Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor

[RRees]

Bouma,



Anxiously awaiting your opinion. I'm currently running the BFG Rugged Trails with about 35k on the tires. I can probably get by this winter with them, however... ... .....



Thanks.



Bob

 

[TimothyLong]

Okay guys,

Today, I finally broke down and did it. I replaced my BFG AT's with Goodyear Silent Armors (LT285/70R17). As the Tech was taking off the old BFG's, I felt as if we should have had a ceremony or something due to the fact that they lasted for 56K miles. This is the first time in 15 years that I've run anything other than BFG AT's and I am quite anxious to put the Goodyears to the test. I didn't get much of a chance to get a feel for them today, as I only live about 1/2 mile from the tire shop and made two stops in between. We're due to get some wet/snowy weather on Sunday into Monday morning, so I'll get an opportunity to get a good feel for their wet road grip on my way to work on Monday morning. Unfortunately, it will be a while before I will be able to test their performance in the snow. Living here in the Chesapeake Bay area of MD, we don't get real winters. We only get a handful of snow falls during the winter, most of which are 6" or less and usually melt within a day or two. I will get the best chance to test them over Christmas when I go back to southwestern PA to visit my family. They've had about 15" of snow so far compared to the "barely enough to notice it in the lawn" where I live. As I get a feel for their performance, I'll post what I find. Hopefully between Bouma, me, and a few others on this thread we can provide enough information (positive or negative) for those of you still considering switching to the Goodyear Silent Armors. I did find out today that one of the Techs at the tire shop put a set on his Duramax and he really likes them. Stay tuned!

 

[MLee]

Tim;

Go the goodyear web site, and look for how to take care of my tires, or the such.

It says to take them out and get them warm-hot this helps to finish the curing of the rubber. Do this a couple times if it is possible. I think you will get better milage out of them if you can do this.

 

[TimothyLong]

Tim;

Go the goodyear web site, and look for how to take care of my tires, or the such.

It says to take them out and get them warm-hot this helps to finish the curing of the rubber. Do this a couple times if it is possible. I think you will get better milage out of them if you can do this.

Thanks for the advice! I have to fight with Christmas lights this afternoon #@$%!, but after that I have a few errands to run. That should take care of it.

 

[RRees]

TimothyLong,



Did you update the tire size in your ECM with Smarty or something similar?



Anxious to hear about your opinion also.

Especially snow.



Thanks.

 

[TimothyLong]

TimothyLong,



Did you update the tire size in your ECM with Smarty or something similar?



Anxious to hear about your opinion also.

Especially snow.



Thanks.

I have the Banks 6 Gun Tuner, but I did not make any updates for the tire size. Stock size is 265 and I'm only jumping one size to 285's. My BFG's were 285's as well and I didn't make any adjustment for them either. Someone posted on one of these tire threads that he noticed only a 5% difference between the 265's and 285's and based on my observations I'd say that's about right. I'm willing to consider that within margin of error at least for now. If I really want to make a fair comparison between the BFG's and these Goodyear's I have to leave my tuner at the stock setting anyway. I will definitely post my impressions of these tires. As I said earlier, we're supposed to get some rain tomorrow, so I will be out and about. My commute to work is 28 miles one way, about half of it highway. I also have a few favorite back roads with a lot of curves I plan on running in both wet and dry conditions. I will post again around Wednesday. That will give me a few days to get a rough idea on mileage as well as time to hit all the road conditions I want to.



BTW, if anyone is curious, the Christmas lights and I broke even. I got them all up, but a few sets decided to quit working once they were up (the ones that I have to get out on the roof for of course) and I have to replace them.

 

[RRees]

TimothyLong,



Thanks for the update. Patiently awaiting your review of the tires.

I have a few months before I have to do something.



Later,

 

[Chemical103]

I just put on 265 BFG A/T they are great in the snow so far and they seem to have only a slight increase in roll resistance in comparison to the Michelin LTX A/S I just took off. I too was looking at the Silent Armour but after speaking with a friend he said they were weak in the snow and ice.

 

[TimothyLong]

I just put on 265 BFG A/T they are great in the snow so far and they seem to have only a slight increase in roll resistance in comparison to the Michelin LTX A/S I just took off. I too was looking at the Silent Armour but after speaking with a friend he said they were weak in the snow and ice.

The BFG A/T is a good tire, no question. I ran them for 15 years. The Silent Armors also have less roll resistance than the BFG's, which makes the ride a bit smoother. As for the Goodyears being weak in snow and ice, I will agree that it was a big problem with the older Wrangler tires. They were absolutely helpless in the snow. The shining point of the Silent Armors is supposed to be their snow and mud/off road traction. There are a few postings on this thread from folks who have already tried them in the mud and snow and give them two thumbs up. I want to see for myself. Besides, Goodyear gives you a 30-day satisfaction guarantee on them. If you don't like them you can take them back within 30 days for a full refund. At least that is the offer when you get them from a Goodyear shop. Don't know if that applies to other places like Mr. Tire or TireRack.com. Hopefully, I'll get to play in the snow before my 30 days are up!

 

[Chemical103]

My friend may have had the old wrangler tire. I have to admit I like the silent armour concept, they seem to be a step ahead on puncture resistance technology. I will say that after actually seeing the Wrangler Silent Armor in person (online it is difficult to get an absolute gauge of the tread pattern) they seem to have a fairly aggressive tread that would hold its own in the snow. Timothylong let us know when you do get a chance to play in the snow.

 

[TimothyLong]

I've got an update on the Silent Armors that I know a lot of you have been waiting for. Having had the opportunity to drive them for a few days in in different weather conditions and on different types of roads, I will offer up my impressions of these tires from my experiences to date. But first, let me provide the parameters upon which I am basing my observations.



