Category: tires

Posted on

New Tires (Post #567) 1/22/2017

BWB up on the rack

After 4 years on my Firestone AT’s they finally quit me. They just don’t make tires like they used too. /sarcasm.

With 2/32ds on the worst one it was time get new shoes for the BWB. I took her by my son-in-law’s Firestone shop on 33rd in Edmond to get a new set of Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo 2’s. I love these tires.

I noticed he had a set of 5 BF Goodrich MTs on sale for 180$(US). If they were the right size and I had an extra set of rims I would have totally bought these for trail driving. But alas I am only able to afford a single set today.

They got me all setup and I’m back on the road. I could go on for hours about tires. But like opinions there are many brands and sizes of tires to choose from. I am a big fan of Bridgestone. I know Bill Burke is a big fan of BF Goodrich tires. All I recommend is that you do your research. Tires need to function on dry and wet roads, snow and ice, gravel and dirt. And for me most of all they have to be quiet on the highway.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering

 

Posted on

3 Ply Tires are for Sissies* (Post #489) 4/24/2014

My good friend JagGuy, who you may know from his site XM381.com or my frequent mentions of his genius when it comes to automotive knowledge, has an interesting hobby. He has a business where he bobs the venerable Duece and a Half’s that were so prevalent in the last century with our military. I drove one at the 1984 Combined Arms Exercise at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. Continue reading “3 Ply Tires are for Sissies* (Post #489) 4/24/2014”

Posted on

Camel Trophy Indeed (Post #261) 6/12/2011

I found this Camel tire repair kit in my dad’s garage. We have been cleaning my mom’s house out the past couple of weekends. Now I am sorting all that stuff in my garage.

I will definitely pack that in my road kit if for nothing else a conversation starter.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Rovering.

Posted on

Not much going on (Post #250) 3/1/2011

LR2 Owner with a sense of adventure PRA4SNO

I just thought I’d stop in and say not much is going on. I’ve been able to drive the Range Rover a couple of times. I took my nephew out to my mother’s house and we knocked around the property. I was able to incorporate the Range Rover for use as a ladder. I stepped up on the tailgate to get to a higher limb.

We also used her to haul the storm door back from Lowe’s. With the door hanging out the back I recalled that was the one thing I didn’t like about my Discovery 2. The fact that I COULDN’T hang over sized loads out the back. We rolled down the windows and had the sunroof open to abate the exhaust coming in from the back. I’m wondering if there is a way to pipe the exhaust out the side that might minimalize the exhaust coming back into the vehicle when using the back to haul over sized stuff.

At one point Mrs. OkieRover asked me if we could, “just strap the door on top.” The first reason no was all my straps were in the garage at the house. I could have bought more at Lowe’s but I didn’t. I told her there was a glass sunroof up there and that, “I don’t have a roof rack.” She gave her customary, “whatever” comment. Which I take to mean, “I know you will buy one when you want one.” WELL…I want one.

I need to start on the door locks. I’m not sure how to approach the issue, but it needs to be addressed.

I will also be taking the Range Rover on my soccer strip in a few weeks. I’ve tried to have some type of tailgate for the Chicago Fire vs FC Dallas MLS match. This is the closest MLS game to my home location. Saturn used to sponsor a pre-season soccer match at OU’s soccer facility. But with the car dealers taking it on the chin and the demise of Saturn, it might be a cold day in hell before MLS is back in our metro.

We had a chance at a USL team in Edmond, but it never happened. The expansion didn’t include the OKC metro area. I’m still holding out for a merger that would somehow make MLS and USL one giant all powerful league that elevates the level of play and gives America a leg up on the world competition. Ah….a soccer fan can dream.

Parking lot shoveler takes a break

The Firestone Destination AT tires worked out great in the snow. I was never disappointed in their stickiness on the ice and their grip in the snow. The tires worked great. They are quiet on the highway too. So far so good.

They really liked resting on the Classic
In the first picture you can see a local Land Rover LR2 owner with a pretty funny personalized license plate.
PRA4SNO

I’m guessing he was praying for it because it was starting during the evening commute the night I took this picture. The next day it hit in earnest and we missed two days of work with a blizzard. I’ve seen him a couple of other times on the way home, but never when I’m in my Range Rover.

