (I called them once because of this, turns out the guy trying to sell me tires was just trying to get rid of some BFG A/Ts) One thing I can suggest when looking for this tire is reminding your local shop that its a commercial truck tire, this seems to work everytime (since they have to search in a different area on their damn computers) I've seen these get up to 100K in miles, and thats no joke, remember the set I said I had on 3 different trucks? they have well over 60K and still look good enough for another 30k! They also make the same tire in an commercial H/T while (lol) looks alot more like other companies' A/T, I've bought this tire for roughly $40 less then the A/T

I just put Bridgestone Revo 2's on a couple weeks ago. They are much firmer than the Scorpions and are quite a bit noisier too.

I've found for the price that you can't beat Cooper Discoverer ATR's. They are quiet, have good off road traction and good dry traction and I think my expy handles much better with these than the stock continentals.

Mark

Firestone Destination AT
 

I am very, very happy with Destination AT for my 2007 EB 4W Ex.
I could not stand Conty. After 25000 Miles I made it.
Check this to make sure:Consumer Survey Results By Category

forgot to mention that the price I listed above included mount and balanced and out the door, also, I work in an industry where I may drive 40 miles a day to work and then use my truck all day at work, and when I'm at work I see some of the most roughest terrain imaginable, since I've started using the timberline, I've gotten stuck about three times in about five years. There isn't really I tire I haven't tried and couldn't be happier with my dayton's.

Thanks for the survey, gristanv - the results are pretty much what I would have expected.

The Pirelli's are very nice tires, and I liked them better than my Toyo A/T's. They are great fair weather tires.

However, I needed a tire that would get my family home no matter what the conditions. I went with the Toyo M/T's.

1: Great looks. Your wife's expedition will look like its going to eat the other SUV next to it. You won't need any lifts, spacers, or leveling kits.

2: Your family is going to get home, no matter what the weather is like outside. To me thats comforting and added security. Plus, thick rubber, less likelihood your wife will be stranded with a flat tire.

Go for the 33x12.50R20LT, Toyo Tires® Open Country M/T's

But that's just my opinion. In the end, it all comes down to being happy with your purchase.

Best Regards,

- Robert

I just mounted a set of Yokohama Geolander H/T-S on mine. I love them. I wasn't willing to shell out $995.00 for the Michelans plus alignment, road hazard, etc.

Tim

While I agree that Michelin are one of the best in terms of ride, wear & handling, they are pricey. Yokohama has a variety of tires for SUV's (including AVID series) , they are excellent tires for a fraction of the price of Mich. Check out Tire rack for comments and I think you'll be surprised.

What Tylus said about the STR's caused me to take notice--. I have the 18" wheels with the STR's on my 07 EB EL. At 21K there is some wear, but no air showing yet, so I cant really contribute to the wear issue. I can relate to the driveability issue at road speed though. My Expy does the same thing, it has to be "steered" all the time because it seems to wander, even on good pavement w/o a groove. I had attributed this to the alignment because I know that most alignment shops can only stay within certain parameters, even if the tech knows what the problem is, but cannot (libility issue) deviate from the specs. Appears the tires are a big contributor, even with a street tread design.

I will be looking for something else when the time comes. Michelins may be the answer, but some others sound good also,

I will be putting on a set of Nitto NT420S's factory 20inch size on sat. I'll would like to know if anyone is interested in me reporting back on the tire. I don't want to chime in if no one cares about Nittos.

IMHO, all opinions and facts are welcome. This isn't a members only club where if you don't own an '07 or newer, you can't come in. While I do appreciate the poiint that the OP was trying to make, it still doesn't make sense to me that input non '07 and non 20" tires tires doesn't matter.

The suspension systems from '06 - '07 are only slightly different. The '07 that I rented for a long 2500 mile trip felt no different that my '04. :cool:

Tim

Anyone got any QUIET replacement tire options (or opinions!). I'm due for new tires at 55K miles and intend to order Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenzas based on their excellent performance on my '02 Explorer (still in service at college with my daughter).

I'll probably stick with All Season rather than so-called A/T tires.

Thanks,

-- Chuck

WQell I have 22 miles on the Nittos(NT420S) and they suck and I thought the Scorpions were not that great. The NIttos are HARD. I would have gone with Terra Grapplers as they are much softer ride wise. They are louder and seem to wallow in turns. I am hoping that fater a few hundred miles things will either change or they will get changed. What a down grade. I feel like I bought some used mismatched tires. Nitto really let me down...I amhoping with some milage they get better.

I think the Alenzas are a great tire and they have excellent reviews on tire rack. I bought the Yokohama Geolander H/T-S a couple weeks ago, I had mentioned that in aprevious post. They are very quiet, ride very nice and are very well reviewed as well. 60K mile tread wear.

Tim

OK since we're talking tires, anyone here use a dedicated snow tire? We are in a pretty cold/snowy location and I am wondering if the 20" scorpions are going to get us around this winter. We get a lot of snow and occasional ice. The scorpions only have 12K on them and still look brand new so I can't really justify replacing them yet. We have no complaints with them so far, but winter is coming soon and I'm wondering if we're going to need snows. Any thoughts?

I looked at the Scorpions when I bought my Yoko's and decided on the Geolander instead. The Scorpion looked like a nice tire to me and seems plenty capable to keep a heavy truck / SUV mobile in all seasons.

