Which are best

[Yota]

I need to replace tyres on the Surf real soon (265x 70x 16) As got non existant customer service from Firestone Bridgestone on my last set of tyres I have eliminated that companies products from my shortlist. Around 90% of my driving is on road both sealed and gravel and a little off road. I decided to go with AT type tyres as I didn't feel anything more agressive was required.
I have narrowed it down to the four tyres below that I feel may be suitable and would appreciate any comments good and bad or for that matter any other suggestions of what may be worth looking at.
Yokohama Geolander AT/S
Dunlop Grandtrek AT/3
Goodyear Wrangler AT/R
GT Savero AT/Plus
I would also be interested to hear how the Dunlop AT/3 compares to the older AT/2 as they were the last set of tyres I had on my old Terrano and seemed to be very good.

 

[olcoolone]

Good decision with the A/T's, I would go with the top 3 you have listed and you should be happy, don't loose faith in Bridgestones just yet as they do make a good tyre.

Tyres are a personal thing so everyone will recommend something else with no apparent knowledge of how they really perform against another brand or they had a bad experience with a particular brand so every thing from that brand must be bad.

We have used Cooper ATR's that we still have on spare rims, Cooper ST/C's that we destroyed but they were a good tyre and now we use Toyo Open Country M/T that are good for our type of driving now.

Are the Cooper,s and Toyo's any better then the top three tyres you mentioned......Don't know.

 

[Yota]

Thanks for the advice. My beef with Firestone was that I had an excellent run out of Firehawks on my Terrano in fact I got 100,000km out of them, but the local Firestone shop talked me into trying out these Destination H/T tyres claiming that I would get even better mileage, a quieter ride and better grip on sealed roads. I was badly disappointed because at 45,000km these also needed replacing having shown as much wear as the previous Firehawks AT 100,000km, this was even wear right across the face of the tyre in fact wear was the same front and back, so no signs of bad alignment or incorrect tyre pressure. On mentioning this to two other Firestone dealers they told me off the record that there was a serious problem in getting good mileage out of those Destination HT's and 40,000 to 45,000 was all you could realistically expect out of them. These dealers both stated that the Destinations were the wrong tyre for NZ conditions but of course this was off the record.
I contacted Firestones NZ customer Service to find out what was going on.
They denied there was a problem with those tyres and claimed it must have been my driving style that caused the tyres to wear so quickly. Funny that I decided to go with the Dunlop AT/2 as a replacement and they were also heading towards 100,000km when I finally sold the vehicle about six years later.
Incidentally the destinations didn't grip any better and they certainly were not any quieter than the Firehawk's, not that I could detect anyway. Worst thing was the Destination's cost me another $25 a tyre more than the Firehawks. My attitude is that I gave Firestone's customer service a chance to be honest and they decided to bullsh1t me, they were also given the opportunity to look after a cash paying customer and decided not to so Firestone will not be getting another dollar of mine.

 

[olcoolone]

Geessss 100,000k out of a set of tyres, you've done well.

You sometimes find one tyre is not good on one brand/type of vehicle and there fantastic on another.

Tyres are a funny thing you will find you had a really poor experience with the tyres and someone else can't rave enough about how good they are.

Have a look on Google for personal reviews or try Tire Reviews & Ratings

Most known brands are good tyres but like everything you can get flops.

Sorry I'm not being much help with the brands you are looking at.

 

[bmurray2250]

My brother drove to the Kimberleys recently with a caravan in tow and have no problems with the Firestones. This included all the remote areas he traveled. Some of the other vehicles with him had tyre damage.

I use the BFG and recommend them, also a friend has Maxxis AT's on him Prado and has got 100,000KM on them.

 

[Yota]

Tyres

Geessss 100,000k out of a set of tyres, you've done well.

Yes with good tyres around 100,000 is what I normally get but obviously the destinations were a bit of a lemon tyre and somewhat of a disappointment. With better treatment by Firestones customer service I would have probably stuck with the brand but they were so arrogant. Obviously with the following set of tyres (Dunlop's) also going close to the magic figure, it certainly showed my driving style hadn't deterioated that much and there was no problem with the set up on the vehicle.

In my 35 years of driving I have got 100,000km out of two sets of Dunlops, one set of Vredisteins, One set of Firehawks and one set Goodyear, through forums such as this we are able to get back at companies whose products don't go the distance and especially when their customer service sets out to blame everything except their own product.

