For those who have been hanging out around here for a while, it’s no secret I have had a long-term love/hate relationship with this Ford van. Perhaps one of its positives is providing a periodic well of usefulness for writing an article when I have no street finds to share.
I’ve recently been suffering from mild and frightful urges to actually like this stupid thing. Maybe seeing it withering beneath two ailing elm trees is part of the reason, much like people feel sorry for a dog after they’ve kicked it in the gut a handful of times.
On this I’ll take Scarlett O’Hara’s advice and think about that later.
But what couldn’t be thought about later in regard to this old dog was how my little voice was screaming at me.
We don’t drive this rig much, having driven it 2,000 miles in the past year, roughly 1,400 the year before that, and 700 miles each of the two prior years. Our keeping it is a convoluted thing, but suffice it to say having a 2000 Ford conversion van is like getting a tattoo on your forehead – it’s easy to acquire, but it’s a mighty long and difficult process to rid yourself of it.
In the seven years we’ve owned it, we’ve put exactly 27,000 miles on it with 16,000 being in the first year when we took it to Oregon for Mrs. Jason to see a medical specialist. In my mind it had served its purpose at that point, but see the previous paragraph about why we still own it.
Even though I replaced the radiator hoses a while back, I’ve been hesitant to put my wife and daughter in it for any real distance. Why?
This.
Okay; it’s a Uniroyal Liberator tire. So what?
Look at the date code on this tire, where it says 1408. For those not fluent in such things, this tire, just like the other three, was produced during the fourteenth week of 2008. In other words, it’s nearly ten years old.
For what it’s worth, the previous owner bought these Uniroyals at Wal-Mart in June 2008 and spent $373 to do so.
Various tire manufacturers recommend a seven to ten year life on tires, regardless of mileage. So listening to that little voice inside my head, I started tire shopping.
I initially went for the “should be marked way off” category. I live in Missouri, and where I live is thirty miles south of Columbia and Mizzou, home of the MU Tigers. Around here the University of Alabama is just so much hot air from some distant and exotic land that knows the correct way to make sweet tea. Regardless, even with the “Buy 3, Get 1 Free” special these Firestones Destination A/Ts were just over $500 plus tax.
No thanks. But that was still better than another Firestone store that quoted me $617 for the same tire without the crap on the sidewalls.
To be brutally honest, I saw no need to spend a lot on tires. It’s a vehicle we rarely drive (in case I had not mentioned that) and we’ve had some sizable expenses as late, so I was aiming for practical.
If the world were perfect, I would have put these Coopers on the thing. But I’m not doing that for maybe 2,000 miles of use per year.
My shopping revealed I could get these Cooper Trendsetters, which is what I have on the Galaxie. The price was better at $452.18 but I really didn’t want a passenger car tire on the van given its weight.
Plus, any whitewall would have to be mounted on the inside.
Calling around I found a set of Nexen AH-5s. I called two stores; one in town quoted me $387.55 and a store outside town was $308.85 – for the same tire! This difference made me realize you sometimes have to travel to save a few dollars. After another phone call I journeyed west to California.
California, Missouri, that is. It’s twenty miles west with a population of 4,400.
With the Nexen’s being a passenger car tire, I ruled them out. Instead I found an off-brand tire from a store in California. I should have thought of them earlier; it’s the same place I bought the Cooper tires for my pickup several years ago, saving about $40 each in the process. The store is owned by Nathan and his wife Jolene; their overhead is likely substantially less than here in Jefferson City where people are proud of their property (relatively speaking) given it’s the state capital and all.
There was just one problem. The van’s batter was kaput. So I pulled the battery from the Galaxie and used a bungee cord to hold it in place. Remember, I’m aiming for practical here and pretty is beside the point.
Getting the old tires off the van, my suspicions were confirmed – they had dry rot.
So what did I get?
