Tire Review: Goodyear Wrangler Authority

[RSWORDS]

Well the BFG All-Terrains on the 06 CTD are shot so it was time to upgrade. I happened to be at Wal-Mart Sunday night and something caught my eye. It was the new Goodyear tire named the Wrangler Authority. It tread looked like a good mix of on road comfort and light off road performance. And priced at $185 each for the 10-ply rated 265/70R17E size I needed I decided they where to good to pass up. So I got 4 put on right then.




After they got mounted I started home. Right off the bat I noticed that the truck would wonder all over and i had to work to keep it in my lane. two things popped in my head;

1. I knew the ball joints were bad. they destroyed the previous tire on the truck.
2. The minimum wage paid tire changer at Wal-Mart put 30psi in my tire like he does all the Honda's that come in.

Well a quick check with a tire pressure gauge showed that he put 50psi in the front and 60psi in the rear. Just like they needed. So with that knocked out I went ahead and got the 4 ball joints and put them in. After I took the truck for an alignment.

When I picked the truck up that night I was all set to enjoy my new tires. Well that did not happen. The truck still wandered and I discovered that if you swerved at all the truck would dance from side to side to the point that I thought I was taking a ride to the ditch real fast. If you angled the mirror down to look at the rear tire you could see the side walls flexing very badly upon hard turning.

Seeing as how the tires have a max psi rating of 80 I decided I would add some air to them to see if it helped. I brought the fronts and rears up to 75psi. The ride was a little better and the walking around not as bad but it was still there.

Also while airing up the tires I noticed something else. The rear tread was falling apart. The sipping and leading edge on the tires was chunking off and I had LESS than 100 miles on the tires.

Here is the front tire, note the sipping lines in the tread blocks.


And here are the rears. Notice how much wider the sipping is and the chunks missing. The leading edge of the block is also going away very fast! These tires have not been spun or abused. Just normal driving. I think the TQ from teh diesel id doing it.


After a little research on the net i discovered that this tire is made specifically for Wal-Mart. This tells me that even though it is a Goodyear it should be considered a low end tire... Very low end if you ask me... I would not recommend this tire to anyone with a 3/4 ton truck and a diesel, I feel its just too much weight and causes the floating feeling the truck gets.

Seeing as how the tire is quiet running and looks to be a good tread. I would love to try a set on my 1/2 ton hunting truck. I think that the lighter weight of a 1/2 ton gasser would net better performance out of this tire. Lucky for me Wal-Mart made right on it and will be putting 4 brand new BFG A/T's on my truck Cummins next week when they come in.

[MT4Runner]

What I visualized:

[RSWORDS]

[GMGuy]

They go by the name Goodyear Territory at Canadian Tire. A spin off of the Duratec supposedly.

Alex.

[jasonmt]

Originally Posted by GMGuy

They go by the name Goodyear Territory at Canadian Tire. A spin off of the Duratec supposedly.

Alex.

Not the same tread pattern though:

Crappy Tire GY Territory ($257.99 CDN for 265/70/17 LRE):



Walmart GY Authority:


GY Duratrac ($266.99 CDN for 265/70/17 LRE, $183.00 US at the Tire Rack):

[Mope]

Thanks for the report, I was considering these for my 1/2ton. I don't want to risk it though. I don't need them falling apart.

[montecarlo31]

Originally Posted by Mope

Thanks for the report, I was considering these for my 1/2ton. I don't want to risk it though. I don't need them falling apart.

Not sure what your 1/2 ton is (tire size) but if I were going stock size I'd get Goodyear Wrangler AT/S. I have 265/70R17s on my 03 F-150 4x4 and they worked great, good for a at in the mud. good in rain, snow, gravel, towing. Lasted over 80K miles w/ 3/32s or more left.

[Mope]

Originally Posted by montecarlo31

Not sure what your 1/2 ton is (tire size) but if I were going stock size I'd get Goodyear Wrangler AT/S. I have 265/70R17s on my 03 F-150 4x4 and they worked great, good for a at in the mud. good in rain, snow, gravel, towing. Lasted over 80K miles w/ 3/32s or more left.

Thats the exact size I run on mine as well. I'll look into those AT/S tires. I'm about due for some. The Toyo A/T's are almost to the wear bars, and I've only got 26K on them. Rotated every 5000 miles, and didn't spin em either. Kinda disappointed there.

