Question: Do you like your Wrangler RT/S' performance in rain?

Did it change over time?

Background: 'Been searching thru the tire comments. Many posts complain about the wet traction of the RT/S.

While doing some tire-kicking at a local dealership -- noticed my FOURTH tread pattern for a tire also marked Wrangler RT/S.

Hmmm?

How many different variations of that tire ARE there?

Goodyear's own web does not give any indication of differences in tread pattern for the tire -- but they DO illustrate different load characteristics (see: http://www.goodyear.com/us/tires/tir...kWRLRTSTL.html ).

Do they change them with the changes in the wind?

Care to Comment?




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Y2K™ Jim Gorka

Toreador Red, Keyless XLT SC SB 5.4L E4x4 4wDisc/ABS, 3.73LS, Skid, HD 7700# Towing, LT-245's on Chrome, Tube-Steps, Captain's, 6CD, Tonneau, named: "Nick"

 

Y2K77004x4

Overall: Not terrible, but in wet roads not too good. Could be better like the BFG's that I had in my other truck.

Wear: Great. Mine are just over the 48k mark and still a couple of thousand miles to go.

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98 4x4 Lariat SC 5.4L ORP, Tow Package, 3.55 LS in oxford white two tone. Only modifications, K&N Filtercharger and Stepshield door sill protectors. Many more to come.

 

Y2K, I'm on my second f150 with stock RT/S's. In short they are the worst tires I've ever had. Wet traction is terrible, then it gets worse. Dry smooth pavement is ok, but any tire is ok on dry pavement. Why in the world a 4x4 with ORP comes with RT/S's is beyond me. My stock Firestones were not great on my Ranger, but they were head and shoulders above these Good Years.
On my 97 F150 I got 45K out of the RT/S's before I had a ply seperation that ruined one tire....that was the excuse I was looking for to buy 4 new tires, replaced them with Pirelli Scorpion AT's ....much improvement.

My 2000 F150 has 27K on it and it looks like the RT/S are about half gone, eyeballing it of course.

Bottom line is they last too long, because most people would rather replace them the first day the drive on wet pavement.

-jeff b.

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2000 F150 4x4 SC/SB 5.4 Auto, Tow Package, ORP (with the sticker for 2000), Cab Steps, Lariet.
Oxford White/Harvest Gold 2 tone.

 

Here is my experience:

The Firestones, they suck! first rock you hit goes thru them. Wet traction, what traction???

The goodyears hold up to rocks better, but their traction is not that good. especially offroad when it gets a little wet they are useless. You usually can get more life out of these than the firestones, but dont expect much over 20K.

Our friend greg had the goodyear RTS on his 91 F250 and thought that they were the stuff. He had to buy new tires about a year ago and talked him into the BFG ats. His tires has some very slow leaks in them, but wore for about 40K. Now that he has switched to the BFGs he is not going to anything else. Traction, low tire noise, good traction wet and dry, extra sidewall protection, and long life are the benefits of the BFGs. I really like the BFGs. you cannot not wrong unless you want a tire like a swamper. I have heard of people getting 70K out of the ATs.

 

RT/S - Hated them and puller them off at 46,000 miles. Traction got worse and worse. Crappy "P" rated tire for an ORP.

AT/S - Love them. Better traction on wet and better off road. Cleans off mud better too.

Firestone Wilderness AT - Crappy tire on my wife's Explorer. We got a flat crossing a parking lot when she ran over a broken beer bottle. It cut straight through the thread - not sidewall. Firestone said tough luck, "buy a new tire". I said the tire had only 1800 miles on it and it should hold up better if it is an "AT" type tire. He asked if I had the road hazzard warranty. I told him Ford did not offer it as an option for a new vehicle. So I took his advise and bought a new tire - From Goodyear!!! Check out Firestone quality here: http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-onlin...t_3627928.html


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http://albums.photopoint.com/j/Album...1294&a=3025856
Mine:1997 F150, XLT, SC, Oxford white/maroon 60/40 cloth, 4x4 ORP, 4.6L, 3.55LS, 17" ORP wheels w/GY AT/S LT265/70/17, auto, 6 CD,Towing package, alarm, Rhino grill guard w/PICCA lights, dual exhaust. Bought new June '96

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/Album...1294&a=3025874
Wife: 1999 Explorer Limited,pearl white/tan leather,4.0L,4:10LS,CD,sunroof,towing pkg.,alarm. Bought new Sept. 1999

Next: SuperCrew, 5.4L, 4x4,3:55LS,tow pkg. etc..

Previous: '65 Mustang 289 HiPo, '70 Chevelle SS 396, '70 Vette Conv. 350/350, 72 Datsun PU,'74 Vette TTop, '79 Blazer, '81 F150, '83 Bonneville, '84 Gran Marquis '89 TBird Super Coupe 3.8L SuperCharged, '93 Explorer 4.0L

 

Replaced mine at 15,000 miles cause they sucked. Replaced them with the best AT out there, good 'ol BFG.