Something I had never heard of before. However, the price was right and the reviews were positive. These were $343 out the door, which includes sales tax, mounting, balancing, and disposal of the old tires. They are also intended for heavier loads.
These Milestar Grantlands are manufactured by Nankang and imported by Tireco, Incorporated. Tireco has been around since 1972 and is based in California – the state. Nankang has been around since 1940 and sells tires all over the world.
Frankly, getting on off-brand on the van bothers me not one iota. So what if they could wear out in 20,000 miles (which will likely be around 2027) despite the 45,000 mile warranty? These will likely age out before they wear out.
How are they? This van has always wallowed around like a hog in mud but it now drives like an entirely different vehicle. Bumps were often harsh and would sometimes cause the windows to rattle and the dashboard to make a popping noise. That is no longer the case. The ride is quieter and smoother, I’m no longer on ten year old tires, and I spent less than my threshold of $400.
It’s not like this is my only vehicle or I’m driving it everyday.
The Passat will get different tires next spring and I won’t be entertaining Milestars as the VW sees six times more use than the van. Jolene quoted me a price for Cooper CS5s that is much less than I can find here in town. So that’s all but a done deal.
Incidentally, I found the source of the van’s battery drain. The illuminated entry on the rear side door was staying lit. I’ve removed the bulb and the world is a sunny place once again.
It seems my streak of practicality and pragmatism has reared its considerable head. And this insipid van is now borderline enjoyable to drive.
What is the world coming to?
I can’t believe you still have that darn van Jason. And that you’re spending money and time on it.
I have a similar issue with my old Focus. We bought a newer Focus and I’m having trouble selling a 16 year old car with 275,000km on it, no matter how nice it still drives.
So the question is do I spend time and money to try get it safetied and air-cared or just drop the price until it goes? I cut the price in the Kijiji ad today, will do it again next Friday.
I’ve inspired him and now he wants to keep it for at least 30 years. 🙂
I buy used tires for my truck. The last set were Goodyear Wrangler LTs, and cost me $200 for the set, balanced and mounted. They had 90% of the tread and were only a couple of years old.
We were in a small low income farming town in California’s Central Valley and saw a rundown shop selling Used Tires – Llantas Usadas. “Who would buy used tires?” my wife exclaimed in surprise. She was more surprised when I told her that I used to, when I was young and poor long before we were married. I still would do, if I had an urban-only vehicle. I would buy used Michelins before buying new Chinese tires, though I have to admit to using Korean tires regularly on 2 of my 3 motorcycles, with excellent traction, treadlife, and general durability.
I went YEARS without buying a new set of tires. When you drive $450 cars, you just don’t even consider new tires. I had go-to places that always seemed to have something decent–those were the chain tire stores in the better areas of town—back when they were allowed to sell their ‘gently’ used tires to others. Now none of the chains here sell used. Hell, they won’t even plug a tire anymore!
Anyway, for a beater, used tires are just fine.
Used tires also make some sense for collector vehicles. They always age-out before wearing out. Two year old tires with 60% tread will last 5- 8 years (or more) on a low-mileage collector car, at 25% of the price of new.
My local used tire place also re-sells NOS tires they buy from tire wearhouses for pennies on the dollar. I got new 10-year old, never – installed Chinese Khumos for my ’77 Marquis at $25 each installed. They look and function like new. This car gets 1000 miles a year, so who knows how long they last.
After seeing how they treated people with problems, I would run four different used Chinese tires before Michelin.
I tend to go used on vehicles that only see a few thousand a year, heck I’ve even done it on vehicles that see more usage. The key of course is to start looking before you really really need them, then snap them up when a deal comes along.
For my Super Duty new take offs were cheap because lots of people go right to the tire store and put aftermarket wheels on. Ditto for Panthers as you can use the 05-up Mustang wheels and tires.
My summer tires are $250 for a set of Michelins with 90%+ tread and Base Mustang 17″ wheels and lugs, bought in the middle of winter when it was snowing. The Winter tires are another set that was basically brand new for $300, with wheels and sensors at the wrecking yard, in the middle of Summer.