Check tire rack and read the reviews if you feel you need more info.

Tim

I have the 18" STR's... I am fairly happy with them... I had a blow out on a 4wd rocky trail, the first trail I had taken the EB.... So I had to replace 2 of my tires with the exact STR tire...

My EB has about 24,000 mi, the 2 new tires have quite a bit more tread then the originals, the originals won't make it to 30,000mi....

I do like the quite ride, I have pulled a 5,000 lb boat around 5,000 mi, no problems at all, my truck stays straight down the highway....

Snow ok, we put it into A4WD all the time, then we are fine..... My next two tires, I might try something different.... But then I will be mismatched.....

I checked the Tire Rack and they only had one winter tire available in the 20 inch size. It was the Blizzak at almost 2 bills per. OUCH! I think we'll try to ride out the winter on the STR's.

Wide tires do poorly in the snow. But there's no reason to go with 20" tires for winter, the standard wheels are 17" and there are probably many brands that will work. Put the vanity aside while it's snowy. :-D

Lots of affordable 17" snow tires for the expedition.

All Seasons have worked well for me here in the Snow Belt. The all-terrain tread patterns are annoying on dry pavement and the all season mud and snow (M+S) labeled tires haven't failed me yet although I cheat and select 4x4Auto when it's snowy out. Previous experience with my Explorer was the same and now both are shod with the Bridgestone H/L Alenzas. Confidence inspiring tires.

-- Chuck

Thanks Chuck. I didn't realize you could just bolt up 17's when they came 20 from the factory. Doesn't mess with the speedo? If that's the case I might just get a set come December if we are having problems getting around in the white. Last year we had snow already at this point in the year and it was white here right through April. This year its still hitting 50 occasionally and we haven't had much more than a dusting of snow yet. Everyone has been saying it is supposed to be a much worse winter this year though so we'll have to see how it goes.

I don't know about the speedo.

The tire's external diameter is what counts, not the wheel diameter. My XLT has 17" tires and measure 30-3/4" diameter (tall).

The 17" tires are 70-series. The 20" tires are 55-series. Bigger wheel, lower tire profile.

-- Chuck

I get a lot of snow here as well. The STRs are listed as "good" for snow traction on tirerack. I wouldn't buy a tire with this rating, but isn't as bad as many tires i have seen. This is my first winter with them, so I am intrigued how they perform as well.

I have had Kuhmos on most of my other cars, including my wife's subaru right now. They seem to get reasonable ratings and aren't very pricey:
Kumho Road Venture APT KL51

I have the OEM Continental 17" tires on a 2007 and they have been bullet proof. 60K on the original tires and I live in the mountains and tow a boat. Plan on getting the same pair if about 5K miles.

I had the same tires and replaced them a week ago. Before it snows here. 55,000 miles.

At the end I had the most wear toward the edges of the tire with deeper tread left in the center. Always ran door-post air pressures. I thought they were good tires but they're almost universally criticized here.

-- Chuck

As predicted, my stock 20" scorpion STR's didn't make 30K. I bit the bullet and bought the michelin 20" LTX MS2, the day before oklahoma city's worst snowstorm ever. Best money I ever spent. No problems in 4WD at all through the ice or snow (14"). The highway ride is great, possibly a little louder than the STR's, but it is more likely a case of just having more tread on the tires.

those Michelins are awesome...glad you like them


just wish they had more stylish profiles. they are somewhat boring looking to look at IMO. stupid, but I want the whole package to "mesh"...damn I sound like a chick

Doing OK here so far on the STRs. Got about a foot of snow over the weekend, childs play so far. Waiting till we get a real noreaster to know for sure. Been going out of my way to look for steep inclines and snowbanks to throw at her, but so far not a slip. Biggest frustration is the 2wdrivers getting in my way. Had to snicker at one who was inching his way up a hill with a friend walking behind him pushing. The plow was coming up behind him so I didn't stop to help and also there were several other cars around in his same predicament.

STRs have been doing great so far in Iowa. They don't appear to get real hard when cold, handle snow and ice very well for an all season.

Just FYI, In Michigan, Firestone is having a sale In Jan. for buy 3 get 1 free on some of their Dueler and Destination Tires.

I have the Procomp AT extremes on mine. They now have about 22000 miles on them aand are still at just a hair under 75% tread!!!!!!!!! The dealer checked it during the trade-in. They didn't believe it either. If you wait till the fall, Procomp always does buy 3 get 1 free. They are fairly quiet, not near as loud as crappy BFG ATs or MTs. They also look sweet and handle in rain/snow great. Not sure about mud, but seemings that the expy has all of about 3 inches of wheel travel, mud is not an option.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...id=167200&.jpg

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...id=167170&.jpg

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...id=167169&.jpg

year around tires
 

I put Goodyear Wrangler SA's on my 08 Expy and plowed through 20 inches of snow in our recent storm (in the DC area) without any trouble. I was breaking trail for other cars on the unplowed streets and climbing icy hills without any trouble.
These times are quiet on the road (quieter than my wife's Blizzaks) and are great in the snow. They are also great in the rain and decent on ice (I guess 3 tons of truck helps traction too!). I also like the kevlar belt in the tread just in case run over something (like a Mini... kidding!).
check the Tire Rack survey on these tires - especially the snow and ice traction.