Florida does have many bad roads also with all those drain covers all down many streets near me. If you really think hard about it, the suspension is what's there to handle those potholes and bumps. The seats also protect you and most of the big trucks have those air riding seats. The high air pressure is in all heavy truck tires also. I rented a 9 passenger E-350 to go to the FL Keys and the tire pressure sticker called for 90psi. Also, many of the low profile tires on today's vehicles don't have the sidewall depth to give.

My '11 Explorer has those low profile tires and I recently hit a big curb going pretty fast I didn't see over my high hood and fenders. Both the right side front and rear tire jumped over that curb. My seat belt kept from flying out of my seat, but that high tire pressure saved damage to my expensive 20" rims. When I got out to check the tires and rims, there was no damage. If I had 35psi in those tires, I would have been replacing two tires and rims for sure.

What I've found out about having my tires at 55psi, it is the sound you hear, not the shaking of the ride when you hit a pothole. The high tire pressure protects the tires and rims from damage. Working as a paramedic, I seen many car crashes with tire and rim damage and wonder if that could have been prevented with higher tire pressure.

Bill, you need to think a little outside the box. The author of that article you posted needs to do the same.

GaryG

 

After getting an oil change one day as I was returning home in my '97 Ranger I thought that was riding hard like a pogo stick. A few minutes later I hit something, a hole, bump or whatever. The whole rear end jump into the next lane, luckily nobody was in that lane. When I got home I checked the air pressure and it was grossly over inflated or what you might call normal for you. It may have been the perfect storm or whatever but I would never over inflate my tires, never in a million years.

 

I know that's a true story because you've posted it before quite some time ago. I think it was the perfect storm and you better be happy your tires and rims were not damaged. Those oil change places always let the air out of my tires, so I don't use them often. Every time my daughter or son use them, I tell them to check the tire pressure also. I have one of those big Craftsman air compressors in my garage we all use. My daughter and Son both know the value of keeping their tires pressure like mine. My son keeps 50psi in his '12 Focus and my daughter keeps 44psi in her Civic. That's find with me because she buys her gas and tires herself. I pay for my son while he is in college.

GaryG

 

Yeah, I've mention that story before. The Ranger had a fiberglass sides on the box which made for a very light rear end.

I've got Craftsman 30 or is it a 33gallon vertical. Got a safety recall on it by the way.

 

Well, I started this thread, and dropped off the site for quite a while. I put 2 sets of General Grabbers on that 08. The 2nd set was put on by the local big Ford dealer, insisting they were the mfr recommended tire. I think they grabbed the wrong ones. In any case they wear pretty well, and get lower MPG than my OEM Contis did. Traction is fine in lotsa conditions but they're not snowtires. The 08 has about 225K on it now, and still factory brakes. It's time for them though.

I'm now driving an 09 FEH Ltd. 4WD with 60k on it, Kelly tires, not very good MPG. I'd hafta get serious about carrying less weight (unsprung and total), better tires, inflation, etc to give any data worth glancing at. The Kellys have some life left on them so I'll leave em alone til late summer probably. I'm 2nd owner and it had less than 50k on it when I got it, but these Kelly tires. Makes me wonder about the rigs original owner. Oh yeah, it has the remote start package on it for the cold Montana winters, so MPG wasn't really pursued by the original owners.

I'd still be looking at those Duellers and General Grabbers amongst others. LRRs seem to have been changing the last year or so, and I'm not up on it really, and don't have good dealer people when it comes to hybrid stuff let alone FEH.

 

I now have almost 60,000 on my Michelin Latitude Tours ... on a 2010 FEH Limited AWD. They have awhile to go yet, having done just fine in our deep Maine snow this winter. I'm due for inspection in July and expect I'll need to update them then. I can't see any reason to move to another tire. Anyone out there believe they've found something better than Latitude Tours?

 

Oh, and as to Florida potholes. Nope. Not even close. The freeze/thaw cycles here in Maine (with the salt creating the water from ice/snow) create an abundance of mean spirited road failures. The MEDOT fills 'em but Mother Nature stays way ahead of those guys -- and often their patches fail within days. And the frost heaves can put a car airborne this time of year. I've been to Florida plenty of times and in various locations. Those things you call 'bumps', we call glass-smooth. If you're not needing to have alignments done this time of year, you're not in Maine (or NH or VT or MA, etc.) or you don't drive. Come on up for a fine torture test. I'll direct you to a good alignment shop.

 

I'm ready for a new set this month at 71k miles. Right now I plan on getting Bridgestone Dueler H/L 422 Ecopia. I've always had good results with Bridgestones on other SUV's.

 

I was not aware of the Bridgestone 422's. I checked out the reviews at Tire Rack and it isn't looking all that good (there are lots and lots of reviews. I read about the first 50). You might review them before buying. Quite a few users have had both Michelin Latitudes and 422's. Of course the reviews, like all reviews, are all over the map, but too many recent negatives on the 422's for me. Let us know how it goes for you, please.

 

I wrote an initial review of my Bridgestone Dueler 422 on Page 7 of this thread. I've had them for about 2-3 years now, about 25K miles. They're good tires in my opinion. I would recommend them. But here are some caveats:
- I drive in southern CA. No snow and very little rain.
- I think they're about the same as my original Conti's.
- My MPG is equal to before.
- The tire wear is good (still looks like new)
- I pump them up to 38 psi usually
- I haven't driven on any other brand tires before

So there's the qualified opinion. I got these at TireRack too...the price was much better than the other more popular models. I'm happy with them so far. Good luck with your tire search.