My Firestone tire "blew"

[Greg McCall]

Well it happened. Lucky to be here today.
Driving along along on the Freeway about 70 mph and the front left tire has a blowout.
Had no problem getting the truck over to the shoulder, as I was going straight when this happend.
I THOUGHT THIS FIRESTONE TIRE PROBLEM HAD PAST.
Can't believe Chevrolet puts these Firestone Steeltex Radial A/T tires on their trucks. Could be a rare bad tire but considering the brand ......
Damn tire blew out on the inside sidewall.

And one more tidbit. The jacks with these trucks are a little short(height) for serious tire changing on the shoulder of the road.

Tires will not be on the truck this afternoon and there well NEVER be a Firestone tire on a vehicle I own or buy again. :mad:

[k1xv]

Glad you are here to tell us about it.

Question, Greg:

What tire pressures were you running? I have always been wary of the Firestones and I run 55 to 60 psi front, 65 rear even when empty.

[Kennedy]

First, I'll say that I really liked my 235 Steeltex ATs (235's) on my '96. I even had them installed on my 2002. One day a buddy was over and we were under my 96 on the lift and he pointed out a belt shifted through the sidewall. That really shook my confidence.

I used to run Steeltex scabs on my old trailer, and they'd shift belts through the tread.

I now have Michelin's (265's) on my 2002 (actually BFG 285's for competition) and will not likely go back...

[Greg McCall]

Originally posted by k1xv:
Glad you are here to tell us about it.

Question, Greg:

What tire pressures were you running? I have always been wary of the Firestones and I run 55 to 60 psi front, 65 rear even when empty. 60 psi front and 65 rear

[k1xv]

So underinflation was not an issue. It is odd that Firestones are so bad and yet Bridgestone REVO A/T tires appear to be so good. Bridgestone owns Firestone.

[red sled]

It is definitely a tire problem, I have kept mine inflated to 70 psi and have had two of the take a dump on me.

[Professor]

"It is odd that Firestones are so bad and yet Bridgestone REVO A/T tires appear to be so good. Bridgestone owns Firestone."
All of the Revo's I have seen (all have been 285's) were made in Japan. I believe all of the Steeltex have been made in USA. I hate to admit it but it looks like the Japan Bridgestone plants have better QC then the USA plants. I ran a few sets of Dueler HP (Japan mfg) with great luck as well.

The Nitto Terra Grapplers are also coming out of a Japanese Toyo plant.

[permx11]

I had a Pirelli Scorpion A/T explode on my last month while towing my trailer. Did $3000 damage to the right side of the bed of the truck. No problem pulling over and keeping it straight. I am in contact with Pirelli's insurance company to pay for the damage. Tire was vibrating before it exploded. Have another tire on the other side of the bed that started bouncing and I took it off before any problems happened. The tire store said both tires have delaminated.

[tysmith]

I've run nothing but the Firestone Steeltex AT's on my trucks for years - at least 4 sets per vehicle, all 235/85 16's. I have to say they have been a very economical tire, and aside from tearing one on a piece of yard debris at the scrap yard, no failures to date. Say nothing of the fact that I've been getting 50-60k miles out of them. They're mounted on an '86 K3500 SRW, and a P30 dually step van, and I had 245/75 16's on my '01. I would not hesitate to buy another set.

I have Bridgestone 265 Ribs 245/75 16 on my truck now, and they are the crappiest tire I've ever had, say nothing of how dinky they look, even when compared to the Steeltex's of the same size.

Just goes to show, Different people have different luck.

Ty

[Idle_Chatter]

I had the Steeltex tires from the factory. I had some bad wear and cupping on the fronts until I rotated them and started running a reasonable 60 front and 65 rear instead of the factory "ride quality" recommendation of 45 front that just eats the tires up! I had my right rear get stone punctured. I had the spare put on that alloy and the plugged tire put in spare. After 9,000 miles on the spare mounted on the right front, it went down without warning at 70 mph on the interstate in Florida. It was very controllable and I noticed the drag and low right front corner before I felt any vibration. I was luckily right at at a rest stop and rolled in with the tire flattern' week old beer but intact. I put the plugged spare back on and drove the rest of the way to Maryland. Firestone dealer in Newark, DE replaced the "bad" tire (sidewall failre) for $0 deductible. I put over 50,000 miles on that set of tires and thought that they had great wet and dry traction. I now have a set of Dunlop Radial Rovers and they are EXCELLENT, especially at $95 per tire! :D

[Showgood1]

Flamerock was about to recall these tires then they backed off. Something about if the gov. wasn't going to make them they weren't going to do it. Theres was a news story about it I think it was earlier this year. The highway firestone I can't remember the name but it came on some of our fleet trucks here are just as dangerous. Oh and as bad as these are I will run them in a heart beat over a general AS550! If you have any of these tires on your truck get rid of them immediately!!!!My experience is not with just one truck but with friends and family in the construction and trucking bid'nis and observing 30 some odd trucks in the fleet where I work all Chevy's :D . These 3 tires should all be replaced!

[Rick T]

Firestone tires seem to be a subject of great contraversy. For every person with a horror story there appears to be someone with excellent wear experience.

I recently blew and inside rear General AS550 due to an undetected nail puncture. My tire dealer recommended the Firestone R4S's based on his experience with this tire in heavy duty applications. I went for the Firestones and was surprised at a deterioration in handling versus the General tires. Turns out the left front was 65, right front 55, left rear(s) 65 and right rear(s) 55. Appears that the right side tire changer had a defective tire gauge. Yes, I know I should have checked the tire pressures myself and would have done so before towing anything of significance, but you would think the shop would get the same pressure in the left and right side tires. Put the fronts at 65, rears at 65 and the truck rides like it's on rails.

I've got to believe underinflation is a significant contributor to many of these tire values. I noted in properly inflating my tires that the gauge on my Milton tire chuck read 5 psi higher than a brand new Accugauge tire gauge. These trucks have a lot of weight on the front axle even when unloaded. Any of us who desire to run lesser pressures, especially in the front tires, should be familiar with the tire capacity versus pressure curves available at many of the tire companies web sites.

Rick T

[luvthesmellofdiesel]

I have found on my '02 crew cab 4x4 with the stock Bridgestone 245 donuts in order to keep the tires at the correct inflation (by visual inspection), I have to run 70lbs in the front and 55lbs in the rear (unloaded, no trailer, no ranch hand). This gives me the correct steal belted slightly bulged tire.

If I followed the tire inflation sticker on the door from GM, I would be running underinflated tires on the front of my truck!

But hey, you can get 265's on a stock truck new from GM mounted on 6-1/2 rims which the tire manufacturers state in their specs must have a minimum rim width of 7", what gives?

Tim