Goodyear: bad ride

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Greg Niekum

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My stock Goodyear Wranglers RT/S 255/70/R16s ride like they are out of balance, they bounce at all driving speeds. I have read the opinions of some about the quality of these tires. They only have 17,000 miles on them, would having them balanced fix the problem.



 
You could try. You could spend a few extra bucks and buy something different. You will be glad you did.





Tom
 
Check the balance, have them rotated, if that does not help you might want to replace them, I have had my 01 from day one new and they have always felt like 'flintstones" :lol:
 
I thought my Goodyears were crap too.........but then I replaced my Ford shocks with Monroe Reflex shocks.



I stand by my statement that the Ford shocks are bad from the factory. My ride isn't so bad now, at least tolerable, but the tires are still far from perfect. With 88K on them, they will soon be replaced.......



I would definately check the shocks first. If they are stock Ford parts, they are bad. I promise. You may end up doing tires eventually as well, but with only 17K on them...it seams to be kind of a waste........



Kinda thinking about going with some BFGs here real soon.......Don't get me wrong, the Goodyears that came on the ST are garbage; but if your shocks are bad or are Ford shocks they could be compounding the problem.
 
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Yeah, these tires suck! I have 19,000 miles and when I went in for a rotation last week, I had them balanced. They told me that one of them didn't roll straight when they pulled it off. The tread still looks decent, though they shouldn't be used in water. When the tread wears down more, I will be replacing them with Wild Spirit Radial MPT, made by Cordovan.
 
AndyG,

I did replace my stock shocks already with Monroe Reflex about a month ago. Plus I rotated one side of the truck to see if it was just one tire, but it still bounces. I also had the alignment done two weeks ago.
 
All new car tires are warrantied by the manufacturer for defects. In 2000 when the Firestone/Explorer fiasco was at it's peak, Ford took over all tire warranties and most people had replacements for the Firestone Wilderness A/T tires replaced and Ford paid for the cost.



If you go to a Goodyear dealer, they will probably inspect the tires for any defects or damage first. If they find something wrong with the tire they will probably replace it with a prorated adjustment for the treadwear on the current tire. If the tires were damaged due to alignment problems, bad shocks, underinflation, or hitting pot holes, etc, they they probably will deny your warranty claim, but if it appears to be a defective belt or cord, they will replace it at the prorated cost. If you don't like Goodyear tires, there is not much choice in the matter. Such is the way of tire warranties.



If they don't find anything wrong with the tire, then you may want to try and have them balanced. If you don't like the Goodyears, then go somewhere else to buy new tires and don't waste your money on the Goodyears.



I have always had good luck with Goodyear tires. I have 23K miles on my 2003 Sport Trac and I had over 40K miles on the Goodyears I bought as replacements for the Firestones on my 2001 Sport Trac and both have had excellent mileage, no abnormal wear and no problems except for a few flats. I am pretty picky about tire inflation, rotation and checking for abnormal wear patterns. My only gripe with the Goodyear Wrangler RT/S tires is the poor wet weather traction, so I had my tires Siped which made a big improvement in braking and cornering on wet pavement.



...Rich





 
I have to agree with Richard. I had my stock Goodyears running for 50 K but let me tell you they do suck on wet traction. I had them replaced with Michellin LT4 and replaced the shocks with Monroe Reflexes and Explorer Express' rear sway bar and man it's a new ride :D. Glad I did all of these modifications.
 
Roger,

I agree that the Goodyear Wrangler RT/S tires are far from the best tires that Goodyear makes. They are probably the cheapest tire that Ford can get from Goodyear to put on their Explorers.



All US auto manufacturers make similar deals with the tire makers for the cheapest tires they can get that meet the minimum standards required for the vehicles. So it's very rare that you will get pemium quality tires on a new car unless they are part of a special upgrade package.



...Rich







 
Gavin,

You do get a "Special Upgrade Package" with the Adrenline XLT Premium, it just does not include upgraded tires. Years ago, you often had several tire options including performance and premioum tires. Now the only tire choices might be a 70 series instead of the standard 75 series tires.



...Rich
 
I've had bad luck with my last 2 sets of Goodyears.... the crappy RT/S tires on the ST, and the crappier RS/A tires that came stock on my Toyota. The RS/A's rode like they were square, not round!



I will never, ever buy another vehicle with Goodyear tires!
 
Darin,

I have always had some degree of dissatisfaction with OEM tires regardless of the brand, and I even had some horrible tires from some of the brands with the best reputation for quality tires.



The best service I ever had on OEM tires were the Goodyear Eagles that came on my 1997 Grand Prix. I had the car for 42K miles of hard driving and the tires worked flawlessly in the rain or dry weather. At 42K miles the tires looked like they were brand new and would easly last another 15K-20K miles had I not traded it in on my 2001 Sport Trac.



I usually bought GM vehicles and most of they came equiped with General Tires. I think General Tire must use square molds for their tires since every one of their tires will run out of round in a few thousand miles. By far the worst tires I have ever owned.



I have also had Michelins on my Honda and they had poor wet weather traction and wore out in about 40K miles. I even tried Pirrelli tires and they good wet weather traction but the tread wear was terrible. I have used Pirrelli tires in Europe and found them to be excellent tires, but the tires they sell in the US is obviously not the same quality the sell in Europe.



I have actually had some very good luck with Firestone tires but after dumping the Wilderness AT's that came on my 2001 Sport Trac, and the poor service at the local Firestone Store, I will probably not buy Firestone tires anytime soon. I have 60-series Firestone Firehawks on my wife's Saturn Ion-3. The tires are fine but the service I got from the locak Firestone Tire Store when I went in to get a flat fixed and the tires rotated convinced me that they did not want anymore of my business.



I replaced the Frirestone tires on my 2001 Sport Trac within 2 weeks with Goodyear Wrangler RF/A's They were "Rotation Free" Aquatreads. Those were very good tires with excellent treadwear and wet weather traction. I drove through the railend of a hurricane where it was raining by the buckets and most other vehicles were pulliquang off the road. I drove through at 70 MPH like I was on rails thanks to the Aquatreads and Rain-X on my windsheild. I had just over 42K miles when I traded the truck for my 2003 Sport Trac. The treads had at least another 20K+ miles left on them and they still retained about 90% of their wet weather traction.



...Rich





 
I agree most OEM tires are crap. There are some exceptions. The OEM tires that came on my wife's '06 Escape are very nice... Continental Conti-Tracs. Smooth highway ride, good handling, good wet weather traction. Have 10K on them now.



I'm running Big-O Eurotours on my Toyota, which are made by Cooper Tires in Mississippi. Great tire compared to the RS/A's.
 

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