Tires - Goodyear Fortera HL Edition 245/65R 17

Good Year

3/27/09

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Update 11/6/2011

Commentary

I replaced the factory original tires at 49,200 miles, almost exactly two years from the day we purchased the vehicle.  The tires were evenly worn with about 1/32 of tread life left before the wear bars wore even with the tread surface.

Goodyear Fortera HL Edition 245/65R 17

I might have let them go another couple weeks.  But Maria called me one afternoon to report that the tire pressure monitor was reporting a rapid decline in pressure in one tire.  I urged her to find a landing zone and park the vehicle, which she did.

When I arrived, the tire was flat and a piece of sharp gray stone was protruding from the tire.  I popped the rear hatch and fished out the jack and lug wrench.  This was the beginning of a four-hour debacle that ended with a broken factory lug wrench, broken Craftsman socket, broken Popular Mechanics ratchet, and two rounded lug nuts!

A month earlier the dealer had installed new rotors.  It seems that when they did, some genius put the lug nuts back on the vehicle with an impact wrench.  That by itself isn't a problem if done properly using a torque stick to set the proper tension.  We'll never know for sure...

I started by attempting to loosen the lug nuts.  It's always easier to do this with the vehicle on the ground.  Once loosened a little, the vehicle may be jacked up and the lug nuts fully loosened and removed.  I was not so lucky.  The first lug nut was very tight.  So I applied more force to the lug wrench and the paint flaked off.  That didn't surprise me, I attributed it to the newness of the lug wrench - we'd never used it.  But when the wrench started to twist like a Toosie-Roll, I became concerned.  This was certainly not normal.  When at last the end of the lug wrench twisted clean-off, I knew it was going to be a long afternoon.

I took Maria home and picked up my tools - a 3/8 ratchet and 3/4" socket, and my long piece of pipe that always works well as a breaker bar.  I drove back to the Jeep and got busy.  I slipped the socket onto the lug nut, put the pipe onto the socket, and gave it a twist.  "CRACK!".  I took a look and found that the socket had split!  Wisely I had brought along another socket so with some dismay, tried it.  "BOING!"  The ratchet fell to pieces!.

Now I am big and tall but make no mistake, I am not a body builder.  I know how to apply force and use leverage.  And in doing so had broken all the tools in my array that would get these lug nuts off.  So I got back in the car and drove to Sears and purchased for permanent storage in the Jeep Commander a long-handled ratchet and 3/4" socket, then drove back to the Jeep.  This time I would not be denied.

And this time I got the lug nuts loosened.  But not before two of them, with their cursed stainless-steel jackets all galled up.  Finally, I jacked up the vehicle, dropped the spare from the under-vehicle storage location, removed the tire from the vehicle and installed the spare.  Four hours and three trips later, and I was finally done.

During the encounter, I called the dealer and tried to appeal to their sense of customer service to send someone out with an impact wrench to get me through this.  Instead they suggested towing, a breaker bar, or bring it by when you figure it out.  It took every fiber of my being to remind myself that being hostile, antagonistic, confrontational, and rude would not get me any satisfaction.  But I sorely wanted to unleash the fury of Hades.  Managing not to be a jerk paid dividends later.

The following week I brought the vehicle to the dealer.  When I got to the service counter I quietly gave my name, and lightly set the destroyed lug wrench on the counter.  The message was very clear.  Here was a brand new tool, cleanly split in two, with not a speck of rust.  The paint that had not flaked off was still shining like a new car.  The service manager knew who I was.  I asked to have the four new tires I had being holding to be installed, the damaged lugs to be replaced, the vehicle to be inspected, the washer bottle we had ordered to be installed, and the lug wrench to be replaced.  I also left instructions for the factory-supplied spare to remain in the position I put it and for the four tires to be mounted on the remaining wheels and spare position.  The service manager was very cordial and considering my short notice request for an appointment, very accommodating.

When I arrived to pick up the vehicle, my requests had been fulfilled to the letter.  The tires had been mounted and balanced for no charge, and the remaining items completed as requested.  This was a satisfactory outcome to what was otherwise a real pain.

With all this I almost forgot to comment about my selection of tires.  It's rare for me to stay with the factory original tires.  But I found that these tires gave us great service, long mileage, and we never had any problems with winter traction or wet handling.  I wanted to get something "cool" but in the end the value of these tires really compelled me to buy them and install them as before.  Given that I have become accustomed to high-performance tires providing less than 20,000 miles of service, these are wildly long lasting in comparison.  They're not going to win any prizes in the woods but as can be seen from this site, that has not been the road often traveled with this vehicle...

The rest of this write-up contains pictures of the tires installed, the specs for the tires, and some general info.

Goodyear


 

Goodyear Fortera HL Edition Performance Category:
Highway All-Season

 
 


 

11/6/2011

Time for tires again. (90,000 miles).  This time I decided to opt for a tire better suited to snow.

GoodyearFortera TripleTred(Highway All-Season)

 

 


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