What is so bad about the stock Dunlops?

[fitzt4r]

I have yet to see one positive remark about the Dunlop Grantrek's (sp) that come standard on the new 4r's. I have accumulated about 5000 miles on them so far and have yet to notice any problems.

I have not taken the truck off road and really don't have any desire to but I have driven in heavy rain and they performed good. They are very quiet on the highways. I was impressed with the entire braking of the truck (tires included) when I was abruptly cut off by a soccer mom on her cell phone. I am tempted to do some minor off roading just to see for myself how they perform in that respect.

Please, I would like to read some hands on experiences from others, not "my buddies truck" stories. Are these tires as bad as everyone says or have the just gotten a bad rap b/c everyone gets a hard on everytime they hear the word "Revo?"

I just read a comment on Tire Rack from a guy who says at 65 mph, a big gust of wind would make his 4Runner go all over the place. He was blaming the tires. It is an SUV!!! What an idiot.

Please, no bashing, I just want to hear some honest opinions....

Thanks. Ryan

 

[toybox]

In the rain and snow they suck, especially after they get past 10k. Before the 10k they are fine for driving dry pavement. Also the OEM ones that came on the truck wore out very quickly IMO.

 

[Expat]

I guess maybe your searches might not have come across some of my comments but I have to agree with you, I don't think the Dunflops are that bad.

I offroaded with mine with the family and all our camping gear several times, and they did remarkably well. On road, I found them stable and capable.

Not withstanding this, changing tires may improve some characteristics. For example, I can do way more on my MTR's offroad than with the Dunflops. The Nitto Terra Grappers hold like stink, in a truck I drove that was fitted with them.

People often change tires for looks too (eg more aggressive look) to match their percieved image of their vehicle.

Sometimes I think people berate soemthing to justify their desire for something different. It's all good really. If you like em, stay with em.

Cheers
Mark

 

[pipspeak]

I agree that people seem to think the Dunflops should be everything to all people, which is just unrealistic. Putting stock easy-rolling road tires on SUVs is pretty much the norm (consider Scorpion STRs on Land Rovers, for example) because they makes the vehicle seem ncie and smooth and fast right off the lot.

I bought my 2004 SE with the Dunflops at 30K miles and they still have about 10K miles left on them, which is normal wear for tires these days. I did notice they ain't great in the rain, but that's also normal for virtually every tire that is more than half worn. They don't grip too well on dry rock/gravel either, but then they're ostensibly road tires so that's not unusual either. Same with snow - they're M+S rated but one look at the tread pattern should tell you they're not going to be a great snow tire. Not sure why people think they should therefore perform like BFG ATs.

Mine are very quiet still (which is not something that can be said for some tires when worn) and I'm happy to stick with them during the dry CA summer but will definitely change for something a little more aggressive before the winter and my snow trips begin.

The one thing I did notice (although I'm not sure if this is down to the tires or the 4Runner steering) is that the car tends to wander more than I'm used to. By that I mean it won't easily stay in a straight line and tends to be overly influenced by road cambers and uneven surfaces. I've driven SUVs for years so I know how they generally handle. I put this vague steering behaviour down to the tires (I've tried different tire pressures to no avail).

But you're right about the Revo cult on these boards. God forbid I consider any other tire (he says, waiting for a rebuke from Koz)

 

[Casper]

You will notice very little degrade in performance up to about the 10K mark...where they (with their crazy wear, though rated at 500) will start to become an issue.

While they are quiet and stable tires, there are better things out there. I have taken the Dunlops off road and been fairly impressed with them, only until I decided to swap tires for something much more on road capable/friendly (toyo proxes S/T). I then did the same trail and found that the toyos, while being wider and lower aspect ratio, did as well if not better than the dunlops.

On road, they are quiet but their many small tread blocks do squirm under higher g-loads and really (IMHO) do not instill confidence in any sort of evassive/aggressive manuvers, let alone in poor weather. Their soft sidewalls are also suspect as well, as they have some of the softest sidewalls I have ever felt.

Granted the dunlops are fairly cheap but my toyos cost me about the same as the dunlops and i suppose that Toyos will last longer, have better on road abilities, save gas, all while providing the same if not better off road abilities.

