Goodyear Viva 2 Tires

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I wish I had come across this thread earlier... looks like the Viva 2 is not a popular choice among BITOGers.

I put a set of these on the wife's '01 Lumina back in October. I rotated and re-balanced them today- 12,000 (highway) miles later. No problems to report so far- hopefully my experience will be the exception in this thread. The tires ride a little rough, but I DO have the pressure quite a bit higher than recommended (they're at 37psi). So far they're quiet, get good traction, and have very little visible wear. Two of the tires were still perfectly balanced after 12,000 miles; two of them required 1/2 ounce of weight, which isn't a whole [censored] of a lot.

So far I've got no complaints. But this thread worries me a little.

I bought two used Viva 2 tires for this same car a couple years ago- had maybe 60% tread. They made it 30,000 miles before one of them grew a lump. Still had a fair amount of tread left, but they definitely wore quicker than the two Goodyear Regattas on the same vehicle. At the time I assumed that this was just typical behavior for an old used tire... maybe that was just typical Viva2 behavior. Time will tell I reckon.
 
I have a friend who has used Viva2 on his Chevy Express conversion van and is doing fine. Your tires will probably do as well. The problem with the used tires is that you don't really know how well taken care of they were while mounted.
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Does anyone have any experience with these tires? At one point, I had a set of Goodyear Allegra tires (Sam's Club) on my Saturn and they were OK.


Our first minivan was a 2003 Grand Caravan with two of these Viva 2s on the front, with about 7/32" of tread, and a pair of the OEM Integritys on the back, with abot 4/32" of tread. The Viva 2s were not impressive at all, besides a soft ride. Wet traction (as with the Integrity) is pretty poor. You could feel the front push at only moderate speeds on a wet cloverleaf. There was no confidence with those tires. I replaced all four with a set of Michelin Agility tires (now called the WeatherWise II) within a month of purchase.
 
Won't touch those tires at all. The more I hear about them, the more I stay away.


Our local tire chain (belle Tire) now carries part of the Viva line (touring) Sad that the employees won't ven bring it up that they have them....

Issue is that these lines are old school goodyear. I've heard nothing but good things about the new line up, like the comfort tread, TTs, and the fuel Max....
 
They are round an black, and that is about it. They are "franchise" tires with the Goodyear name on them, but are tires that are farmed out to be made for the store lines.
 
Update on the single most hated make & model of tire to ever be discussed on BITOG:

9 months and 18,000 miles so far on this set of Viva2's. These are on my wife's '01 Lumina- not a particularly heavy or powerful car; 90%+ highway miles.

Tread wear is barely noticeable- haven't bothered with a tread depth gauge though... just used my finger. These tires are a little noisy, but nothing unusual. Traction has been good- even in the snow. Ride is a little rougher than the Regattas that these Viva2's replaced, but well within what I'd consider ordinary.

Lately I can detect a slight shake at 70mph. Not enough for the wife to notice or complain about, but I'll probably re-balance these tires when I get around to it in a few weeks. This is typical of my experience with any Goodyear tire.

These tires were NOT what I wanted. I was pressed for time, and these were the only reasonably priced tires available after 6pm on a Tuesday. But for $65 each, I have no major complaints so far.
 
That's good to hear. The only complaint I had about them was a pretty big lack of wet traction. That was on an '03 Grand Caravan, a much different vehicle profile than you have. As far as comfort/noise, they were fine, and probably just what a lot of people are looking for.
 
the viva 2 is probably on par with the bridgestone turnaza 442 on my 2007 minivan which are junk at 28000 mile. i will probably go with the goodyear tt as long as they are us made and not older than 2 years.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
That's good to hear. The only complaint I had about them was a pretty big lack of wet traction. That was on an '03 Grand Caravan, a much different vehicle profile than you have. As far as comfort/noise, they were fine, and probably just what a lot of people are looking for.


I've read the same complaint about these tires numerous times and on several different sites- I don't doubt that's it's true. But it's just not a big issue here in Kansas. There are few hills or curves to speak of, and it just doesn't rain as much here as it does back east.

I suspect that I'd be a lot less satisfied with these tires if I still lived back in Tennessee- wet traction really mattered there. It's so consistently wet there that there are shaded areas where moss actually grows on the road... usually right in the middle of a decreasing-radius curve.

But for flat/straight highway miles on a cheap commuter-car with performance expectations on par with your average mini-van... they're working just fine.
 
Originally Posted By: mcshooter
the viva 2 is probably on par with the bridgestone turnaza 442 on my 2007 minivan which are junk at 28000 mile. i will probably go with the goodyear tt as long as they are us made and not older than 2 years.


Tire Rack's database has the country of origin:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Goodyear&tireModel=Assurance+TripleTred

As with any database, the information contained within is subject to verification, but I've never known their info to be wrong.

What size are your tires? Our '07 T&C came with the Turanza EL42s from the factory, and I pulled them off the van after only 9,000 miles. They had like-new tread left, but were simply horrible in the rain. I remember what CapriRacer always told us about the tire triangle: of wet traction, tread life, and low rolling resistance, you can usually get 2 of the 3 but rarely all 3. That was most certainly the case of the EL42s. And maybe in your case, you didn't even get 2...you just got the low rolling resistance.
 
I'm on the 2nd set of viva 2s on my 1996 cavalier that my parents drive. I think the first set got around 55,000 out of them. The 2nd set has about 20k so far and still look like new.

The only thing I know about the traction on them is that the snow traction was infinitely better than the michelins on my Mazda. Then again, those michelins might be the worst tire I have ever owned (traction wise).
 
I had the Regatta 2, a similar tire on the '94 Prizm. It came with that tire. It ended up being a very noisy and annoying tire. Nothing special, but not good enough as an average tire to warrant the same tires.

I ended up with the BFG Touring T/A tires at Sam's Club for the next two sets of tires and was pleased with those tires.

I ended up using another three sets on oilBabe's Camry and the current set on the Sienna.

The only Goodyear tires I have are the ones that came on the Vibe when I bought it.
 
Yeah, mine were actually G/Y Allegra sold at SAM's CLUB. The same tread/carcas as the Regatta 2 sold at G/Y tire dealers, the G/Y Weatherhandler LS sold at SEARS and the VIVA sold at W*M
 
Originally Posted By: Char Baby
Yeah, mine were actually G/Y Allegra sold at SAM's CLUB. The same tread/carcas as the Regatta 2 sold at G/Y tire dealers, the G/Y Weatherhandler LS sold at SEARS and the VIVA sold at W*M


That would be the Viva *TOURING* tire, sold at Wal-Mart.
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Originally Posted By: Char Baby
Yeah, mine were actually G/Y Allegra sold at SAM's CLUB. The same tread/carcas as the Regatta 2 sold at G/Y tire dealers, the G/Y Weatherhandler LS sold at SEARS and the VIVA sold at W*M


That would be the Viva *TOURING* tire, sold at Wal-Mart.


You are correct!
 
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