03 Z71 Tires?????????

[RyanbabZ71]

I COULDNT BELIEVE ME EYES TODAY.  GM DUMPED THE CRAPPY FSTONES ON THE 03s???  I seen an 03 Z71 with bridgestone Duelers.  Looked better.  

 

Wonder why they dumped the fstone  

[Tweeter400]

I know the Firestones are still an option atleast. Crappy option, but still an option!!

[asepgrad98]

After the Wilderness fiasco many buyers would rather have "Rubbermaid" tires than Firestones

[miclri]

My '03 Z71 came with the Firestone Wilderness AT tires. Right now I have Bridgestone Winter Duelers on it (good thing too). I don't have a problem with Firestone (after all I do believe they are the parent company to Bridgestone).

[SilveradoWV]

Yep! Bridgestone and Firestone are connected, GM can probably get Bridgestones at the same price of Firestones and still send the bill to the same place!

[carguru]

Don't think they dumped Firestone.  They are just using the Duelers as an alternative.  I've also spied a few with Goodyear Wranglers too.

[fennsz]

Bridgestones are Firestones...Same Crap...I have a set of Wilderness on my Z71 and I hate them. Don't have the money right now to put on a descent set, but hopefully after taxes i can get a set of BFG's.

[c4cruiser]

I COULDNT BELIEVE ME EYES TODAY.  GM DUMPED THE CRAPPY FSTONES ON THE 03s???  I seen an 03 Z71 with bridgestone Duelers.  Looked better.  

 

Wonder why they dumped the fstone  

When I bought my 99 Z71, it came with Wilderness AT rubber.  These were made in Canada, not the plant where the defective AT tires were made.  One thing I have noticed is that the tread pattern on the factory tires does not appear on AT tires sold in Firestone stores.  I seem to recall reading that most car makers buy tires on a contract and the tire and car engineers work on developing a specific tread design and construction for the different car lines.  Contracts may be with different companies for different car models.

 

While I don't especially like Firestone tires, the d*** things wear like steel (as did the AT's that were on my 93 Ranger) and seem to provide decent traction in both wet and dry conditions.

 

My next set of tires will probably be Bridgestone Duelers.  I have a set of Bridgestone Potenza RE730's on my 92 Vette and they are a great tire for not only street use, but for autocross and an occasional open track day.

 

Bridgestone and Firestone may be the same company, but the respective tires are nowhere near the same in either design or construction, and I think that Bridgestone is still run from corporate offices in Japan.

[lrymal]

My next set of tires will probably be Bridgestone Duelers.

I *think* I like the Duels as well.  Here is a link from TireRack.  Note sure if my own cookies invalidates the link.  If it does, do a search at TireRack for Bridgestone Dueler AT/Revo.  These tires are rated at the top of TireRack's survey.

 

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/orat.jsp

 

Here is a link for a descriptor to the Revo:

 

http://www.tirerack.com/tires....FT+Revo

 

Question regarding surveys such as the link above.  TireRack claims these are off-road tires.  Does that mean that if the tire has superior handling, for example, does that mean within the context of off-roading, or across all conditions?  

 

For me, tires would be on a daily driver, not a 4-wheeled mountain goat.  When I look at the survey for this tire, it looks like the "perfect tire".  Just not sure about the context of how they rate tires.

[BlueRado]

I've seen a couple of '03s w/ Bridgestone tires also - mine came w/ the Wilderness ATs, and I replaced them w/ the Dueler H/Ls from old "Green".

 

Just to set the record straight, Bridgestone was a completely separate tire company until they bought Firestone a few years ago.  Bridgestone stuck their necks out (financially) to acquire the ailing Firestone, which was struggling w/ antiquated technology, etc.  Bridgestone also owns the rights to Dayton Tires.  They still largely use separate lines to build the tires, so equating the Duelers with the Wilderness ATs isn't valid.  

 

Also, to my knowledge, while the tire was built specifically for GM for this application, supposedly to GM specs, it has never been implicated in any tread separation issues, certainly above a normal failure rate for any tire.  

 

My opinion and experience w/ ~ 24K miles on the ATs on "Green", was that they were only OK as street tires go, useless for off-road (not designed for that app anyways) , not good for loads or towing, and the tread wear was mediocre.  They did have better directional stability than my Duelers, though.

 

BTW, there is no BFG tire company, per say now - Michelin bought the tire manufacturing division from BFG, but as part of the agreement, they retained the brand name to continue making and selling the tires as BFG.

[99silveradoz71]

Got about 5k on my Dueler AT Revo's.  Rotated today in fact.  Great wet traction tire, great snow traction tire.  Smooth on dry pavement with no added noise vs. the stock Wilderness AT's.  Mileage is down slightly, but that may be due to actually having tread or due to winter.  I'd recommend them to anyone looking for good rubber on a daily driver.

[lrymal]

Got about 5k on my Dueler AT Revo's.  Rotated today in fact.  Great wet traction tire, great snow traction tire.  Smooth on dry pavement with no added noise vs. the stock Wilderness AT's.

Thanks for the feedback...  My truck has the Wilderness ATs on them, but with it only having 1800 miles, they are still like new.  Quiet, ok in rain (no snow down here at the Texas Coastal Plains area), corners well. Ah well, maybe next year they'll go.

[99silveradoz71]

My truck has the Wilderness ATs on them, but with it only having 1800 miles, they are still like new. Ah well, maybe next year they'll go.

Got 37 and change out of my Wilderness AT's.  They were ok, for most driving, but something with a bit more grip in rain/snow would've been nice...well worth the wait.

[burgundyz71]

My 03 also had Wilderness at's and around 250 miles traded for BFG AT KO. Best thing I ever did.