Now the F150 I just bought pisses me off since it is 5 x 135mm and they switched to 6 Lug on the newer trucks. So lots of new and almost new take offs on CL that won’t fit the truck.
Just st beware of recalled tires being sold as used.
Read somewhere that only 15% of all those Explorer/Firestone rollover recall tires were ever accounted for. Firestone tried to do a 2nd recall to recover remainder after some guy was killed in a roll-over after he bought a recall tire as used.
When buying used, always check the NHTSA tire recall site first. (Report any violations too.)
The tire thing was a lose lose in some senses, but I figure new ones are cheaper than consequences from a blow out at 70 mph.
At this point I’ll likely beat Paul’s ownership record – a thought that makes my head hurt.
My stock trailer dates to 1976 and has Class E tires on it that may well be original to the trailer. Definitely some dry rot going on, but I make exactly one haul per year with it, and can’t quite bring myself to spend $600+ to replace them (four tires).
This van looks like a keeper to me .
? What inflation pressure do these tires run ? .
-Nate
I have mixed feelings about Chinese manufactured tires. Cheap but well made? I got a great deal on some Chinese tires a few years back for the daughter’s 02 Jetta. She had no problems with them and even as all-season tires got around fine in winter.
You’re right buying a good quality tire for big dollars makes no sense if the vehicle is rarely driven. My 07 Focus has some Canadian Tire all-season tires and I’ll find out this winter how good they work in the white stuff. They were bought by the previous owner who didn’t feel a more premium tire was necessary. My wife’s 2010 Fusion will get Firestone winter tires. A set of four from a new tire shop in Edmonton (Grand opening special) at $660.00 including mounting and balancing. That’s like half price compared to quotes I got from some other tire shops. Had I gone for a set of Chinese winter tires the price would have dropped about $10 a tire.
Bottom line shop around. There are lots of tire shops vying for my business. And if you’re like me, ask about a senior’s discount if you are in that age category. Not that I feel very senior–at 63 today.
Happy Birthday. Not far behind you. Don’t drive too much any longer. The Dunlop FEs on the ONION lasted 20,000 miles. The mystery branded ones are doing quite well and are quieter and ride better. Same with the Valiant.
There are lots of reviews online about just about any Chinese sourced tires as well as the name brands. Many manufacture for the name brands it appears.
I’ve been having a hard time finding any re-treads lately, myself. ;-}
I had really bad luck with the Kumhos that came with my new 2007 Accent. Bubbles in the sidewall and tread separations meant all four were off the car by 17,000 miles. That soured me on both Hyundai and Chinese tires. The ContiPros on my Nissan have been flawless except for what I think is too much road noise without even a flat and still have enough tread to get me to 45,000 miles (I hope – but I might replace them before winter)
For LT sizes: treadwright.com
JPCavanaugh,
Is Jason’s van similar to the one you owned a while back?
His is newer with the 5.4. Mine was a pre-97 that still used the old Windsor (5.8 in my case). Also mine was in factory Club Wagon trim instead of the aftermarket conversion. But there is still a lot in common.
University of Alabama branded tires? Roll tide, indeed.
Stick on letters, you can order them to say what ever you want.
Got new tires on a conversion van?
ROAD TRIP!
This is a timely post, as I just had to come to grips with a tire issue this morning, and will likely be spending a chunk of time at my local Discount Tire franchise tomorrow.
