I'm hoping you guys can shed some light on my current dilemma. I recently incurred some unrepairable sidewall damage to one of my stock tires (Dunlop Grandtrek 265 70/R16). I currently have 37k miles on the tires. The tires average about 650/32nds on the tread. After dropping my car off at Firestone to have the tire checked out, I received a call about the unrepairable tire. Of course they wanted authorization over the phone to go ahead put 4 new tires on. This was awfully unexpected news for me and my wallet. To get me by, I had them mount, and the damaged tire on the alloy rim back underneath. I basically have two options, each with their own respective set of questions:

1)Purchase an additional Grandtrek tire. Looks like this would be roughly $100. To be honest, I have no complaints about the stock tire on-road performance. This expenditure would be much easier to swallow.
- Would the discrepancies in tread wear between the (3) 37k mile tires and the new Grandtrek cause a problem?

2)Purchase the forum fav, Bridgestone Revo. Firestone quoted me $706 for a set of four of these including installation and road hazard warranty ($91 built into the price).
- Would I be throwing away money by doing this? In other words, how many more miles could I get out of my factory tires?
- Is this the best price I can get? They originally wanted ~$800, but they aggreed to 15% off if I signed up for a Firestone card.

Any other options that I may not have considered?

 

get revo's -- dunlops suck!

 

I have had bad luck with Dunlop on my passanger car, but I have no idea about the model you have mentioned (check reviews on Tirerack or similar sites). But if you want to save money you could get 2 Dunlup tires, I don't think having one new on a axel would be good in the long run.
If the Dunlops needs to be changed in the next 6months or year then I would go ahead and get a new set of Revos. The best deals I have seen on the Revos at stock size is about $600 for 4 at Discount tires or ~$560 at Costco (recent 60$ off coupon, they order home the tires for you)

 

i used to work @ a tire place and the grandteks are what the manufactures put on everything because its cheap.. they arent good @ all and they are outrageously overpriced for sucking that much, jsut becasue they are oe though....

the revos are expensive but worth it...

 

Had to replace my Dunschlops at 30,000 miles. Had Revos put on and I'm really happy with them. I had to jump up to the 75 series from 70 series to get the LT (light truck) and not the P (passenger). I love the more firm ride the LT's are said to offer over passenger with the stiffer sidewalls.

 

If you like the bridgestone revo, I would go to Les Schwab Tire center and check out similar tires the Toyo opencountry AT, or the Wildcat AT. Better prices & better service.

 

if you were in the market for tennis balls, i would advise dunlop, however, since we're talking about tires, get the revos.

oh, and what is 650/32nds???

 

650/32s of tread would equal tread depth of liek 21"... and um.... yeah no tread of anything i know of is that deep!

 

I got my Revos at Costco for about $250 less than what Firestone in Martinsburg WV wanted for the same tire. Costco also gives lifetime balance and rotatons, just walk in, tell them what you want, they re-spin and rotate them in under 45mins. For what you could save you could get a 1 year membership and save on other crap also! Just my .02 I wouldnt give a Firestone auto center my $$.. I think Sams Club also has sweet prices but Im not sure, I just got a membership there and havent had to price anything out "Costco sells beer"

 

so the LT has stronger sidewalls right? or are you talking about the passenger version? srry for the question, its probably obvious, i think it would be the LT but im not sure.

 

The LT's are stronger, they have more cords going through the structure, thus there is a stiffer ride (I seriously doubt you will really notice)..

My vote goes to throwing out the Dunlops, I had those when I bought my 4Runner and it was the first thing I replaced.

If you decide to stick with the Dunlop, get two tires, and put them on the same axle.

 

The LT (75 series) Revo can be had in 6,8 and 10 ply. The LT's are stronger than "P" passenger tires. I am happy with the ride they provide over the Dunschlops. I had them out in the first rain yesterday, and I have a spot where I ALWAYS had hydroplaned with my Dunlops since new, rode over it with the Revos and nothing.
Both my g/f and I both noticed the more firm ride they offer, and she too likes the Revos better cause it feels more like a truck should.
Just be careful.
70 series Revos are "P"
75 series Revos are "LT"

 

I'm getting 265/75/R16 Revo's in the coming months, I can't wait!

 

Jeff,
I went through a set-and-a-half of TG-35s. The original ones that came on my 4Runner lasted nearly 50,000 miles. The second set stayed on for less than 20,000 miles and I sold them. I had the chance to buy a set of 275/70/16 REVOs at $80 each - brand new. Which I promptly did. The tires have lived up to everything that people on the board have spoken about. They are wonderful in the rain, solid in the dry, and surefooted in the snow. Not to mention, they look perfect in this size for the 4Rnner.

I now have close to 20,000 miles on them and the tread is wearing very even. I rotate every 5,000 miles and keep them at 32-33 psi.
I believe I purchased the Standard Load variety, as I do not tow, and the weight rating of these is more than sufficient for our 'light' trucks. Highly recommended. I will buy these again in the future.



Andreas

 

I think you should post up to 4Runner owners for a "new to you" unused/pretty new OEM Dunlop. You might get one for free or very, very cheap.

Use up your Dunlops and then go for the Bridgestones.

The tread difference won't affect anything- the tread on the Dunlops isn't that deep to begin with so there isn't much difference at all.

 

th only problem w/ keeping the Dunlops is the lack of a reliable spare. Cut your losses and get new rubber. In the end it will be safer and you will have a better ride.

 

what you can do is use the full size spare tire located in the back of the 4Runner and then purchase 1 more Grandtrek tire. Install both new tires in the front. Throw away the tire with the sidewall hole. Put back one of the old 37K mile tire as a spare tire. Now, you have plenty of miles to go before you will consider getting the Revos. This is the cheapest way that I can think of.

 

I looked at tirerack.com, and some person said that the revos are horrible for offroad/mud. He said that they just clog up. Is this true, or is it just a person that went into the everglades in his truck? lol

 

They're not a mud tire. They do very well for an All Terrain tire.

 

If you can spin them they clean pretty well for an A/T. As you can tell in the pics in the link 2WD - no front cleaning. WebShots