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Patrick aka Mudder or MR.Daylighter of Arlington Texas (D/FW), member of the Texas Chapter club DAYLIGHTER edition F150 ®, Black 98 S/S S/C F150 4x4 0RP 5.4 V8 3.55ls, Ramsey Pro 8000 hidden winch, Grizzly roll bar, Superwhite Bulbs, 2 Baja back up lights, 2 KC 57 Series 5x7 100 watt long range lights, 8 165 watt KC Daylighters, 4 chrome, 4 black ( with 10 KC's, I come alive at night), Manik grill guard, Westin step bars, Rhino Taillight guards (thanks Pony), Magnum bug shield, Sonic aluminum treadplate 36" tool box, Flowmaster 40 series dual exhaust, Airaid High Flow system, Edelbrock IAS shocks, 285/75/16 BFG AT/S KO, American Racing Baja wheels, personalized plates, Cobra CB radio with 3' whip antenna, Escort Laser/Radar detector, Nokia cell phone, a Mobil Speed Pass on the back window, a F150 Online sticker, and a DAYLIGHTER sticker on the front windshield, and yes, I also have been infected with the infamous door crack. More to come for the Daylighter: JBA headers, superchip, 4 more Daylighters, and a Lighted Ford tailgate logo. If you would like to see pics, email me at mudder46@hotmail.com or see pics at me and pony's website www.angelfire.com/ok3/ponysix8 , and to hear the Flowmaster exhaust http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/ponysix8/images/T005.wav
Also the Moderator of the Ford Trucks vs. GM trucks forum over on fordvschevy.com so check it out.
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OH HELL YEAH!

2 BRT 4U "Go ahead, flash your brights at me, see what will happen."

Got light?




[This message has been edited by mudder (edited 07-31-2000).]

 

I wish I could remember what I had on my '97 F-150. I believe they were a Wrangler and/but I know they were not RT/S series.

Like I said in my first post -- I've now seen 4 different tread patterns. My present RT/S' are pretty noisy -- and are feather-edging the fronts (I suspect excessive toe).

There is a noticeable tread-pattern difference between the P-series and the LT-series (at least in the parking lot at work) -- and I have not any complaints with the wet traction -- BUT I can see that when they wear down to about half-way, the edges fill in and don't have the water sipes like they do now at 10K miles.

I'd rather trade them early (while there is some resale value) rather than get really annoyed later.

I was expecting some extra noise with the 4x4 -- but they are noisier than I had expected.

Keep those comments comming -- perhaps some pattern (ugh, pun) will develop.

Tks,

 

Y2K 7700,

You may be refering to Wrangler AP, I have two of those on the back and two Wrangler RT/S on the front (mistake by incompetent tire store, long story). The RT/S is a much better tire but they both suck overall. I will get some truck tires next time. Maybe a BFG or a Dunlop Radial Rover. I hear they are both pretty decent.

And I agree with Dewayne about the Explorer Wilderness AT Firestone tires, they totally suck. Loud, flat spots, weak sidewalls, they suck! A tiny little picture hanging type of nail went through the sidewall of one of mine and ruined the tire.

 

Y2K.....I had GY Wranglers on my truck when I bought it......3 weeks later I had BFG AT's. Goodyear make long lasting crappy overpriced tires with no traction. Firestone makes cheap crappy tires with so so traction, but I think a bare inner tube would be tougher. The BFG's from previous experience are the best tires around. On my ranger I had 31" AT's and got close to 100,000 kms out of them....and they go anywhere. I know they are expensive....but I really think they are worth the cash.

 

The Wrangler RT/S would probably be an improvement over the AP's They are the worst tires I have ever had on wet roads. I mean worse than other tires I have had with 60k
on them. The other day I demonstrated them for a co worker. We where going about 30 MPH
on a wet road and put it to the floor. The tires spun out and we started to go sideways.
I only have the 4.6 L as well so its not like I have too much power. My lease is due next month and am looking for a new SuperCrew and may look at optional tires but have not looked in detail yet as to what these would be.

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98 F150 XLT SC 139" WB 4.6L Automatic 3.55 Rearend Tow Package Toreador Red /Tan 5 Star Lariet Style 16" Wheels 255/70/16 OWL Goodyear AP Tires
Mods K&N Filter, Ranch SportLid Fiberglass Toneau
Tow 31FT. Glendette Deluxe Camper Trailer

 

As I have posted before, the GY Wrangler RTS is possibly the worst tire for wet-weather performance on pavement that could possibly be placed upon these trucks. I will be purchasing a set of BFG ATs within the next week. We just received our first rain here in San Antonio in some time, and I was reminded just today why I need to retire (pun intended) these underachievers.

