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Full Member
- Joined
- May 3, 2012
- Messages
- 6,120
The time had come to get new tires on the EXT, so today I had a set of P265/70R17 Goodyear Assurance CS TripleTred All-Seasons installed.
When I bought my used 2004 Cadillac Escalade EXT two years ago, it had a set of worn LT265/70R17 121R Yokohama Geolander AT/S E-Series tires installed.
These tires, while worn, had enough usable tread to allow me to spend money getting other things on my truck back into shape without having to worry about spending any funds on tires right away.
After having spent the last 33,000 miles on the Yokohama's, I was pretty well convinced that I would not be replacing the tires on my truck with the same type that I was removing.
To be fair to the Yoko's, I have no idea how many actual miles were on those tires when I finally got rid of them.
But, having driven on these tires over the past 33,000 miles I can pass along these observations:
It is understood that most E-Series truck tires ride like, well, truck tires.
Especially if they are inflated anywhere in the upper range of their rated capacity.
While rated for up to 50 PSI, I found they gave the best ride at about 40 PSI.
I had the Yoko's balanced and rotated a couple of times, but found that at least one of them had a tendency to make the truck pull to one side or the other if placed on the front.
I rotated the tires until I got the worst two tires on the back and no longer had any pulling issues, so I left them at their positions until it was time to replace them all.
All four of the tires had a fair amount of cupping, which prompted me to get an alignment early on.
I later learned that All Wheel Drive vehicles, like the EXT, can sometimes cause a higher rate of tire cupping than similar two wheel drive or 4 wheel drive vehicles driven mostly in two wheel drive mode.
Since the alignment was almost perfect when I had it checked, this bit of knowledge made some sense.
The Yoko's handled well both on wet and dry pavement and handled an 11" snow we had a couple of Christmas's ago, without complaint.
If I were to list my main reasons for not considering the Yoko's as replacements, I would say first, they were very noisy and second they were rough riding.
The cupping and age could be the main reason for the noise and the higher air pressure and E-Series design could be the reason for the rougher ride.
So I am not going to really hold any of that against the Yoko's, it's just not what I want in a tire.
As to why I chose the Goodyear's, first of all I have had really good service out of Goodyear tires over the past 30+ years.
I really do not have the need for an E-Series tire because I hardly ever carry much of a load in my truck and I tow my party barge, Sea-Doo or mower trailer very infrequently and over fairly short distances.
I also hardly ever drive my truck off-road and where I live, we may get one or two relatively small winter snow/ice events every year or so.
My main criteria for my new tires was a street-oriented tread design that would provide fairly quiet performance and provide better than average dry and wet surface traction and good stopping ability with a better than average anticipated tread life.
This Consumer's Reports Review pretty much sums up what my research showed and mirrors a lot of other reviews I had read.
I had used several sets of the Goodyear Fortera tires on my Suburban over the ten years I drove that truck, as well as the Goodyear Wrangler SilentArmor on both my Suburban and Ford Explorer.
Goodyear phased out the Fortera line, which was the most quiet highway tire I have ever owned, so I switched over to the Wrangler SilentArmor's when the time came for new tires.
The Wrangler SilentArmor's were not near as quiet as the Fortera's and had a more aggressive off-road look to them.
The Goodyear Assurance CS TripleTred All-Seasons are supposed to be the replacement for the Fortera line and so far, they are proving to be nearly as quiet as the Forteras, which is a good thing.
Within a block of driving out of the tire shop's parking lot, I realized just how bad the old Yoko's had been.
I had convinced myself that I was hearing a lot more of the AWD running gear in this truck when, in fact, the majority of the noise I had been hearing was the old Yoko's.
The new tires are very quiet and the ride is much smoother.
The steering input is precise and the truck feels sure-footed on dry pavement.
At this time, I only have about 100 miles on only dry pavement, but at first impression, I am very pleased.
As we get into the spring rain season, I will report back once I get some wet surface driving behind me.
The Goodyear Assurance CS TripleTred All-Seasons have the aggressive street style look I was wanting for my EXT, as opposed to a more all-terrain, off road style of the Goodyear Wrangler SilentArmor's that I prefer on my Explorer.
They are quiet and seem to handle very well for the type of daily driving I tend to do most.
I will be watching these tires closely for any of the cupping issues the Yoko's had developed and try to minimize that with more frequent rotations and balancing.
These tires are rated for 65,000 miles, but I never kid myself with those numbers.
I honestly hope to get between 40,000 and 50,000 miles, at best.
If I get that, I will be happy.
Goodyear also claims this tire has an "Evolving traction grooves help maintain confident traction in rain and snow as the tire wears" feature.
