Goodyear Fortera TripleTreds

L

lockerc18

New member
I recently purchased a set of GY Fortera TripleTreds for my '04 Limited. I've posted some experiences about them in other threads, so I won't repeat that here.

But, I got these because of the snow / ice / wet traction ratings. It recently snowed here, so I did some bombing around to see how these tires work in the "real" world. Some observations:

* The tires seem to make the truck more "bouncy" than the Cross Terrains they replaced.

* They are a little more noisy than the CTs, but it's not really noticeable. The exception is if you go over cement that has tractions lines or grooves in it. Then these tires do sing.

* The snow we got was about one inch of fluffy powder. The temperature was in the low 20s. The snow seemed to pack down some, and when I did my drive around, it was very slippery out. I was a little disappointed in the tires' traction, to be honest. I'd go find an undisturbed patch of snow, stop in it, and then gun the engine to see if the truck would take off in a straight line. I did this on glare ice with the CTs when they were new, and the truck actually did take off in a straight line.

But not with the TTs. I had a little fishtailing, which I didn't expect.

I tried this in both 2WD and 4WD. Of course, it was worse in 2WD, and though more than I expected for 4WD, it was livable. And I tried this a number of times, so it wasn't just the one experience.

I tried this (once) going around a sharp corner. The truck really fishtailed, and the roll-over warning squealed.

I don't know how other tires would have fared in the same conditions, but we have Assurance TTs on another car, and they did the same thing.

All in all, I think the tires are good, but I'm not as happy with the snow performance as I thought I would be.
 
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lockerc18,

Given a choice to go back, would you go with the Cross Terrains again, TripleTreds or another tire?

I'm a long way from replacing my tires, but it'll be good info and I'm quite happy with the CTs now.

Thanks for the review.
 
Nice review. I wonder how my BF Goodrich T/A KO's would perform in the same experiment. I know my traction control seldom came on in inclement weather when I had Michelin CT, all the time for the dunlops and once in a while for the BFG's.

Anyone can 'go' in 4wd mode, its being able to stop that's difficult.
 
Uneek said:
lockerc18,

Given a choice to go back, would you go with the Cross Terrains again, TripleTreds or another tire?

I'm a long way from replacing my tires, but it'll be good info and I'm quite happy with the CTs now.

Thanks for the review.
Click to expand...

To be honest, I don't know. I have to wait for some real snow to see how these TTs work in that. They seem to be very good in heavy rain, too, so I guess the jury's still out. And it will be interesting to see how they work when the tread gets worn down.

I've always had great experiences with Michelins. I was happy with the CTs, but I figured if I was going to replace them, I might as well get the "best" tire I could. I was looking at the new LTX AT2s, too, but I wanted a tire that was better suited to lots of highway miles with little or no offroad. And, no one around me had the AT2s in stock anyway, and I was told that they weren't even in the Michelin warehouses.

I'll post here once we get some deep snow and I have a chance to play in that.

But... I just really love the 4Runner in the winter! And the summer, too. And... well, you get the idea.
 
lockerc18 said:
To be honest, I don't know. I have to wait for some real snow to see how these TTs work in that. They seem to be very good in heavy rain, too, so I guess the jury's still out. And it will be interesting to see how they work when the tread gets worn down.

I've always had great experiences with Michelins. I was happy with the CTs, but I figured if I was going to replace them, I might as well get the "best" tire I could. I was looking at the new LTX AT2s, too, but I wanted a tire that was better suited to lots of highway miles with little or no offroad. And, no one around me had the AT2s in stock anyway, and I was told that they weren't even in the Michelin warehouses.

I'll post here once we get some deep snow and I have a chance to play in that.

But... I just really love the 4Runner in the winter! And the summer, too. And... well, you get the idea.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I'll be sure to check in whenever you add to the thread.

Yeah, I still haven't gotten around to taking the 4Runner off-road yet. For now, 4WD is put to good use when I head up to the sierras during the winter. Finally, we got a nice dump, couple feet of fresh powder. Going to play in it tomorrow. :)
 
Update

So, now that I've had these tires for a little while....

Either I'm getting used to the extra bounciness, or the tires are settling in some and don't seem to bounce as much. Either way, the ride seems pretty stable.

This past snow / ice storm gave me some more play time. I tried 4WD (of course, I wouldn't mess with 2WD) on the hard packed frozen slush that fell over the weekend. When I goosed it, the truck took off in a straight line, and when I slammed on the brakes, the truck stopped in a straight line. I guess I can't ask for a whole lot more.

I haven't taken it out in deep snow yet. I think this winter will provide lots of opportunities for that, though.

Man, the Adirondacks have AVALANCHE warnings up now. This could be SOME winter.
 
tripletreds suck

Hey guys,

I'm pretty active (or used to be) over on ih8mud as inacoma. I've got tons of experience with tires on multiple toyota trucks, cars, etc. I bought the triple treads for the GX470 this past fall...they have been great up till it snowed. these tires cause my truck to continually fishtail in the snow (no matter how much). they are not directionally stable in the snow either (slow speed mountain trails)...i honestly think my VW Golf does 100% better than my Goodyear TT on the GX. my traction control pretends like it doesn't want to work either...i'm very unhappy with these tires. They are fairly new and would love to sell them...i'm also thinking of getting them sipped if I can't sell them...hoping it will give them more traction. i'm at a loss...i thought I was going to have a snow machine..but alas I have a set of skiis.

later

kumar
 
yikes....I wish I would have seen this thread a week ago.

