Member
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Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: California
Posts: 56
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: California
Posts: 56
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First few hundred on the Wrangler Territory MT
285/70/17 load range C
BLUF- so far, so good. Drives and rides well, good traction.
Picking tires is always tough, and is almost always subjective...my opinions are no different.
Ive had extensive experience -all of it categorically terrible- with BFG tires, which over the years lead me to other tires like the ATX, Duratrac, Coopers, and the WildPeak; all of which I had good luck with. I'm largely brand agnostic, and concerned more about durability and performance. So when my lift went on to my 4Runner a few days ago, I was looking at those tires again, but this time I was also adding in the concern of weight, because the 4runner isn't a turbo diesel from all the land cruisers. The C range tires on the market weren't much lighter than their E range counter parts, so it drifted down the priorities. I also wanted more of a hybrid terrain tire vs a pure AT or MT, so I settled on the Duratrac.
Well, the change (whenever it was) to a 2 ply sidewall made me question the durability against sidewall cuts, so I ruled it out. It was down to the the ATX or the WildPeak, until I saw the Territory MT from the Bronco. Goodyear store locally didn't have any information, but TireRack informed me that it was a 3 ply sidewall 2 polyester and 1 polymid.
Turns out, they were wrong. It's just a 2 ply sidewall, the tread is 2 steel, 2 polyester, and 1 polymid. So, not what I wanted, but the 45lb weight for the 33" tire has to come from somewhere. I'm wasn't happy about that, but I'm going to keep them on.
So far, my first few hundred miles have covered highway, city, curved mountain passes, light and heavy rain, and light trail use of dirt, gravel, and mud. The tires have so far performed really well across the board, consistent with a true hybrid tread design tire. I expected a little squirrely behavior on the freshly rained pavement, but it wasn't there. The siping and rubber compound lead to great results, to include hard breaking.
On trail, they do a good job of not carrying too many stones in the tread, and then only in the center "at" portion of the tread pattern. Traction Offroad has been excellent thus far, but admittedly nothing challenging yet.
Once nice part about the tires is their comparatively light weight. The truck doesn't have any problems with pick up or hills, and the transmission isn't noticeably any "busier" on highway drives through the hills than it was stock.
In terms of drive feel, they corner and stop very well even in the wet. And steering wheel feed back and noise are minimal given the tread void. The noise that does come in is a low hum, doesn't increase in pitch with speed, and at worst has to be picked out of the "background" of sounds from the TRD exhaust and wind/road noise. A little louder than a quiet AT, but nowhere near the noise of a full MT.
Tires went on and balanced easily.
My only concern is the durability of a 2 ply sidewall, but if they prove reliable, they may well be a goldilocks tire combining good road manners, good traction off road, with light weight....just what these trucks need imo.
Last edited by KiwiKurt; 02-25-2022 at 02:31 PM.
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