General Altimax tire blow out - need new tire suggestions

[98v70dad]

My 96 Ranger XLT has stock aluminum rims and General Altimax 225/70/R14 tires on it. The tires have plenty of tread left and they have about 48.000 miles on them (tires were bought about 4 years ago). I got the truck used and I don't know the size of the OEM tires. All of the tires seem to be not quite right. The white rubber is showing through the black on many spots and the rubber looks dry rotted. I need to go out and check the date code.

Anyhow, I had a front tire sidewall blow out at highway speeds yesterday and need new tires. I'll need 5 tires since the spare is ancient (maybe the original tire). The tire was properly inflated and there was no load in the bed. Most of my driving is around the neighborhood at less than 40 mph. Occasionally I'll carry a load but not very often. I maxed it out once years ago carrying fire wood.

The frustrating thing is that there is very little available that I can find that will fit. There are some junk brands (not sure about Kumhos), the Generals and then very expensive BFG's. I've had bad luck now with two sets of Generals. The generals on my passenger car didn't last long and now this blow out and on the truck. Yesterdays blow out is the only one I've ever had in 50 years of driving.

Any suggestions for tires would help. Maybe I'm missing a good choice. I'm not too enthusiastic about buying another set of generals.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Maybe look for 15" rims. But even 15" tires getting harder to find.

 

[98v70dad]

Maybe look for 15" rims. But even 15" tires getting harder to find.

Thanks. Its a 27 year old truck. New rims just cost too much to justify even for cheap ones. That would help solve the problem , though.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Look for old ranger rims on Craigslist or FBMP. If you were close I have sets of aluminum rims I would sell for $100

 

[rusty ol ranger]

https://m.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?gclid=Cj0KCQjwxYOiBhC9ARIsANiEIfaFGobdfPpcYVh5xMKgv9zpTjTKuL4uU6mBjuqS8VyO3XzB9mfhI4YaAsEfEALw_wcB&tireMake=General&tireModel=Grabber+A%2FTX&partnum=785QR4GRATXRWL&GCID=C13674x012-tire&KEYWORD=tires.jsp_General_Grabber+A%2FTX_Tire&code=yes&ef_id=Cj0KCQjwxYOiBhC9ARIsANiEIfaFGobdfPpcYVh5xMKgv9zpTjTKuL4uU6mBjuqS8VyO3XzB9mfhI4YaAsEfEALw_wcB:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!3756!3!!!!x!!&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Blmpkn]

You can find wheels that'll fit all day for 100$ or less. 14s are done for in reality, 15s will be next.. it's already started. Time to upgrade.

 

[CrabGuy]

The Altimax tires are definitely the cheapest option by far in that size and have a good mileage rating. You said you got 48K out of them with tread remaining so it's not like they didn't serve you well. If you just use them around town and highway they should do well again. I've had 2 sidewall blowouts and both times they were from foreign object damage while driving. Your tires sound pretty old and suffering from UV damage and age.

 

[98v70dad]

The tires arent that old although I dont drive this truck much so they are older than most tires I've had in 50 years. The date code was 2017. My tires delaminated. I was on a 200 mile trip (both ways) and on the way back about 100 miles down the road tI would get a wobble and then it would clear up - speed related. It cleared up and stayed that way below 60 mph. I've been driving it daily for 5 years on those tires but I never get above 35 mph. The wobble/balance thing just started happening recently and I figured it was a tie rod end or a tire balence problem or something like that since the truck is 27 years old. I was 20 miles from home when it started up again and I decided that I would buy new tires when I got home since they're 6 years old. A few minutes later it desintegrated.

 

[98v70dad]

You can find wheels that'll fit all day for 100$ or less. 14s are done for in reality, 15s will be next.. it's already started. Time to upgrade.

Yep, that would be nice. I have several trucks and this one is the beater and I don't want to sink a lot of money into it. Yes you can buy wheels that will fit for that price (I've done it before on other cars) but I need 5 of them. New wheels is an obvious solution but I don't want to spend the cash for 15's when there arent that many tires out there for that size either

 

[sgtsandman]

225/70R14 is an optional stock size on some Rangers. So, the size isn’t out of line.

If you don’t want to change rim size, another option is to change tire size. The other tire sizes that came on the older Rangers were a more narrow tread width. I think (but you’ll need to verify - should be something in the tech articles) are 215/75R14 and 205/75R14 or something along those lines.

Once you narrow down what those alternate sizes are for sure, you can see what is out there in those sizes.

As far as brands, you could look at Cooper or Mastercraft. Both have a solid reputation in general and aren’t expensive. I had a set of Firestone, owned by Bridgestone, tires on my last Ranger and was quite happy with those. So, that might be another pair of brands to look at.

 

[98v70dad]

225/70R14 is an optional stock size on some Rangers. So, the size isn’t out of line.

If you don’t want to change rim size, another option is to change tire size. The other tire sizes that came on the older Rangers were a more narrow tread width. I think (but you’ll need to verify - should be something in the tech articles) are 215/75R14 and 205/75R14 or something along those lines.

Once you narrow down what those alternate sizes are for sure, you can see what is out there in those sizes.

As far as brands, you could look at Cooper or Mastercraft. Both have a solid reputation in general and aren’t expensive. I had a set of Firestone, owned by Bridgestone, tires on my last Ranger and was quite happy with those. So, that might be another pair of brands to look at.

Thanks there is almost nothing to pick from in the 14 inch radius for any of the tread widths. I already checked on it and that is the point of my post. There are a couple of tires to choose from and that's it.

 

[98v70dad]

Does anyone know what size tire came on the truck originally? I've been trying to find out but can't find any info on it.

 

[sgtsandman]

Does anyone know what size tire came on the truck originally? I've been trying to find out but can't find any info on it.

That should be on a sticker on the driver side door jamb or on the edge of the door. Or did you mean something else?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

That should be on a sticker on the driver side door jamb or on the edge of the door. Or did you mean something else?

Could also be in the glove box sticker.

 

[19Walt93]

The tires arent that old although I dont drive this truck much so they are older than most tires I've had in 50 years. The date code was 2017. My tires delaminated. I was on a 200 mile trip (both ways) and on the way back about 100 miles down the road tI would get a wobble and then it would clear up - speed related. It cleared up and stayed that way below 60 mph. I've been driving it daily for 5 years on those tires but I never get above 35 mph. The wobble/balance thing just started happening recently and I figured it was a tie rod end or a tire balence problem or something like that since the truck is 27 years old. I was 20 miles from home when it started up again and I decided that I would buy new tires when I got home since they're 6 years old. A few minutes later it desintegrated.

The tires may be a lot older than you think, look at the last 4 digits of the DOT code, the first 2 numbers are the week and the last 2 are the year. 14 inch tires haven't been OEM equipment for a long time so the tires may have been in stock for years before they went on your truck.
I would also recommend moving to a bigger wheel( a rim is only part of a wheel) but I'd forget 15's and get at least 16's. They were used on a ton of Rangers and Explorers so used ones should be readily available. My Mustang has 15 inch wheels and the 235/60R15's on the back are repro BFG's from Coker that cost way too much for what they are.
I sold tires from 1972 until 2017 and personally owned 2 sets of Generals. Both quit vibrating when I replaced them with something else.