Tires

[Neutron]

Has anyone ever heard of a brand of tire called Liberator?

Our Wal-Mart sells them and they are cheaper than the name brand tires I've seen.

My wife and I are on a budget for tires and have been looking at these for our 2002 Tracker.

 

[hometheaterman]

Nope never heard of them. I have BFG Mud Terrains on my truck though and like them a lot but they aren't cheap atleast not in the size I run I don't know if they make them in stock sizes either but they are good in the mud and pretty good on pavement also. I doubt that is the type of tire your looking for though.

 

[dfergie]

On my old 99 F150 I had Super Sports from Wal-Mart (they were 6 ply rated)On my 04 I have the factory Michelins...(and they have done well off road so far, no mud) When they go It will probably be BFG ats... I too have seen the liberators at the local Wally World.

 

[wobbie]

I would advise you to search the web or ask the tire guy at Wal-Mart... that is if he knows anything. Pretty much all tires are made the same..... I used to get my tires at JC Penney's as they were actually made by Goodyear. All you need to find out is the manufacturer.

 

[Neutron]

Well, I don't do any off-roading as our Tracker is a 2WD. I want good tires with good traction for rain since this is an SUV and it does sit up a little bit.

The stock tires are 195/75/R15, and since those are so hard to find without special ordering them I'm going to up to 205/75/R15 and get the speedometer recalibrated.

The Liberator A/T tires are $49 a tire at Wal-Mart for that size and I need to get 5 since we have a full size spare that isn't any good.

I really don't want to get a passenger tire as this is a truck based SUV.

I have read that Michelin makes the Liberator brand.

 

[dfergie]

Yeah, the Super Sports were made by Kelly Springfield...

 

[wobbie]

Then I'm guessing you would be buying a Michelin knock off. Kind of like buying Busch Lite instead of Bud Light.

 

[hometheaterman]

On my old 99 F150 I had Super Sports from Wal-Mart (they were 6 ply rated)On my 04 I have the factory Michelins...(and they have done well off road so far, no mud) When they go It will probably be BFG ats... I too have seen the liberators at the local Wally World.

I haven't heard good stuff about the BFG AT's as people said the tread pattern has the knobbies too close together and they don't do well in mud. Everyone I have talked to reccomends the MT's instead as they claim they last about as long and are a lot better offroad and not that much worse on road.

 

[dfergie]

I have the old style AT's on My Old Gmc 4x4 and have had pretty good luck with them... a lot better than the Kelly Rvrs they replaced..(2 ply sidewalls) Although I might go back with Michelin on the 04 as I have the Gmc for the Rough Stuff... I will check the Mt's out...

 

[cdru]

Tires sold at Wal-Mart are specially branded for Wal-Mart. It makes it harder to do a price match or compairison between stores. Many retailers can't compete with Wal-Mart on price just due to sales volume so by having a different "model" sold at Wal-mart, price matching is no longer an issue. Mattress companies do the same thing...one "model" of bed, many different names.

A year or two ago I was looking at some tires there and they were just rebranded Goodyear, among other brands, tires. You gotta compare tread patterns.

 

[StevenD]

Liberator tires are made by B.F. Goodrich. I would imagine they are made right alongside their BFG tires, so Im sure the quality is the same. They are just cheaper at Wal-Mart because they sell so damn many of them.

 

[Neutron]

Here it is:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/prod...ating=&tire_equivalent_load_index=&tire_size=

Went back tonight to take a closer look at the tread. It looks aggressive and should make the Tracker handle better, especially in wet weather.

 

[korsjs]

all tires are not the same. see if you can find a consumer report ratings.

 

[jmd102354]

Yep

Got 'em on my 99 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4. Really grips the road on turns. Good snow tire. I don't drive off road though. I would buy 'em again !

 

[charper1]

Make sure to ask what their treadwear and speed ratings are. As Korjsj said tires are not tires. Ask the Wal-Mart rep who their manufacturer is. I have read these are good for the money, but only up to about 20k - 25k miles, so once you look at it like that....

ADD: I am reading that these are made by Michelin specifically as a discount tire for Wal-Mart.

 

[StevenD]

Michelin purchased B.F. Goodrich a while back. The Liberator brand of tires is produced by B.F. Goodrich in Fort Wayne, Indiana. So, I guess you could say they are made by Michelin.

From a BFG press release last year:
"BFGoodrich is recalling 46,000 tires carrying the BFGoodrich, Uniroyal, Liberator, Medalist, Phantom and Prospector brands. The company said they do not perform to company standards."

 

[charper1]

Great info StevenD, what was the recall for specifically, if you saw.

 

[cdru]

The Liberator brand of tires is produced by B.F. Goodrich in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

It's actually Woodburn, Indiana, but Fort Wayne is the closest major city.

Great info StevenD, what was the recall for specifically, if you saw.

Here's the recall. It doesn't say exactly what it was for, just that they didn't perform up to their standard. It does say that no accidents, injuries, or property damage claims have been filed. The tires were only manufactured during 2 weeks, so it's likely they would be out of the system now...no chance really in buying them new anymore.

 

[lonewolfe]

Check out the Dayton Timberline. It is made by Firestone/Bridgestone and is a very good tire. They sell like hotcakes around here.

 

[lonewolfe]

oops, forgot the link.

http://www.bridgestonetire.com/tireselector/index_bs.asp