I’d be thrilled to replace the low profile Yokohama tires on the 300M with something with a taller sidewall and a smoother ride, as the car is now a highway cruiser, and at 19 years old and 70,000 miles it’s still serviceable but not exactly a high-performance car worthy of such hi-tech rubber any more. The current tires are about 4 years old and probably have about 30,000 miles on them, but 2 are a bit worn, likely from lack of proper inflation while they were on the front of the car for several years. The others look practically new, but for whatever reason these things are impossible to keep inflated or balanced. Discount Tire offers free rotation and balancing with any purchase of a set of 4 tires. I last took advantage of this service back in November, or about 5,000 miles ago. While I don’t want them rotated again as the better 2 are now on the front, they’ve become noticeably out of balance and I’ve taken to refilling them every 2 weeks like clockwork, using one of those inflation kiosks at a local gas station, with electronic psi meter. Well, this month I let things go a bit and went probably about 3 weeks between re-inflations, so by this morning I was noticing the lack of balance and wonky handling in a very pronounced way. When I stopped in to add air I discovered that 2 tires on opposite corners of the car were 12 and 15 psi low. Now, I am not of a mind to spend $600 to replace tires that theoretically have half their mileage warranty left on them, but I’ve hated these tires from day one, and the need to constantly monitor pressure (manually, as there’s no monitoring system on the car), with constant topping off, is rather a nuisance. Not to mention that if one tire is even 3-5 pounds low there is a noticeable deficit in ride and handling, and the Yokohamas have always been rather harsh riding tires. I’m torn, because I don’t want to replace what’s supposed to be a top-line tire with an off-brand one, and I’d hate to spend money on new tires only to have wet road handling suffer or overall cornering stability be reduced, but I have better things to do with my time than worry about paying $1.50 every other week to crawl around on the ground getting dirty and wet to refill something that by design was meant to hold air with some degree of reliability. So back to Discount Tire I will go tomorrow morning, on a Saturday when it’s packed, and probably sit there for a couple of hours while I have them check all 4 tires for leaks and rebalance them all, putting them back in the same positions they’re in now. I can’t justify spending the money for new ones, especially with a move coming up and a second car purchase on the horizon, but at 7:30 this morning I was pretty damn sure that I was going to finally jettison these confounded things. A cooling off period brought me to my senses, but if they’re running a really good special I might be sorely tempted.
Love those digital air kiosks at the local Circle K, MTN. I have a pump at home and good quality tire pressure gauges,, but these seem far more precise.
And they have auto fill to the pressure you select. In large # format. Unlike the tire gauge on the electric pump.
And I always swore I’d never pay for “air”.
Discount Tire offers a 30 day ride guarantee. If you don’t like the way it drives with what you pick you can replace them with something else. I have used this twice.
I had an ’04 Intrepid ES that wore the front tires much quicker than the rears, regardless of balance and inflation. I don’t think it’s unique to the LH cars, but part of any heavy front-driver.
After about three years I replaced the original Goodyear Eagle GAs (crap) with BFG Touring TAs that handled well and provided an exceptionally quiet and smooth ride. They really suited the characteristics of the car, but were unfortunately no longer available the next time I had to replace.
“…While I don’t want them rotated again as the better 2 are now on the front”… At the risk of starting something, you want the tires with more tread on the back.
Jason watch this video, it just might make you appreciate your Ford van immensely more than you do now.
https://streamable.com/20pa
Just a reminder, DougD, Ontario changed it’s laws April 1st this year. Cars only have to be etested on your birthday now, not at time of sale.
Which makes cars like yours more appealing as there is no longer a mad rush to get it to pass so you can drive it.
My 2004 GMC Sierra K1500 (with 70,000 miles) still has the original factory Firestones on it. The spare is also the original OEM and has never been on the ground – an unused 13 year old tire. the tires are actually pretty good for the age and just made a trip from Connecticut to Nashville and back. I’ll probably replace them before winter because the tread is getting too worn down to be much use in the snow.
The spare on the van is also the original one from Ford.
My spare in my Cougar is the original one from 1968. I would never use it but it is an example of a Goodyear polyglas tire from those times.
Nice article and thank you for writing it. How much is it a year to insure the van? I am not used to seeing one of these Conversion Vans that someone does not live in since they are quite common in the Portland Area as cheap housing. In fact, I saw about three broken down just in the past week during my travels.