[the_experience3006]

Even Wal-Mart has a hard time getting away with selling subpar tires thanks to the Ford-Firestone fiasco. I'd be taking them back. Also, what's with the blue chit? They should be washing that off as part of the sale. Of course, real men mount their tires black out. Are you really wanting to advertise that you have Wal-Mart tires?

[montecarlo31]

Originally Posted by Mope

Thats the exact size I run on mine as well. I'll look into those AT/S tires. I'm about due for some. The Toyo A/T's are almost to the wear bars, and I've only got 26K on them. Rotated every 5000 miles, and didn't spin em either. Kinda disappointed there.

That sucks. I've got about 50 or 55K on my 295/70R17 nitto terra grapplers. They seem good but SUCK off road, if you daily drive it there good otherwise I'd stick with the Goodyear AT/S. Don't buy the Silent Armor they don't seem to last nearly as long with a similar tread pattern.

Good luck

[Mope]

Originally Posted by montecarlo31

That sucks. I've got about 50 or 55K on my 295/70R17 nitto terra grapplers. They seem good but SUCK off road, if you daily drive it there good otherwise I'd stick with the Goodyear AT/S. Don't buy the Silent Armor they don't seem to last nearly as long with a similar tread pattern.

Good luck

Thanks for the input. I'll be looking into them in a month or two when the snow starts flying. Tire-rack has a good deal right now on them however. $545 shipped to my door for 4 of them.

[montecarlo31]

Originally Posted by Mope

Thanks for the input. I'll be looking into them in a month or two when the snow starts flying. Tire-rack has a good deal right now on them however. $545 shipped to my door for 4 of them.

@545 make sure they are the LT265/70R17 Load Range C tires. They also make the same time in a P metric. I might try the Goodyear Duratrac on my new F-150.

[wades_76_cj7]

I just put a set of the Wrangler Authority on my 04 Cummins. I needed new tires in a bad way and these were in stock and in my price range on Christmas Eve. I have put probably 300 miles on them mixed snow/ice and towing and they seem to be just fine. I have been watching the tread looking for any chunking or abnormal wear. I will post back in a couple months after they get some more miles on them.

[Brutpwr]

Some truck tires tend to round off the edges fairly quickly when brand new. Its just the combination of soft compounds for good dry and wet weather traction, tall lugs and or sipping of the tread which helps wet traction but causes more tread squirm especially under high torque, braking or corning loads especially under high traction dry conditions. Some tires will pick up a lot of traction after and steering response after a few hundred miles and/or a few good heat cycles--seems to harden/stiffen up the tread blocks so they don't bend over under loading other tires just don't work well til their 1/2 worn or some just get better when til they are bald lol. The Nitto Terra Grapplers we had on our shop truck were that way. They were terrible for responce and cornering until they were about 1/2 worn out and they continued to get better as they got balder. We now have Nitto Mud Grapplers on the same truck and they are worse in all pavement conditions than the worn out Terra Grapplers but I think they may have better cornering than the Terra Grapplers when they were brand new. This is mainly because of the large blocks used in the tread of the Mud Grapplers minimizes tread squirm. The smaller blocks of tread used in the Terra Grapplers well each edge and there a lot of them in Terra Grapplers sqirms a bit under load and each of these edges causes a slight loss of traction especially when new. Well I guess you will get the tires replaced so thats really nice of Walmart to take care of you and make sure your happy with your purchase.

Jason

[ramv]

I ended up with a pair of LT235/85R16E
Goodyear Authority as replacement for some wally world GY trailer tires that blew out.

I took them off my trailer but decided to try them on my truck. Wally world wouldn't mount them since they were a different size then the rears (265/75R16E). No matter that I pointed out they were the same height.

Had them mounted at Discount, (for $50! ) and have been running them as the fronts on my 3/4 ton for the last 5000 miles. No complaints, ice, snow, light mud, rocks, grippy, smooth, and no evident wear yet. Much quieter then the Pro Comp Extreme ATs I had on the front (and still on the rear).

Of course I just have a big block so not the weight of the diesels, and I haven't tried them on the rear but I really like the narrow fronts, wide rears.

[Mopar96]

Looking into buying a set of these for my tow rig this spring. 3/4 ton 4x4 gasser. Would these be ok or should 3/4 ton guys stay away from them??