I just replaced my Dunlops with Tripletreds so I could be better prepared to drive my 2WD in Denver. Got to Denver three days ago on Wednesday, having been tested with any snow yet.

I don't plan on going to the mountains, just want to get around town, and I'll definitely by going slow and easy when it snows.
 
busbeepbeep said:


I don't plan on going to the mountains, just want to get around town, and I'll definitely by going slow and easy when it snows.
Click to expand...

Shoot, I don't have to be in the mountains to slide...I was driving around my 'hood on packed snow and was able to EASILY get sideways...shoot, freaked out a few folks in my neighborhood when I did it. Surprised me as much as the next guy...here I am driving a GX470 with all the bells/whistles and I can't seem to keep a straight line. Don't even get me started on stopping power. I do understand my rig is heavy...and thus what goes in a straight line, wants to tend to move in a straight line...but come on!!! My 85 mini truck STICKS to snow....

...anyone want to buy a set of mildly used TT :)

later,

ktp
 
I CHANGED THEM!

Well,

I go so sick of the tires I went to Discount and begged them to take the Fortera TT crappers back. I bought them in Oct, and put only about 2k miles on since then. They credited back the full price of the tires minus 8 bucks each. I had to repay for mounting/balancing...but I'm just happy they took the old tires back after all this time. So I spent 100 bucks to "test" the Fortera tires for 2k miles....argh!

I had awesome luck with Nitto TerraGrapplers LT (e rated) on the Tacoma the GX had replaced. AWESOME luck...this time I went one step further and also got them SIPED :D They should be good to go for offroad/snow etc.

The nitto's were pretty pricey, but i KNOW they are good tire offroad and in SNOW.

later guys...hope this helps someone later.

kumar
 
Don't the TT have plenty of sipes in them already?? I am not where else you can sip without weakening the tread.

Actually, i am not surprised by this. I had Goodyear Assurance Comfortred on my Corolla...it did not live up to expectations and definitely not up to what Goodyear is promising. Although i really want to try Goodyear Wrangler SilentArmor in the future, i am really hesitant at Goodyear claims these days. :( (I really want to stay away from Michelin a la France, but damn it, they make damn good tires!!)
 
Thai said:
Don't the TT have plenty of sipes in them already?? I am not where else you can sip without weakening the tread.

Actually, i am not surprised by this. I had Goodyear Assurance Comfortred on my Corolla...it did not live up to expectations and definitely not up to what Goodyear is promising. Although i really want to try Goodyear Wrangler SilentArmor in the future, i am really hesitant at Goodyear claims these days. :( (I really want to stay away from Michelin a la France, but damn it, they make damn good tires!!)
Click to expand...

TT have tons of sipes on them...but the blocks don't "flex" well when you rub your fingers on them...it's almost like they are just solid nubs between the sipes. The sipes need some "action" to work right. I did not sipe the TT...I got rid of them. I had the NEW Terra Grapplers siped before they were installed today. IF they chunk out too badly, Discount said they would warranty them :)

later,

kumar
 
IT SNOWED!!

I thought I might update the group on my new tire choice...the E rated Terra Grapplers with extra siping. I should note that the tires only have had 100 miles on them since it snowed...thus the sipes haven't had a chance to fully open, nor has the tire had a chance to full break in.

All I can say is that this truck (GX) is HEAVY...thus it throws it's weight around like a stuck BULL. Needless to say...the tires did pretty darn good. I was still able to break the truck lose, but this time the traction control actually kicked ON, before it seemed to stay OFF (with the goodyear TT). I did not fishtail to the point of going sideways like when I had the TT on. I fishtailed a hair, but the traction control kicked on and stabilized the situation. I can also honestly say braking performance in the snow is much improved as well. i also gunned it in straight snow and the tires gripped awesome, propelling me faster than I needed to be going on snow inside a neighborhood ;)

I performed my tests around the same basic areas I did with the other tires, so I'm fairly confident in saying these new tires are much better. I won't say 100% the best like a dedicated winter tire, but very good nonetheless.

A bonus is that the terra grapplers are great for offroading, whereas the TT are not so good.

that's pretty much the end of it. Don't buy Goodyear TT, buy terra grapplers and get 'em siped! But don't forget, this is a large truck with a lot of mass..so don't forget that what's in motion tends to want to stay IN MOTION...drive safe!

ktp
 
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I've had these my TTs for a few months now, and a couple of thousand miles. They are still bouncy, they still don't have the snow traction I expected, and my mileage has dropped by about 2 MPG. All in all, if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't buy them.

But the thing that really irks me is the way these tires were marketed, with the very high ratings for traction, etc. The tires are good, but not nearly as good as the Goodyear ratings are for them. There should be some enforced standard for rating tires so that people (like ME) don't get taken in by a company's marketing.

Not that I'm entirely unhappy with the tires. They're OK, but for the price and the hype, I expected a lot more. With my luck, they'll probably last for 80K miles, so I won't be able to get new tires for a while now. But when I do, I won't get these again.

The Michelin CTs that were OEM were better in every respect, but their ratings were lower across the board. I would imaging that the AT2s would also be better. The main reason why I didn't get the AT2s was because the Goodyear ratings were so much higher. But in hindsight, I would bet that the AT2s are better tires.

The only thing I can say that has positively surprised me has been that I really don't realize how fast I'm going. I can be doing 75 or better, and it's like I'm doing 50 or so. But, that's not enough to make me buy these again.
 
BUT, it's ranked #1 on TireRack consumer surveys!! Gotta love the useless TireRack consumer surveys.... :D
 
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