17" OEM Bridgestone Tires

[hrothgar02]

The stock craptastic OEM Bridgestones are starting to bug me (you know the reasons). Call me practical or frugal when it comes to tires, but I can't seem to justify new tires when I only have 9500 miles on the OEM's.

Has anyone on kept their OEM tires until they needed to be replaced due to wear? If so how many miles did it take? There is hardly any wear on my treads now. Any insite would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Titanpat57]

Bit the bullet and get rid of them now.....sell em' for 3-4 hundred and don't look back.

It was the single biggest improvment I made, hands down.


I stupidly waited till like 14,000 miles...:sobbing:

 

[Catchlight]

Bit the bullet and get rid of them now.....sell em' for 3-4 hundred and don't look back.

It was the single biggest improvment I made, hands down.


I stupidly waited till like 14,000 miles...:sobbing:

Titanpat57, what did you replace the OEM Bridgestones with?

 

[Titanpat57]

Titanpat57, what did you replace the OEM Bridgestones with?

Revo II's...


I put a lot of road miles every year(22,000), and had them on a previous vehicle and really enjoyed them...load range E, for towing though...not C

98% of driving is on pavement.

 

[Rob_G]

I replaced my tires at 5000kms. The stockers were good for city and highway driving (quiet and smooth), but on something like gravel I had moderate understeer with them. I put on P rated goodyear silent armor tires, leaving the spare alone as stock. These are pretty quiet too, ride nearly the same and have MUCH better traction in loose conditions like gravel. We had A LOT of snow this year and I'm glad I had these on my TE.

Rob

 

[KCcarguy]

It think those are 50k mile tires, so you'll be waiting a while.

 

[scanny]

I have the same problem - feel bad about replacing new OEM tires, especially because I don't think I can sell them here. But I think I'll bite the bullet and buy Destination AT this fall before snow. I'll have around 14,000 miles by that time, tires would be still not that old, but what the hell, we live only once.

 

[DEKA3]

I have stock Donlops and they were beyond crappy. I got stuck 3 times in the snow in NYC over the winter. Decided to upgrade to GY S/A's with just 5k miles on my stockers. Awaiting their arrival any day now.

 

[mgl]

im actually glad i have the oem bridgestones instead the dunlops.
IMO the bridgestones are the lesser of two evils

 

[Titanpat57]

im actually glad i have the oem bridgestones instead the dunlops.
IMO the bridgestones are the lesser of two evils

and this agree with...

the only saving grace is was able to get rid of the Dunflops on CL for $300...the guy said they were the same size as what dodge uses..so there is an audience at least

 

[1000MPH]

I'm usually pretty picky about tire performance but must say I've had good luck so far with the Bridgestones. Quiet, smooth, sticky enough in dry, wet, snow, sand, dirt. The only issue so far was a flat due to leaking at the bead and poor traction in some super slippery muddy/snowy trails. I've been driving a 2wd truck as my dd for past 5 years so maybe I got used to poor traction.

 

[BONASABOB]

17"oe tires

Just ordered/bought 2011 4runner trail. My only use is to load my bird dogs in their kennels in back,add guns and gear ,fill 20 c u foot cargo box on the roof rack and set off each august for hunting trip from sept thru jan. Most use would be crawling thru the sand hills after prairie chickens, mule deer and prairie dogs, but some u. P. Logging trails for ruffs also. When i ordered this vehicle my only reservation was the tires : They looked more designed for quiet highway ride than off road use even as mild as mine: Sand and mud, but i put my trust in toyota knowing what they're doing since this is a vehicle for serious outdoor guys like me rather than pretenders in "crossovers." once i make the 1500 mile drive to get there i'm not on pavement til i head home. The truck then sits in garage til next august....i drive a g37 coupe for recreation/transportation the rest of the year. Will these tires do the job for me? No opinions, actual exprience only ,please.

 

[BradleyB]

No opinions, actual exprience only ,please.

:snacker:

 

[Titanpat57]

Just ordered/bought 2011 4runner trail. My only use is to load my bird dogs in their kennels in back,add guns and gear ,fill 20 c u foot cargo box on the roof rack and set off each august for hunting trip from sept thru jan. Most use would be crawling thru the sand hills after prairie chickens, mule deer and prairie dogs, but some u. P. Logging trails for ruffs also. When i ordered this vehicle my only reservation was the tires : They looked more designed for quiet highway ride than off road use even as mild as mine: Sand and mud, but i put my trust in toyota knowing what they're doing since this is a vehicle for serious outdoor guys like me rather than pretenders in "crossovers." once i make the 1500 mile drive to get there i'm not on pavement til i head home. The truck then sits in garage til next august....i drive a g37 coupe for recreation/transportation the rest of the year. Will these tires do the job for me? No opinions, actual exprience only ,please.

Honestly...

Do you believe Toyota put more than about 30 seconds worth of design and thought into what tire to use on their premiere, off road, allterrian flagship of the fleet?? They completely and totally missed the mark, but as many here know, the stockers will fair "ok" at best...but that's about it. It's probably the first thing everyone does....and it's a damn shame Toyota doesn't follow suit and address their own shortcomings.

I think if you're going to be driving off road as much as your saying, sounds like it might be a good first upgrade.