I had another encounter during the recent snow. No doubt you have heard of the “Rover Wave”. My quote at the bottom of that page happened again during the blizzards. While sitting in front of Bass Pro store in Bricktown waiting for the signal light to change, a woman driving a Tambora Flame Orange LR2 gave me a big toothy smile as she turned into the parking lot. I sensed with that smile, that she knew that the only vehicle to drive in this crappy weather was a Land Rover.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

Posted on

Follow-Up on Tires (Post #241) 1/20/2011

I received a GREAT coupon in my email from my preferred tire dealer. Basically it is store cost plus a dollar for Bridgestone or Firestone tires. As you have no doubt read I have had a love affair with Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo II’s. The bad news about this is the supply of this tire in sizes that would work well for a classic Range Rover has dried up.
Basically I am looking for tires that match as closely as possible the original size.

As you can read on RangeRovers.net the original size was 205/80-16.

Getting a tire close to this size is the trick. Knowing which tire is the same size requires a little math. Thankfully there are lots of tire calculators available on the interwebs.

I used this one on 1010tires.com.

The tire sizes I’m considering are…

Tire Size Comparison
Size Size Change Percent Speed at 60mph
205/80-16 0 60
215/85-16 -.77 60.4
225/75-16 +1.27 59.2
245/70-16 +2 58.7
235/75-16 +3.22 58.0

This tire calculator will pop up a message saying the 235/75-16 tire is outside the recommended range of 3 percent or smaller.

I highly recommend you read the tire page on RangeRovers.net. There is a lot of information about sizes on there that will remove a lot of the guess work.

So back to the Bridgestone problem of supply. Art at Hibdon’s Tire Plus called Bridgestone and asked the question I’ve been trying find out. Are they dropping the Dueler AT REVO II?

According to Bridgestone they have a supply problem. Tire manufacturers do not like to have tires sitting on the shelf too long. Tires have expiration dates just like milk only a tad bit longer. I can’t answer how long is “too long” but lets just say the tire companies know. In any event, they are trying to keep their stock rotated. When uncertain times like these come around manufacturers cut back. Apparently they cut back too much and a GREAT tire became unavailable.

Again, according to Bridgestone the Dueler AT REVO II’s stock will be replenished. So the tire sizes for that tire that are best for our Range Rovers will again be on the shelves or racks in late March or early April. You know I will be checking out this information.

In the mean time a quandary has appeared in our path like a rather large rock slide. Do we buy tires now and just source a different tire that got good marks, in effect DRIVE AROUND the rock slide? Or do we wait for the Dueler’s to show up meanwhile driving around on bald tires or severely limit our driving? This second portion has some added weight that I will miss using the coupon the dealer sent me.

How good a coupon is it? Well, I’ll tell ya.
I asked them to quote me Firestone Destination A/T with full hazard replacement. Here is the survey page for this tire at TIRERACK.COM.

They place 2nd in the category and are actually ranked higher than both of the Dueler AT REVOs.

With out the coupon I can get a set of four installed for 733.45$(US)
With the coupon I can get a set of four installed for 589.63$(US)
143.82$(US) savings!!!

That’s a pretty good alternative to waiting for the Dueler AT REVOs to arrive. Now I could buy Bridgestone Dueler AT REVO IIs in the 245/70-16 size. This is a common pickup truck size and there seem to be plenty of them to be found. They will supposedly fit with no modifications. The coupon is in affect as well giving me a 200.09$(US) savings (nice) on a set of four. Unfortunately a set of four tires without the coupon is 1009.53$(US). HOLY CRAP!

This takes us back to the thoughts in my last tire post about “how much driving am I going to be doing”. This is not my daily driver at best it will be two days a week one of which is a Saturday or Sunday. This Range Rover does not need to rest on a 1000$ set of tires in my driveway. This makes this a fairly easy decision.

So to wrap up.
Milk expires on the shelf. Tires expire on the shelf.
Manufacturers reduce inventories of even their best products when hard times come around.
According to one source at the Bridgestone warehouse, as of this post, they are not planning to eliminate the Dueler REVO tire line from their inventory.
Tires are expensive. Why buy a more expensive tire when a cheaper and notably better product is available? Rhetorical question Farley.

Posted on

Time for Tires Again (Post #241) 1/7/2011

I’ve blogged about this subject a few times. One of those posts sits in the top position of most pageviews for my site.

As you may have gathered from the post’s title, I’m looking for new tires for the Range Rover Classic. The project and calendar have progressed to the point where it is time for new rubber to meet the road. We have pending snow storm coming on Sunday. It will not be the blizzard we had last year. Hell, it probably won’t even snow enough to measure it. But after the local weathermen(and women) get finished with the weather tonight the grocery stores will have a run on milk, smokes, booze, bread and canned soup. And by Wednesday the roads will be clear so new tires are not an emergency situation and neither is running to the grocery to buy something you can wait a day or two for the trucks to deliver.

