<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT"%> ROCKCRAWLER.com
ROCKCRAWLER.com
GOODYEAR WRANGLER MTRs
By Mike "TXJEEPER" Cohn
Project TJ has gone through a lot of tires in it's 65,000 mile lifetime. We had the stock, Goodyear GS-A's, 32" BFG Mud Terrains, 33" BFG Mud Terrains, and the 35" Baja Claws. One thing that I have experienced with the 32-35's was that even if I could find someone to "balance" them for me, they typically couldn't get them very close. This holds true mostly on the 33's and 35's. Tire shops just don't have balance machines that can handle flotation-sized rubber. On top of that, most shop techs run screaming when you bring in big tires. Ours did...literally.
Goodyear MTR and Weld Super-Single Sidewinder
The sidwalls have a good bulge once they get down to trail pressure. We run them at about 10 pounds.
Goodyear MTR and Weld Super-Single Sidewinder
The sidewalls are 3-ply and have squarish treads on them to help grab and move you forward.

After having a very bad experience with our local Firestone shop, I chose to take the Goodyears to a privately-owned shop here in Birmingham. K&W Auto Service was not only happy to help out, but they did an incredible job with the work. The tires came out nearly perfect, which is a huge credit to both Goodyear and Weld's manufacturing and quality control. One set was a hair off and we chose that to be our spare.

We took the wheels home and the next morning I put them on in our driveway and took them for a ride. I'm not kidding when I say I had to look twice to make sure they didn't swap out my MTRs for some all-terrains. The wheels were so well-balanced that the Jeep drove like a car. It's been a long time since I could say that. Some of you may also remember our previous write-up on the Centramatic wheel balancers. I chose not to run these on the Goodyears and after approximately 7,000 miles, still have not felt the need to put them on yet.

Hit The Road, Jack
One of the main characteristics I also noticed on the road was the lack of vibrations. With aggressive tires, including our old BFG Mud Terrains, when you slow down to a stop at a light, you can feel every single lug as the wheel rolls to a stop. Sometimes, the vibrations are enough to shake your jaws and blur your mirrors. At highway speeds, those same large lugs can cause a lot of vibrations, as well.

Now don't get me wrong. The Goodyear MTRs have an aggressive tread pattern. The lugs are well-spaced and plenty deep enough to not only look cool, but also be very functional off-road. The fact that they are radials, as opposed to bias ply tires, helps a huge bit in the feel and handling on the road.

MORE --->>>

 

Help spread the ROCKCRAWLER world!           Share on Facebook



©1997-2022 ROCKCRAWLER 4x4 and Off-Road Magazine. All Rights Reserved.

RockCrawler.com   -   IH8MUD.com