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I like to stick with All Season Tires since my time in Central New York has taught me that meatier tires can be handy so I have General Altimax RT43s on my Camry. Even in Portland they do come in handy.
That’s a good question on insurance and I can’t easily answer it. We have it bundled up with the pickup and car, so it’s one lump sum payment for all three.
Quite recently I realized we were still carrying full coverage on it, ie, collision insurance. With its value it was almost, but not quite, in that zone of meeting the general standard about when to have liability only. Calling our agent, it was only like a $10 savings per month to drop collision.
It’s overall good condition can be attributed to the prior owners being elderly people who kept it parked inside. I had parked mostly inside until we bought our current house two years ago. With four vehicles and three garage bays, the van drew the short straw.
Well, now that you’ve spent money for new tires, then you can’t justify getting rid of it. Looks like the van will be sticking around a bit longer!
And I like your maintenance philosophy — bungee-cording the battery and removing a bulb. That’s my preferred way of solving problems.
Replacing tires on a rarely-used vehicle is definitely a hassle. I have the same issue with our Thunderbird (also with about 2,000 annual miles), that the tires dry-rot long before they wear out. Last time, I think the tires only lasted about 5-6 years before I became uncomfortable driving on them. Not the most satisfying way in the world to spend money, but like you said, it beats facing the consequences from the alternative.
Here’s how I’m looking at the van – or perhaps rationalizing it….
I’m eligible to retire in about 7 to 8 years. Not saying I will, although I might. Keeping it around would provide a cheap vehicle for the traveling I would like to do. Even better, I can throw a mattress in the back and be self-contained.
Plus, in those 7 or 8 years I’ll put good tires on it. And I cannot believe I’m actually saying any of this.
Seems like you love to hate your van, but the new shoes shows it still gets a little respect. You can still kick it’s new tires until you get the sad puppy dog look from the headlamps.
My ’04 Titan only has 16k miles, although the 17 inch aluminum wheels/tires and BF Goodrich Rugged Trail TA’s are from an ’06 as a upgrade to the stripper steels wheels and skinny Bridgestone Dueler tires it came with. I got the set for $200, they were new off a truck that had ’20’s installed. I gave away my original tires years ago, still have the steel wheels in case I decide to buy a set of winter tires. I did rotate them for the first time last year, and the front tires that were moved to the back were really slippery, the back end would slide out around corners and spin even with gentle throttle. After a couple of months and a few miles they are fine now. No cracks and still lots of tread, if I plan a long road trip next summer I might consider a set of new Grantlands, they will age out just like the first set anyway.
Awww, they’re finally bonding! 🙂
Yes, I think you now have an Econoline. Maybe it just took the Transit to make the old girl look appealing. Yes, you reach a point where you need to make a hard decision and it looks like you did.
Tires can make a lot of difference. I hated the Kumhos on my Kia and the Goodyear Wranglers on my Club Wagon. Michelin came to the rescue both times. They were more money but both cars also see/saw front line duty.
So true about tires making a big difference. The VW has 32,000 miles now and the Hankooks on it are nothing to brag about, with reviews on tirerack.com verifying my impressions. I’m looking forward to those tires going to the shredder.
Yes, we are keeping the van for at least a while. I’ve put 200 miles on it in the last week, with a 70 mile round trip to Columbia earlier today. It only has 116,600 miles on it and an identical one went for 1.3 million miles before it imploded.
So how do we feel about old ‘survivor’ low-mileage cars still driving on the original rubber? When I got my aunt’s 21 year old Suzuki Swift with 19,000km on it, the original rubber had plenty of tread, but also plenty of cracks in the perished sidewalls. I hadn’t noticed this until I went to get a roadworthy certificate for the change of ownership – and I’d driven the car at 100km/h to get to the testing station…..
In my mind tires are consumable items and changing tires doesn’t hinder originality.
