Are Goodyear Wranglers still junk?

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
In general I think they are overpriced too, but this is literally the cheapest truck tire I have found. Everything else is a car tire at the price of the Wrangler Radials.


Honestly, those Goodyear Wrangler Radials are probably "truck" tires in look only. In the only size in which they're sold, P235/75R15, their construction feels very thin and they don't appear to be any sturdier than any other quality "car" tire.

Alternatives priced at nearly the same as the Goodyear Wrangler Radial on Tire Rack include the General Grabber HTS and Kumho Road Venture APT KL51. Even the Goodyear Wrangler SR-A is a decent tire. These will all be much MUCH better than those old Wrangler Radial tires.

Please spend the extra 50 bucks up front on better tires. It's not worth saving 50 bucks on poor tires.

 

[VNTS]

I wouldnt say the Wranglers are junk.

I just replaced the original Wrangler RSA on my 02 Grand Cherokee. Had 60K miles on them. They wore fine but noticed cracks in the sidewalls so I replaced them with new ones.

I also have the original Goodyears on my Durango wiht 55K and they are still fine. Have a set of Michelins to put next year.


Some of the Stock OEM Goodyear are junk but the car manufacturers buy the cheapest tires to save a buck, hence they are not the same.

Also tires are [censored] pricey now.

I have bought Yokohams, Falken, Hancook, and Bridgestone and I would say the GY are just as good. If you keep the front end aligned, tires balance and rotate them, you generally get decent performance.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
In general I think they are overpriced too, but this is literally the cheapest truck tire I have found. Everything else is a car tire at the price of the Wrangler Radials.


Honestly, those Goodyear Wrangler Radials are probably "truck" tires in look only. In the only size in which they're sold, P235/75R15, their construction feels very thin and they don't appear to be any sturdier than any other quality "car" tire.

Alternatives priced at nearly the same as the Goodyear Wrangler Radial on Tire Rack include the General Grabber HTS and Kumho Road Venture APT KL51. Even the Goodyear Wrangler SR-A is a decent tire. These will all be much MUCH better than those old Wrangler Radial tires.

Please spend the extra 50 bucks up front on better tires. It's not worth saving 50 bucks on poor tires.


The problem is the actual installed, out the door price differences I am seeing are way more than $50. More like $100+ for any tire that's actually an upgrade over the Radials. I ended up getting them this morning, cheap won out this time. $390 out the door...not $390 + install or $390 before tax, it was really only $390. I couldn't find ANY other tires meeting my basic size/load requirements for this installed price. Plus the shop selling them was great, they did a very good job balancing the tires and I was out of there in about 30 minutes.

The Radials have a load capacity of 2028 lbs., which is just 11 lbs. under the Destinations I had on there. The Destinations are a very well designed and even fairly priced tire, but I was just tired of spending $5-$600 on tires every two years. Most tires just don't last on this truck anyway, so I figured I'd give some cheap ones a try and see if I was really getting my money out of the more expensive tires. If these tires make it to 30K miles, I will be completely satisfied considering what I paid.

The Radials look like lawnmower tires and probably had about as much thought put into the tread design, but it's not a terrible design when new. It's actually surprisingly quiet and rides nicely. A bit wallowy in turns, but a lot of that is probably from the shocks that are getting replaced next week. The Radial is not going to win any awards for anything except price, but it's not a bad tire for the types of vehicles it fits. It was definitely an improvement over the howling 2/32s tread cupped up Destinations I had on there.

 

[Hokiefyd]

I like the way they look. Heck, they may really BE half-good tires if Goodyear has put a modern tread compound in it. I hope they give you good service; it'll be interesting to hear your experiences with them after a few thousand miles to see how they are still driving and wearing.

 

[01rangerxl]

I guess they don't look too bad, it does have some similarities in appearance to the BF Goodrich All Terrain, which is a pretty old design itself now.

I'm hoping they will be decent tires. If not, no big deal, I'll go back to what I know works, but curiosity and a really low price got the better of me this time. I'm willing to be a guinea pig and give them a try. I want to know if this really is a decent "value" tire for an older truck or something better left to the used car lots who just need to get a 1992 Explorer to pass a state inspection before they write "$75/week" on the window.

