Firestone Destination LE2 Any problems??

[skulldrinker]

Up until last May I worked at a Firestone and have done hundreds of tires. I think by the 3rd time the owner should have personally done them for you. Yes if you have aluminum wheels the bead area will corrode and we would clean them with the wire wheel. Installation of your new sensors should have been torqued correctly. Most are 35 inch pounds. Maybe yours are over tightened and that could be your leak source. The only other thing i can think of is the bead area is so pitted that it may need the help of bead sealer brushed around it. That's a black gooey tar like goop that gets brushed around the inside edge of the wheel to act as a gasket sealing all the irregularities of the tire bead and the wheel bead area lip. I think my old manager would have tried new tires also to eliminate the possibility of the wheels.

Oh yeah and like the poster above me said while they were still mounted I would have to locate the leak either with a spay bottle around the bead and stem or in the water tank.

this doesn't sound to me to be a date problem.

 

[Rand]

If I was betting.. I'd pick installer error/lazy/just bad.

Maybe you had the equivalent of GHT installing your tires.

 

[Cardenio327]

Every once in a while a careless technician slits the liner of a tire just inside of the bead area with the shoe on the mounting machine.

The air will leak through the slit in the liner then filter out through the other layers of the tire. It will be impossible to find using soapy water because the air spreads out and leaks molecule by molecule. The only way to find the slits is to dismount the tire and carefully check the inside of the bead and adjacent liner with bare fingers and a flashlight.

If a careless tech slit one on a certain tire/wheel combination it is probable that the others on the same car were slit too.

 

[LubricatusObsess]

Originally Posted By: Astro14
Originally Posted By: HosteenJorje
Next time buy Michelins. I lost interest in Firestone tires when the Firestone 500 debacle happened in about 1978/79.


Yeah, I base all my current decisions on what products were like in 1978.

That's why I only buy Oldsmobile! Best quality, nicest features, that's why it's the best selling car in the US!!

Back to the OP's question, the LE2 is a good tire, sounds like yours were mounted poorly...

 

[fdcg27]

Here's an outside possibility.
Did the rims originally have tape weights?
Were hammered in weights used in mounting your new tires?
Some rims simply will not work well with hammered in weights and will leak around where the weights are.

 

[Traction]

Originally Posted By: skulldrinker
Up until last May I worked at a Firestone and have done hundreds of tires. I think by the 3rd time the owner should have personally done them for you. Yes if you have aluminum wheels the bead area will corrode and we would clean them with the wire wheel. Installation of your new sensors should have been torqued correctly. Most are 35 inch pounds. Maybe yours are over tightened and that could be your leak source. The only other thing i can think of is the bead area is so pitted that it may need the help of bead sealer brushed around it. That's a black gooey tar like goop that gets brushed around the inside edge of the wheel to act as a gasket sealing all the irregularities of the tire bead and the wheel bead area lip. I think my old manager would have tried new tires also to eliminate the possibility of the wheels.

Oh yeah and like the poster above me said while they were still mounted I would have to locate the leak either with a spay bottle around the bead and stem or in the water tank.

this doesn't sound to me to be a date problem.


Yes, sometimes bead sealer is needed, but only on tires that have been on a corroded rim for awhile. Like during a flat repair, or trying to clean up bead leaks that have been there for sometime. The problem with bead sealer is everyone smears it all over the wheel, then it balls up, and gets trapped, while seating the tire, causing leaks. Bead sealer, according to the instructions I read, is supposed to be applied to the rubber bead, not the wheel, like everyone else does! I've had to deal with that mess many times. Like I said before, why would anyone ruin a tire mounting job by putting sealer on a clean bead seat?

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: HosteenJorje
Next time buy Michelins. I lost interest in Firestone tires when the Firestone 500 debacle happened in about 1978/79.




Unbelievable. Hail to the mighty Godlike Michelin Tires!

 

[CapriRacer]

What should have happened is that the tire shop should have looked much more closely at finding the leak. I can understand not doing it the second time, but the third time they should have taken the time.

BTW, I hope the OP understands what everyone is saying - it is not the tires per se. While we do not know the exact reason, it is the tire shop's responsibility to find the leak and either fix it or inform the owner what it will take to fix it.

I agree the next step is corporate. Call them and tell them the story. Remind them that you always have the option of replacing the tires somewhere else, and then recovering the money spent in court - which I am sure would go your way.

 

[Hokiefyd]

kathyk: welcome to the forum!