Win win situation in my book....

your best bet, wear out the Dunlops then find out what you are looking for. I kept my Dunlops in case of some sort of emergency that I might need to take the Toyos off, though the Toyos are All Season (M+S) rated as the Dunlops are.

 

[pipspeak]

I am curious whether the Dunflops give average or above average gas mileage or not. I suspect they are fairly good, as most stock, road-centric tires tend to be. .

 

[Bluto]

Mine have been fine, even in the rain and snow. I don't drive agressive. But I'm not waiting until I hydroplane or get stuck to replace them.

 

[RL4673]

I've accumulated about 60K miles between my 04 and my 06 on the Dunlop tires and I can't complain. I got 45k miles out of the set on my 04 and replaced them with Michelin Cross Terrains. The Michelins were quieter and substantially better in the rain, but the Dunlops weren't bad. Wear them out and then replace them with something better. No sense in replacing brand new (or nearly new) tires for no good reason.

 

[AlphaQup]

You want hands on experience, well I've had hand's on experience. When I bought the truck, it came with the Dunflops and they tracked all over the place. They also vibrated the steering (very light vibration) wheel at speeds past 50mph. I even took it to the dealer to get them rebalanced, and the problem persisted. It also drove me nuts driving on the freeway while there were crosswinds blowing. The truck felt like it was on ice litterally. After swapping to my current set of Nitto TG's, I've noticed all those symtoms that I use to have with the Dunflops....... they've mysteriously vanished. The Nitto's give the truck a solid feel. When cornering hard, they dont squeel where the Dunflops would give way to VSC and the infamous underdash beeping. The Nittos are a bit louder than the Dunflops on the freeway, but not to the point where it's extremely noticable. They also performed exceptionally on snow, but then I never tested the Dunflops on snow, so there whouldnt be a comparison there.

If you like the Duns and have no problems with your style of driving, keep em and keep buying them. If you want better performance capabilities out of the truck, then get proven tires that are able to take your truck to it's limits.

Nick

 

[Randy Arnold]

Stock Dunnies

I've got 50,000 on my stock Dunnies and can say for stockers they have been great. About the last 5000 I have noticed they are getting pretty poor in the rain and you can feel it if it's raining hard. They don't self clean at all but have held up amazingly well to field stubble and tree stobs. I really expected to punch a hole in them long ago. I'll rotate them one last time and then it is off to that great tire pile in the sky. I will probably replace them with Revo's if I can find a good deal on them or (Revo worshippers look away from the screen) a set of Cooper ATR's

 

[dwulffusa]

Dumflops - personal experience

Here's another personal experience.
I bought my 05 V6 SE on 06/15/05. From the first night of joy riding I noticed the steering shaking, no big deal I thought, get it balanced tomorrow, how wrong I was.
The following day the dealer rotated and balanced the tires, and I went on an 800mile trip, it didnt improve. The problem was at around 55-65mph and more pronounced with cold tires/low pressure. I complained twice more, and at 2500miles they replaced 2 front tires and the problem went away, after another 500miles it came back, I complained about the tires 3 more times and nothing, the stealer would not acknowledge the problem after that. At 15k the tires were rotated and it got really noticable again (perhaps I should take an mpeg of the shaking steering wheel and mail that to them!!). I recently put the tire pressure up to 3.5 and it improved the situation, but everyday I get on the highway look at the steering shaking, sigh, and move my attention to something else. It now has 26k
I cant wait for these tires to wear out so I can put a set of Revo's on, but do have the patience to wait until that point. I cant believe they keep rolling these tires out on new 4Rs. In the dealers defence, this is a Toyota supplier problem, not the dealer's. Dumflop should be recalling everyone of these ridiculously bad quality tires. Guys come on, isnt a tire supposed to be round, and roll?! Surely a tire company that has been in business as long as them should be able to produce a decent quality tire, even on the economy side of the spectrum?.

On the note of the 4R being overly sensitive to wind and road camber, I agree. I previously had a Grand Cherokee and it was not half as twitchy on the highway (but in every other area of onroad performance it sucked!). I spend alot of time on the highway and find it to be a pretty tiring vehicle to drive long distance due to the driver having to be very attentive at all times, making steering adjustments to keep it straight.