That said I did take the van on a 700 mile round trip about 8 weeks ago. Alone, so the tires didn’t worry me as much as it would if my family was along.
I have to say that I’ve (or more precisely, Mrs. Lokki) had a bad experience with old tires even though I had no visible dry rot and plenty of tread. Her car is a 1998, bought new, and as of this morning it has 69,000 (and change) miles on it. She had (until retiring a few years back) a job very close by so the car was driven daily, but only for a few miles at a time.
About a dozen years ago when driving in the rain, she spun the car (at least two loops) in a cobblestoned intersection because the Michelins had dried out (?) and lost their wet weather capability. Admittedly cobblestones are slippery anyhow, but the tires sure didn’t help the situation. Since this intersection is one we frequently traverse, well….
So, the last set of Michelin tires I replaced probably had run less than 10,000 miles on the tread. I am sure that they never stopped moving as they came off her car and went onto somebody else’s car as used tires.
So while there’s no doubt I am being over cautious with the wife’s car, there is a real problem with running tires that are too old.
I will be putting tires on my Mustang in the spring. The set on it right now are 12 years old with 3300 miles on them. I will be driving it from Albuquerque to Seattle. The thought of running those tires on that trip…well that’s not going to happen. I will probably go better quality tires for the trip but after that it once again won’t be driven much.
A picture I took 3 years and 800 miles ago, is in storage right now.
Oooohhh! A discussion about tires! Seriously, I can go on for hours… But I won’t.
I’m of the opinion that your tires are your only connection to the earth, so I try to keep decent rubber on all of my cars. I didn’t say fantastic rubber, just decent rubber. Up until recently, I usually stuck to Continental tire brands (Continental, General, Barum), but a few years ago I bought some all weather V rated Kumhos for my G6. I was pleasantly surprised with the performance of the Kumhos, as I’d heard some less than positive comments about them (but not the same tires as I put on the G6). But Discount Tire was running a special and I didn’t have the time to wait for DSWs to come into stock.
As my cars are older, I prefer to put on higher performance (read stickier) tires that have lower mileage lifespans. Neither of my cars are worth a lot, and if a deer runs into my car (again) I don’t want to have a lot of money tied up in parts. The Kumhos work out great on my Pontiac, giving me the performance that I want with the price that I like. I’m on my second set and thoroughly bummed that the Ecstas are no longer made in my car’s size.
My next door neighbor just got a new Honda Accord with 19″ wheels. I told her what replacements will cost, she was not thrilled. I was less than thrilled when my G6 came with 17’s, as the other G6s I’d driven came with sensibly sized 16″ wheels. I can easily spend $400 on tires for the G6, which is about $100 more than I want to spend…
I put V rated tires on my minivan, too. Even though the ride is a bit harsher, I like the handling I get from the tires. To that end, I’ve been exploring the lesser known brands. I have a set of Falkens on the Silhouette which are holding up just fine to my daily driving (which is probably more aggressive than most minivan drivers).
I’ll be interested to see how the Greatlands hold up. I know that some of the bargain lines of some of the bigger tire brands have come from China; I’ve long heard that China can produce anything well. It’s just how well the process is managed. I can’t complain about the Korean tires I’ve been using lately, they seem to hold up just fine. But if I get a newer car again, I will be back to something from the Continental group.
It’s interesting what you say about Continental tires – I’ve had so-so luck with them as they were original equipment on the ’01 Taurus we had. All started to separate with the first at 40,000 miles.
That said, I did drive a ’16 Passat recently that had them and they were fantastic for my brief time with them. It’s good to see VW walked away from the Hankooks.
WRT Contis: A buddy of mine had a job with Continental General several years back. Anytime I needed new tires, he would hook me up (using his employee discount), the only catch was I had to drive five hours back to Akron to do this. He’s since moved on, but up until 3-4 years ago I was still buying them retail. I had very good luck with the Generals that I bought for the Pontiac. I had two sets of Barums (another Conti brand), on my Cavalier. IIRC, one set was made in France, the other China.