The real test is going to be rain. It hasn't rained since getting these tires so that's still an unknown. The Destinations were excellent in the rain when they were new, but the last 10K miles or so were pretty scarey at times. I don't expect these tires to perform as well as new Destinations in the rain, but if I can get around without spinning the tires and hydroplaning I will be happy. My initial impressions are good. I replaced the shocks yesterday and the body roll in turns cleaned up a lot. The ride and handling of the Radials on dry pavement isn't bad for what they are.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Wow...that tread looks familiar!

 

[01rangerxl]

Yeah, it's pretty similar to the Treadwrights in appearance too. It seems to be a pretty standard all terrain look.

I got to try them out in the rain today, a pretty good downpour too with standing water on the roads. The Radials did surprisingly well. Traction was good except for one sharp uphill turn from a stop where a rear tire started to slip, but regained traction quickly.

I think this design probably wouldn't have been around for so long if it wasn't at least decent. We'll see how tread life/performance over time is.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I HIGHLY recommend the treadwright tires!

Also, the goodyear wrangler radial available at walmart today (in the picture above) is the "new" tread design of this tire.

The "first' version, had the separate blocks like the treadwright tire. I have one that came on a Wrangler (jeep) back in the day as my full sized spare for my small tires, I'll find it and take a picture.

Back in the day, these tires came on every TJ, YJ, XJ ...

 

[Jarlaxle]

I wonder if Treadwright simply BOUGHT the old Wrangler Radial tread patterns?

And I also cannot recommend Treadwright highly enough!

 

[01rangerxl]

It's certainly possible. If I don't get good life out of the Wrangler Radials, I will definitely look into Treadwrights for it next time. The tread design itself doesn't seem to be a problem at all.

 

[kneesahn]

What psi do you run these at, max n sidewall is 35 right? I'm contemplating them as well for the same truck, but, I like to air to 35 and I sometimes carry 500+ lbs in the bed. I just hate that low tire look when inflated to factory 30 psi.

 

[Jarlaxle]

I recall sidewall max is 44psi.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: fordranger03
What psi do you run these at, max n sidewall is 35 right? I'm contemplating them as well for the same truck, but, I like to air to 35 and I sometimes carry 500+ lbs in the bed. I just hate that low tire look when inflated to factory 30 psi.


They are at 35 psi right now, which is what the shop filled them to. I might drop it to 33 psi just to be a little below the max, but I wouldn't want to run them at 30 psi either. Handling is worse, and with a payload the pressure should be a little higher IMO.

IIRC, the max on the sidewall for the Wranglers is 35 psi, but I will double check when it is not raining.

 

[pakstl]

I work at a shop that sells these tires(Can you guess which one?)
They are 35psi max pressure. I don't hear too many complaints about them but then again most the vehicles we mount them on haven't been aligned in 20 years so they wear out at the very edge and then get replaced and the cycle repeats.

 

[01rangerxl]

I'm not surprised by that! The truck got new ball joints and an alignment yesterday, so hopefully it will be an objective guinea pig for the Radials.

 

[kneesahn]

How are they in the rain?

 

[kneesahn]

Nvm, just saw your prior post on driving in wet weather. Going to give these a try within a few months. Have major cupping with the pro comp at's I've had on the ranger the past 4 years.


Do your passenger side tires wear quicker than the driver side? I've had 3 sets of tires on the truck and the passenger side always wears faster. Gonna start rotating rear cross instead of straight front to back, which the tire shops have recommended.

 

[01rangerxl]

My truck did that to its first set of tires, which were Continentals. The passenger side was bald while the driver side still had passable tread. The three sets after that wore symmetrically and were not rotated very often. Have you had the alignment on your truck checked?

So far the tires are doing good in the rain. The wheels keep going straight when they hit a puddle and traction is good. Just a little slippery in some turns, but very good when going straight. We had monsoon rain earlier this week and the tires handled it better than expected.

 

[kneesahn]

I don't rotate often maybe every year/year and a half. Alignment Was done 2 years ago with the pro comps, still goes straight with hands off steering so I figured it was good. I'll align once I put new tires on.

 

[Need4racin]

here's one of my old posts on btog.
Originally Posted By: Need4racin
Here's one with 50k miles, rotated every 10k miles. Bad picture I know, but the tread is just a hair above the wear bars.

It's a good tire for a 2wd truck that stays on the pavement 100% of the time; especially if you live down south where there is no snow/ice. Only con would be that it does not ride as nice as a bfg a/t.


Might of only paid around $285 otd in 2004? Was a WM grand opening sale.