Need new tires for 2002 Grand Cherokee Laredo

My 2002 Grand Cherokee needs new tires and a mechanic recommended I
could save some money by using my spare and buying three new matching
tires. The load index on my old tires is 104S and I noticed all of the
new ones are 106S. Is there a problem mixing load indexes? My current
tires are Wrangler ST's. I understand if I do this I have to get the
same exact tire.

Thanks,
Mike

 

Have you actually looked at the spare. On our '99 I believe it is a temp,
yet full sized tire. BTW, we put Nokian Vativva (sp?) on after the Wrangler
POS tires. They were put on at about 30k, still on the vehicle, but need to
be replaced before the snow flies, at 110,000 miles.

Cheers,
Howard

 

the biggest thing is the tires measuring the same diameter since one
smaller tire can screw up the 4 wheel drive

 

I believe the Michelins are pretty expensive? I'm trying to find a
good quality tire but at an affordable price. I was referred to a tire
shop who will allow me to drop ship tires to him and he will only
charge me $10 per tire to mount and balance them.

I think I'm now deciding between the BFGoodrich Radial Long Trail T/A
and Firestone Destination LE. Tirerack.com has them for $87 and $81,
respectively. I can get the BFGoodrich at the local shop for $106
installed and the Firestone for $86. Depending on which tire I go
with, factoring in shipping one of them would end up cheaper buying
locally.

The Firestone seems to have good reviews and slightly better ratings.
What is the general consensus?

Thanks,
Mike

 

Ya get what ya pay for. I lothe cheap tires. I'll spend a couple
hundred extra for the best tires I can find every time, and I've never
been disappointed with that decision.

I did get a deal on the Michelins through Costco though. I always wait
until they're on sale and use the $100-off coupon. I dumped those awful
Goodyear things with only 113 miles on them when I bought the TJL. Best
decision I've ever made.

 

We bought two twin Jeep Grand Cherokees. They came with Goodyear tires
which lasted 20K miles. I asked the Jeep dealer and he whispered Michelin
LTX. I bought some for mine, spent the next few years commuting from Dallas
to Sacramento (desert heat, mountains, Tehachapi pass, Kingsford Grade, Echo
Summit, every different way you can map, went through the Rocky Mountains
National Park 13K feet, Saltan Sea -100 feet, whatever) They were rated for
80K miles and still had good tread at over 90K miles. We retired to the
Sierra Nevada, 4WD Low, getting out of the canyon - no prob. I got new ones
just to be on the safe side, though I 'm sure they would have been good for
100K miles. I know that the only thing holding the car to the road is the
tires, and I never skimp on the tires. Six years later and the wife's Jeep
is just now just getting to 80K miles. I check them monthly, keep the
pressure to 40PSI (that's just my thing) and they look as good as halfway
new. I have never seen such performance, and I'm 68 and have owned a few
cars. I checked four places and the cheapest (same tires) was at Wal-Mart.
They do not seem to issue a paper warranty however, hmmmm, but I already
know the tires will last.

 

Consumer Reports didn't think too much about the BFGs in their last test,
the Firestones were about halfway down the ratings page.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n171/Billy_Ray_2006/ConsumerReportsLT-SUVtires11-04.jpg

I have a set of Kumho Venture AT-825s that have served me well through 2
Ohio summers and 1 winter with absolutely no problems.. They did okay in
Canadian mud on two camping trips.....

 

Does Costco have more than they show on their website? When I search
for tire for my car only the BFG Longtrail comes up. I'll have to stop
by in person and see what they've got.

The LTX also don't show up when I do a search on tirerack.com. Is it
because I am sticking to the original equipment size? I have been
figuring I should be sticking to the standard 225/75-16 size. The
optional size is 245/70-16.

Thanks,
Mike

 

Answered my own question by changing the search parameters.

If I get a larger size tire does it mean I have to also buy a new
spare? Or is it safe to have a 225/75-16 size spare since it won't be
used very often?

 

It is generally true that, regardless of how good the mail order prices
look, by the time you add in shipping and the $10 to $15 per tire
mounting and balancing, and then consider the value of lifetime
balancing and rotating from a shop when you buy the tires from them
(which you won't get from mail order), you're clearly money ahead to buy
locally. The one exception might be if you order the wheels with tires
pre-mounted and balanced shipped to your door. Other than that - forget it.

Also, try getting an adjustment from a mail order source if there are
problems with the tires - all you get is finger-pointing among the
seller, the manufacturer, and aligment shop - back and forth - back and
forth all three knowing that you can't prove nothin' (BTDT).

When you buy from a local shop that does the balancing *and* your
alignments, if something goes wrong, there is no one they can point
fingers at - you will be taken care of if problems develop, and the
manufacturer will stand behind the product (unless the tire is in the
so-called "hi-performance" category - then all bets are off no matter
what you do short of spontaneous explosion of the tire shortly after
installation).

