Goodyear Wranger Radial from Walmart

[gw204]

When I was shopping for tires over a year ago, I wasn't able to find many reviews/opinions about the Goodyear Wrangler Radials that Walmart carries. Sure Walmart has their own set of reviews on the website, but I have trouble putting a lot of faith in those. Being that I now have about 17,000 miles on a set of 4, I figured I would post up a quick review for my fellow Jeepers.

My Jeep is a '00 Sport 4x4 that spends 100% of it's time on the road. It had around 172,000 miles when I put the tires on so I didn't want to spend big bucks being that is it was just my daily driver logging approximately road 300 miles per week. No offroad use (other than moving a trailer around in my yard), so unfortunately I can't comment on how they would perform in those conditions.

Prior to the Wranglers, I had a set of Bridgestone Dueler REVOs and while they were a much better all around tire, they also cost over twice as much...

These Wranglers are definitely not as stable as the REVOs, but that was to be expected since we are comparing a P-metric to a LT tires. The Jeep definitely doesn't handle/corner as well as it did, but I have gotten used to it. Feels a little sloppy due to the more flexible sidewalls, but it's a Jeep and not a Challenger, so I drive it accordingly. This was the main thing I noticed after the switch.

Wet traction is probably the worst quality of these tires. It's relatively easy to break one loose w/ an open rear if I'm not paying attention...especially on painted areas of pavement. But if I lay off the gas for a split second and restore traction, things are fine after that. Dry pavement traction is just fine.

Noise levels were fairly low when the tires were new, but as things have worn down some I have noticed they are starting to get a bit noisier. They aren't nearly as bad as my unevenly worn REVOs (those tires had like 60K on them though), but I wouldn't be surprised to see them get really loud towards the end of their life.

They are supposed to be a 50,000 mile tire, and judging from the tread wear I am seeing so far (again, I've put about 17,000 on them), I would be very surprised if they did not live up to that. I had the front end aligned when they were installed, did the first rotation at about 8,000 miles and the second just this past weekend. I try to keep the pressures correct as the temps change outside, but I'm probably not as consistent about it as I should be. The rotations I do myself. I didn't measure the existing tread depth, but if I had to guess, I would say there is probably 70% remaining and the wear is even across the tread surface. The edges of the front tires get a little uneven toward the end of the rotation cycle, but after they spend a few thousand miles on the read, they look good again.

They seem to hold balance OK. I think I've had to get them rebalanced twice which was about on par with the REVOs.

If I remember correctly, I paid around $300 for all 4 installed and I think that included the lifetime balance/rotation.

I know this isn't a very in depth/technical review, but hopefully it helps someone out there. My personal opinion is they are a great price point tire and I would definitly buy them again for a daily driver.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Goodyear-Wrangler-Radial/4404150


I have no affiliation with Walmart...


Brian

 

[scoobyxj]

Meah those things are worthless! Both my Jeeps had those on them when I bought them, and I was thrilled when they where wore out.

 

[1985xjlaredo]

For the price they are not bad. My main problem was the way they look when mounted up. I went from a 215/75/15 BFG radial ta to a 235/75/15 in this wrangler tire and it looked smaller. They are juat to narrow at the tread block. I could have put a 275/65/15 on and it would have looked much better..

 

[heyhar]

Goodyear Wrangler Radials of this style are what came from the factory on the majority of XJs through the mid '90s. A set, surely just like the originals, was on my '92 when I bought it in '99. The unused spare, on a matching alloy, no less, was the same tire. They were in the 225/75-15 size. They wore like iron, as what I'm assuming was the second set didn't need replacement till 110k miles. By that point they were long out of production. They rode rather softly, bit I found them to be a bit too noisy, and the chunky, snow-tire looking tread started to wear lumpy, so I didn't seek them out at replacement time.

I first saw the Wal-Mart version in 2005, the 235, as low as $50 per tire, although the price didn't include mounting and balancing. My son had purchased a set of their Goodyear Tracker II tires, and I don't think he got 25k out of a set. They rode smooth, and were affordable in the 16" size he needed for his ZJ Limited wheels. It seems as though they contract with a manufacturer to meet a price point for an item, whether it's tires, car radios (Sony comes to mind), or proprietary sizes of food items, and it's up to the manufacturer to make it work. I did look at the Wrangler tires, but a quick inspection led me to believe that the rubber seemed softer than I remember. Sam's Club seems to carry more mainstream stuff, but watch Wal Mart, as quite often, things aren't what they seem.

 

[FlexdXJ]

Those tires are Junk IMO. I'll stick to more expensive tires or retreads. So far so good.

 

[cdawall]

I don't think I could bring myself to use those tires on a vehicle. I had a couple of them in my garage from various XJ spares and tossed them on my truck as rollers. Brand new with blue lettering they handled worse than the BFG A/T's I had been using as rollers. I would not recommend them to anyone for anything.

 

[97xjproject]

I am a TLE tech I also used to work for goodyear in a store as well as a production plant. The wranglers were brought out after they discontinued the x-trac in the 235/75. As was noted it is the same tread as what came stock on Cherokee's and wrangler's in the late 80's and early 90's. Goodyear realizing they needed to fill a void brought out an old tire mold and started producing them again. They made no changes to the tread. Its not a bad tire but its max pressure is 35 PSI because it is a standard load tire. Many f150 and e150 owners are mad when we tell them we will not mount the tire on there vehicle because it does not meet the load requirements of the vehicle. Sadly not all stores are well trained on paying attention to load capacities and will still install them. But all in all for the price its a good tire will I run it no, I will pay the extra for the liberator or I will get Nexen or hankook.

 

[tbburg]

97xjproject: Thanks for the info. I've wondered about the Walmart Goodyears since I first saw them. I had a set of the "old" wrangler radials on my CJ when I bought it, already pretty worn. Probably put 15K on them myself. When I noticed the Walmart tires,(10 years later,..) I thought they looked identical to the ones I had. Always figured Goodyear made a "special" tire just for Walmart. 'Never would have guessed they used the original mold.

 

[dasbulliwagen]

Im a Jeep dealer tech, and EVERY set of those we have come in the door are cupped, noisy, and just plain bad. Theres no way I would have a set of them on my vehicle unless they were free, and I just needed something to get by with. I think the bad reviews on these tires outweigh the good ones by a fair margin. If you can afford something better, get them instead.

 

[heyhar]

Im a Jeep dealer tech, and EVERY set of those we have come in the door are cupped, noisy, and just plain bad. If you can afford something better, get them instead.

I thought so. Last week. I saw them on display, mixed in with Christmas clearance items. $85, and I don't think it included mounting and balancing.

 

[97xjproject]

85 is there ormal price again. I ran a set on a 91 s-10 blazer for a while. I couldnt complain to much they had good traction and got me around they were just noisy. It was a Wal-Mart specific tire for a little while but now it is being sold other places as well. I have seen them at the hibdon tires plus here in oklahoma and also they are listed on tirebuyer.com. For the average person who never goes off-raod and hardly puts it in four wheel drive or even knows what four wheel drive is its a good tire as long as the load specifications are paid attention to.