OK OK, it seems obvious that oem tires are marginal at best, and even if one wanted to replace oem with like-in-kind, the availability and inventory is dismal. Having said all that, what is the consensus opinion of an acceptable substitute for oem?? So far, I have been able to find 265-50-20 from Goodyear, Hancook, Toyo, Falken and a host of others that are slightly wider,ie, 275/285-50-20. Any advice ( either good or bad ) would be appreciated since my local tire dealers seem to be pretty tight-lipped about the whole thing. I rack up about 25K per year on 03 fx-45, most of which is highway driving in the carolinas and georgia.
replacing bad rubber
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If you want a summer only tire, the BF Goodrich KDW2-S looks like a real nice tire. I just put Toyo Proxes S/T on mine, ride is quite comfortable, they're all seasons and look pretty mean. Got them for 190 a piece from onlinetires.com . Both tires come in the stock size.
Tire trouble (update)
After searching the planet for tires that will fit the 45, I finally decided that even a tire with a funny name would be better than my oem Goodyears with 38K miles. Today my local Goodyear dealership installed Hankook 265-50-20s. I have no idea how the tires will perform, but I will keep you advised. The total $$ damage was 860 installed and balanced. If anybody out there has experience with Hankook, I would appreciate a few words of wisdom.
Update: I now have ~17K miles on the Hankook tires that were installed this past Spring. I must admit that I'm pleasantly surprised with the results. The tires are reasonably quiet, have good grip and perhaps most importantly, show very little wear. Compared to the OEM Goodyears, these tires are far superior. Truth be known, I really don't recall what the Goodyears looked like with 17K, but I have to think that they likely showed a good bit more wear than the Hankooks do with comparable mileage. Another update at 30K.
After searching the planet for tires that will fit the 45, I finally decided that even a tire with a funny name would be better than my oem Goodyears with 38K miles. Today my local Goodyear dealership installed Hankook 265-50-20s. I have no idea how the tires will perform, but I will keep you advised. The total $$ damage was 860 installed and balanced. If anybody out there has experience with Hankook, I would appreciate a few words of wisdom.
Update: I now have ~17K miles on the Hankook tires that were installed this past Spring. I must admit that I'm pleasantly surprised with the results. The tires are reasonably quiet, have good grip and perhaps most importantly, show very little wear. Compared to the OEM Goodyears, these tires are far superior. Truth be known, I really don't recall what the Goodyears looked like with 17K, but I have to think that they likely showed a good bit more wear than the Hankooks do with comparable mileage. Another update at 30K.
Re: Tire trouble (update)
My Search yielded this, hope it helps http://www.infinitifx.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2816 V. Good $$, now Let's SEE those Treads!jwm said:
So what is the verdict on the Toyo's? I've read most of the threads out there and in general it seems like this is the best all season road-worthy tire for the FX.
Hankook, too much of an unknown for me. No company in the US uses them as OE, pretty telling.
Hankook, too much of an unknown for me. No company in the US uses them as OE, pretty telling.
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One of the HFXA has the Toyos and I don't like them. They're fine for all season tires, but not as good as the GYs as far as performance in concerned. More road noise, less grip. The BFG KDWII is my choice, but they are strictly high performance summer tires.
I have Had Proxes S/T's on both my QX4's (98 and 2002 ) and now my FX45. To call the S/T an "all season tire" is a real stretch....it is useless in the snow. Straight may be ok...but turning ? forget it in snow.
Not bad in wet, and simply fabulous in summer. Tire wears evenly, looks means.....too bad they cost so much. The sidewall rating on the S/T is very high. Why it is my preference.
Just my 02
Not bad in wet, and simply fabulous in summer. Tire wears evenly, looks means.....too bad they cost so much. The sidewall rating on the S/T is very high. Why it is my preference.
Just my 02
Hankook tires
I just found a press release from Hankook-Ford Motor that announced commencing in late 04 the F-150s would be running Hankook tires exclusively. Either it was $$, availability, or durability that convinced Ford to switch to Hankook, but now we have some sort of a benchmark to compare Hankook with traditional name recognition tires. Armed with this info, I'll likely be sneaking up on Ford trucks to check out their tires.
I just found a press release from Hankook-Ford Motor that announced commencing in late 04 the F-150s would be running Hankook tires exclusively. Either it was $$, availability, or durability that convinced Ford to switch to Hankook, but now we have some sort of a benchmark to compare Hankook with traditional name recognition tires. Armed with this info, I'll likely be sneaking up on Ford trucks to check out their tires.
My guess is that they are known. OE deals are the holy grail for tire companies... same as in most industries. They've probably been pimping their wares quite hard even if they didn't have the capacity. You can always bring that online or outsource it.PINITI-FX said:
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