Consider this, I have not put even a hundred miles on the Classic since last year’s Snowpocalypse storm the tires on her right now will most likely work just fine. They are bald for sure, but I was able to manage with just a failed viscous coupling and front wheel drive and bald tires in blizzard conditions. Now I have both axles working correctly so…I have that going for me.

I have been digging around on the net and I found some bad news today. Bridgestone Dueler AT REVO’s are being discontinued. At the very least they are on closeout at TireRack.com. It’s no great surprise to me. I knew it would happen. Every time a company produces a product that is genius it only takes a few production runs for someone to change it and thusly screw it up. Or someone at corporate to declare we need a new product and thus kill all the successful products they have produced to date.

This is pushing demand for Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo II’s and the smallest size of that tire which is perfect for your Range Rover, 235/75R16, is listed on TireRack.com as….back ordered. Of course it is, I need to buy four of them. I’m not going to wait for them. My local tire shoppe, Hibdon’s Tire Plus, which is normally able to shit me a pair of Tiffany cuff links on command, can’t get either the Revo or Revo II’s. What the hell is that all about?

So I’m looking for a new tire. I could wait to buy, but there is a pending snow storm coming on Sunday night/Monday. That in itself is not enough reason to go buy tires but I need to start looking. So what do we have available as a replacement.

Here is an obligatory graphic that will be out dated 15 minutes after I post it.

These are the top 7 tires in this category at TireRack.com and an associated observation from my point of view for each…

Kumho Road Venture SAT KL61
Never owned a set. Smallest size 225/75R15. The brand is one of those you perhaps don’t know what to expect. I’ve seen more Kumho tire signs on abandoned tire shops than active ones. But they seem to have hit a homerun with the folks on TireRack.com.

Firestone Destination A/T
Lots of sizes. Firestone let me down in the 1990s with a set of tires and I’ve never forgiven them. You remember when Ford and Firestone were sued for tires that fell apart and caused cars and SUVs to flip over? I had a set of those tires in the smaller 15 inch size. They didn’t get recalled, but they fell apart just like the 16 inch ones. I took them back to Firestone and they would not replace them. I haven’t darkened their door since.

It seems they are using UNI-T technology just like the Bridgestone REVO’s. I also know they are essentially the same company as Bridgestone as one owns the other.

Michelin LTX A/T 2
They made the OEM tires for your Range Rover. Those 205/80R16’s had a distinctive narrow and tall look that can’t be copied. If they weren’t 200-300$(US) more than everyone else I would have bought another set. Another strike against them, I can’t buy them at my tire dealer of choice. That is sad because there is a Michelin plant in Ardmore Oklahoma, and I’m all about buying products made in Oklahoma or at least products made by companies with a presence in Oklahoma.

Bridgestone REVO and Bridgestone REVO II
Discontinued and not available. I am very disappointed in this.

Goodyear Wrangler SilentArmor
Not excited about Goodyear. SilentArmor? really? that’s the name you came up with?

Pirelli Scorpion ATR
I saw a set on a truck the other day they looked really good. I’ve never owned a set though. I know they had a tire that was popular with Land Rover owners a decade ago.

I bounced this situation off my friends EGD, Magnum Mike and Titanium Hitch. They sometimes offer sound advice. Most of the time the advice is littered with insults about the Land Rover brand. The gist of their points this time revolved around how much are “you” going to drive the Range Rover. They aren’t too keen with spending the equivalent of the per capita GDP of your average Chadian for tires on a vehicle I’m going to drive only a couple times a week.

This is a good point. I did mention that I’d like to have quality tires because I plan to do some cross country driving. Their observation that I was either stupid or completely mad to drive the Range Rover across the country were well founded. I am often stupid and I am mad to spend the energy I have on a nearly 20 year old Range Rover and to expect it to carry me to California or the Carolina’s is pretty crazy. Can you say AAA? Sure, sure you can.

So I’ll call the tire shoppe and ask them if they carry Pirelli Scorpian ATR‘s. Then I may wait for a month and see if I can get a discount, rebate, Bridgestones, if not, I guess I’ll be rollin’ fat on Pirelli’s.

And if they are willing to have a set on hand, I’m willing to buy them. Of course I will let you know how they perform and whether or not I’d buy them again.

Thanks for reading, stay warm and Happy Rovering.

Proudly powered by WordPress