2000, horrible 2wd traction common?

[TheDurk]

I've got Goodyear Wranglers all around. Not sure of the exact size. .

This is your problem. They came with mine from the dealer in '99. Worst tire I have ever had. No traction on wet pavement. I was terrified driving in the rain. It turned into a whole new car when I switched to Michelins (first Cross-terrains and now LTX MS2's).

 

[Satter]

you know i don't know what to tell you, from living in seattle i can say that the 4runner handles just fine in the rain no matter what type/condition, so it's either your tires some suspension problem your not accurately telling us what the symptoms are or you just shouldn't be on the roads when they are wet.

have you come from a car or other low CG vehicle? how does it track on dry flat roads? have you checked your tie rods for play?

either start checking your suspension for flaws,get new tires, or slow down.....:boxer:

lol, sorry man can't help more then that without more information.
i can't figure out what would be different on yours opposed to everyone else besides the tires from the info you posted up.

Don't know what to say either. It only happens occasionally though. Mainly because I have to drive uber slow when I take off and around corners when the roads are wet. I've gotten used to it.

BTW, I've driven trucks my entire life. Never owned a car.

 

[theizzardking]

This is your problem. They came with mine from the dealer in '99. Worst tire I have ever had. No traction on wet pavement. I was terrified driving in the rain. It turned into a whole new car when I switched to Michelins (first Cross-terrains and now LTX MS2's).

he doesn't want to admit it's the tires, lol

oh well here's to you durk for being the 5th person to suggest that, lol :beer:
maybe he'll get it on number 8...

 

[theizzardking]

Don't know what to say either. It only happens occasionally though. Mainly because I have to drive uber slow when I take off and around corners when the roads are wet. I've gotten used to it.

BTW, I've driven trucks my entire life. Never owned a car.

the rest of your suspension is up to par and you only loose traction around corners....it's gotta be the tires man, what are the manufacture dates? good chance the compound has gone hard or something, can have tread but if the compound is no good tred depth means nothing..


watch this tv interview on tire dates...

Hulu - ABC Brian Ross Investigates: Cracking the Secret Tire Code


another one
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyMg8wGdIOE]YouTube - Check the date on your tires[/ame]

sorry man, not trying to be a jerk i just really can;t think of anything else

 

[Satter]

he doesn't want to admit it's the tires, lol

Have no problem saying its the tires if indeed that is the problem. Has their been more attention to these type of tires in other threads? Are their websites that give quality ratings for Goodyear Wranglers? But, I think the bigger question here is WHY THE HELL IS "HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER" STILL ON TV?!!! :gun4:

EDIT: Just watched the video. My God! I didn't know this. Thanks for the info, izzy. I'm going to check the date tomorrow.

My next question is would a store take back old tires if they have recently been purchased? I just bought two new tires a month and a half ago.

 

[theizzardking]

Have no problem saying its the tires if indeed that is the problem. Has their been more attention to these type of tires in other threads? Are their websites that give quality ratings for Goodyear Wranglers? But, I think the bigger question here is WHY THE HELL IS "HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER" STILL ON TV?!!! :gun4:

EDIT: Just watched the video. My God! I didn't know this. Thanks for the info, izzy. I'm going to check the date tomorrow.

My next question is would a store take back old tires if they have recently been purchased? I just bought two new tires a month and a half ago.

Lol. No problem thanks for having a good sense of humor and taking things lightly, as i see if they sold you out of date tires and your having problems they should sure as heck take them back as a general forum consensus tirerack.com is a good place for reviews.

Get back to us as it is kind of weird only other thing i can think of is excessively oily roads in your location... but as i type that i think, really? Is it that bad...

 

[Satter]

Lol. No problem thanks for having a good sense of humor and taking things lightly, as i see if they sold you out of date tires and your having problems they should sure as heck take them back as a general forum consensus tirerack.com is a good place for reviews.

Get back to us as it is kind of weird only other thing i can think of is excessively oily roads in your location... but as i type that i think, really? Is it that bad...