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'99 XLT 4x4

 

During a recent noon-walk around the company parking lot, I discovered 4 different RT/S tires. It seems that just saying RT/S is like saying F-150 -- in that there's a P-rated, LT-rated, and then different tread patterns for the bunch (I got confused by all the combinations).

Having spent a LOT of time with front axles for heavy trucks, I'm pretty good at 'reading' tire wear -- and the tire wear on my new truck's tires suggested that there was braking wear on the front, and acceleration wear on the rear.

Well, duhhh, you say.

The 5K rotation was purposely skipped so as to accentuate any difference in alignment-wear for diagnostic purposes. Rear tires were wearing perfectly (flat), with no 'cupping' or 'scalloping' or other edge anomaly.

Fronts, however, were a bit perplexing. Edge-ridge sawtoothing of the lugs became immediately apparent -- which angered me since outside tread ridge wear is often blamed on excessive toe-in.

But the inside tread edge-ridge was equally worn -- and the damned things cannot be toe-in and toe-out at the same time!!

Wear across the rest of the tread also indicated braking wear (which rolls the lugs and wears off the high spot created by rolling the lugs -- the more rain sipes the more obvious) -- but I couldn't rule out the toe-in suspicion.

Once on the alignment rack -- the toe was measured at -0 and -0 for left and right, respectively!!! Straight ahead!!! Just how I was about to ask the man to adjust them.

Suspicion confirmed -- straight ahead tires means braking-wear is the most-likely culprit.

So...

...no apparent problem with the alignment -- will now get into the rotation regimine. Rotation of tires without fixing any alignment problem merely masks the problem, since you then have 4 (or 5) tires with the same 'feature' -- and you can never isolate the source.

As for the original question about the traction -- perplexing -- my Wrangler AP's on the last truck must have been crappy, and I merely attributed it to a powerful engine -- since, with the new RT/S', I cannot smoke a tire to save my life (perhaps I'll get good tire mileage as a result??) -- and the agressive steer-axle brakes on Nick seem to have prevented any wet-weather complaint with traction -- probably due to Ford taking all the braking load away from the rears.

Does any of this offer any additional information in your opinion/observation of your tires?

(12K on NIck now)



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Y2K™ Jim

Toreador Red, Keyless XLT SC SB 5.4L E4x4 4wDisc/ABS, 3.73LS, Skid, HD 7700# Towing, LT-245's on Chrome, Tube-Steps, Captain's, 6CD, Tonneau, named: "Nick"

 

My RT/S tires had no traction at all...they slid all over the place in rain. I replaced them with BFG Longtrail T/As...didn't think too much of them. I just put Bridgestone Dueler AT tires on the truck and I love them. They ride smooth, they stick to the road, and they perform well in mud and gravel.

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1998 F-150 XLT 4x4 Off-Road, 4.6, limited slip, automatic, Red, Supercab, 12-disk cd changer, limo tint, Custom Magnum wrap-around grill guard, Full-length nerf steps with custom brackets.

 

Swamprat-
I can't agree more with you about the Bridgestone Dueler A/Ts...they are a great tire, great wet weather traction, great in the snow, great in the mud, and keep clean of anything that gets in the tread. I liked the price a lot on them over the BFG's because I couldn't see spending that much for the BFGs....Have had the Duelers offroad a lot, and have had no problems with them at all.
I think that the Bridgestones are top of the line with the Firestone company, and they put the quality where it is needed. Upon balancing my tires, only two of the four needed weights...other than that they balanced perfectly, much better than the Wrangler A/Ts that were on it stock....I would never put the RT/S on a truck that goes offroad, very bad traction!!!

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1999 F-150 4x4 Offroad, SuperCab, Prairie Harvest Gold, 5.4L Triton w/ K&N Air Filter, Lund Interceptor Bug Guard, Lund Headlight Covers, Lund Screenfront Grill Insert, Vent Visors, Smittybilt Outland Sport Bumper Gaurd w/ Hella 500 & 550 Driving lights, Access Roll-up Cover, Bedliner, Ford Reciever Hitch Cover, Taillight Covers, Bridgestone Dueler AT's

Future Mods:
Gibson Cat-Back Exhaust, Nerf bars, 4" Suspension Lift, 3" Body Lift, 35" Tires

 

Y2k,

Your wear analysis is almost exactly what I've seen on both my trucks. The difference is that I've seen what I call excessive traction problems, especially on wet pavement. Just this morning I had trouble leaving a stoplight on an incline. Tires spinning and not going anywhere.....and I was not stepping on the gas very hard either. The car next to me pulled right away.

-jeff b.


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2000 F150 4x4 SC/SB 5.4 Auto, Tow Package, ORP (with the sticker for 2000), Cab Steps, Lariet.
Oxford White/Harvest Gold 2 tone.