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Goodyear Wrangler AT Adventure v. Nitto Terra Grapplers

19K views 17 replies 12 participants last post by  JasonWK2 
#1 ·
Opinions....

Mostly road driving. Occasionally on a gravel or dirt road and with the unpredictable winters in the DC area, snow and ice.

Is there a better option than those two on the 20" rims?
:slapfight:
 
#2 ·
An AT is going to be noisy and rough riding on the 495, 395, 95 and 66. I have the 18" wheels on my WK2 and have no problems going down gravel and dirt or worse farm roads and across fields with the OEM Michelin Latitudes. I have dedicated winter tires and wheels ie Blizzaks. My WK2 is offroad at least once a week.

if you dont need the AT try Toyo's Open Country HT.
 
#3 · (Edited)
I have the biggest AT tires that fit with a very aggressive tread. They are neither noisy nor rough riding. If you get the air pressure right they feel great and most excess noise over stock seems to go away after a couple hundred miles. On cheesegrater pavement they are noisy but so are almost all other tires. Different tread designs have different noise characteristics. Mine are great.

most of the "rough riding" myth about AT tires, especially larger ones comes from people being too dumb to get their tire pressures right. If i had left my Duratracs at the 40-42psi the tire shop inflated them to the ride would have been a but rougher. But common sense will tell you that when you put a higher load range tire on a vehicle you dont need the same pressure as if it were on the larger/heavier vehicle it was designed for.
 
#5 ·
Opinions....

Mostly road driving. Occasionally on a gravel or dirt road and with the unpredictable winters in the DC area, snow and ice.
Greetings,

Since you will be doing light off road driving, any tire that has a soft compound technology will meet your requirements for the unpredictable winters. Basically, the softer the tire compound is, the more grip in colder temperatures. Unless you travel to the snow belt areas in the winter, a good soft tire will work in the form of a highway or AT.

The mountain flake symbol indicates such technology. Some tire manufactures list compound products of silica or different types of oils that have the soft compound, but they do not have the symbol on it. For example: Bridgestone/Firestone tires that have the Uni-T technology is based upon soft compounds. Cooper tires show the use of silica in their product descriptions.

They are available in all 3 areas of tires: highway, AT on&off road and dedicated tires. Today's AT tires have come long way, especially in noise comfort. It always safer in winter driving applications to spend more money for a better product.

Best for now.:)
 
#6 ·
I have 3000 miles on my AT Adventures (18"), probably 75% highway and they are much quieter than I thought they would be. They really only produce noise that bugs me on those sections of grated concrete found on bridges and patches.
They are monsters in the snow. We got 8" yesterday and my wife easily got to Indy and back for a meeting (120mi round trip), while I wedged her Sebring into the culdesac and stayed home from work.
 
#7 ·
I had the Nittos on my 4Runner and I had the Silent Armors- which have been replaced by the Adventure ATs on my 2010 GC. I do lots of highway, gravel/dirt and off-road with my GC. I ran the silent armors for over 80,000 miles and if it wasn't winter I'd still be using them. I now have the Adventure ATs. The Goodyear models that I speak of are MUCH quieter than the NITTOS. In the beginning the Nittos had a more sticky grip- amazing! However, after about 20,000 miles they burned through that compound and started to lose their edge in wet/ice/snow conditions.

Even at 70,000 miles last winter/spring I don't think the Goodyear's felt any different. Of course the tread depth was less but on ice/snow/rain they were flawless! I'd go with the Goodyear Adventure ATs if I were you. They don't look as aggressive but they aren't wimpy either.
 
#10 ·
I just got some of the AT Adventure's installed and so far have no complaints. They ride like stock and got me to work this morning in some pretty slippery conditions. They aren't the Blizzaks, but they felt very stable and responsive on the snow/ice for an all terrain tire. We'll see how they fare on some further off-road excursions in the future.

But they look just as aggressive to me compared to the Nitto's.

*That lightning bolt sidewall on the Nitto just doesn't cut it for me though. So I may be a bit biased. :glare:
 
#11 ·
Greetings,

My Nokian Rotiva AT tires cost me $1k and it was worth it.

An AT tire that has perform snow/ice duty in addition to their regular chores will not be cheap especially when you want the best grip. Safety in winter weather is top priority. Otherwise, you have to step up to a dedicated snow tire with the softest rubber compound. Then forget about off road travels if you want to keep the tire for a while.

Goodyear is finally using the European technology via their Dunlop connection which they own.

Best for now.:)
 
#14 ·
1stJeep, do you have any comparative thought about the Nokian Rotiva vs. Hakkapiillitas? (Let's don't even START on the spelling, OK? :) )

Note that I am in Colorado, so I see snow and mountain trails. My usage is typically 80% street.....
 
#16 · (Edited)
Greetings,

Since you spend 80% of the time on the highway/street, I can not see you needing the AT tire. Nokian has two ways of going for your requirement.

1st Option: When I spoke to Nokian a year ago about their other tire, WRG2, they said it can do very light off road dirt and gravel roads. I would call them get an update on it.

As a dedicated snow tire, the Hakkapeliitta from Nokian are consider one of the best on the market. I was in Vermont few years ago when I first learned about them after getting stuck in my Pathfinder. One of the locals showed me the tires on his car. They never did have the size for the Pathfinder.

2nd Option: The new one out, the R2 SUV should be an amazing non-studded tire. I would check with tiresbyweb.com if they have them. The Nokian salesperson referred me to them.

Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 SUV

Here is my 10k update on Rotiva AT:
http://www.jeepgarage.org/f109/nokian-rotiva-at-265-60-18-10-000-mile-update-70342.html

Nokian success is how they use the tire compounds and siping in their tires.

Hope this help and Best for now.:)
 
#17 ·
That's terrific, 1stJeep.

I'm, picking up my JGC end of March, so most of this winter has passed. I have the Hakkas on my current Cherokee 2000 as winter only tires, but will wait for next season before I do anything about winter tires.

The 80/20 split is probably a good number for summer driving. For winter, it's probably 65% winter/snow/ice/offroad and 35% street/highway. Thus the separate winter tires.....

Thanks again - great pointers. (I'll stick with the Hakkas for my winter tires....)
 
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