My Tire Compromise

Post by **fuzzysnuggleduck** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:13 am

I've needed new shoes for the 4Runner ever since I bought the beast back in November. The installed Goodyear Wrangler RT/S tires are... horrid. They get pretty bad reviews when new and these are older and old.

The front tires have tread left but they are dried and cracking which equates to poor traction in all but the most ideal conditions. The rear tires are probably some of the worst I've ever seen in terms of wear. One is as balder than an American eagle, the other is a close second.

I went offroading with these tires and while they did the job, just barely, but I was forced to be in 4WD the whole time. 2WD would have been a disaster.

Anyways, for quite some time I was eyeing the General Grabber AT/2's. They have good reviews, good price, aggressive look and perform well both on and off road. The major problem with these shoes is availability. They are on back order everywhere and have been for several months. I couldn't wait any more.

Normally, I wouldn't mind waiting but with moving to Vancouver and towing all our stuff behind the 4Runner for over 1,000Km, I needed to know that I had good rubber on the road for safety reasons. I will not put myself, my wife and our belongings at risk because I couldn't get the exact tire I wanted at the time when I needed them. So, I had to compromise.

I've decided on the expensive fucking Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo. These have amazing reviews for wet tracking, which was a major selling point because Vancouver is wet, wet, wet. You Oregon/PNW boys know what I'm talking about. They also seem to have good ratings for mild/normal off road use. They aren't rock climbers, they aren't mudders or swampers but they'll be just fine for my style of offroading and my road needs. I personally think the Revos don't look as aggressive as the Grabber AT2's but that's a sacrifice I had to make to get new rubber on the wheels before the move.

All in all, I think I made the right decision but I'll have a much better feeling once they are installed (just a bit later today) and I've taken them all the way to Vancouver.

I'll update this once I've put some Kms on them and let you all know if I made the right decision or not. For what I'm paying (after mounting, balancing, disposal, tax, etc.) I certainly hope I did.

Post by **mr tibbs** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:49 am

I know all of the 4Runner guys over on yotatech.com love them. After going through a very, vey bad experience with a set of Yokohamas on my 4Runner I opted to spend some coin and throw on some Michellins. WOW, just wow, that was a great set of tires, for highway use. Offroad they did OK, but they were as smooth as silk on the highway.

In a month or so I will be getting some new all terrain BFG's on the girlfriends FJ. They are geared more towards off road use than towards highway. I'm hoping they will be allright on the highway as well.

Keep us posted on the Revo's, I'll be interested to hear how they do!

Post by **fuzzysnuggleduck** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 11:26 am

Yeah, the information I found on yotatech seemed to point towards them being a good tire. I'm glad there are sites like that around to scour for such information and personal opinions.

Post by **Bfowler** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 11:45 am

smgreen....I'm assuming bfg =bf Goodrich.

bf Goodrich is owned my Michelin....which is owned by french holders.

that is all.

Post by **Francious70** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 11:49 am

A fried of mine has a set of Bridgestone Dueler A/T's and let me tell you what, for an all terrain tire these fuckers have some aggressive tread. You will have NO problem with traction, on or off road with those tires.

fordtough1 · Post by **fordtough1** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 1:23 pm

I had some dueler A/T's on a chevy truck 12 years ago, and they were nice tires. Great traction for an A/T tire.

I worked at a bridgestone dealer at the time so I got them at near cost too.

Post by **stipud** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:04 pm

Love the tread pattern....

Post by **fuzzysnuggleduck** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:14 pm

Ok, So I just got the truck back from the shop and let me just say wow. More aggressive than I thought! I like, I like! The tread is sooooo deep! I know that's pretty normal but coming from my last set where the worst tire had maybe 1-1.5 cm tread depth left, this is a HUGE difference.

Ride is very comfortable on road and is quiet.

I put the blackwall out because I'm in the process of "blacking out" my truck.

The balancing weights make my wheels look a bit less aggressive (mostly because I painted them black and the weights are steel colored) but I figured having balanced wheels is a good thing, in general.

So far, I'm happy. Still haven't put them to the test.

Audiophiliac · Post by **Audiophiliac** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:07 pm

Man I am glad you finally got new tires! Thats the most important safety equipment on your car, and I wouldnt have trusted the tires the way you describe them. I dont mess around with tires. My Bridgestone RE750s are only 3 summers old (I use snow tires in the winter)...and I will replace them after this summer if I still have the car....a lot of people would just drive them until they are completely bald....not me. Its not worth the risk. I see at least 1 person each day on the side of the road with a flat or a blowout.....I normally dont stop to look, but I would bet that most of them are very worn, improperly inflated, and/or mounted on damaged wheels or imbalanced in some way.

End rant.

New tires are great!!

Mastiff · Post by **Mastiff** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:16 pm

stipud wrote:Love the tread pattern....

WTF was that?

Audiophiliac · Post by **Audiophiliac** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 9:12 pm

That was pretty much the funniest thing I have seen all day is wtf that was.

Post by **stipud** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 12:02 pm

The tread pattern is a lightning bolt... It reminded me of that movie.

Take some pictures Rizzle.

Post by **fuzzysnuggleduck** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 1:09 pm

Yeah, I will!

I made another compromise as well, this one not nearly as good... I had to fix my half-done bondo/body work job on the right rear wheel well because I knew when I got to Vancouver I wouldn't have a place or the time to do it.

So I did it, but it's not nearly as nice as the front fender job I did. The blending isn't the worst, but on any kind of close inspection, it's obvious. Oh well, it will look good in photos.

It's raining like hell here on the day I have to load up the UHaul trailer

I'll take some pics of the whole thing (truck and trailer and some close ups of the tires).

Post by **fuzzysnuggleduck** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 1:26 pm

Ok, here they are. The left (driver) side of my truck is the one that's still visibly rusty.

The moving rig:

Front left:

Rear left (worst rust by far):

Rear right (not so good bondo/paint job):

Front right:

Tread close ups and depth:

A dog driving my truck for good measure:

So far, I'm impressed as hell with these tires. I better well fucking be for the price, though! We'll see how they do on wet highway with a trailer.

Hmm, rear left looks a little low on pressure...

Post by **Francious70** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 3:08 pm

Beautiful dog, yours?

Post by **fuzzysnuggleduck** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 3:50 pm

Nope. The owners are the people who's house I've been living in for the past year (with Tom).

They came back and we're moving out.

It is a very good looking dog but he's a bit edgy from moving around the world and such. He's also some kind of Sheppard dog and requires a task to not be bored. Once he settles in, he should be better but right now he's all barky, growly and sometimes bite-y, which is really bad for a domestic house dog.

Biting = bad.