Goodyear Wrangler MT/R
- Thread starter JandSJK
- Start date
Prime8
New member
I have them in 35" and I love them. Great off and on road. A LOT quieter than the old MT/Rs with the symmetrical, mud-only tread pattern. The thinner inner band really helps with road noise and road manners. The kevlar doesn't make them invincible though... Had a metal pressure fitting puncture mine on the street right in front of work... Had the replacement certificate from Discount so no biggie, but with their current scarcity the guy at discount had a hell of a time tracking one down. The only downside to these tires I can see is they they take a lot of weight to balance... Some of my wheels have 5-6 ounces on them... I've tried them with different wheels too, including stock rubi's, so I can confidently say its the tire, not the wheel.
GCM 2
New member
I run MTR/K 40"s, they are quiet, have great road manners, really great traction in rocks and even more so in the really big rocks (it's mostly where and/or what I play in). However, the thing I have always worried about with these tires and had yet to experience finally happened this last weekend....the sidewalls have proven to be their weak link. While wheeling with three other rigs in some of the toughest trails in AZ. Two of the JKs ran identical size and make of the Toyo Open Country's and the third JK ran the new Nitto Trail Grappler K-spec non-DOT race tire (this tire has insanely soft, sticky compound and incredible sidewall strength). My Goodyears suffered some serious sidewall damage, had to run my sparetire to finish the run, where as the other tires had no issues. This comparison came at the expense of wheeling in the harshest conditions a tire can see, and I hate to admit it because I absolutely love my MTR/K's, but they can't match sidewall strength of other tires considered to be in the same category (well maybe not the Nitto race rubber exactly).
By no means am I saying don't buy the Goodyears, but if you are going to play hard beware of their weakness. A weakness which usually is not fixable on the trail other than swapping to a spare.
By no means am I saying don't buy the Goodyears, but if you are going to play hard beware of their weakness. A weakness which usually is not fixable on the trail other than swapping to a spare.
JandSJK
New member
i saw some of the pics from your trip. I have to say thats a bit more hard core than i will ever encounter with my skill/comfort level and considering most of my local trails are mud and or sand dunes. Thank for the input though i have had two sets of the old Mt/R pattern and had no complaints about them.
I ran Toyo's for 60K+ miles, never had a single issue, wanted to replace them due to normal tread wear. I couldn't find the Toyo's in stock in the size I wanted, so I thought, what the hell, I've heard mostly good things about the Goodyears, and I went for a set of those.
I had nothing but problems in the few months that I ran them. In that time, basically one wheeling season, I lost three tires including one rolling down the freeway that I think may have been caused by balance issues, and one due to a sidewall puncture from some very normal trail use. I was never super impressed with their performance either.
Needless to say I'm back on Toyo's. The only downside that people will point out is the additional weight over comparable MT/R's or KM2's, etc. but I don't find this even noticeable in practice. I would not personally run the Goodyears again.
My :twocents: :idontknow:
I had nothing but problems in the few months that I ran them. In that time, basically one wheeling season, I lost three tires including one rolling down the freeway that I think may have been caused by balance issues, and one due to a sidewall puncture from some very normal trail use. I was never super impressed with their performance either.
Needless to say I'm back on Toyo's. The only downside that people will point out is the additional weight over comparable MT/R's or KM2's, etc. but I don't find this even noticeable in practice. I would not personally run the Goodyears again.
My :twocents: :idontknow:
I ran Toyo's for 60K+ miles, never had a single issue, wanted to replace them due to normal tread wear. I couldn't find the Toyo's in stock in the size I wanted, so I thought, what the hell, I've heard mostly good things about the Goodyears, and I went for a set of those.
I had nothing but problems in the few months that I ran them. In that time, basically one wheeling season, I lost three tires including one rolling down the freeway that I think may have been caused by balance issues, and one due to a sidewall puncture from some very normal trail use. I was never super impressed with their performance either.
Needless to say I'm back on Toyo's. The only downside that people will point out is the additional weight over comparable MT/R's or KM2's, etc. but I don't find this even noticeable in practice. I would not personally run the Goodyears again.
