Old recall

[ridgerunner]

I know I'm slow but I just found out by doing a little tire research that my "new to me" 94 ranger's tires have been recalled...um like 10-15 yrs ago. They are the Firestone Wilderness AT's in 235-75-15. I have 5 of these tires (one spare) that are 99% tread. I'd like new tires but damn it seems like a waste to chuck these unless there is a danger of one blowing out on me and flipping me over (from what I read there is that danger). Anyway, I figured U guys might remember the recall and give me some advise.

 

[AllanD]

Frankly I'd pump the tires up to their maximum sidewall pressure and run them

I "acquired" a bunch of those tires during the recall and never had one fail.

 

[Frank The Tank]

Air th up to the Specification on the sidewall and drive them. My dad and I bought a ton of Firestones after the recalls and still have two spares left sadly we've worn out about 4 sets of 10 dollar tires because people are scared of their own shadows.

 

[ridgerunner]

Here's a pic anyway.

 

[4.0B2]

I "acquired" a few sets of these also... ran them till they are bald.
just use the right PSI in them.. not what Ford says use.

 

[Captain Ledd]

Those recalls are pretty sketchy anyways. Ever look at the number of "reported incidents", it's astronomically low.

Chrysler is in a bind with those in charge because they refused to recall something like 2.7MILLION vehicles because 238 caught fire after an accident. There's LOTS of ways a vehicle can catch fire.

Fords own tire recall was prompted by just 40 incidents, yes, FOURTY and over several months as well. After the recall was released the number skyrocketed to hundreds A month. "welp, looks like another SUV rolled over, probably due to these defective tires, what do you think driver?" "Uhh, yeah, tires. Totally blew out on me.. yeah.. not my fault for doing something stupid at all."

Run 'em. Just keep your hands on the steering wheel.

 

[straycat]

I know I'm slow but I just found out by doing a little tire research that my "new to me" 94 ranger's tires have been recalled...um like 10-15 yrs ago. They are the Firestone Wilderness AT's in 235-75-15. I have 5 of these tires (one spare) that are 99% tread. I'd like new tires but damn it seems like a waste to chuck these unless there is a danger of one blowing out on me and flipping me over (from what I read there is that danger). Anyway, I figured U guys might remember the recall and give me some advise.

Look at the back side of the tires and they have a serial number and the year the tires were made. You are not running really old tires?? I hope not. You could kill yourself or somebody else. Tires should not really be used if they are over 6 years old. No shop here in Florida will touch tires that are over 6 years old to mount or balance or repair them. I have friends who work in tire shops and they have told me this a bunch of times.

Those tires were recalled because some people were killed and seriously injured.The tread could separate or just deflate at highway speeds. Mine were recalled back in 2000 on my 99 Ranger I bought new July 99. Firestone sent me a check for a little over $223 after I had my tire shop fill out the form Firestone sent me and then I sent it back and a few weeks later my check was here. I bought new tires right away.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

IMO the undercarriage of the truck looks too groady for those to be 10-15 year old tires. The tires look new, they didn't quit making that model of tire they just made them correctly.

Dad went through two sets on the family 1994 Explorer, they would get funny lumps in them. He ran them at 35psi too. By the time the recall came down he had switched to Goodyears but had luckily kept the old Firestones to run on equipment (shredders and augers are not that picky about tires) and cashed them in.

Then the sidewalls rotted out of the Goodyears in three years and he switched back to Firestones after Goodyear wouldn't do anything.

 

[straycat]

IMO the undercarriage of the truck looks too groady for those to be 10-15 year old tires. The tires look new, they didn't quit making that model of tire they just made them correctly.

Dad went through two sets on the family 1994 Explorer, they would get funny lumps in them. He ran them at 35psi too. By the time the recall came down he had switched to Goodyears but had luckily kept the old Firestones to run on equipment (shredders and augers are not that picky about tires) and cashed them in.

Then the sidewalls rotted out of the Goodyears in three years and he switched back to Firestones after Goodyear wouldn't do anything.

