New Tire Search: 99 Isuzu Rodeo LS manual

[Mbromb]

I'm looking into new tires. The ones that it came with have a lot of cracking and have some uneven wear, but they have plenty of tread. Is it dangerous to drive on them in that condition, can I drive on them for a while, or repair then? I can post a pic of them if it helps.

I live in New Orleans, and we have very bad streets here, in particular in the neighborhoods, a lot of unevenness and potholes. Although I'm doing a lot of slow driving, I'm bouncing around a lot and dodging obstacles. Any suggestions for specific tires, or type for these conditions. For example, is a higher aspect ration or wider tire better?

Here's a couple I've been looking at if anyone is familiar, and has an opinion. The Copper is in the lead so far.

Hankook Optimo (H724) 235/75R15 108 S
Cooper Discoverer A/T All-Season 235/75R15 105T

Thanks, Matt

[Oro]

I've had great success with Hankook tires; I have the Dynapro HT on my truck now and it's been great - dry, wet, snow. I can highly recommend that. The new AT model is also supposed to be fantastic, pretty good on highway but then better off performance. In retrospect, I wish I'd bought that vs. the HT, but I was planning less snow use when I decided. Either is good and in NOLA HT is probably ok unless you offroad a lot.

Get a GM card. Starting March 1 (usually) to April 30, they have the spring tire sale. They'll give you $100 back on a set of Hankooks, +$100 more if you use a GM card to purchase. They will also price match any dealer w/in 50 miles. So yes, you get Walmart prices, THEN $200 off. Amazing deal, I've done twice in the last two years. It usually repeats again Oct/Nov.

[Ed Mc.]

I have Hankooks on my '98 Nissan Frontier and am very happy with them. Smooth, quiet, good wet & dry traction, and the ride is good. FWIW I had a set of Coopers on there before and was never happy with them. The difference in ride between the 2 brands was remarkable. I went "up" one profile (from 65 series to 70 series) and I'm sure that made a difference in ride quality as well. The Coopers were quite old (circa 2006) although they were new when I bought the truck in '06. They didn't ride any better when new!

Also have Hankooks on my Daughter's Yaris and they're great. They were a huge improvement over the older Falken radials, even though we dropped one profile (the Falcons were taller than factory specs) to a 60-series tire. The ride wasn't drastically affected by that change. She drives the wheels off that little Yaris in all kinds of weather, never a problem with traction except of course it ain't going anywhere when it snows. I have a Trooper for that! Xclnt tread life on these as well.

Keep in mind that if you go to a taller (or shorter, for that matter) tire that is a different diameter from stock size, it'll affect your speedo reading. A taller sidewall is gonna ride smoother. The 31's on my Trooper have a really good ride, they soak up a lot of bumps and road roughness.

To maintain the same diameter tire when used with a 16" wheel, for example, you'd drop one profile size. But that's not likely to improve the ride quality. Conversely if you were to go to a 14" wheel (if that size would fit over your brakes), you could go up one profile size and retain close to the same diameter as your current tires, and it would ride better.

There are plenty of 6-lug 14" wheels out there that probably would work, but you'd have to test fit to make sure they clear everything. So that's something to consider.

A change in tire diameter also affects your gear ratio, although I'd imagine you have a V6 and you probably wouldn't notice a "taller" gear that much. I did notice it a bit on my Frontier, but it's still ok to drive. The speedo was a bit fast, so the taller tire actually corrected the speedo reading.

On newer vehicles it's also possible to recalibrate the speedo with a OBD-II tuner. I'll defer to the late-model ZuZu experts on that.

Hope that helps, you might also check out reviews at Tire Rack and other online tire sites to see what tires are the quietest and best-riding.

HTH.........ed

[93trooperpooper]

nobody mentioned air pressure or ply rating, and how that affects ride quality/ traction performance....

i was a hankook dealer at my tire shop back in the day...good JAPANESE tire.

it was a toss-up between coopers or 'kooks on my trooper....went with the cooper at3, they were cheaper and in stock in the size i wanted- so far so good, great traction and ride, smooth on the highway, good on gravel (doesnt throw stones)

[Mbromb]

Thank you guys! Very helpful. I don't fully understand all of the details, so I'll have to do a little more research.

It is a 3.2l V6 . There's no snow here in New Orleans, even in winter it rarely gets close to 32℉, unless it's Mardi Gras 2021 and there's a pandemic . Also, it gets into the 90s for long stretches. I have no plans to be off-roading, but the streets are so bad here in many places I drive it might as well be. From what I've gathered with my rodeo I'm pretty much going to feel and hear every little bump. I accept that, but I think new tires will help that a lot, and maybe down the line some suspension improvements.

@Oro
Thanks for the advice on getting the deals! I'm definitely going to look into that.
I'm a bit confused about the GM card discount for Hankooks. I see price matching and rebates at https://www.mycertifiedservice.com/deal ... bates.html. I guess you can buy them from any seller with the card, and the discount is connected to the card tire purchase, and the rebates from GM for Hankooks is offered because of their relationship?

@Ed
I hadn't considered going outside the recommended size, same as are on there now (P235/75R15), but I see what you mean by going to a 14". Thank you! I'll give that a look.

@93trooperpooper
Thanks! This is new territory for me. I'm just starting to understand about plies and some other details. There can be a lot of gravel here, and we have different degrees of flooding and water pooling throughout the year.

