SUV Tire recommendation? any experience with Continental tires?

Sorry to start another tire thread but I need to replace the 285/60-18 tires on my GMC Yukon XL (Suburban) very, very soon. I can almost see the air through one of them. I'm looking for a good value tire without spending a bunch of cash, hopefully < $150.

I was interested in the Falken S/TZ-04. It has a 50k warranty but got mixed reviews. people either loved it or hated it. great TCB price of $115. Went to DT to get a set and although they said it was a decent tire, they highly recommended the Continental ContiCrossContact XL which they thought was much better. It has a 65k warranty and costs $142. It also got mixed reviews like the falkens.

I was interested in the Falkens based on price and how much I like the 912's I put on my miata but I'm sure SUV tires are a different beast. I've never had any Continental tires but for whatever reason I don't have a great opinion of them. I guess I've always thought of them as cheaply made tires. I leaning towards giving the Continentals a try though based on DTs recommendation.

Does anybody have any experience with Continental tires or have an alternate suggestion?

Thanks.

Check out the Yoko Geolander's. I put them on my truck and have been very happy with them.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....r+H%2FT-S+G052


http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...jsp?type=SSTAS

Had Continentals on my 2002 Expedition.

Tread delaminated (Think Ford Explorer) on the passenger rear outside of Collage Station Texas ripped the exhaust out from under it and I put it in a bar ditch where it got stuck. Less than 30,000 miles on the Expedition when it failed. Continental offered to replace all 4 tires for free, I asked for a check and got a set of Michelin's.

I'm sure they are better now but for some reason I am still hesitant about them.....

More on the recall of those tires - http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...tal_tires.html

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sammm

Check out the Yoko Geolander's. I put them on my truck and have been very happy with them.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....r+H%2FT-S+G052


http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...jsp?type=SSTAS

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2nd the geolanders. I have had a set on the element for almost two years and probably at least 40,000miles. They have gotten loud over time but still have good grip and lots of tread left. The link has complaints with wet traction but I drive in rain all the time on them and never had a problem.

When I bought them they were the highest rated (affordable) 16" truck tires at Tire Rack. They were also the cheapest.

BIL has the geolanders and they are good tires, but they are not wearing well. The first set was replaced under the mileage warranty and the second set is about to get the same treatment.

A guy here at work needed a set of tires and we found a set of take off wheels and tires on craigslist for like $350 (they had < 1000 miles on them, the guy had put 22" donk wheels on his truck when he bought it). Cheaper than tires would have been and he got a set of wheels out of it (he sold the wheels his 'burban came with for $100 and made out like a bandit). Just another potential option.

Are the BF Goodrich tires out of your price range? I ordered a set of Longtrails from DTD for my van and got a $70 rebate.

I loved the Michellin LTX AT/2 that I had on the RAM. Good highway manners and Great wet weather traction.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by goofygrin

A guy here at work needed a set of tires and we found a set of take off wheels and tires on

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That's another idea...check out the 'take-off' shop at the corner of Precinct Line/Highway 10.

Thanks for the suggestions and ideas. I called the factory take-off shop but 285/60-18 isn't a normal factory delivered tire/wheel size so they didn't have anything. Based on the feedback the Continentals are definitely off the list now. I'll look into some of the other suggestions but for the price I think I'm starting to lean towards giving the Falkens a try. Seems like DT told me that if I didn't like them I could swap them out for something else within the first 30 days.

Don't get Pirellies. The set I tried on the RAM lasted less than 30K miles and they had a 60K mile warrenty.

I think it's interesting. I've had similar bad luck with Conti road tires... Yet, their motorcycle and bicycle tires are superb... Go figure.

I had a set of 60k mile Toyo's back in the early 90's that last 25k on my car. My moms Miata came with Yokahamas from the factory in 1991 that hydroplaned worse than any tire she used afterwords and were showing cords at 20k miles. My dad had General tires on his truck that sent him sliding sideways down an embankment on loop 12 at Jefferson with less than a 1/4" of water on the road. My Khumo ASX tires on my Miata did'nt hold the road worth a darn in the rain, even when brand new.

I guess all of the tire manufacturers go through a bad spell every once in a while.

Got the new tires for the Yukon XL today. Decided to give the Falken S/TZ-04 in a 285/60-18 a try. only drove it a few miles to the house but so far I like them. I did notice that the sidewalls don't feel as quite as stiff as the Goodyear Eagle GTII's I replaced. I really like the Falken 912's on my miata, guess we'll find out if they make a decent SUV tire. DT price matched my best online price of $115 which was quite a bit cheaper than the other tire options. figured I couldn't go wrong at that price.