My :twocents: :idontknow:
:cheesy: that was by far the craziest flat i have ever seen happen especially being that this was on your brand new borrowed spare :crazyeyes:
i'd have to completely agree with mike here - ran a set, was never able to get them balanced and had nothing but problems with them. they look great but, i might recommend something else like toyo's or nitto's.
Hightower
Member
I run the MTR 40’s as well and GCM 2 has outlined the pro and cons of the MTR much better than I could the only thing I would add is availability of the tires I blew a tire 3 weeks ago and have only recently found a replacement. This may not be an issue for the 37 but I would confirm availability of replacements tires before making the purchase.
Just read this on FB
"Finally! If you're a Toyo fan, then you'll love that you can now get a 40" Open Country M/T on a 17" rim. (before, a 20 was the smallest wheel you could run with the 40" Toyo). This 40x13.50R17 feels significantly lighter than the 40x15.50R20 size"
Just read this on FB
"Finally! If you're a Toyo fan, then you'll love that you can now get a 40" Open Country M/T on a 17" rim. (before, a 20 was the smallest wheel you could run with the 40" Toyo). This 40x13.50R17 feels significantly lighter than the 40x15.50R20 size"
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Actually, believe it or not, that pic was an unrelated sidewall puncture that I suffered from a tree root (I think?) near the edge of the trail, not the freak borrowed-spare flat :crazyeyes:
94YJBeaver
New member
I ran the old style MTR's for about 4 years and never had any problem with them BUT after I run these free BFG AT's I am strongly leaning towards the Nitto's...Just my 2 cents...Although the MTR's performed awsome in the snow and ice...I did rock them a little but im sure not as hardcore as others since I was not running any lockers...
:cheesy: man, you've really have had nothing but bad luck with MTR's.
GCM 2
New member
I hope this is accurate Chris! After the handful of times I have wheeled with Eddie and others running the Toyo's I have been pretty impressed with their performance. Mabye my MTR/K's will hold out long enough for the Toyo or the new Nitto Trail Grapplers to come out in 40"x17". I refuse to drop down to 37"s :bleh:
Hightower
Member
Roger that brother.
yeah, i sure wouldn't want to go back to 37's. the new nitto trail grappler that was introduced for KOH only comes in a 17" and from what i understand, is scheduled to be released as a street tire later on this year. of course, their awesome mud grapplers come in a 17" and 20" now. :yup:
MTG
Caught the Bug
Is the plan to put rubicat on 40"+ tires?
GCM 2
New member
You know as much as Mel swears by the mud grapplers, I just don't think I can stomach that tire for a daily driver, so I will not be running that set of donuts on my EVOJEEP. I am excited to hear that Toyo may come out with the 40"x17" open country m/t, that tire has always been one of my top choices for a tire. I also hope you get a chance to really give the 37" trail grapplers on RubiCat a serious workout soon, because if they perform as well as i think they will, when the 40"s come out they have a shot at the title for being mounted on my rig :rock:
I am still saddened by my MTR/K's disappointing sidewall performance :bleh: I so wanted to be the exception and not the rule.
GCM 2
New member
Chris, The Nitto Trail Grappler K-Spec (what Nitto identifies the tire as, Mel says "KOH" :brows
, the tires are doing exactly what they are designed to do = wear out extremely fast at the expense of INSANE traction. I know the tires he ran last weekend were the second set on EVO1 and were brand new in Moab, and he has not really put any miles on them until the drive from SoCal to AZ for the run. They actually looked pretty good for the amount of hwy miles and trail abuse, although I would have liked to have seen them after he returned home. I think the major difference between the K-Spec tire and what Eddie runs on RubiCat (Eddie, please chime in) is obviously the rubber compound being extremely soft and the sidewall sidebiter's are taller/larger, with maybe another row that brings it closer towards the tire's bead. The tread pattern looks the same though. Like I said, either the Toyo or Nitto is my next tire.