I have four Destination LE2s in 225/65R17 size on our Honda and do not experience any unusual pressure loss with them. I don't think they're balanced *perfectly*, but they're pretty good. My local Firestone has road force balanced them and that helped some. Other than the very slight imperfect balance, I'm satisfied with the tires.

 

[CapriRacer]

Oh and one last thought.

The problem may be the alloy wheels. It has been known that alloy wheels are somewhat porous and even though they are clearcoated, they can develop leaks THROUGH the metal. These can be very hard to diagnose as the leak is spread over a larger area.

 

[kathyk]

Originally Posted By: robertcope
I have the LE2s on my Expedition. Love them. Have not had any issues. I'm typically a Michelin man but the price was too good on these as compared to the differences in reviews between the Michelin and Firestone tire, if that makes sense.

robert


Hi robert... makes sense to me!

 

[kathyk]

Originally Posted By: Char Baby
Yeah, I too think is the Firestone shop not doing a proper job.
Now, you can do 1 or all of 3 things!

1) Go to a different Firestone and let then try to solv the issues and/or,

2) ask for new tires if they can't prove that it's your wheels that aer cauing the air leaks and,

3) contact corporate!


yeah...it's on the "list"... geez.. 4 tires should have been simple enough

 

[kathyk]

Originally Posted By: meep
agree--- but I will add something here-- I have 25,000+ on a set of LE2s and by all means they have been a great tire.

However--- due to getting hit in the wheel a little more than a year ago, insurance installed a new LE2 -- so 3 are 3 years old and 1 is about a year. That one newer tire has to be aired up every 3 weeks. I haven't noticed a nail in it, but haven't tried to to exhaustively inspect either. could there be a short run of a bad batch?



good idea... i checked out the dot numbers and three of them were 4412 and one was 5512. is that significant? the different one is NOT the bad leaker...

 

[kathyk]

Originally Posted By: Bottom_Feeder
Originally Posted By: kathyk
I know I need to go somewhere else ...just tired of spending and spending and spending...

Why are they making you pay to have them look at your brand new tires that don't hold air?


I'm not paying them to look at the tires per se, I have been asking them to replace the low pressure gauges that were preventing me from actually seeing the pressure on the screen. nice to be able to use a convenience. I'm also talking about the $$ for needing another vehicle when mine keeps going back in for this tire issue.

 

[mcrn]

Did the older tires that you replaced hold air with no problems?

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: kathyk
i checked out the dot numbers and three of them were 4412 and one was 5512. is that significant?


Can you check those date codes again? The date code will be the last four numbers of the DOT code, and check both sides of the tire, because it's common for just one side to have the date at the end.

I ask you to recheck because the date code is: week-week-year-year. In other words, 4412 means the tire was made in the 44th week of 2012. But 5512 makes little sense -- 55th week of 2012? Unless it was stamped in error...

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: kathyk
I'm not paying them to look at the tires per se, I have been asking them to replace the low pressure gauges that were preventing me from actually seeing the pressure on the screen.....


I assume that means the pressure sensors in the wheel that are transmitting the pressure to the screen on the dash. If that is the case:

1) Those can be expensive and that cost would be on you as this is a maintenance item.

2) If those didn't get replaced, then that could be the source of your leak.

So have they suggested replacing the wheel sensors?

 

[kathyk]

Originally Posted By: mcrn
Did the older tires that you replaced hold air with no problems?


hi
The old tires did NOT have problems holding air.

 

[kathyk]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: kathyk
i checked out the dot numbers and three of them were 4412 and one was 5512. is that significant?


Can you check those date codes again? The date code will be the last four numbers of the DOT code, and check both sides of the tire, because it's common for just one side to have the date at the end.

I ask you to recheck because the date code is: week-week-year-year. In other words, 4412 means the tire was made in the 44th week of 2012. But 5512 makes little sense -- 55th week of 2012? Unless it was stamped in error...


hi jimmy...

boy do i feel dumb saying this...how can i check both sides of the tires for the numbers? I cannot get onto the ground (back surgery) and the tires are mounted...
I'll go online to make certain that I am looking at the correct spot...

 

[kathyk]

Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
Originally Posted By: kathyk
I'm not paying them to look at the tires per se, I have been asking them to replace the low pressure gauges that were preventing me from actually seeing the pressure on the screen.....


I assume that means the pressure sensors in the wheel that are transmitting the pressure to the screen on the dash. If that is the case:

1) Those can be expensive and that cost would be on you as this is a maintenance item.

2) If those didn't get replaced, then that could be the source of your leak.

So have they suggested replacing the wheel sensors?


I DID replace the sensors. AFTER the new tires wouldn't hold air. Yep, expensive. Blah