 

[bmurray2250]

Yota, what tyre did you purchase? I am looking for tyres 265/70/15 for the Challenger.

 

[Yota]

Tyre

Yota, what tyre did you purchase? I am looking for tyres 265/70/15 for the Challenger.

I went with Bridgestone Desert Dueler 694 but once again B/F customer service over this way sucked. On getting a quote over the phone that seemed reasonable and with the promise of our companies substantial discount to further reduce this. I booked the vehicle in for one week later to have four tyres replaced. The tyre change wheel balance and wheel alignment went smooth enough but imagine my surprize on getting the bill to find that the tyre price had jumped another $30 a tyre and the company discount was virtually non existant. I do honestly wish I had gone for the Dunlop AT3 which would have been $55 per tyre less. If the Yoko GO12 had been available I would have definitely gone for that but none in the country at that time.
Complaining about the sudden price increase and their lack of honoring a verbal quote then getting a lecture about people always wanting something for nothing did not impress me too much.
The worst thing was this happened on the day before I was due to take off on a holiday with the family so telling them to take them off was not an option.
Next day I found driving at Highway speeds this thing was scary to drive, all over the road and a ride as hard as hell. I pulled over and checked tyre pressures, all tyres were over 40psi, way to much for the Surf. I dropped them back to 38 and a slight improvement then dropped them back to 36 once again improvement went to 34 and now sitting on 33 and it is better but not much better than the worn out Yoko's that I had on it before the change.
Well I have dealt with B/F four times and three of those times I have felt like I have been ripped off. Our company had a contract for B/F to supply all their new tyres and repair any punctures on all their small vehicles and also all the heavy truck tyres. This contract was at the same branch I dealt with.
On talking to our purchasing officer I fount there had been many complaints about the way staff were treated. End result is that now Beaurepairs have the contract. B/F thankyou for ripping me off once again you will not be getting another cent of mine and I hope that loosing a contract worth several million dollars per year has a very negative effect on your business.
A friend fitted the Dunlop AT3 on his Surf soon after advised him not to even consider B/F with about 30.000 km under each of our vehicles tyre wear and handling is pretty much the same for both vehicles so I don't consider that the 694 was worth the extra $55 a tyre.

 

[bmurray2250]

Thank you for the feedback, I will look at the AT3's

 

[prawns]

Its funny with 4wds how you want longevity out of a tyre but on bikes you want the opposite for safety reasons (want grip instead of longevity on a bike) Maybe the tyres that wore out quicker were just grippier?
Im suprised you paid for a wheel alignment if it didnt need it? (if the other tyres wore evenly as mentioned there was no need for a alignment? Ripping you off more bro )

 

[Yota]

Tyres

Its funny with 4wds how you want longevity out of a tyre but on bikes you want the opposite for safety reasons (want grip instead of longevity on a bike) Maybe the tyres that wore out quicker were just grippier?
Im suprised you paid for a wheel alignment if it didnt need it? (if the other tyres wore evenly as mentioned there was no need for a alignment? Ripping you off more bro )

Prawns, the decision for a wheel alignment was mine I usually get it checked everytime I put new tyres on, the Wheel alignment was half price at $55 so no gripes about paying for that just class it as normal maintenance. I had used The Dunlop AT2 on my Terrano and also the Firestone Firehawk RV both of these tyres went to 100,000km and gripped as well as anything else in the price and tread range. The Dunlop AT3, F/B DD 694 & Yoko GO12 are all very similar products and from what I have seen there is no way the 694 is worth another $55 a tyre. Once you get past grip and mileage other factors such as road noise also become a factor but once again those tyres are even very similar there.

 

[prawns]

cheers for the reply mate, at only $55 I think I would also of had mine done as well whether it was showing signs of needing it or not (great price)
Im soon to be up for 4wd tyres also so this threads great for information
Cheers

 

[AFS smart asker]

Paid Tyre Research

Good day everyone,

My name is Samuel, I’m from the research company AFS in Melbourne and I’m looking for people in Australia who can take part in some brief paid telephone research about tyre performance including the ones you’ve reviewed here.

As we’re looking for users of very specific tyre brands and are having some difficulty finding people who use these tyres, at the moment we’re just seeing if there are enough participants to make the study feasible.

If we get enough people involved the study will involve sharing your experiences about the performance of these tyres with us in a telephone interview that lasts about 12 minutes, for which we’ll reimburse you with $50 (which we will mail out to you). We guarantee that there will be no follow up calls for sales or marketing of any kind.

