Goodyear Fortera HL tires suck on ice

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein) 01/04/2015 at 15:57 • Filed to: None

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When I bought my '05 Grand Cherokee, one of my concerns was that it had !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on it. The Jeep is my winter vehicle, and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on the Forteras—particularly their winter traction—are mixed at best. I can now report, they blow ass on icy roads.

Winter has gotten a late start here in Wisconsin this year, so I hadn't really gotten the chance to see how the Forteras handle messy weather. But last night, I had to drive about 85 miles from my gf's family in Burlington, back home to Madison. It had snowed in the morning, transitioned to sleet for the afternoon, and the temp was right at freezing. A perfect mix for making some un-plowed, un-salted 2-lane highways slick as fuck.

I stayed well under the speed limit the whole way, and the Jeep was sliding all over the place. It would hit a patch of ice, a tire would lose grip, and the Jeep would go all waggly. I didn't need to do much braking, but it was an exercise in prayer each time I hit the pedal.

I had one particularly hair-raising moment going down an off-ramp from an interstate to a 2-lane highway. With a ton of coasting before the ramp, downshifting to get some engine braking, and very gradual pedal pressure, I activated the ABS early and often. Luckily there's a yield sign to turn right at the bottom of the off ramp and there was no oncoming traffic, so I didn't have to worry about coming to a complete stop.

So basically, Goodyear Fortera HL tires + icy roads = fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck that.

As for snow, today we got a couple of inches, and I went out to do a couple errands. The Forteras handled the snow much better than last night's ice, but I still got a decent amount of wheelspin. Going down a gradually-curving hill on my way home, I had a distinct impression I could easily understeer off the road if I wasn't careful.

These Forteras suck in the winter enough to make me miss the totally not-special !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! tires that came on the '99 Grand Cherokee I replaced with this '05. Those were basic all-season truck tires, and that Jeep had a more basic 4wd system. It would still slide around some, but it never felt out of control. Which is pretty much how the Forteras can feel, even on a Jeep with spiffy Quadra-Drive automatic locking differentials. I put up with the shitty mileage so I can have awesome winter traction, but it's completely hamstrung by these crap tires.

So I'm contemplating a couple options:

1) Since the Forteras have a ton of tread left on them, take them to Discount Tire to be !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . It'd be cheaper than buying a new set of tires, and maybe help some. But I'm not sure how much it'd help, and if Discount Tire will sipe tires that aren't brand new.

2) Junk the Forteras and get something better. I'd like to try and sell them on Craigslist to offset the cost of new tires, but we'll see how my gf feels about having a stack of tires taking up space in the garage.

Oh well, what's some more money spent?

bob and john > Textured Soy Protein 01/04/2015 at 16:30

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junk them.

winter arent just in the pattern, its also in the compound. shit compund= shit tire.

Birddog > Textured Soy Protein 01/04/2015 at 16:31

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"So basically, Goodyear Fortera HL tires + icy roads = fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck that."

"they blow ass on icy roads."

Ya won't find that type of insight on Consumer Reports!

You may be best off CLing them after swapping for better rubber.

How old are they? Age may be part of the problem.

GeorgeyBoy > Textured Soy Protein 01/04/2015 at 17:07

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Pretty sure I warned you of them.

Worst tire I experienced on a new car.

Textured Soy Protein > Birddog 01/04/2015 at 17:42

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I don't know how old they are. I bought the Jeep a month ago and they were on it, but no documentation of when they were put on. I'd have to measure the tread depth.

Textured Soy Protein > bob and john 01/04/2015 at 17:46

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That's true. Before I had a dedicated winter vehicle, I used to run dedicated snow tires on my year-round vehicle. So I know how good the compounds on dedicated winter tires are.

I don't want dedicated winter tires for the Jeep because even though it's only my DD in winter, I do use it year-round, mostly for road trips. With too much warm-weather driving, the rubber compounds in winter tires can easily break down and sort of glaze over. So I want something that can be driven year-round but is still good in winter.

Textured Soy Protein > GeorgeyBoy 01/04/2015 at 17:47

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Yeah, I knew they would be questionable when I bought the Jeep. Only reason I haven't reached this conclusion sooner is we had an unseasonably mild and precipitation-free December.

bob and john > Textured Soy Protein 01/04/2015 at 18:02

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then your looking at 2 sets of tires...no 2 ways around it :S

Birddog > Textured Soy Protein 01/04/2015 at 18:28

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There's a DOT code on the sidewall. It'll tell you the age. I usually dump tires over 5 years old.

Textured Soy Protein > bob and john 01/04/2015 at 18:42

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Yes, 2 sets of tires, one on each vehicle.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Textured Soy Protein 01/04/2015 at 20:12

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AT time?

Rico > Textured Soy Protein 01/05/2015 at 08:18

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Don't be penny wise and pound foolish, you should either get winter rubber and keep this tires for the spring/summer road trips or junk them and get you the best all season tires you can afford that works in ice and snow.

Textured Soy Protein > Rico 01/05/2015 at 08:54

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Not going to get dedicated winter tires because:

1. I don't want to mess with swapping wheels & tires on it.

2. While it's only my DD in winter, I do still use it throughout the rest of the year, and warm-weather driving on winter tires (since I'm not going to swap between 2 sets of wheels & tires) will ruin the winter tires.