 

[Kmvreter]

My experience has been less than stellar coming from running Michelins on everthing I've owned.
Let's start at the beginning:
The stealer couldn't swap Michs on as part of the deal because he didn't have another set on the lot.
The day after I took delivery, my tire guy literally laughed when I asked about trading up with them. He said they were wothless because he wouldn't be able to unload them.
So, now I had them and decided to run them out. First sign of cold and wet conditions causes them to break loose. The VSC worked overtime to keep the T4R running straight. This hastened my decision to get BFG A/T ko's dedicated for winter fun.
At 25k+ miles I was able to break them loose and set off the VSC on damp pavement with normal driving. They will also cut loose on any rough surface. These things are almost scary. Definitely not a good traction tire. I'm no speed demon but I purposely slow down in rain on the freeway just because I don't want to risk losing the truck. That's how much confidence I don't have in these skins.
I've got 40k miles on them and will run them the rest of this season. I'll be shopping for Michs in the spring when I rotate off the BFGs.
Bottom line; trade if you can afford it. Toyota could and should do better than this, as I've told my stealer.

 

[Bluto]

Tires make a big difference in saftey and comfort for a relatively small cost. I can't think of any thing more important when it comes to a vehicle (other than which vehicle to buy).

I was a cheap tire guy. I ran the stock tires on my last vehicle as long as I could. After buying better tires, I regretted it, all 52k miles. Life is too short to put miles on mediocre tires.



There should be a Bridgestone rebate in August.

 

[boston_kevin]

I am like you... I found that the first 5-10k on the tires wasn't so bad, but I experienced excessive tire spin (especially in wet conditions) which made it difficult to pull into traffic at times. After 10k, they have gotten progressively worse and seem to be weaing faster. If I wasn't in the process of adding on to the house, I would be replacing these now. I am hoping to get one more season, maybe replacing them in November/December time frame.

 

[sharp4runr]

I'm at 29K on the Dunlops and I can't really complain. Sure they're not the best offroad/snow/wet, but I'm not doing anything crazy in those conditions to need the full capabilities. I went offroading with some other T4R members a few thousand miles ago and the conditions were less than stellar. We had ice, we had water, we had slush and mud. My 4Runner kept up with them. Now maybe you could mark it up to the eletrictronic doodads on the 4Runner (I'm sure they helped), but they can onlyd o so much with the so called "crappy dunlops." I've lasted 3 winters with these tires and I'm sure I'll be able to do 2-4 more before having to switch out.

 

[Hoomiester]

I've had no problems with mine. I just rotated them at 65K miles yesterday. (I do rotate all 5 through the cycle) and I have yet to experience what others have. I commute about 55 miles (one-way) every day on Insterstate and about 1/3 of it is country roads. No problems. The wear has been excellent and I'd like to think it's because I've rotated them every 5k miles. I'm probably going to change to the Coopers only because they do look good and are cheaper around here than the Revos. I do no off roading but in snow for the past 2 years, I've had zero problems where others have.

 

[IIIBradIII]

The wet weather is what scares me the most with these Dunlops. I'm a pilot so maybe I'm just overly sensitive to seat-of-the-pants sensations while driving, but any amount of puddling on the road erodes any confidence I have in the truck. I feel like it's all up to me to keep the thing out of the ditch.

Someone else also mentioned the weak sidewalls - you can definitely feel them when cornering hard and hitting a bridge expansion joint or something similar in the road.

So between the poor wet road performance & the weak sidewalls, I'm ready for a new set of tires. I only have 15k on these currently though, so I plan to give them a little more time.

 

[SKO450ES]

Dunflops are great for boats to bump into on docks at the cottage.:

 

[atomic punk]

Mine are at 26k and almost totally bald, I'll need a new set of tires before this winter. THAT is totally unacceptable. The exact same thing happened to my shitty stock jeep tires (goodyear), except that I took my jeep offroad.

If you like hydroplaning in your 4R, then the dunlops are for you. You'll get them worn down to the point of doing that all the time alot sooner than with other tires.

 

[Boston_Runner]

Having Dunlops on the 4runner is like a Olympic sprinter wearing a pair of Kmart sneakers.