New good year tires , very light

[KAH 24]

Would you care to elaborate on why OEM's are warming up to Falken? I have zero insight on the company and am getting ready to switch tires. My gf's Gladiator came with the Falken Wildpeak AT3 and I like them a lot.

Thanks in advance,

@DFS

Easy, again from my professional experience, meeting with various vendors at a leadership level, consulting with my engineering reports, and biases as an OEM—why Falken is positive to me (Note: wouldn’t surprise me if other OEMs had similar views:

1. Sumitomo (Falken/Dunlop) has always been extremely responsive yet firm in pushing back if we ask for something that isn’t ideal for the intended use. Due to this—I respect them. Personally, they are to me the closest thing to a Japanese equivalent of Michelin in my experience over a career in the business. They’ve told me I was stupid to suggest something when I was testing them to determine rigorous integrity—and they were correct as they didn’t fall for the trap which many do.

2. I work for a Japanese OEM which of course some will say helps, but know for a fact that it has nothing to do with it—Michelin isn’t Japanese—and love them as I do Dunlop in their professionalism. My friends at OEMs realize this is a global business.

3. Engineering and technology in this tire for the applications I want—are indisputably on point for my needs for my Raptor. Wildpeak AT3 is heavier, but the weight contains engineering that impresses nerds who see black/white—no gray.

note: I like my BFG KM2s on my AEV, and am leaning toward KM3s—but Wildpeak MTs, I’m looking at closely (along with Toyo and Goodyear). Again, this is a different vehicle—the only variable is all tires must be E load.

I hope this is objective and helpful for you.

 

[rayofsi]

speed rating S sounds awesome haha.

 

[GCATX]

I just ordered a set and am getting them installed on Thursday. I'll update this thread with my initial impressions.

If you don't mind, what are you paying? I am almost due for tires.

 

[quikag]

If you don't mind, what are you paying? I am almost due for tires.

$1,292.41 from tirerack.com including TX sales tax.

 

[slater]

hmm not bad

 

[Badgertits]

It's 52lbs versus 65lbs for the K02, so 13lbs lighter. General rule is to take unsprung weight and multiply by 4 to get equivalent performance improvement compared to static weight. So, truck would perform roughly 52lbs*4 or 208lbs "lighter" in performance. It would probably be noticeable to a small degree.

Oh it’d be noticeable - big time - not to a small degree. I can tell the difference in weight between my stock 17” beadlocks w/ KO2s vs my Nokian snows on base 2019 17”s (so both the tire & rim are lighter) the Nokian snows are 58 lbs & the base cast wheels I believe weigh around 31 or 34 lbs depending style & forged beadlocks around 36-37 lbs, so I’m shedding around 10-13 lbs per corner w/ that swap & I feel it “everywhere” - braking, cornering, acceleration - esp w/ stock tune.

im very interested in this new Goodyear tire as a result

lastly....if you’ve seen that TFL YouTube episode where they pit a new TRX vs a stock gen 2, a SC’d Gen1, & a tuned gen2 on 37”s in a drag race......well seeing that the tuned gen2 was running a wheel/tire setup even heavier than stock (probably by 12-15 lbs) & was within spitting distance of the TRX....well if you threw those same Goodyear tires on base 17”s on that tuned gen2 & ran it against the TRX again my guess is it’d be pretty much neck & neck!!

 

[quikag]

Oh it’d be noticeable - big time - not to a small degree. I can tell the difference in weight between my stock 17” beadlocks w/ KO2s vs my Nokian snows on base 2019 17”s (so both the tire & rim are lighter) the Nokian snows are 58 lbs & the base cast wheels I believe weigh around 31 or 34 lbs depending style & forged beadlocks around 36-37 lbs, so I’m shedding around 10-13 lbs per corner w/ that swap & I feel it “everywhere” - braking, cornering, acceleration - esp w/ stock tune.

im very interested in this new Goodyear tire as a result

lastly....if you’ve seen that TFL YouTube episode where they pit a new TRX vs a stock gen 2, a SC’d Gen1, & a tuned gen2 on 37”s in a drag race......well seeing that the tuned gen2 was running a wheel/tire setup even heavier than stock (probably by 12-15 lbs) & was within spitting distance of the TRX....well if you threw those same Goodyear tires on base 17”s on that tuned gen2 & ran it against the TRX again my guess is it’d be pretty much neck & neck!!

