Way back (in the olden days) and before the advent of radial tires, the OE tires on a car were "first line" tires. For Goodyear, that was a tire called Supercushion. It was a rayon cord tire, so no flat-spotting that was a trait of nylon. I think it was later polyester cord. It's been a long time. The second line tire, if memory serves, was Safety All Weather. The third line tire was All Weather. Both the second and third lines were nylon cord tires. The first premium grade (above first line) was Custom Nylon. There might have been another premium option besides Custom Nylon, I can't recall for sure, but there was an occasional one, and then there was the big daddy, the Double Eagle. If a Safety All Weather cost $18.00 or so, a Supercushion would have been maybe about $26.00, the Custom Nylon about $34.00 and the Double Eagle close to $50.00. My father was a Goodyear dealer in Arlington MA. I don't believe that we ever sold a set of Double Eagles. My Dad put a set on one of his station wagons once and they wore like iron. But the opinion of virtually everyone back then was that the OE tires were cheap junk. So the opinion continues, even though it was wrong then and is still wrong. To say that the vehicle mfg. doesn't pay what "we" pay is pretty hilarious. "We" buy a set of tires maybe after the OE tires are gone. The tire mfg. are bidding on upwards of, say, 50,000 pieces per year. When radials came along, the US cars did not have suspensions tuned for them. Goodyear, for instance, had a panel in the sidewalls of the early radial tires to stabilize the tire. Michelin and others got knocked on their collective butts when the suspensions got tuned up and US manufacturers started getting earnest in radial design. It was not because Michelin and others were not good, but because they had older designs that needed to be updated. Tires are nothing like they were 60 years ago. The advent of tire ratings for wear, traction, temperature was probably the greatest advance and almost no one ever mentions any of that. It's right on the sidewall of the tire. If I'm not mistaken, Firestone is owned by Bridgestone now. The problem with the Ford Explorer was a tire pressure issue, not a fault of the tire. I really can't speak to the issue of whether it had anything to do with the vehicle. But the tread chunking was due to having a high load rated tire and running it too soft. So you pick the one you like, pay your money and go. Excellent if you like them, but an expensive boo-boo these days if you don't.