Titan Tires Again...

[Anonymous-0]

This message is a reply to an archived post by RodInNS on August 09, 2007 at 06:57:38.
The original subject was "Titan Tires Again...".

WE BOUGHT A JD COMPAC TRACTOR WITH TITAN TIRES FRONT AND REAR.THEY ARE JUNK FROM THE WORD GO.I PLANT A ACRE OF CORN FOR OUR DEER.WAS DISCING AND HAD A FLAT TIRE ON THE FRONT.WHAT I SEEN WAS CORN STALK HAD PUSHED THROUGH THE TIRE.SO I PLUGGED THE TIRE.BY THE TIME I GOT DONE WITH THE FIELD I HAD 10 HOLES THROUGH THE TIRE.ALL BECAUSE OF CORN STALKS.CALLED THE COMPANY AND JUST GOT A RUN AROUND.THEY ALSO STATED THAT I SHOULDNT OF USED THIS TIRE IN THE CORN FIELD.THIS TRACTOR ONLY HAS 100 HRS ON THE TIRES.PLEASE DONT BUY THIS TIRE!!YES I HAD TO BUY NEW TIRES.

 

[RobMD]

Actually, it'd be deere's fault for running the tires in the first place.

If you look at some titan tires, you can actually take your fingernail and push it into the tire, and it will leave an impression!!!

 

[Walt Davies]

I have then on one tractor and never had any problem you do need to keep the pressure correct.
Walt

 

[CaseChev]

I've had Titan tires on front and rear of two tractors for over 7 yrs. with no problem.

 

[buickanddeere]

The message would be received more readily and with an increased level of validity.
If the posting wasn"t done in all capitals and containing numerous spelling & grammatical errors.
As lousy as my typing, spelling and grammar is. At least it"s been proof read at least once and run through the spell checker.
What ply rating are the tires? The cheapo line of tires every manufacture carries to cater to the "lowest price is most important" potential customers. Those tires are compromised every way in design, materials & construction to save costs.
The tire rubber can be made much harder. However ride comfort and hard surface traction is reduced.
Stubble punctures are a problem to some degree in every tire with the exception of those "stubble stompers".

 

[Allan in NE]

Yep,

That outfit was sold with a set of thin 2-ply tires. Don't blame Titan because someone (read: John Deere) chose those cheap city tires.

They make one heck of a farm tire; one of the best if ya ask me.

Allan

 

[Anonymous-0]

Ain't the tires fault.Got a set of 16.9-34 on a old 730 case bought new 15 year ago.Keep 20 psi in them and they don't get any pitty.OLD loader tractor.

 

[Anonymous-0]

That was 15 years ago.Da they made Everything better back then.No tir pressure was not a factor in this case!!

 

[no deeres here]

We bought our first set in 1989, when they were still called armstrong. They were super high power lug radials. At about six years of age the sidewalls started to crack bad so the Company repalaced them at half price for new high traction lug radials. I bought the takeoffs for $125 and put them on another tractor. I'm still running both sets plus put them on two other tractors since. I'd wouldn't even consider a firestone.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Bob, you did not mention what the tread type was on these tires. R1, R2, R3 or turf? This makes a huge difference on the warranty. If you do not get the warranty you expect from your local dealer. or implement dealer. there should be an 800 number on the sidewall of the tire. If you do not get the satisfaction that way, go further up the chain of command. It does not do Titan any good to have a customer be unhappy with their product. In my dealings with Titan, I have always been happy with the result. I have 30 years experience with tire companies, and find Titan to be one of the easier manufacturer's to deal with. HTH, JohnG

 

[RodinNS]

I'm amused at reading all of the posts that defend Armstrong/Titan. We've had probably handy a dozen of those tires over the years, all on new equipment. I think all were 6 ply rated. Most were R-1 bias drives while some were R-4's on the skid steer. All the R-1's had sidewall failures and one had a rupture in the tread (not a puncture, but an internal rupture). Be it the fault of Ford/NH for specing a light tire on an 11000# tractor or the fault of Titan for building a tire incapable of withstanding the loads expected of it in that class; take you pick. I don't care. All I care about is that the tire blew before it's time and cost me money.
The R-4's we did get out money from as they wore out before they rotted out (about a year - 18 months... I then made the mistake of capping a couple of them and didn't get my money from them. A GoodYear casing will take a cap. Even the cheap Advance tires will take at least one capping. Titan won't.
If they're not loaded heavily relative to their rating and they're run off fairly quickly, you'll probably get on fine with them... but if you expect them to carry, they're gonna blow... in a CaCl shower lacking any kind of style.
Never, NEVER again will I own a Titan. If they were on a tractor on a lot that I was looking at I'd require them to be changed or there would be no deal. Never again.
Michelin first, Firestone second, Galaxy or BFG third...
The worst remark I can make about any other tires was that the GoodYear Dyna Torque II's wore poorly and didn't pull all that great. We had one of them fail due to under inflation, but have generally had very few problems with other tires except one set of Generals that didn't impress me much, but they did freeze once so that likely didn't help them. Otherwise, Galaxy/Primex is a decent cheap tire.

Rod

 

[730 virgil]

local tire dealer says he does like titan as they don't let them in tire press long enough to cure right. whatever that means but cheaped tire and made them weaker

 

[Allan in NE]

I'm ammused when someone says "we". Usually means he's working on someone else's money.

