1997 Ford E-350 Wheel & Tire Problems

Which parts fail

• Tread/belt
  14
• Sidewall
  3
• Hub
  1

Components named in complaints (wheels, lug nuts, original-equipment tires, TPMS).

Mileage when the problem started

Owner reports

Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 1997 Ford E-350 owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).

These tires has to be investigated! I've had 3 blowouts on separate occasions. Tires had 15,000 miles on them. First blowout occurred on highway at 65mph on front passenger side, tire had multiple belt seperations. Put on spare tire of same brand and size and barely got home before the belt started coming apart. Went to Firestone dealer, and they sold me another steeltex for replacement. 2 months later went on a roadtrip to california at about 75mph and the front driver side tire tread completely came off and blew out. The van nose dived off the highway out into the desert and almost rolled. 8 people almost were killed. Every time the tire showed same symptoms before failure. Vehicle would be on highway cruising when suddenly it would shake violently and then bam! …

Tl* the contact owns a 1997 Ford e-350 equipped with cooper adventure ht tires (n/a), size 265/75/16r. The contact stated that while driving 55 MPH, the tire tread separated on the rear driver side tire. The failure had occurred previously with four other tires, which had been replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The tire failure mileage was approximately 15,000. The vehicle failure mileage was 76,000. The VIN was not available. The tire #8 went bad. The consumer stated the tire replacement also went bad.

While driving at 52 MPH (pulling a small u-haul trailer) the left rear tire on my van suffered complete tread separation. The tread subsequently wrapped around the axle and had to be pried loose. The tread was whole and intact (a complete circle), but the carcass of the tire shredded. The tire is (was( a uniroyal lt 245/75 r16 approximately 4 years old. I managed to pull to the side of the freeway on my rim. This occurred on Saturday, August 25.

Consumer has a 1997, Ford, e350 van. The original tires with 27,700 miles. Tire size lt225/75r16 dot# unknown. Rear passenger Firestone steeltex tire tread separated going 65mph. Vehicle turned 180 degrees & hit the guardrail front & rear, and was totalled. Firestone will be contacted.

Had tread separations on 4 of the original 6 tires. At advise of dealer replaced OEM tires with a larger size Bridgestone tire which has not failed to this point. We were told by the tire dealer that the bridgestones had a greater load capacity than the firestones. The problem is the brigestones are larger, have a greater rolling diameter and affect the overall gearing to a point where the vehicle is sluggish (well, it was always sluggish, but now it's more so) and the transmission now hunts in and out of o/d. This is not the answer. We need the OEM size tire back on the vehicle but it has to hold up. The failures started at 12,00 miles and occured at 14,000 and the last 2 @ 16,000. …

Oil filter housing unit bolted to left side of triton v-10 engine fell off the engine after bolts which held the housing apparently vibrated loose. The failure resulted destruction of both the sending and return oil lines to the oil cooler and also heavy damage to oil cooler after it too also fell after being yanked by the falling oil filter mounting unit. At time of failure there was no indication that there was an oil pressure problem because the instrument gages were still reading full pressure. Engine was saved from damage after driver shut engine off and steered motor home down a two lane road to where it could safely pull off. Note there is an extream fire hazard issue with this large amounts of oil sprayed on the left side engine manifold. Tires. …

The inside right rear duel lost it's tread while traveling down I-70 at 75 MPH. This caused the inner fender wall to roll up over the tire's. Unit is a ambulance and a patient was on-board. The driver was able to pull into a rest-area and no accident occured. In the last 10 days have been contacted by cooper county ambulance and carroll county ambulance , boonville and carrollton missouri reporting the same type incident involving Firestone tires of the same size and make. I have the tire . I also tried to report this to Firestone, was told that these tire's were not being re-called. They didn't take any information .( dot number: vn1l1xb tire size: 225/75r16 )

Tire blew out instantly and without warning while driving on straight and level pavement in good repair with no road hazard or cross wind or any other apparent adverse condition except that the ambient outside air temperature was apprx. 110 degrees , and the road was also very hot.the tire that blew was the outside right rear tire and it's partner-the inside right rear held fine allowing a safe and controlled exit of the roadway.(dual rear wheels. (dot number: vd1l1xd227 tiresize: lt225/75r1)

This is the third set of Firestone tires I've had, all on new vehicles, and the third failure of this type (tread separation). I replaced the previous sets at my own expense. I replaced all four rear tires after this recent failure. Upon inspection, a second tire was found to have two bulges in the sidewall. I contacted a local servicing shop who said I could only get an adjustment against another Firestone tire. Unacceptable.( dot number: unk tire size: 22570r16 )

Three Firestone steeltex r4s m/s tires, size: lt225/75r16, dot: unknown. Motorhomes experienced a blowout within approximately 300 miles of each other while traveling at speeds ranging from 45 to 65 MPH. These tires were original equipment on vehicles, and had approximately 27,000 miles on them. All tire failures experienced tread separation, one of the separations caused damage to vehicle.

Wheel & Tire complaints in other E-350 years