What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

Well, F!!!!

As I was dropping my son off at school my passenger front wheel started making noise. So I stopped to inspect it, did see anything strange. But when I braked that front end shakes, badly!

Decided to return home and take the bike to work. No noise while driving, a little when I turned. A bitch to get it rolling from a stop, and just as I pulled into my driveway... That wheel locks up!

Lucky on the timing I guess.

 

As part of my auto theft deterrent arsenal -btw I have few other booby traps I have installed in my truck that I rather not disclose here - well today, I've started using a cheap ass generic version of the "The Club". It's the SVAT AUTOLOCK200 Auto Steering Wheel Security Lock that I purchased off Amazon for measly $15 bucks. Don't hate, it's only the price of a steak dinner!

It's amazon part #B00065ZIJ2 and a decent product but smells like it has poisonous lead, almost like a toy that came from China, oh wait, I believe it did!

 

whoa! glad you weren't going fast. any idea of what it is?

 

Wheel bearing or cv axle. Didn't have time to look. Will be taking it apart tonight to see what I can find.

 

I'm not trying to convince you not to hate Goodyear, but you can find just as many stories of failures of BFGs too if you look. What was your last set of Goodyears that you had? Size? I have noticed that some sizes in particular of the Goodyears can be more problematic than others. I had 2 sets of the 1st Gen MTRs on my FJ40 that were 35's and I had zero problems with lots of abuse. I followed it up with a set of 37's again with zero issues. Had another set of 35" MTRs on my FZJ80 with zero issues. However, a buddy of mine had some 32x11.50 MTRs on his Tacoma and had several sidewall failures. I heard of several other failures in the 32" size of that 1st gen MTR.

From my personal research the new MTRs seem to be very durable. Are there failures? Yes, but there are with any tire. Are there more with the Goodyears? Doesn't seem to be.

I think a lot has to do with terrain. The MTR w Kevlar seems to hold up well in the rocks. From what I've found they've even been decent for guys in Arizona and South Dakota where the rocks are much sharper and tough on tires. The failures that I've been able to find are frequently on wooded trails in the PNW or the midwest where the sidewalls were punctured by large branches. That's a recipe for failure with any tire. For those wooded trails with lots of stumps and branches that can stab tires, the best tires IMO are usually Super Swampers. For some reason they can survive those conditions a bit better.

Now for the record, I have nothing against BFG. I LOVED my KM2s. And I've had excellent performance from a few sets of BFG ATs. But I haven't had bad luck with Goodyear so I gave them another try. If they don't live up to my expectations, I'll be back to some KM2s probably, but I expect my MTRs will be just fine.

Now, don't get me started on Duratracs. You couldn't pay me to run a set of those.

 

At least none of those are as bad as the late 90's firestone's that came on the explorers...Just wrote a paper on that.

 

there's the punch line^ lol

 

My truck had some Goodyear Wranglers on them. HORRIBLE tire. Complete shit offroad and freaking HOWELED on the road. Vibrations like crazy.

they were 31x10.5r15.

Went to the KM2 next..DAMN sooooo much better. had them in 31s and 33s now. Such a great tire. I have beat on them like crazy. And have a few hits pretty bad on the side walls that took out chunks. Nothing happened. Plus..i have had them on for over a year and beat on them pretty hard..and i will openly admit..i have NOT rotated them

They are still worn great! starting a tad bit of cupping up front..but hardly at all..amazing if you ask me..

After seeing Jerry blow 2 Durtracs at Moab..i just couldn't chance a goodyear ever again now. Kevlar or not. (plus i don't like how the tread pattern doesn't match..)

Just my opinion though. Ive just have better experiences with my KM2s.

 

My Bronco had Goodyear Wranglers on them... 31x10.5s and two tires got shredded off road in back-to-back outings.

One was kind of my fault... a tree root tore a 6" gash into the sidewall. The other one I have no idea how the sidewall blew out.

That was 1994 and when I upgraded to BFG ATs... never looked back.

But I don't wheel the piss out of my Tacoma so it is an all around great tire for my needs.

 

Which Wranglers? AT/S? MTR? Duractrac? They're all Wranglers. I'm going to make some guesses as to your complaints. Based on your comment about not rotating your KM2s I'm betting you never rotated your old Goodyears either. No wonder they HOWLED on the road.

I just looked back at your old pics in your build thread.




If those are the tires you're talking about those are garbage AT/S wranglers. Making a blanket complaint about ALL goodyears based on those tires is like saying ALL BFG's suck because the Long Trail TAs that come stock on the Tacomas are garbage. No comparison between the performance of the Long Trails vs the KM2s in terms of trail performance. So saying that your tires were garbage off-road......well, DUH! Those are crap tires not meant for off-road.

And...."After seeing Jerry blow 2 Durtracs at Moab...". You said it yourself. Duratracs are aweful in everything but hardpack snowy conditions. They don't completly suck there.


Still not trying to say one is better than another. KM2s are working for you. KM2s worked great for me too. You just base an opinion about an entire brand of tire on one particular model of tire. If that were the case, there's no way I'd had gone with MTRs purely because how aweful I think the Duractracs are.

 

Cooper Discoverer S/T MAXX FTMFW!!!!!


Although I miss the old Yokohama Super Diggers - They were awesome on my '80 Toyota and cheap at Costco. Held up to the Arizona country side, usually started to dry rot before wearing to thin too.

 

It's like having a teenage son and looking back at his newborn pics

 

x2! rolling with those right now. going on 2 years and some change, freaking awesome! wear is great but for some reason they are attracted to nails

 

Too much to read! Bla

 

I have had mine on for a year. I really like them. One of them got beat up by the rocks on my last trip out, but still it seems good for a few thousand more miles. Will defiantly buy again!

 

expect to keep them for a while. I have ~40%-45% tread left. I love them BUT they aren't aggressive looking for me. so, i believe i will be switching to BFG ATs for their square look

 

Just dropped $300+ for tacoma mini header+gaskets

Hopefully its here by the weekend!

 

I just got a new relay when I did mine and that was that!