Trust me, never take things too seriously. But, always glad to receive some good advice.

As far as oily roads go... Well, it is Houston. A ton of cars on the roads and very high humidity. But, I don't have a problem in dry conditions. After watching that video I'm beginning to think it's the tires. Goodyear Wranglers came with the truck when I bought it new, and I've used them ever since because I assumed they were a good tire and the handling on wet roads was a design flaw. I was wrong.

 

[TheDurk]

he doesn't want to admit it's the tires, lol

oh well here's to you durk for being the 5th person to suggest that, lol :beer:
maybe he'll get it on number 8...

Sorry, I know I was repeating, but I could not pass up a chance to say how much I hated those Wranglers. It's like Goodyear STOLE the pleasure out of the first 35K I had the car...can't believe I waited that long to junk them.

Funny thing is, they get good reviews on TireRack. But in forums in the early 2000's lots of people were saying the same thing I just did as a lot of people with 4Runners had them as the OEM tire. Maybe he DID get an old set, as they must have improved in recent years.

 

[twitchee2]

Well if you say your tires are great and your not driving around with your foot in it all time theres got to be something wrong. maybe check your rear upper control arms they could have possibly been broken.

All i know is when i was 16 i was driving a 96 2wd with 235/75-15s and lets face it, i was young and fearless and i would TRY to kick it out when it was raining. I would go around a turn and floor it, inside tire would light up thanks to the open diff and it would slide about 1-2ft out and catch again. it was really hard to get it to side out it and make it fish tail. That is also just me. this was 5 yrs ago and i dont drive like anymore.

 

[Gerdo]

SeanC, I'm not sure where your live.
Satter, I see you live in Houston.

Roads get oily from cars dripping and also tire rubber gets on the roads.
In states/areas that you don't see much rain, when it does rain it will be very slick till that junk washes off the roads.

With that said, living in Denver, I take it easy when it starts raining. Sometimes it doesn't rain here for months. It can be slick. After the junk is gone, my 4runner is solid and doesn't slide around. Also I'll spend most of the winter in 2wd.

 

[SeanC]

We live in Seattle. The tires are maybe six years old Michelin XCX/APT with a considerable amount of tread left. Haven't checked the expiration date.

We don't hotrod the car; usually my wife drives it. She complains (and I have verified) that freeway onramps and offramps are treacherous; any bumps around turns cause the rear-end to slide out...Maybe it's the age of the tires, but it's not the wear. We don't put a lot of miles on it, it's only got 120,000 total in a 10+ y.o. rig.

you know i don't know what to tell you, from living in seattle i can say that the 4runner handles just fine in the rain no matter what type/condition, so it's either your tires some suspension problem your not accurately telling us what the symptoms are or you just shouldn't be on the roads when they are wet.

are you in W.Seattle I'd be glad to take it for a "spin" with you!

 

[creatix]

Had the same problem with fish tailing in heavy snow slush. I know this will be blasphemy for most 4x4 enthusiast but I've opted to go with narrower tires for better snow traction. Personally I have not found any tire which was perfect for all road conditions. Eventually I plan on running two sets of tire one for winter and another for rest of the season. So my advice to you since you already have a good set of tires get another set that excels on snow/slush/icy conditions.

 

[theizzardking]

We live in Seattle. The tires are maybe six years old Michelin XCX/APT with a considerable amount of tread left. Haven't checked the expiration date.

We don't hotrod the car; usually my wife drives it. She complains (and I have verified) that freeway onramps and offramps are treacherous; any bumps around turns cause the rear-end to slide out...Maybe it's the age of the tires, but it's not the wear. We don't put a lot of miles on it, it's only got 120,000 total in a 10+ y.o. rig.



are you in W.Seattle I'd be glad to take it for a "spin" with you!

i'm up in stanwood,camano island area, but we're having a slider install party in mukilteo in about a month or so where a few of us are getting together to do some work on our trucks and install some rock sliders on 3 of our rigs, might be a good time to come by and talk some shop and see what's going on if you haven;t sorted it by then.:trophy:

 

[Pikeman]

We live in Seattle. The tires are maybe six years old Michelin XCX/APT with a considerable amount of tread left. Haven't checked the expiration date.