The worst tires I’ve had on cars were Firestones. My first Aztek and this G6 had them as factory tires; they sucked at everything. I couldn’t wait to peel them off of the cars. My other off-brand favorite is Kelly, which is a Goodyear brand. Many moons ago, I had a set of Kelly Chargers on my Lancer turbo. They were only rated for 40K miles, I managed to squeak out 67K miles with careful rotations and vigilant maintenance. At the time, I lived in Georgia, the glass smooth roads and the general lack of rain helped with that aspect. Had I been living up here and having to deal with larger amounts of precipitation, they would have been off the car much sooner.
Next you’ll be telling us you actually washed it for the first time in years…I think this is all part of the plan to show everyone how desirable and pleasureful the van is so one of us buys it off you. Since Paul’s probably still waiting on windows for his van and instead using it to build the “Paul Plaza” mega-housing development (Pre-Sales Going On Now! Without HOA! Get In On the Ground Floor!), maybe he will finally take my suggestion and just buy this one from you to replace the Chinook. Still, glad to see it’s getting some love in the appropriate area. Of all the vehicles you own to have a blowout in and try to save it that’d probably the most difficult one. OK, maybe the Galaxie. But maybe not, I’m sure the CoG is a lot higher in the van.
The Galaxie handles like a Corvette in comparison to the van.
I’ve had a phobia about aged tires for years after having a blow-out in my father’s ’84 F-150 in 1998. I was on I-70 crossing the Missouri River on the west end of St. Louis County and the right front tire blew out while I was in the middle lane and pulling a 16′ trailer. The tire that blew was one of the original 14 year old tires he put on it.
You’ve figured out my plan on divesting myself of the Galaxie. Paul has no windows yet and I’m going to keep finding reasons to post articles about my van. And, would you believe, I did actually wax that thing back in the spring???
Holding on to an extra, little used car always results in hard decisions about spending money. As time passes tires age and crack, and batteries loose their charge and can’t be revived. Extra registration fees must be paid though mine are low since my cars are so old. Insurance isn’t too much since I’m an old man. The more cars you have the more you have to spend.
I’ve currently got a fleet of seven cars! Three are hobby cars (one isn’t running yet). Two are my “new cars” my ’07 Mustang and F150. Both over 10 years old and over 100,000. Both of these and my ’96 Mustang are the current daily drivers. My old Explorer has developed a problem that I haven’t yet had the time to address. My XJ6 was a daily until the need to rebuild the front suspension made itself apparent, now it’s in the limited use rotation with the recently up and running XJS.
My experience with the Hankook tires that came on my ’07 F150 have been great. Excellent handling and ride and I’m on my second set. My experience with high performance Kuhmos has been very good and I plan a set for both of the Jaguars.
Jason this article is very timely. I have two E350 Club Wagons (’94 & ’96 don’t ask long story) that bought one and half years ago. The previous owner had Michelins on both of the vans. Both sets of tires look like new but they have dry rot and need to be replaced SOON. As fortune would have it I had a blowout on one of the tires on ’02 F150 Harley Davidson. These are Goodyear 275/45R20 Eagle GTII VR-rated tires. So now I have to add 2 more tires to my shopping list.
One of the vans is going to be sold soon but I will put a set of used tires on it. Saw an ad in CL for a set of Michelins 245/75/16 for & $280. For the van that I am keeping I’ve been browsing Tire Rack’s webpage and the replacement Michelins are $900+ not including M&B. The ’96 van only has 53k miles and I want to make some road trips and will feel safer with new tires rather than used. But which brand I have not decided. I wish I could get a “sportier stickier tire” but that doesn’t seem to be available for E350s.
The Harley is going to get two new tires, the same as what it came from the factory. These run about $200 each from TR.
I am screwed!