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SUV Tires - Light Truck Tires links
Our companion report on passenger
Truck tire recalls
In October 2008, Bridgestone/Firestone announced it will replace more than 160,000 Firestone FR380 and LeMans Champion SE tires (both size P253/75R15) that were produced without sufficient tread base gauge. The treads could separate with continued use, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle. Bridgestone/Firestone will replace, mount and balance the affected tires for free. For more information, visit BridgestoneTire.com.
Check your tires' valve stems (the stalks where you check the pressure and top off the air): If the caps say "Dill," you may have defective stems that could lead to a crash. Two separate recalls may affect as many as 30 million tires just in North America. A website set up to handle the recall, TireValveRecall.net, has more information.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration now has a free electronic recall notification system. Visit Safercar.gov to sign up for the alerts, which cover cars, baby car seats and tires.
Make sense of sizes
If you're confused about the difference between P-metric passenger and LT-metric light truck tires -- and why some passenger tire lines are suitable for light trucks, but others aren't - CanadianDriver.com offers an article by Paul Williams called "Advice: Light Truck vs Passenger Car Tires: What You Should Know" to help you sort through the maze. Using the wrong tire can cause safety issues, and it's an easy mistake to make. A CanadianDriver.com associate reports he wound up with the wrong tires on his Ford F350 SuperDuty because of a confusing tire name.
Helpful tire websites
Besides its thorough reports, Tire Rack has an incredibly vast amount of objective information on tires. You can search for prices, sizes and other specifications at this site.
Another helpful site is 1010tires.com, which offers discussion forums on tires. This site also has information for Canadian buyers.
Tire manufacturers
Tire manufacturers' websites have detailed specification and sizing information, as well as dealer locator tools.