If you chose not to do a tire upgrade, at least get a good hi-lift and shovel, better to be prepared in the event something goes wrong.

 

[1000MPH]

Really? At this level you think tires are an afterthought? You think all the Toyota automotive engineers and vehicle dynamicists went home early that day?
They chose a tire that met the design requirements. Simple as that.
Why would they put on a tire that

• has higher cost
• delivers a louder and harsher ride
• decreases precious MPG's
• contributes to heavier unsprung weight

to please less than 3% of the customers who buy the car?

 

[Jtraskell]

No opinions, actual experience only ,please.

I will take a stab at it, but your going to get both.

Opinion: YOU will not like the OEM tires.

Experience: I have owned a few 5klbs 4x4 trucks in my life as I too did a lot of hunting in the pacific northwest. I can tell you from experience that I have never been happy with 4 ply passenger car rated tires on this type of truck. You never said what tires you were getting with your rig, so I can only assume it is either the Bridgestone or Dunlap's most of the rest of us on this forum received. There are other reasons to upgrade your tires and I can explain them too you later if you wish to PM me.

Suggestion: Start shopping now. Since you just ordered your vehicle it will take a few weeks or even months before delivery (usually) and during that time make your best deal. Then, as soon as you pickup your rig drive it directly to the tire store and do the swap out. You will get your best trade in deal and like I said above, YOU will be happier in the long run.

I got lucky with mine. Since I was not hunting much anymore and moved to Florida, I thought maybe the OEM tires would do. I had 1600 miles on my rig before I could not take it anymore. However, I was able to negotiate a "full" refund from Dunlap of 160.00 per tire. I then purchased Michelin LTX M/X2 285/70/17 Load Range D which were on sale. I did not need 8ply tires, but since they were less expensive then the 6 ply, I said what the heck......
Total cost for me, about 200.00 for new better set of shoes.

 

[Titanpat57]

Really? At this level you think tires are an afterthought? You think all the Toyota automotive engineers and vehicle dynamicists went home early that day?
They chose a tire that met the design requirements. Simple as that.
Why would they put on a tire that

• has higher cost
• delivers a louder and harsher ride
• decreases precious MPG's
• contributes to heavier unsprung weight

to please less than 3% of the customers who buy the car?

To address this point by point (and yes, I still believe they totally blew the chance to make the "Trail Edition" a viable off road capable vehicle by putting street tires on it)

I'll use my load range "E" Bridgestone Revo II's as an example..

* I bet they could purchase both tires within a few dollars of each other

* The ride quality improved DRAMATICALLY by changing tires (now mine were Dunlops) no more feeling like you're riding on a ball at highway speeds and lane changing, or cornering at any speed. The traction differance was off the wall. (pulling a 2500lb. up a steep grassy slope, 4lo, locked rear, never slipped a wheel.....the spring before pulling the old 1500 lb. trailer up the same slope, same conditions, with the stockies, slipped like crazy but still got out, which I thought was no small feat)

*I lost 1 mpg overall..so I concede

* I do believe that's possible...especially if you go a few extra sizes up. If you stay within the same tire size as stock...maybe a few pounds?


I'm not sure exactly what 3% you mean...Trail owners or 4runner owners overall? The reason I bought the Trail was because of the attraction of being able to go off road in a bit more capable, trail worthy truck. The main purpose of my Trail is a tow vehicle(as well as a DD). If all I wanted was to stick to pavement, then I probably wouldv'e considered a Limited, and would have expected road tires. I just think there doesn't appear to be much thought put to the tire choice for the TE...whay hobble it with street tires? I think if you read the forums very often it appears the tires (and the horn) were the first things to go on many folks trucks.

 

[Jtraskell]

I would add that even if the 3% figure is correct, the OP seems to be one of those 3%. And based on the posts in this forum, 99% of those 3% were not happy with the OEM tires, thus......neither will the OP. Would it not have been better and maybe more profitable for Toyota to at least offer better off road type tires for the Trail and maybe even the SR5 editions? Options usually equal profits for the manufacturer.

 

[BONASABOB]

Thanks, 1000mph, for your common sense. We both have the trail model. What has been your tire exprience?

 

[BONASABOB]

Thankfully, it is usually easy to tell the contenders from the pretenders in the internet ether. "Thanks" for the knowledge and advice given to me on this site that confirmed and strengthened my own thoughts that the Bridgestone HT's that came on my 2011 Trail needed to be replaced by Revo2 AT's. The BEST deal I got for my fresh-from-the-transporter Trail was $100/tire trade-in so the net cost was $545 and I drove away mumbling about why Toyota did us like that(their sales brochure shows the Trail with AT's.) I would have gladly paid Toyota more to have my truck delivered from the factory with the right tires(only about a $10/tire upgrade from HT to AT.) When I load up and leave next month for my annual 4-5 month hunting trip in the Sandhills there is almost no highway use(all crawling around on the ranch) til I head back to my main home and then the truck only is used for a few miles each month to transport my dogs until next August rolls around. I know the AT's will do the job in those sandy pastures and steep,rough grades rather than hoping to get by with the HT's. I carry jack,shovel,compressor,etc but there are no trees or boulders to hook a winch to so way back in the hills it's better to keep rolling. As always, peace of mind comes with a price tag.