First of all I do think these tires have performed well in both mud and sand. They actually performed better in the sand than my Toyo Open Country MTs seeming to provide a bit better flotation. On dirt and rocky trails I really didn't see much difference, perhaps a little better bite with the Toyos.

Balancing the Goodyears took a fair amount of weight. Much more than the Toyos, with the Goodyears even having some smaller chunks chiseled away from the factory on the outside tread blocks. Nothing obscene or all that noticeable, but they are there and Goodyear is obviously aware that these tires aren't exactly rolling off the line in a uniform fashion that will minimize the amount of wheel weights it will take for balancing. One tire was bad enough that it couldn't be road force balanced and I opted for Dyna Beads, although I should have just sent it back.

It took me a bit to get the air pressure where I felt comfortable, doing the chalk test and having varying size loads out of the gate. Long trip, lots of gear and upon return I loaded the back with 500lbs of shot bags to finally get them dialed in. I ended up with 28lbs in the front tires and 30lbs in the rear.

After getting the pressure right, that is where I felt some definite compromises in the tires. The lower sidewall strength was causing some tire bounce and the tires spring rate has pulled away the amount dealt with by the suspension. This is most notable on roads with wash board surfaces while turning. The tires spring rate doesn't allow the suspension to really do its job and there is definitely an unweighting of the tires that occurs that was never present with my Toyos at significantly less air pressure. The Toyos would stay planted where as the Goodyears have a definitive skipping and bouncing through turns. I'm probably going to put a couple lbs of inflation pressure back in so I can avoid the bounce and get my JK riding a bit more on the suspension.

In all I wouldn't say that I am totally unhappy with these tires, but I certainly wouldn't buy them again. Off road they certainly meet my expectations but on road they are definitely falling short. More road noise than the Toyos, although not bad and in the few times I have been running them in the rain they have seemed to provide good on road traction (I did have them siped out of the gate). We'll see how they do in the winter and my guess is they'll do fine.

 

Thanks for the comparison brother~!

Good info

 

It's a mud tire...all I have to say.

 

Good review. Pretty much the same impression I've had with my MT/R w/ kevlar tires. Good off road tires, but lumpy, bumpy rough riding tires on the highway, impossible to balance. Appear to have very poor quality control by Goodyear, with some sets being good tires, and some sets being very poor tires. I also will not be buying another set.

 

I kind of had the feelin exactly what you experienced

As kool as the tread is I could not justify buying that tire unless I was constatly offroading, IMO...

Definitely not an onroad friendly tire compared ot others

Thanks for the review


Alfy

 

smaller tires but not with those problems

 

Yes and so are the Toyo Open Country MTs that I had before. Given the choice again, I would rather have had the Toyos than the Goodyears. I am pretty convinced that the sidewalls do not have enough strength (I have no reason to question their durability) to match up with the suspension spring rates (both Full Traction and Stock). At a service description of 111, they need to be running on softer springs to match up with the tires spring rate (special thanks to David at Northridge and planman for direction on LCG rigs and reverting back to the stock springs).

In all, this is primarily a case that these tires will require a softer spring than what comes stock or what is found in most kits. If you have a firmer set of aftermarket springs, you are very likely to find the same set of issues I have. My solutions as it stands now is either put more air than what is needed for proper wear, or get a softer set of springs.

Additionally, the average Tire shop doesn't have a prayer of spin balancing these tires. If you aren't going to a shop that has a Hunter RoadForce balancer you are definitely going to end up with enough wheel weights to anchor a small boat. This wasn't the case with my Toyos, although I eventually found it more convenient to run Dynabeads.

Anyway, I'm keenly aware of what Mud Tires bring to the table, and this isn't at all related to the caveats and advantages of street driven and off road driven mud tires. It's the differences between two sets of mud tires that I have experience with on the same vehicle, and in the next time I make a purchase I will be looking for something with a higher service description than 111 (the Toyos I had were 125, and probably something in the mid to high 1-teens would suffice).

 

Its not a mud tire. MT stands for maximum traction, the R stands for reinforced. The KM2 is a mud tire. The MTr is a hybrid of some sorts. I agree with everything the OP mentioned, this is a finicky tire and I will not be going back as well. Also the trick to balancing these tires, which are a complete pain in the ass, is to find a shop that can balance the tires with them still on the vehicle, makes a huge differece.

 

This is essentially what the Hunter GSP9700 does, while the wheels are not on the vehicle.

http://w w w.gsp9700.com/pub/features/how.cfm

 

This is very alarming. I had planned to get these because I heard that they were great on road and off road. It sounds like Goodyear is letting the quality slide, like you said. Anyone else have issues or a way around the quality problems?