I sincerely hope that I do not get a chance to observe this phenomenon for a good long time.
I'll try to keep you posted.
When I bought my used 2004 Cadillac Escalade EXT two years ago, it had a set of worn LT265/70R17 121R Yokohama Geolander AT/S E-Series tires installed.
These tires, while worn, had enough usable tread to allow me to spend money getting other things on my truck back into shape without having to worry about spending any funds on tires right away.
After having spent the last 33,000 miles on the Yokohama's, I was pretty well convinced that I would not be replacing the tires on my truck with the same type that I was removing.
To be fair to the Yoko's, I have no idea how many actual miles were on those tires when I finally got rid of them.
But, having driven on these tires over the past 33,000 miles I can pass along these observations:
It is understood that most E-Series truck tires ride like, well, truck tires.
Especially if they are inflated anywhere in the upper range of their rated capacity.
While rated for up to 50 PSI, I found they gave the best ride at about 40 PSI.
I had the Yoko's balanced and rotated a couple of times, but found that at least one of them had a tendency to make the truck pull to one side or the other if placed on the front.
I rotated the tires until I got the worst two tires on the back and no longer had any pulling issues, so I left them at their positions until it was time to replace them all.
All four of the tires had a fair amount of cupping, which prompted me to get an alignment early on.
I later learned that All Wheel Drive vehicles, like the EXT, can sometimes cause a higher rate of tire cupping than similar two wheel drive or 4 wheel drive vehicles driven mostly in two wheel drive mode.
Since the alignment was almost perfect when I had it checked, this bit of knowledge made some sense.
The Yoko's handled well both on wet and dry pavement and handled an 11" snow we had a couple of Christmas's ago, without complaint.
If I were to list my main reasons for not considering the Yoko's as replacements, I would say first, they were very noisy and second they were rough riding.
The cupping and age could be the main reason for the noise and the higher air pressure and E-Series design could be the reason for the rougher ride.
So I am not going to really hold any of that against the Yoko's, it's just not what I want in a tire.
As to why I chose the Goodyear's, first of all I have had really good service out of Goodyear tires over the past 30+ years.
I really do not have the need for an E-Series tire because I hardly ever carry much of a load in my truck and I tow my party barge, Sea-Doo or mower trailer very infrequently and over fairly short distances.
I also hardly ever drive my truck off-road and where I live, we may get one or two relatively small winter snow/ice events every year or so.
My main criteria for my new tires was a street-oriented tread design that would provide fairly quiet performance and provide better than average dry and wet surface traction and good stopping ability with a better than average anticipated tread life.
This Consumer's Reports Review pretty much sums up what my research showed and mirrors a lot of other reviews I had read.
I had used several sets of the Goodyear Fortera tires on my Suburban over the ten years I drove that truck, as well as the Goodyear Wrangler SilentArmor on both my Suburban and Ford Explorer.
Goodyear phased out the Fortera line, which was the most quiet highway tire I have ever owned, so I switched over to the Wrangler SilentArmor's when the time came for new tires.
The Wrangler SilentArmor's were not near as quiet as the Fortera's and had a more aggressive off-road look to them.
The Goodyear Assurance CS TripleTred All-Seasons are supposed to be the replacement for the Fortera line and so far, they are proving to be nearly as quiet as the Forteras, which is a good thing.
Within a block of driving out of the tire shop's parking lot, I realized just how bad the old Yoko's had been.
I had convinced myself that I was hearing a lot more of the AWD running gear in this truck when, in fact, the majority of the noise I had been hearing was the old Yoko's.
The new tires are very quiet and the ride is much smoother.
The steering input is precise and the truck feels sure-footed on dry pavement.
At this time, I only have about 100 miles on only dry pavement, but at first impression, I am very pleased.
As we get into the spring rain season, I will report back once I get some wet surface driving behind me.
The Goodyear Assurance CS TripleTred All-Seasons have the aggressive street style look I was wanting for my EXT, as opposed to a more all-terrain, off road style of the Goodyear Wrangler SilentArmor's that I prefer on my Explorer.
They are quiet and seem to handle very well for the type of daily driving I tend to do most.
I will be watching these tires closely for any of the cupping issues the Yoko's had developed and try to minimize that with more frequent rotations and balancing.
These tires are rated for 65,000 miles, but I never kid myself with those numbers.
I honestly hope to get between 40,000 and 50,000 miles, at best.
If I get that, I will be happy.
Goodyear also claims this tire has an "Evolving traction grooves help maintain confident traction in rain and snow as the tire wears" feature.
I sincerely hope that I do not get a chance to observe this phenomenon for a good long time.
I'll try to keep you posted.