So, the new Goodyear Territorys have been installed for about a week now and I love them! They replaced my 30k mile original K02's on my '19. I ordered through Tirerack and they have a new ASAP Mobile Tire install service for around $100 and they came to my office, put them on and did a great job.

Ride quality at the 35psi max all around (I thought this was a bit odd) is equal or slightly better than the K02 dialed down to 36/34. I may lower them to 32 all around to see if it's better. Road noise is similar to fresh K02's, again, maybe slightly better. Looks and tread aggressiveness are better than K02 IMHO. Performance does seem slightly better with the lower weight of the tires.

In short, if they last equal or greater than the C K02's I had, I will keep buying these Goodyears.

 

[quikag]

Here are two pics:

 

[GCATX]

So, the new Goodyear Territorys have been installed for about a week now and I love them! They replaced my 30k mile original K02's on my '19. I ordered through Tirerack and they have a new ASAP Mobile Tire install service for around $100 and they came to my office, put them on and did a great job.

Ride quality at the 35psi max all around (I thought this was a bit odd) is equal or slightly better than the K02 dialed down to 36/34. I may lower them to 32 all around to see if it's better. Road noise is similar to fresh K02's, again, maybe slightly better. Looks and tread aggressiveness are better than K02 IMHO. Performance does seem slightly better with the lower weight of the tires.

In short, if they last equal or greater than the C K02's I had, I will keep buying these Goodyears.

Nice. Regarding the noise compared to stock, I don't really remember any road noise from new KO2's. Now with about 30k they are howling.

 

[KAH 24]

Good Morning All,

I sat in on several half-days of meetings where my engineers were meeting with manufacturers and assessing various tire and wheel companies for our luxury SUVs and sedans (7 made “the consideration cut”) for OEM evaluation. I will only focus on tires, as wheels is a different animal entirely.

This may sound as much fun as watching grass grow, but to me it’s fascinating. Every parameter (approx. a dozen) are taken into consideration—noise/ride, lighter weight for CAFE, price, etc., are on the list. In short, as an OEM if we tell a manufacturer to modify a tire to our specs (even if it requires changes on their part)—they do it, or they are dropped from consideration. I believe everyone knows that some big box corporation stores do similar.

That said, I was able to see the Goodyear Territory and do my own assessment—along with listen to the experts of the department. Neither good nor bad, but this is my perspective after listening and querying:

1. I can see why the tire weighs quite a bit less. It seems to have a softer (less dense) compound.
2. Tread design/depth contributes to a lower weight as well.
3. Perceived that form had a priority on noise and weight over engineered AT function (some features for looks vs. what you’d see on a tire with heavier focus on AT function under all conditions).
4. No rim protector at the bead (which saves weight).
5. Good-excellent ride quality, low noise, M+S, and minuscule improvement in MPG (as poor aerodynamics and V8 engine hinder MPG far more than the tire weight for our big SUVs).

NOTE: These samples were prototypes TO SUIT OUR SPECIFIC SUV NEEDS. The engineers for the parent company have different priority parameters for pickup trucks. Every OEM will have differing criteria to some extent.
NOTE2: My division focuses on luxury vehicles. In this case for SUVs, we know from marketing that the target customer is wanting a premium tire, willing to pay more (as they bought a luxury SUV), wants good ride quality, isn’t concerning much about MPG (our SUVs have dismal MPGs anyway which are offset by our cars), and perceive that they off-road more than they do (basically they want a good looking tire).
NOTE3: One may ask, does our OEM care about the tire mileage warranty (for example 30k vs. 55k). Not in our case—as the warranty is through the tire manufacturer and not our OEM. Plus, as I mentioned earlier—our marketing team indicated that it wasn’t a major priority of those who shop our SUVs.

All of this to say, this is one of the reasons (based on my needs) that I’ve most often switched from OEM tires (even when vehicle is brand new) to those that suit my need parameters vs. an OEM (including changing OEM tires for my wife’s brand new luxury SUV before leaving the dealership).

I hope this is helpful to some and have a nice day all.