You should be eligible for the study if you use any of the following:
• Michelin Pilot Sport 3
• Goodyear Eagle F1 Directional 5
• Goodyear Wrangler AT SA
• Continental Sport Contact
• Dunlop Grand Trek AT3
• BFG All Terrain TAKO
• Discoverer AT3
• Yokohama Sdrive
• Yokohama Geolander ATS GO12

If you know anyone else who uses any of those brands who would be able to take part of the study, please let us know and we can try and include them as well.
If you’d be so kind as to help with this study please let us know by getting in touch with us:

Telephone: (03) 8789 4401
Email: ashley.leahy@afs-smart.com.au
Website: AFS

 

[old_aussie]

Continental cross contact A/T come in that size 265/70/16

 

[cookie64]

Hi Yota,
mate had a similar experience with Kuhmo, was talked into some HT tyres from the dealer (I didn't know much about tyres back then so got "credible advice" from an expert).

Well the first trip just 5 days later one of them went flat - we were overtaken by a Commodore at the time on a good dirt road. The dealer didn't want to know so pointed me to the Kuhmo distributor who effectively laughed at me saying impact fracture and offered to give me the number for Consumer Affairs - took it to Bridgestone who had a look and stated if it was one of theirs they would have replaced it.

Well I reckon I have cost them about $10K for a single tyre which goes to show annoying us clients isn't real smart business. Have bought numerous sets of tyres and none have ever been Kuhmo

BTW I now run Mickey Thompson ATZ4 Rib

cheers

 

[Yota]

Tyres

Cookie, Having now done over 50,000 km on the BS DD 694 I know they will need replacing in the next 10,000km. When other people on the forum have made comments that my expectations were too high and saying on one hand I wanted Grip and one the other hand was exprecting 100,000km and these two items are in conflict.
Just to clear things up once and for all. My expectations weren't that high as I was just comparing the performance of these tyres to the Yokohama and Dunlop tyres that I had previously had on this vehicle and other similar vehicles. Maybe I'm a slow learner but having been burn't by B/S F/S introducing inferior products and not to mention their slack customer service in the past I have now learn't my lesson and will not be going back to them.
My impartial summing up of these tyres after 50,000km is that my earlier assesment was correct.
The tyres right from new never gripped as well (wet, dry, seal or gravel) as the nearly worn out Yoko's did.
The tyres produced a real hard ride, a lot harder than the Yoko's or Dunlop AT2 and my mates Surf which has AT3's on it.
Tyre life is only 60% of what the other tyres achieved.
The 694 was actually about $25 per tyre more expensive than the Yoko ATS or Dunlop AT3

 

[cookie64]

Cookie, Having now done over 50,000 km on the BS DD 694 I know they will need replacing in the next 10,000km. When other people on the forum have made comments that my expectations were too high and saying on one hand I wanted Grip and one the other hand was exprecting 100,000km and these two items are in conflict.
Just to clear things up once and for all. My expectations weren't that high as I was just comparing the performance of these tyres to the Yokohama and Dunlop tyres that I had previously had on this vehicle and other similar vehicles. Maybe I'm a slow learner but having been burn't by B/S F/S introducing inferior products and not to mention their slack customer service in the past I have now learn't my lesson and will not be going back to them.
My impartial summing up of these tyres after 50,000km is that my earlier assesment was correct.
The tyres right from new never gripped as well (wet, dry, seal or gravel) as the nearly worn out Yoko's did.
The tyres produced a real hard ride, a lot harder than the Yoko's or Dunlop AT2 and my mates Surf which has AT3's on it.
Tyre life is only 60% of what the other tyres achieved.
The 694 was actually about $25 per tyre more expensive than the Yoko ATS or Dunlop AT3

Correct, only you know how the tyres handle on your vehicle with your driving style which I can only determine is very conservative, my father was the same he used to fuel and tyre economy that I just can't match, why, because he knew his cars.

As for customer service totally agree, bad customer service needs to be exposed and they need to buck up their ideas.

cheers

 

[profoto]

I had Geolanders on my 80 series some years ago, stuck like poo to a blanket but at 30k they were stuffed.
This time on the Navara I got Pirelli Scorpions, super quiet and hang on well but I do very little off road now just a lot of heavy towing, I have about 35k on them so far and expect to double that the way they are looking.