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Assuming the outer tread diameter is within a couple of percent, which
it probably is, you should be OK for temporary and non-agressive driving
use.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

225-75x16 and 245-70x16 tires are the same height (within 0.7%) so there
should be no problem

If you use Tire Rack be advised they only list tire brands they carry.... in
the SIZES they carry.

For example you can find my Kumho Venture AT-825 via manufacturer search or
by tire type (On-Off Road All Terrain) but if you enter 2002 Jeep Grand
Cherokee Laredo they will have no Kumho matches because earlier this year
they stopped carrying the standard size. They do carry the 245 in the KL-78
model but not the -825.

If you go to the Kumho website you see that both sizes are made in the -825
model

Interesting enough... this tire used to be on the 'Best Sellers' list

 

For some reason, I didn't find the LTX on tirerack.com either. They do
appear on Costco's site, but you have to dig deep to find it. I bought
the M/S's, as I spend a lot of time on pavement, and they work extremely
well.

It's your call on the size difference. I also replaced the spare, even
though both were the same size. I figure that the spare should be of at
least the same quality as the rest in case I need to drive a long way on
it. I justified the extra cost by doing 5-wheel rotations, which makes
everything last longer. When I replace next time, I'll leave one worn
(yet servicible) tire on as the spare.

It's your call on the odd-sized spare dilemma. I wouldn't do it. You
can't use PT 4WD with odd-sized tires or you will destroy the transfer
case. It will cause the axle clutch packs on limited-slip axles to
overheat and wear quickly. The vehicle will handle badly. There are no
positives to keeping an odd-sized spare other than money, and that's not
good enough in my book. Justify the extra cost by doing 5-wheel tire
rotations.

 

5-wheel tire rotations, as in rotating the spare in every rotation?
Interesting...

 

If you check your owners manual it says how to do a 5 tire rotation. My
Cherokee and my CJ manual both say to put the spare on the highest wear
tire, the right rear, then take the right rear and move it to the right
front with the right front going to the spare. The left tires just swap
places.

This makes for even wear because the right rear is the main drive tire
so it wears the fastest and the three tires on the high wear side should
wear out the same time as the other two.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2115147590
(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

 

The Michelin is cheaper than that BF Goodrich.
I paid 104 apiece for mine at Discount Tire, mounted a few years ago.
Your size is if memory serves somewhere in the 235x16 which is a bit
more. e.g. at Tire Rack, the 235-70/16 is about $135 apiece. They tend
to get very old before they ever wear out and drastically improve the
highway manners of a Grand Cherokee. Very good on heavy rain,
moderately heavy snow, light mud, moderate offroad where the trail
surface is reasonably hard and not steep slickrock. Excellent highway
manners.


Michael Rosen proclaimed:

 

Mike20878 proclaimed:

Tire Rack:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Sizes.jsp?make=Michelin&model=LTX+M/S

 

Check around your area and see if you have an Americas Tire, Americas
Discount Tire, or Discount Tire. They come reasonably close to Tire
Rack in price and offer free repairs for the life of the tire. Every
now and then they put the Michelin LTX M+S on sale.

billy ray proclaimed:

 

You get what you pay for. I'm a Michelin fan, they are very long
wearing and tough tires.
Shop around, they are put on sale, usually in the fall and spring.

Firestone is the last tire I'd use, in fact I'd rather walk than use
them. From experience with 2 sets manufacturer installed, which I had
to trash very early in their expected life.

Regarding your different size spare possibility, if it's the same
diameter as has been suggested it is I wouldn't worry for spare only use.
You'll be a lot better off than those poor souls struggling along on a
compact spare. >

 

I feel the same way about General Tires.

I have had a total of 21 Generals mounted for two (2) cars and 19 of those
tires were defective in one way or another with broken belts, tread
separation, bulges in the sidewall, inability to hold air, 2 blowouts and
most commonly being out of round.

The final blow came when I attempted to stop at a light in the rain and the
car continued straight ahead with the brakes locked. I turned the wheel to
avoid hitting the stopped car in front of me and the car continued straight
ahead. At the last moment the tire grabbed and I drove up through the grass
in front of a business parking lot.

That was a Sunday afternoon, Monday morning I had a new set of Coopers.
That was about 20 years ago.

I told them at our local tire shop I didn't care what the looked or rode
like as long as the car turned and stopped when I wanted it to. They were
rough and noisy and didn't last all that long but I liked them so much I
eventually bought 2 sets.I'd probably still be driving Coopers if I hadn't
moved out of state and we have no dealers nearby.

On the other hand one of my brothers lives in a small rural town where the
only tire dealer is a General Tire dealer and he had Generals on his and his
wife's and all 4 kids cars, and both trucks. He has never had a problem
with any General tire and just loves them.

Go figure........