I used to keep dedicated winter tires and wheels when I had only 1 car which I ran summer tires on the rest of the year, but there are all-season (and particularly all-terrain) truck tires that are more than good enough in the snow especially combined with spiffy 4wd.

So if anything it'll be to get all-terrains.

Textured Soy Protein > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 01/05/2015 at 09:09

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Possibly. I'm intrigued by the Cooper Discoverer A/TW . It's a more winter-fied version of the Discoverer A/T3, but supposedly you can drive them year-round without degrading the rubber compound like traditional snow tires. It's rated for severe weather (with the mountain & snowflake symbol) and has all these sipes:

The problem is, it's a new tire and really expensive. Normally I go to Discount Tire, but I had them call their Cooper rep who told them the A/TW "hasn't been released to Discount Tire yet." A couple local tire shops either have them in their warehouse or can order them, but the cheapest I could find them is $190/each installed.

Another, not-as-big concern with the A/TW is my tire size is 245/65-17, but the closest available size is 245/70-17. In my actual size, the A/T3 is available as a 6-ply P-metric tire, but the A/TW is only available as a 10-ply LT-metric. Which if I were more of an off-road type would be fine, but I fully admit that my Jeep is just an around-town (and driving to other towns) snow car, not used for any off-roadin', muddin', crawlin', rockhoppin', or any other activity ending with -in'.

Rico > Textured Soy Protein 01/05/2015 at 10:05

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That would probably be your best option, if you can't sell the current tires might as well keep them in case you get tire damage down the line unless you already have a full size spare.

Textured Soy Protein > Rico 01/05/2015 at 13:01

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I...think there's a full-size spare? I haven't actually looked at it, but my old '99 Grand Cherokee had a full-size spare. I'll check.

I'd like to sell the Forteras if I replace them. The only potential kink in that plan is that I had the old snow tires & wheels from my Mazdaspeed 6 (the last year-round car I had) that I sold a while back taking up space in the garage, and my gf was nagging me to get rid of them. So if I want to stack up yet another set of tires in the garage, I'm going to have to butter her up a bit. ;)

Rico > Textured Soy Protein 01/05/2015 at 14:47

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Maybe a local dealer can store them for you until you sell them? I know some people have suggested such things before, though I personally don't know of any dealer willing to do that unless you had a good relationship with them.

Textured Soy Protein > Rico 01/05/2015 at 16:48

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I think my local Discount Tire offers winter tire storage for a fee.

But, I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner: I've got my 135is in a storage unit for the winter, so I suppose I could throw the tires in there and save my gf the hassle as long as I sell them before winter comes.

Rico > Textured Soy Protein 01/05/2015 at 18:07

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Bingo! You're already spending money on the unit might as well if it to capacity lol. How does that work do you use a battery tender or do you pay visits to storage to run the car every few weeks?

1.21 JIGGA WATTS!!! > Textured Soy Protein 01/06/2015 at 15:22

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I've had good luck with my Yokohama Geolanders for my truck. Not the best, but pretty good. I got my truck with the brand new Load rating D tires already on it. Tell ya what, driving at 65 psi makes for a bumpy ride and less than desirable traction.

Here's a list of all-terrains and their comparable abilities according to TireRack.

Textured Soy Protein > 1.21 JIGGA WATTS!!! 01/06/2015 at 15:26

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If I get new tires they'll likely be General Grabber AT2s which are on that list at Tire Rack.

Textured Soy Protein > 1.21 JIGGA WATTS!!! 01/06/2015 at 15:30

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Oh, actually I thought you had linked to a different list on Tire Rack that says which all-terrain tires are rated for severe snow service. The General AT2s are on that list.

1.21 JIGGA WATTS!!! > Textured Soy Protein 01/06/2015 at 15:40

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Good call. I hadn't seen that list. I was just linking what other people though were good tires. To each his own though. I'll definitely will be looking at "your" list when I go to replace my tires.

Textured Soy Protein > 1.21 JIGGA WATTS!!! 01/06/2015 at 16:01

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The survey results you linked to are useful as well, but they're subjective ratings by people who haven't necessarily owned the other tires on the list. So I use them as one way to make a decision but don't take them as gospel.

Based on the survey results I had also considered the Firestone Destination AT and Goodyear Wrangler AT Adventure. But they're not rated for severe snow duty by their manufacturers, and the Goodyear Adventure is a much newer tire and a much smaller sample size for its ratings.

On "your" list they show 640k miles reported, vs. 31 million for the Firestones and 18 million for the Generals. So the ratings on the Goodyears may trend a bit lower as more people submit their opinions. Or not.

1.21 JIGGA WATTS!!! > Textured Soy Protein 01/06/2015 at 16:46

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Very good points and I agree. Tires, like 95% of things in life, are a subjective topic and your favorite won't be some one else's. That's why I never get too hung up on reviews on sites like Amazon. 30% of people expected too much out of the product, 30% have no damn idea how to use the product, and 30% are content with what they received (10% don't write a review). I'll use them to guide my choices though...

Tohru > Textured Soy Protein 01/07/2015 at 11:30

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How much does it cost to get tires siped?

Textured Soy Protein > Tohru 01/07/2015 at 11:37

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I called Discount Tire, they actually don't do siping any more. I just ordered some tires, so that'll be a new post in a minute here.