My Truck: Equipped as listed in my sig block. The weight is approximately 7600 lbs including me, all the tools and stuff in my saddle box, and a reasonably full tank of fuel. The 2" leveling kit in the front moves the center of gravity toward the rear of the truck over stock suspension and I'm running Bilstein 5100 shocks in the front and Edelbrock Performer IAS shocks in the rear (haven't gotten around to replacing them with Bilstein's yet). Tire pressure at 60 psi.



The Roads: 4-lane divided highway, 2 lane main road with stop and go traffic, and two lane secondary road with lots of really fun curves and and hills.



And now for my observations.



Road Noise: These tires, as their name implies, are remarkably quite. While all tires create a certain amount of road noise, the little bit of noise that these tires give off is easily drowned out by the turbo or exhaust drone instead of adding to it. There is a stretch of road that I travel on my commute to and from work that is under going construction. In the construction zone is some temporary pavement which always caused my BFG's to sing quite loudly. My wife's truck does the same. The Silent Armors do not give off any more road noise in that stretch than they do anywhere else. In fact, on Monday morning while traveling in the construction zone I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the buzz/tire singing I was hearing belonged to the Ford F-250 two vehicles in front of me.



Comfort: The Silent Armors didn't seem to ride a whole lot different than the BFG A/T's, though that is most likely a function of my off road shock choice. However, I can tell you that they take speed bumps smoother than the BFG A/T's. I ran over a few this evening at a speed faster than I would have liked, but the Silent Armors were pretty smooth. The BFG A/T's would have given me a bit of a jolt.



Fuel Mileage: I haven't noticed any difference in my fuel mileage with the Silent Armors than I had with the BFG A/T's. My daily commute mileage will vary as much as 2 - 3 MPG depending on weather and traffic conditions. My mileage with the Silent Armors has been well within my normal mileage window.



Dry Road: The Silent Armors perform about the same as the BFG A/T's under most dry road conditions. Though I would have to give the Silent Armors a bit of an edge on winding, curvy roads. The Silent Armors seemed to hold the road a little better in the I was able to easily negotiate the turns by just letting up on the throttle and getting back into it about half way through the curve allowing me to keep my momentum. With the BFG A/T's I would have apply a bit of brake to get through the first half of the curves safely.



Wet Road: Again, I would have to say the the Silent Armors and the BFG A/T's perform about equally on most wet road conditions as well. That being said, the BFG A/T's, even when new, would have a tendancy to break traction if you really get into the throttle and it gets worse as the BFG's wear. The Silent Armors didn't do that. In fact, on my hilly, curvy road from a dead stop they did not break traction under heavy acceleration (to the point where the drone from my Banks Monster Exhaust drowned out the turbo and yes, SMOKE!! :-laf) while taking curves at the same time. It's almost like they grew claws. I give the Silent Armors two thumbs up there! The only thing that I did not get a chance to test was driving through standing water to see how the Silent Armors would resist hydroplaning, but I'm sure they would hold their own there too.



Overall, I have to give the Silent Armors pretty high marks. They are definitely a serious improvement over the older Wranglers that we have all learned to despise. Based on my experiences so far with the Silent Armors, I give them a good recommendation with a few caveats. The first being not having the opportunity to try them out in the snow (which a lot of us are mostly interested in). As I said in an earlier post, we do not get real winters here where I live. We usually don't get snow accumulation to amount to anything before mid-January. However, I hope to be able get some time in the snow when I go back to visit my family in my hometown in the mountains of southwestern PA over Christmas. They've had about 15" of snow so far this year, we've had enough to basically know what snow looks like and that's about it. Secondly, is how the Silent Armors will perform over time with accumulated mileage. It has been my experience that the BFG A/T's start to lose their traction performance after about 10K - 15K miles. The fact that I got 56K out of my last set is a miracle in and of itself. The Silent Armors are 50K rated tires, so they should last longer than the BFG's (assuming you rotate and balance them on a regular basis), but the proof in the pudding will be how well they hold their new tire performance with 15K - 20K miles on them.



All in all, I think the Silent Armors deserve serious consideration. If you are looking for that rugged 4x4 look, then look at other tires (like the BFG A/T's). The Silent Armors don't exactly give you an SUV look, but they don't give you an aggressive 4x4 tread look either. If you are in the market for new tires now, I would say go with the Silent Armors even with the caveats I mentioned. The biggest thing is that if you live in a climate that will see snow sooner than I will or already has seen, then get a set of the Silent Armors and try them out. With a 30-day guarantee from Goodyear, you can take them back and get the tires of your choice without a problem if you don't like them.

 

[Bouma]

I would like to add to the Silent Armor story. I have them as well, acutally started this post. I have about 3,500 miles on them so far. I agree with TimothyLong about the traction. I have had mine in some good snow Up here in Michigan. These tire really hook up Oo. I have had about every tire under the sun and they hook up the best in my opinion. In the rain again great. But, you knew it was comming! I have experienced torque wear( as diagnosed by the Goodyear Store) When you look at the tires the backs are worn differently If you put your on the tread and feel the top of the lugs they are at slightly different hights! I don't know if the average person would notice this but I have. The Goodyear store told me they would replace them no questions. I just don't think a different set will be any better. I am looking at it this way. If a new set cost $700 dollars in round numbers and they only go 25,000 miles, I should get a new set for $350 with the prorated 50,000 mile warranty they have. Who Knows they might go the 50,000. Even if they don't, I get a discount on another set and have never had better traction. Thats got to be worth something? I guess it is just nice to have a tire that will actually grab and go and also stop well. After 40,000 on the stock Michilens I couldn't take any more. Those tires should only be sold south of the Mississippi. I will post when I have more info, but I still wouldn't say stay away, these tires work well. Time will tell, but Goodyear has a much better tire than the older junk of the past.