[93trooperpooper]

i dont think 14'' wheels will clear the front calipers....unless you go with LOTS of offset and maybe wheel spacers...
there is a 30x9.50 15, harder to find....
a 31 x10.50 x 15 is a nice tire upsize, should clear without any lifting, minor change in speedo, a little to no difference in power loss....will ride nicer with the taller sidewall profile....
then there is a 33x 12.50x 15....thats getting pretty big, would most likely rub....
or a 35x 12.50x 15....thats big. definite lift for sure, low end tq would suffer (off the line power loss)

my stock trooper size is p 245 /70 r 16....i had 10 ply 245/75 16....(they were like new, and free) but rode REALLY rough....when those wore out i went to 6 ply lt 265/75 16 coopers, plus a maybe 2 inch lift....they still rub on hard turns on the inside, but who drives at 60 mph at full left or right steering lock anyways?

[Enemigo]

I think going to 14s would be the wrong decision. That will really narrow down your tire selection.

[Ed Mc.]

I think going to 14s would be the wrong decision. That will really narrow down your tire selection.

I agree, just through it out there as an option, considering he's looking for a smoother ride. It does look like there's extremely (if any) limited selection for a roughly 29" tire for 14" wheels. Most of them in that size are for ATV's and extreme off-roading.

So it would seem the best option would be the 31's mentioned. Hopefully the speedo can be recalibrated (or just have to put up with it), and yeah you could get used to the longer gear. I don't even notice it on my 4-cyl Frontier anymore.

I had to go to 31's on my Trooper because with P235's, the 3.4 had so much power it was overrunning 1st and 2nd gears, also the highway rpm was too high. The 31's work much better and the BFG A/T's sidewalls are pretty flexible, they don't ride rough unless you're airing them up pretty high.

I'd expect a modern tire would do much better still.

[Ed Mc.]

Here are some ratings of 31x10.5x15 tires, filtered by wet/dry traction, and "comfort". The Hankook has a slightly higher comfort rating than the Cooper AT3, but the Cooper is ranked 2nd overall. Hankook cam in 4th.

The General tire was ranked 1st, but I've had such a bad experience with General tires that I would never recommend them to anybody. YMMV on that!

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyre ... readwear=0

I'm not proud, I'll cast my vote for Cooper tires!

[itsmehb]

I'll just throw this out there as it relates to tire wear I've experience with hankooks. My hankooks were on passenger cars and not on my Trooper which has General grabber AT2's, which I'm happy with. I've found the hankooks to be excellent performance tires probably due to the rubber compound being softer than my originals. They handled better, gripped the road better and wore out faster as a result. Probably not a concern for a tire used on a vehicle like our Troopers since wear probably isn't an issue unless it's also an every day driver vehicle.

[Mbromb]

I think I'm going to stick with the recommended size, at least this time, and I'm still liking the "Cooper Discoverer A/T All-Season 235/75R15 105T". These are only sold by Walmart. They aren't the AT3s. It seems they are the same as the AT3s with a different name, and branding on the side wall, https://www.walmart.com/ip/Cooper-Disco ... /373581786 . At $74\tire, and $15\tire install it looks like a good deal even if there aren't big rebates. I've been trying to decide if AT tires are a good idea as opposed to All season. I think because the city streets here are so bad, which is where I drive most, and there's frequently minor flooding they will work well. I'm planning to wait until the beginning of March to see if Cooper puts out any card discounts, as suggested by Oro. I don't think other rebates will apply, since these are Walmart special branded, from what I can tell.

[Ed Mc.]

That's a good-looking tire. Agressive enough tread pattern to handle your N'Orleans rough streets, shouldn't be too noisy, and enough sidewall protection, too. And a really good price!

Will be interesting to get your real-world experience with the new tires. When I got new tires for my Frontier PU, it was like night-and-day difference.

[93trooperpooper]

yup, same coopers i have on my trooper, but mine are 16''

at3 coopers have a knobbier sidewall

geez, your tire prices are cheap in the states!

[Mbromb]

There's definitely a wide price range, and I'm sure the lower priced are likely what you pay for, but this one seems like a good find. Walmart is definitely cheap, and if it's just a rebranded AT3 then it's like a $50 discount on each tire. It also has about 1500 reviews with 4.8 stars out of 5, so I feel good about it.

Thank you guys for all your feedback. I'm learning a lot, and it's really helpful. I'll be posting lots more questions cause I'm about to replace the fuel pressure regulator, fuel filter valve cover gaskets washer pump, and more, and as I think I mentioned I've never done any car work before getting this box on wheels a month ago

I just want to post a few pics of my current wheels in case there's any clear opinions, like "replace now they could blow out any time!", "they'll be ok for another 6 months", or "they can be reconditioned to extend life with some product". It's hard to tell, but I think it's the front tires mostly are more worn on the outsides, which I guess is likely due to driving under inflated. There is significant vibration\wobble at pretty much any speed that I'm hoping is mostly to do with the tires.

FrontDriverTire.jpg

Tire.jpg

Tire2.jpg

Tire3.jpg

Tire4.jpg

[Ed Mc.]

Those tires must be very old! Nasty cracks in the treads and down in-between. I would definitely be putting a new set of tires close to the top of my list of Things to Do Very Soon!

Note that as a tire ages, the rubber hardens and this will make the ride even worse. And I wouldn't run those tires at higher speeds for any prolonged duration.

[Mbromb]

When I bought the truck it looked as though it had been sitting outside unused with the hood open for a while. There was all kinds of debris in there, and a good thick layer of dirt and oil on parts of the engine, in part from some valve cover leaking it appears, and of course the tires look like that. So, I'm not surprised about your response, Ed. Thank you for that. The new tires will probably feel like a cloud I'll let you know.

I'm thinking because they are special branded for Walmart there won't be any applicable Cooper, or other discounts, and I should just go ahead and get them.

[Enemigo]

It's hard to go wrong with a non-chinese SUV tire for only $70 a pop.