[RSWORDS]

Originally Posted by Mopar96

Looking into buying a set of these for my tow rig this spring. 3/4 ton 4x4 gasser. Would these be ok or should 3/4 ton guys stay away from them??

I had wal-mart swap them out for a set of good old BFG A/T's and the truck handles 100% better.

[RSWORDS]

Originally Posted by wades_76_cj7

I just put a set of the Wrangler Authority on my 04 Cummins. I needed new tires in a bad way and these were in stock and in my price range on Christmas Eve. I have put probably 300 miles on them mixed snow/ice and towing and they seem to be just fine. I have been watching the tread looking for any chunking or abnormal wear. I will post back in a couple months after they get some more miles on them.

Try a hard sweave (like it was a panic) and tell us how yours perform.

[sp009]

The 265/75/r16 i had put on my 2000 silverado 1500 Z71 don't look that bad and i have 553miles at 35psi.

Yeah i know like a dumb ass i didnt check the psi in them but im not hauling that much and had a broken foot at the time. still dont know what psi i should run them.

These being my First brand new off roadish tire purchase. ive noticed a change in handling, but none of that wandering. I let go of the stearing wheel and im still in my lane.

So in short for me so far so good, and im hoping like hell it stays that way for awhile

Pic order is
Rear
Front

Edit* Sry for the salt and snow on em

[d3rover]

Don't go the cheap route if these are what you like. I have the DuraTracs in 275/65/18 E Load for a 6Klb rig. Great tire. F Wally World.

[ramv]

I feel just as confident in evasive manuevers, (like swerving) as I did with the Pro Comps, and they wander less, but I assume that is due to being a little narrower.

[RSWORDS]

Originally Posted by ramv

I feel just as confident in evasive manuevers, (like swerving) as I did with the Pro Comps, and they wander less, but I assume that is due to being a little narrower.

Thats good, I'm glad they work well on your truck!

Maybe I got a bad set, maybe someone at wally world did something wrong. But for me they sucked and a new set of BFG's made my issues go away. When I swearved like in a panic they made the truck dance, my wife drives it just as much as I do and I didn't feel safe letting her drive.

[montecarlo31]

Originally Posted by RSWORDS

Thats good, I'm glad they work well on your truck!

Maybe I got a bad set, maybe someone at wally world did something wrong. But for me they sucked and a new set of BFG's made my issues go away. When I swearved like in a panic they made the truck dance, my wife drives it just as much as I do and I didn't feel safe letting her drive.

I feel your pain. I purchased a set of tires by mistake from Sams club for my wife's car. 17" something or other size Goodyear Triple Treads. Great tires except after they where installed the car had a bad thump or vibe from 25 to 70 mph.

They stated the car was out of alignment. I don't think so since the last set of tires were in great shape wear wise, even and smooth over the entire tread. Just slap worn out.

Took it back and after arguing with the guy for 20 minutes I told him put my old tires back on and forget the deal. Turns out they remove the tires and what do you know, one tire was out of round.

Put two new ones on for me (since we had to drive it for a while with the bad tire) and what do you know. It's fine. It's just luck of the draw.

[ramv]

Bet the QC is worse on the Wally World tires. The trailer tires came apart like no ones business, yet my old worn out truck tires seem to hold fine.

I wouldn't condone buying these tires for full price, as the Duratrac is almost the same and Walmart sucks to deal with, but if you get a smoking deal, or stumble on them like I did, I don't have anything bad to say. (and I have a lot of bad things to say about tires, like Iroks to start with...)

[azredliner]

Originally Posted by RSWORDS

That tire has been spun on gravel, or rocks. Tires don't just get like that. In the images you can see what tires were front and which were rear. Someone spun those rears. Those siping grooves are probably packed with sand, that's why they are spread open.

I have a set of Authorities on my 1987 4Runner and they drive beautiful on road and off.

Now, I don't run my 4Runner through the Rubicon, or anything like that, but I do take it to it's limits. The tires are holding up fine and I keep them aired down to 22 PSI. I can let go of the wheel at 70 and it goes straight as an arrow.

Now about the plies. The guy at Wal-Mart told me they had 2 plies. RSWORDS said "10 ply". Can anyone confirm the ply?