Allan

 

[John M]

Got 4 new ones on my dads M, this is a show tractor,not a working tractor, but the rears have held up very well, the fronts are cracking bad, they started after a year. I like the rears, and will run the fronts as long as I can.

On my M, which is retired now, I put 2 new Titans on the front in 95, they still look pretty good.

 

[BLinWMI]

Allan, have to disagree with that one, I know in my case every time I say "we", is because some of us are in multi generational operations where desicions are not made exclusively by either generation. So it is neither my farm or dad or grandpas, it is "our" farm.

 

[buickanddeere]

BFG is Michelin. If you want a Michelin tire at a modest price.Just purchase the top of the line BFG's.
Somebody posted a link or list here one time about tire manufactures and who owned who. It was an eye opener.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I always run Titans on my big New Holland skid loader. Seldom get flats and they really take a beating.

Technically it is "our" skidloader since the wife owns half the business.

 

[RodinNS]

'We' = Me and my father, 50/50. Still amused, but not with Titan.
If they work for you, that's great, but I'll not have another.

Rod

 

[RodinNS]

B&D... yes, BFG is owned by Michelin. I have a set of the BFG Power 80 radials that look very very similar to the Michelin Agribib. I can't say for sure just yet how the BFG is going to hold up. I've seen some cracking at the base of the lugs that I'm a little uncomfortable with. They haven't given a problem, but it's disconcerting. The Power 80 line is a lot cheaper than the AgriBib, and I suspect a good deal softer... so we'll see how they hold up on the wear end. That said, I suspect they are cheaper than the Michelin branded tire for more reason than the name...

Rod

 

[Iowa_tire_guy]

All tires will work better if they are used in the right applications. Such as proper load rating and tread design. Also no company makes all junk tires and no company makes no mistakes, not even Michelin. What I have found with Titian is that they have too many failures due to workmanship. They have far more problems than the other brands and I prefer not to sell them.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I have had excellent service and minimal weathering with Titan tires. I replaced the original front tires with Goodyears and they weather checked fairly fast. I put Titans on and they have lasted way longer. I had Goodyear tires on my skid steer from new. They were weather checking in less than 2 years! Firestone has had a multitude of problems with car tires. Why should I think their tractor tires are any better? They cost more. I think the Titans are just as good as anything else. I've also heard that if tires sit around for too long, especially in the sun or outside, before being sold, they will start to weather prematurely and not last as long. Maybe they get harder from the elements? I'd like to see a side by side test in identical conditions to compare tires. Then there would be an even playing field. Somebody runs the wrong pressure or does something else that causes a tire to fail and it's automatically a bad tire? Titan is a good name. If they were so bad, why would so many OEM's put them on? Why would dealers sell them? So they can get a lot of grieve because they are bad tires? I don't think so. Dave

 

[Alex.C]

Sounds like somebody didn't have the right pressure our JD790 compact has all Titans and so does my MM BF and I have shredded woody parts of our and friends property and any body can tell you that kills tiers fast and they helled up really good. It sounds like, having experience with John Deere, that the sales man gave you the cheap deal. On tiers generally the more money they are the better they are(generally).

 

[WGM]

Never had a problem with a Titan tire.

 

[RodinNS]

OEM's use them because they're cheap. dealers sell them to make money. We import all order of junk from China today. People buy it by the ship load. Doesn't mean it's any good. It's just cheap. To tell you the truth, I have a set of 10 ply chinese tires on the skid steer right now. They were cheaper than capping the GoodYears that I had. They don't wear much more than half as long as a Bandag cap, but they cost a lot less. About the same quality as the Titan's I had on the skid steer and half the money...

You should also draw a large distinction between Firestone passenger tires and Firestone/Bridgestone's Ag/OTR tires. Firestone is considered the standard in floatation tires and the Bridgestone brand OTR truck tires are considered the standard in their class. I wouldn't be keen to have a Firestone tire on a car or light truck. I've had them. Both the OEM type and snow tires that I bought. I wasn't too impressed with either although I didn't have any trouble with them...

Rod

 

[Texasmark]

After having a tire separate on a boat trailer on the way back home from a 50 mile fishing trip when I was a young lad (daddy's boat and trailer and the tire was so badly weather cracked it looked like a checker board), I decided I didn't want that to happen to me. So I always tried to keep fresh tires on my stuff.

In short, tires contain plasticizers that have to migrate to the surface to function. These plasticizers keep the synthetic rubber pliable and prevent cracking. That means you buy fresh tires and keep them rolling. You can buy a new set of radials for your truck, run them for a year OTR and have no cracking. Or you can take the same set of tires, put 5,000 miles a year on them and see cracking the second year. (BTDT)

You don't set them up in a 150F sealed warehouse for several years. You don't put them on a tractor and sit it in the sun and especially if you don't roll it for several years.

I have one tractor in particular, that was mfgr'd in Europe in '79 and it still has the Dutch (Holland) OEM tires on it. They are cracked in the tread area like you absolutely wouldn't believe but there is no rubber loss. I bought it that way about 4 years ago and they haven't gotten any worse and I haven't lost the least amount of tread rubber.

So, other than looks, I am not that concerned with cracking on ag tires.

Now if you were going to put tires like that on a 80,000 OTR truck and run it 70 mph down the interstate then look out cause they will toss rubber all over you. BTDT too.

Mark