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Jul 27, 2019 | 06:25 AM

#16

wirelessengineer

Laughing Gas

Joined: Feb 2005

Posts: 784

Likes: 26

Quote:

Originally Posted by fordman75

I've had that problem on many general tires. I refuse to run them on any of my vehicles any longer. I've had it happen to ones that were less then a month old or ones that were old and anywhere in between. So it's not just an age thing.

Here's that last one I ran. It still held air, but tore the crap out of my vans rear quarter and damaged my fuel line and rear gas tank by the time I got it pulled over. So now If I buy new tires I stick with either BFG AT's or Michelins.

That's just pure lousy manufacturing! That kind of failure might be expected on a recap, but that should not happen on a new tire!

This is surprising to me. I have used General AT Grabbers on my SUVs for years, and they have been good tires, except for one annoying handling characteristic. I had decided to make my next pair a different brand because of that, but I've never had any kind of failure.

Having seen this thread, I'm glad I'm changing brands!

Jul 27, 2019 | 07:22 AM

#17

JWA

Fleet Owner

Joined: Aug 2010

Posts: 21,253

Likes: 1,656

From: Reynoldsburg, Ohio

Quote:

Originally Posted by wirelessengineer

Having seen this thread, I'm glad I'm changing brands!

I've heard the General Grabber tires mentioned on quite a few 4x4 or SMB-type sites---shocked these of the OP's had such a failure.

No doubt there might be a few who disagree but I'm a die-hard Michelin man--without the bubble wrap suit that is!

I run them on my own vans, bought the girlfriend a set for her 2010 Toyota 4Runner. She's not the best driver, far from the worst so I'm slightly concerned those she now has will be all that effective on ice and/or snow. (A few years ago she was driving a bit too fast for the winter conditions, hit a patch of ice on a left hand single-lane freeway merge curve and rolled it over. We'd been dating just over a year and she'd thankfully learned seat belts are our friends. 4Runner was totaled but she and her son were fine. She drives a bit slower in the winter now.)

But for my own personal experiences with tread life and overall quality I'm happy to stick with Michelin's--haven't heard enough horror stories so far to change that opinion.

Jul 28, 2019 | 03:11 PM

#18

6door74

Thread Starter

Mountain Pass

Joined: Aug 2017

Posts: 156

Likes: 11

I have Kuhmo A/T tires on the van now and had 24" on my dodge ram years ago. My Ford flex has 22" Lexani tires and my wife has Continental A/T on her jeep compass. As you can see, I have no allegiance to any brand.

I did check tire rack reviews for my wife's car and the van though. The Lexani tires came with an aftermarket wheel package i bought and they've been fine. I'm on my 2nd set now.

Never had this happen on any car before. And previous hooptie cars i've had would have 4 different tires because i'd buy used tires at flat fix spots.

Jul 29, 2019 | 05:10 PM

#19

maples01

Lead Driver

Joined: May 2004

Posts: 5,011

Likes: 131

From: Maryville

Quote:

Originally Posted by fordman75

Looks familiar, my Coopers have done that, 10 ply tires seem to separate with time, my first set of Coopers the tread was letting go, the second set, sidewall separation.

Jul 29, 2019 | 05:25 PM

#20

maples01

Lead Driver

Joined: May 2004

Posts: 5,011

Likes: 131

From: Maryville

This was one of my second set, when this one let go, I checked the others to find they were cracked, ready to follow. A friend bought a custom van that had been stored in a barn, he got it running and drove it 1200 miles round trip to the nationals, it was on late 1970's rubber, this was in 2005, when my Cooper lost the tread, there is something wrong with the tire process, likely something left out that was once used.

Jul 29, 2019 | 05:37 PM

#21

Keystoner16

Freshman User

Joined: Apr 2015

Posts: 36

Likes: 0

From: Eugene, OR

Quote:

Originally Posted by JWA

Relating to a tires age and its removal from sale or use---I thought the hard cut off date was 5 years after manufacture? Perhaps after that age they're not supposed to be sold as new---never heard it was 10 years.

In fact I've retired sets of Michelin LTX's when they reached 8+ years---they still had 25% usable dry road tread life but the age cracks were beginning to show.

And while a bit late to this thread the opening photo of the failed tire looked simply like a defective tire. Not sure if it was age related but that's sort of failure was certainly not caused by the vehicle on which it was installed. Also didn't know General Tires was so lowly regarded quality-wise but I've never owned or bought a set so this comes as a bit of a surprise.

I have been an automotive technician for about 5 years now and 10 years has been what I have worked under for that entire time. I have recommended tires replacement many times based on this time frame. Maybe they changed it and nobody told me or the shops I've worked for. I have also witnessed brand new tires being destroyed (hole drilled in sidewall) because they were 10 years old.

Jul 29, 2019 | 05:50 PM

#22

fordman75

Lead Driver

Joined: Dec 2000

Posts: 6,293

Likes: 47

From: South central, Minnesota

Quote:

Originally Posted by maples01

Looks familiar, my Coopers have done that, 10 ply tires seem to separate with time, my first set of Coopers the tread was letting go, the second set, sidewall separation.

I've had very good luck with BFG AT 10 ply tires. I've run them on many 3/4 & 1 ton trucks and vans. I've put a lot of miles on them while hauling a lot of heavy loads and haven't had any issues like I've had with generals. And the generals I've had problems with have also been car and smaller truck tires too. Not just the heavier 10 ply ones.

Jul 29, 2019 | 10:06 PM

#23

maples01

Lead Driver

Joined: May 2004

Posts: 5,011

Likes: 131

From: Maryville

Dad has a friend who worked at a wholesaler, he told dad they sell to commercial market and wont sell Coopers because of the complaints, now I have friends who love them, they look for affordable wide tires and evidently the low load version tires don't have the same issues of separation, but the big commercial ones have a history of coming apart. I have 2 Chinese brand Sailun tires on the rear of my E350, all terrain pattern, soft rubber, they grip the road, but being that, they wont get 60,000 miles, dad bought a set for his truck, was quite pleased with them, but about 36,000 miles was it, in my case, they were quite affordable, I have Dunlop on the front, Walmart ran a deal that couldn't be passed up, 10 ply tires are expensive, I had got the best of the 2 that dad gave me from his truck when we rushed to get the Coopers off.