Check the Expiration date. If you notice in the videos and articles about tire dates the 6 year mark is the critical one. The tire i had when I first got my 4Runner was the Michellin LTX and it was great wet weather, had a set on my minivan also and they weent 80k before changing. Of course I put 30k+ a year on my vehicles so never have to worry about reaching 6 years.

 

[Gerdo]

Had the same problem with fish tailing in heavy snow slush. I know this will be blasphemy for most 4x4 enthusiast but I've opted to go with narrower tires for better snow traction. Personally I have not found any tire which was perfect for all road conditions. Eventually I plan on running two sets of tire one for winter and another for rest of the season. So my advice to you since you already have a good set of tires get another set that excels on snow/slush/icy conditions.

Heavy snow and slush will push a vehicle around a lot!

There isn't a perfect tire for all conditions, you will always have to make compromises.

A tall skinny snow tire for on road snow.
A studded snow is great on ice but slippery on dry or wet.
Siped tires add snow/water/ice traction but will chunk out on rocks
A fat tire for trail snow and sand.
A mud tire for mud.
A soft compound tire for rocks.
A highway tread for the highway.

MTs, for the most part, are horrid in the snow (on road)
ATs will pack up with deep snow and thick mud.

The "what tire should I buy?" is hard to answer. It has to be a balance of what YOU do with your vehicle and where you live.

 

[Gerdo]

We live in Seattle. The tires are maybe six years old Michelin XCX/APT with a considerable amount of tread left. Haven't checked the expiration date.

We don't hotrod the car; usually my wife drives it. She complains (and I have verified) that freeway onramps and offramps are treacherous; any bumps around turns cause the rear-end to slide out...Maybe it's the age of the tires, but it's not the wear. We don't put a lot of miles on it, it's only got 120,000 total in a 10+ y.o. rig.



are you in W.Seattle I'd be glad to take it for a "spin" with you!

Check, or have checked, the suspension. Mainly the rear suspension. Make sure the panhard bar is still attached.

Since you say it happens more with bumps I would also point at the rear shocks. How old are they? If replaced, what brand are they? Bad/weak shocks will not control the compression and rebound of the vehicle.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Just an FYI, Goodyear makes tires for all kinds of budgets, which means they make some cheap ones along with premium ones. The Wrangler name is used in multiple tire models and doesn't really mean much. I use Michelins myself and after 75K + miles on one set, it's one of the few brands I'll consider using.

There is absolutely no way that the rear should slide out the way you're describing it, so you're tires are almost certainly toast.

+1. :iagree:

I've used Michelin LTX' for years now. Best all around SUV tire on the market IMO.

Also, they are now siped from the factory so thats an added bonus.

My new F-150 came from the factory with Wranglers and they were horrible in the snow. At 3K miles they came off and on went Michelin LTX. It was like night and day in the winter soup we get here in Colorado. Which happens to be happening as I type this.

 

[CO_FlyFisher]

Unless something else is wrong (doesn’t sound like it), I’m also going to say it is the tires.

Back when I bought my truck (used) and I lived in Ft. Worth, it had nearly brand new Discount Tire house brand “Pathfinder” tires on it which were two sizes smaller than factory (255/65/16). I had the exact same problem you are having when it rained there. I hated those tires!!! Even though I had not purchased the tires (previous owner had just prior to selling), I did have the paperwork. I took it to the closest Discount after it had just rained and talked with the store manager. He didn’t want to believe me, so we took it for one lap around the block. That was more than enough for him. He gave me FULL credit back on the tires toward the set of BFG all-terrains that I just recently replaced after 42,000 miles.

 

[Gerdo]

It's rainy here today. Right after it started I was driving. I tried to break the tires loose and slide the rear, no go. The 4runner just went.

I'm running siped Yokohama AT/S 265/75-16.