Advance forestry tires

[orbarratt]

Anyone running Advance forestry tires? I am in the market for 18.4 X 34 forestry tires for a farm tractor we use to pull a tree planter. I am currently running Firestones. I got a price for Primex, about $2300.00 each.
Advance forestry tires are about $1400 each. Are they decent tires?

Thanks

[BargeMonkey]

Compare the ply, weight and see how soft they seem. I've got a couple primex tires and I'm not impressed, like anything else your getting what you pay for. 

[240b]

Nokian TR  i think comes in 18.4-34 

[longtime lurker]

I put a pair of Advance tyres on the front of the yard loader about 18 months ago. As far as places to be a tyre go it's not a good one as they are regularly subjected to me lifting things off trucks that have the front tyres bellied out and the back tyres barely touching ground.

One lasted almost a year and got a huge bubble in it and had to be replaced but they warrantied it, the other is so far so good. Contrast with the 30 year old Toyo's they replaced that had cracks in the sidewalls that deep you could fall into them but still wouldn't die.

You'll get what you pay for, and let me know how you go because I'm up for a full set of 18.4x34's myself shortly. I know a new set of Firestones are still the long term cheapest option but that's a lot of money on a machine that does a thousand ton of log a year

[Firewoodjoe]

Bottom line is if you can get Firestone buy them. I've seen a lot of brands get torn up. Nokias? I may have murdered that name but they seem to be good. Primex are almost to hard. The ones we had layered off   Like dry dough. 

[chevytaHOE5674]

You get what you pay for. Lots of 30 year old firestones still working daily. "Cheap" off brand tires will have been replaced 3+ times in that 30 years.

[BargeMonkey]

 ☝️ what they said. I put on a set of primex, then a set of Firestones on the back the next job, front tires typically don't take the beating rears do and those primex have chunks coming out of them, Firestones will run with the wires hanging out of them. 

[bushmechanic]

My vote is for the Firestone also, Forestry Special all the way! Company I worked for cheaped out with some forwarder tires BKT I believe was the brand, never got through year two and both gave out. Installed Primex then and they were a lot better but still not Firestone's.

[moosehunter]

I was very unimpressed with my last set of Firestone tires. Front of my Kubota. About 10 years old, dry rotted and blew out the sidewall. Rear Firestones are original to the tractor. Dry rotted but still in service. 18 years old. Tractor is always stored under cover. I replaced the fronts with BKT. have to wait to see how they last.
mh

[barbender]

I can't speak to skidder tires, but Ponsse forwarders I've been around are either equipped with Nokian or Trelleborg tires. I'm amazed by them, I can't see how any other tire would be more durable. I know some of them had 15K hours on them, wore a set of steel tracks out but the tires were still going. My last machine had around 7000 hours, the tires were showing tread wear but I'm sure they'll go at least 7000 more.

[orbarratt]

Thanks for all the info. I put  less than 1000 hours per year on the tractor, and the Firestones on it now are 40 years old. They still have good tread on them, they are just falling apart. I actually have 4 tires, two rear tires, and two duals. The duals are still in decent shape. We took one of the duals off and put it on tractor to replace the tire that was falling apart. The other rear tire is about to need to be replaced, probably with the other dual. So I was asking about cheaper tires because they wouldn't be used all that much, especially if I mounted on the dual rims.

Firestones are definitely the best deal over time.

[petefrom bearswamp]

Tractor here , Kubota 8540 here, just a fwd 4wd tractor.
15 years old abused at the mill, fronts cracked bad from picking very heavy Hemlock logs and lumber, but still hold air.
Just ag tires, Titans.
Getting a little smooth but my 61 yr old son and I skidded out 18 smaller EAB ash borer trees in a short morning today an no problems. YET.
I am pretty careful when skidding as production is not my forte.
I only work mornings any more and we can get 20 to 25 out in a good AM.