i have 17" RTSs on my 4x4 from the factory. they're quiet but have poor traction in snow/mud. my brother's 4x4 has ATS but he is not happy with the wear (longevity) and there is a cupping issue also. in general, my experience with goodyear tires is that they easily cup or scallop. they really need to be rotated regularly.

 

I have religiously rotated my Goodyear ATS's and they were still cupped by the time I had 15,000 miles. They're noisy as He**. Had the alignment double checked in the first 2000 miles, too.

 

Does anyone know why the tires cup? My 17" RT/S cupped and so are my 16" AT/S. I thought it was the shocks, and I changed them when I replaced the tires, but they are still cupping. I do rotate the tires.

Thanks if anyone knows the answer to this question.

 

AAHHHHH...TIRES !!

Stock tires on my Screw '01 were Goodyear's RT/S and they sucked. !!
I bought Mich. LTX's and they worked great. But.... Santa wanted me
to have beefier tires and left some Goodyear 305-70x16" AT/S under the
tree. Discount Tire in Woodstock,Ga. did a fine job balancing on a
Hunter machine. Rock steady at 35psi or 50psi !!! (up to 90mph)
In case your are wondering, at 50psi with the Edlebrock IAS shocks
the ride is very smooth and handling is good as it is going to get.!!

NordicBastard

P.S. These 16" tires were not installed on the factory 17" rims.

 

Not to change the subject , but what the hell is tire siping ?

I would recommend the BFG AT/KO I run them on all my truck's they have alway's worked out very well In all type's of terrain & weather. I can usually get 50,000 out of a set.
JUST MY .02
Later...Mike

 

Hey FALLSCREW,

From my experiences, siping tires is when shallow diagonal cuts are made in a tire's surface all the way around the circumference. Most of the tires I've seen that were siped were industrial polyurethane tires used on fork lifts called solid cushion tires. Usually, siped tires are used in demanding applications where they need to maintain good wet traction yet be made of very durable materials. The depth of the cuts on industrial poly tires is usually around 1/4" to 1/2".

This probably is not exactly the same as what siping automotive tires involves so take it with a grain of salt.

Good luck,
DaveMan

 

If you've ever watched a World Of Outlaws sprint car race, you'll see almost every driver siping tires. Sprint cars run on wetted dirt tracks. The tires spin a lot which creates a lot of heat. You'll even see smoke rolling off the top of the tires when the track is "dry slick". Siping is just cutting fine slits in the lugs of the tires to increase traction and disperse heat.

 

I must say goodyear tires are the worst tires I have ever drove on in my life. After only 10000 miles of use, one tire has a large bump on the sidewall, all four have turned into racing slicks, and 2 others wont hold air for more than 2 days. Yes I rotate ever 5K, and I only run about 45psi. Im switching to BFG's as soon as I get some cash.

 

I had RTS's on my previous vehicle and they cupped in about 10,000 miles. As mentioned above I had no better luck with these ATS's on my 2000 F-150. I get my oil changed at a Goodyear store and they rotate GY's for free so I rotate on every oil change. My lease is up later this year so it doesn't make sense to do anything now. I'm either going to Michelin LTX's or BFG's on my next truck.

 

My factory 265/70R17 Goodyear Wrangler RT/S tires were ok. They lasted 86,000kms and still had acceptable tread depth left. Didn't rotate them nearly often enough but they all wore off evenly with no cupping.

With age they just got more slippery like "hockey pucks". Getting going in the rain became a light throttle foot technique. Kinda scary when you need to slam on the binders at speed. I crunched into a car with too much speed in the wet once. That sucked. Freakin tires.

Got the 275/70R17 Goodyear Wrangler AT/S tires now. Overall they are 33.something inches tall compared to just under 32 inches for the 265 RT/S's. Lots of room in the wheel wells on my 98 4x4 (I picked it because it was the tallest F150 on the dealer's lot). The AT/S are amazing in the wet compared to those RT/S hockey pucks. Noisier though.

www.tirerack.com has the 275's for $139 each. Bought my AT/S tires at Goodyear here in Canada... $245cdn each. What a rip. You Americans don't know how lucky you have it for buying stuff! For Canada they charge you twice the shipping cost, brokerage, GST tax. It's not worth it most of the time to mail-order to Canada.

 

p_ferlow Have You noticed any loss of performance with the 275's vs. the 265's I am considering making the upgrade to the ATS's I had a set of 305 70 16 on my 95 Tahoe and loved the ride but the taller tire seemed to kill some of the top end!

 

Replaced the RTS with ATS at 35,000mi and other than a couple of balance weights coming off had them rebalanced, Now have 47,000mi and no complaints.

 

Eddie:

There is a very slight power/acceleration penalty as they are about 1inch taller than 265 rubber. It's not extreme by any means & I don't think it will affect me towing my 3000# boat. My speedo shows about 10km/h less than what it should be at 100km/h (or 6mph at 62mph). As far as looks goes I'm kinda disappointed as they're really not much meatier looking than 265's. I did see some on an F350 that looked great but I think they were on a 15 or 16inch rim which gives the impression of "more rubber" if you know what I mean.

So far initial wet/snow traction is excellent. Noisier than RT/S by a bit but prob much less than an M/T tire.

Otherwise if you go with a Pro-Comp or other M/T tire I would definitely get them siped as my experience with tires such as BGGoodrich Mud T/As on a Toyota 4x4 (years ago) were pretty lousy in the rain.

 

I have 17" Goodyear AT/S on my Y2k 4x4 ORP. The tires seem to be wearing excellent, a little cupping on the front, but that is to expected from with a 2.5 ton truck trying to push the tires through a turn. I rotate them w/ every oil change, so it's not a problem.
Anyway I've been fighting a vibration in the truck since 9K mi, it now has almost 25k mi. After having the wheels balanced and the rotors turned, the vibration is better but still present. Now I'm thinking warped wheel or bad tire(s). I have a feeling it's the tires - which sucks because the tires look like they have another 40-50k of tread left on them.

 

When I picked up my then used 2000 SC ORP 5.4,
it was shod with the GY ATS's. After driving for about
one month, I knew it was already time to ditch them!
I bought the truck in May and since have driven it in
lots of rain. It was mainly this driving condition that
scared the hell out of me about those Goodyears!
Luckily, I work for a Honda dealer and can get tires
for good prices. I researched awhile, and finally
decided on the Bridgestone Dueler AT. Let me tell
you, these tires improved both the ride quality and
wet weather traction of the F150 greatly. So far this
winter, they have performed admirably in the snow
as well. The Bridgestones are also very quiet and
give the truck much better handling on the dry
pavement too.

I urge you to research the Bridgestones next time
you consider a new tire purchase.