posted July 25, 2000 07:03 AM
After reading this board yesterday, I was very wary of getting another set of the Wilderness AT tires. I read of tires overheating and exploding, etc. Here is my situation:we bought our Ford Explorer in 97 and currently have 30,400 miles on it. The tread on a few tires in the channels was splitting/tearing and there was a separation in the sidewall the entire circumference of each tire. Beings we are going on vacation, I definitely wanted to get this checked out. I took the vehicle back to the dealership, they called firestone who warrantied all four of the tires based on the tear in the sidewall. The tread separation in the channels Firestone said was normal road hazard. My cost was an avg of $25/tire plus I had to pay mounting, balancing and labor for a total of approx $200. (the total bill was approx $450. - Firestone paid the other half)
My suggestion is that if you have a 97 or older vehicle, visually check out the sidewall of each tire. This tear in the sidewall is about 2 inches from the tread and will look like the tire was originally pieced together there like it was a retread !!