Goodyear Wrangler Ultra Terrain pre-review, review...

Bought a set of Goodyear Wrangler Ultra Terrain tires, which are a relatively new AT offering with an aggressive tread and the 3-peak snowflake rating.



I bought these to replace the Cooper Evolution MTs I bought over a year ago.



This review is just a quick impression of the tires after having just traveled over 600 miles in some pretty awful conditions. I took some video of me driving, but I'm not real happy with it. Would like to do some more in depth video testing with the camera on a tri-pod and filming the tires actually performing.

The plan was to take the Coopers out in the wild and get video of them performing, then get the Goodyears mounted, and take them to the exact same spot and do the exact same tests.

However, due to FedEx imploding because of a worker shortage, the tires that were supposed to get here on the 15th of December, arrived late in the day on the 22nd, the night before I was to leave for Seattle.

So, no time to do a review of the Coopers, and no time to do any initial impression video taping of the tires off-road.

I did manage to drive in just about every condition possible, except rocks and mud.

The day started out in snow and slush and the tires did good. Noticeably better than the Coopers in braking and acceleration. Then I headed West and encountered rain and standing water at 65 mph. No hydroplaning at all. Tires were definitely smoother and quieter in town and on the highway. No vibration, no steering wheel shimmy at all.

I started off at 37 psi, and then increased pressure to 40 psi. Very little difference in feel. I was facing a constant headwind of 30 mph the first 200 miles of the trip, so gas mileage was awful. On the way from the tire shop to home, I noticed a definite increase in gas mileage.

I noticed a dirt road right off the highway that went out into the sagebrush, so took it and found a great little play area of wet sand dunes. Kept it in 2wd and climbed a couple of dunes and was very happy with the performance. Had to hit the throttle to get them to dig in and start to sink.



Made it to Snoqualmie Pass and the weather turned bad, but the tires never had an issue. Did not use 4wd on the trip out.



Then, the Seattle area got hit with a few inches of snow and record low temps. I was on a military base and it was concerning just how unprepared and incapable they are these days. No snow plows and the streets were turned into literal ice rinks by all of the vehicles running summer tires.

I've never seen so many slide offs and tracks going up into yards and landscaping.

The Jeep people were out in full force going 15 mph and clogging up the roads...



You can see in the photo the glare of the headlights on the road. It was pure polished ice. Still, the tires did very well and I had no issues getting around. Not as good as snow tires, but much better than any other AT I've ran the last few years, including the DuraTrac.

So, very happy with the street manners and snow performance of these so far. Will have to wait until I do some mud driving to fully endorse them, but so far they are pretty impressive.

 

So tire noise was pretty quiet at highway speed?

 

I could not detect it at all. I had also removed my roof rack for the trip, which also generates a fair amount of noise and masks tire noise. My trip was relatively quiet (for a 4Runner).

 

I have had these tires on my 2021 Tacoma for about 8,000 miles. No complaints. They ride smoother and are quieter than my previous BFG KO2 and Nitto Ridge Grapplers.

 

Looks great! SL or E rated?

 

These look like a good replacement for what I have, 265/70r/17. Stock TRD wheels and off brand tires that dealer mounted. Mud is more a concern than snow though, and a quieter ride than the drone I have now.

 

E-rated.

 

Nice review.

15mph was probably the speed limit for the base.

 

It's actually 35 mph on that section.

 

Thanks for the review, will have to consider these next time Im in the market for tires..:

 

Temperature dropped to 5 degrees today and is supposed to get to -5 tonight. All roads are now 100% packed snow and ice. Been driving around in 2wd with no issues and am more and more impressed with these tires. If they do decent in the mud and dirt, and wear OK, then I see no reason to run any other tire.

 

I've had these on my tundra for about 2 months no problem in the dirt or mud I'll put these on my 4runner as soon as my tires get worn out

 

Discount Tires states that these tires are exclusive to them. They look just like the Duratracs.

https://www.discounttire.com/buy-tires/goodyear-wrangler-ultraterrain-at

 

Nice looking wheels!!

 

I ran the Dura Tracs and these are way better in the snow. Completely different tread design and rubber compound.

 

Got any update after a year?

 

I have had mine for almost 2 years and 22,000 miles. Still my favorite all around tires.

 

I did a YouTube video update I'll have to link...



They are the best tire I've ever ran.

They are amazing in everything and they still look like new at 25k miles...

 

I went out and did an official tread depth measurement.

They came in at an average of just under 14/32" of depth after 25,000 miles of use.



Original tread depth is 18/32".

At this rate, they will be worn out at the legal depth of 3/32" at around 100k miles.

That is some incredible wearing! That makes them at least half the cost of other similar AT tires.