That is sad about the Goodyear tires. I never had any issues with Goodyear or BFG tires. If I was not happy with something they took care of it right away. They even gave me a new set of Goodyears for my wife's Corolla after they were 2 years old and wearing odd. The said the alignment and balance were correct and right on the money. They just put on new tires for us that day. Made me want to cry....lol.

 

[shane96ranger]

Isn't the Firestone recall the reason the Explorer still has a black eye at U-Haul?


Posting whilst sitting upon the throne.

 

[adsm08]

Run them at 35 PSI and make sure to not overload the bed and you will be fine.

Here is the "Official" story about the reason for the blow outs per Ford.

The tires were fine in terms of integrity at 35 PSI, but people were complaining that their SUV with truck suspension rode like a truck and not a Cadillac DT-hovercar, and so Ford said to air the tires down to 25. They rode better and didn't have any blow-out issues, but some people were still complaining about ride quality. Ford's engineers looked the problem over and said it was ok to go as low at 18, and most people were happy with the ride.

Now comes the problem. People don't keep up with basic things like checking tire pressures. So after they were set at the absolute minimum safe pressure to correct a non-existent ride quality issue (keep in mind this was BEFORE the Explorer became a "luxury vehicle") people didn't keep up with checking their tires and left them get down as low as 13 PSI before they blew out.


Also, being an SUV the Explorers were equipped factory with load range B tires to save cost and help with ride quality (softer side walls ride nicer). The Rangers were generally equipped with load range D tires which were appropriate to a light truck doing light truck work, and IIRC not a single instance of blow out was ever seen on a Ranger.

 

[wildbill23c]

Haha. Wish I could find some of those old tires like that. Anyhow, if you run them at the proper tire pressure as everyone has pointed out you'll be fine. As long as the tires aren't damaged you will be ok. You have to realize the firestone tire blowout/rollover recalls were due to lack of maintenance and driver error. A blow out doesn't just cause a vehicle to flip over, ok, well maybe it would if you were driving a Yugo LOL. The firestone tires that I had on my 84 ford ranger were part of the recall, never bothered taking them in as at that time they were only about a year old and still had tons of tread left. I sold the truck 4 years later with those same tires and about 50% tread left, and never once had a tire failure.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I thought ford recommended a lower tire pressure because the explorer couldnt meet rollover standards? But then again they were prolly still sore from the BII fiasco of the early 90s.

Instead of telling people its a truck based SUV and shouldnt be cornered like a taurus

 

[ridgerunner]

OK I'll be running them w/o fear then. They seem to be a decent tire so far. I was kinda looking for an excuse to buy LT 31" MT's but ...saving for gears and lockers first. Thanks fellas.

 

[wildbill23c]

I thought ford recommended a lower tire pressure because the explorer couldnt meet rollover standards? But then again they were prolly still sore from the BII fiasco of the early 90s.

Instead of telling people its a truck based SUV and shouldnt be cornered like a taurus

Haha, yeah I laugh at people who buy a truck then bitch, whine, and moan that it rides like a truck, not a cadillac. Well duh you bought a damn truck, not a luxury car. I have to say though, my 1988 Ford F-250 4x4 rode pretty well considering it was a full size 3/4 ton truck. My 1984 Ford Ranger rode really well too. I've never driven a truck and said, "damn it this thing rides like a truck" because I know its a truck. This is why there's like 3-4 different spring options for trucks now, because stupid people buy a truck for a family car but don't want it to ride like a truck, as a result they decide a few years later to tow a trailer, and have blown springs and shocks because they bought a truck with car springs and shocks on it so they could look cool because they have a truck but don't realize they can tow or haul anything LOL.

SUV's now are just glorified luxury cars, they're not built based on a truck anymore from what I can see. The last few years of the explorer I noticed they even went to independent 4 wheel suspension dropping the solid rear axle. I think Jeep has done the same thing in the grand cherokee now as well.