Will New Tires Improve Wheel Slippage on 04 2WD Liberty?

[CapnFinVark]

My wife is the recent (proud) owner of a new (to us) 04 Liberty Renegade. All is wonderful except she has noticed (and I've confirmed) an incredible tendency for the tires to slip in the rain.

I'm not talking about just the rear-wheel acceleration slip - I somewhat expected that with the 2 wheel rear-wheel drive. Actual braking performance is horrid once it rains - but great other times.

The tires are the Wrangler SR-A's and unfortunately the vitriol of the Internet leads me to either conclude these tires have the worst traction since man invented the rock wheel, or people love to rip on perfectly fine tires (50% of posts and they are fine (50% of posts :-(

Honestly, I am scared to let her drive this in the rain. The car doesn't have ABS of course - but the tires seem to cut through water fine (i.e. in 1/4" of water they cut through fine - no obvious hydroplaning. Also - on SOME road surfaces they are fine in whet - but on 50% of the surfaces between here and her work they slip. They behave like the actual part contacting the road is oiled and slipping on the actual roadway.

I've had a local tire shop I trust say they are hesitant to sell me new ones because the tread is great and their private tire review service gives these tires 70% good wet ratings.

I have had other people recommend a tire like the Michelin LTX M/S though - saying it would grab better (of course it's more $$).

Basically - if $600 of tires will improve this issue - I will do it for her in a heartbeat - but I'm wondering if others have had similar experience and solved them with tires - and if so which - or if this is just ultimately the 2-wheel rear drive killing me?

I should note that she only bought the car for looks and room - we will likely NEVER off-road with it so I'm basically after the safest wet-road highway tires I can get.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[dnm45227]

do it, do it now! i'm waiting to get new ones just because i'm cheap, but after sliding a couple of times on slightly wet roads and not going over 40mph i'm about ready to pony up and get new ones as well.

we have two kj's, one has bfg a/t tko's and the other has the stock goodyears. let's just say we only have the traction problem on one, guess which.

 

[Atrus]

I dunno, I have a brother's who's run 2 sets on an S-10 and my dad had a Cherokee with 2 sets of the Goodyears. Sure, they aren't great off-road, but I think they always did well. They sure wear well.

I'll be getting some BFG A/T's when these wear out (LOVE the BFG's!), but for now they are fine for me.

 

[06Liberty]

me too, there's a HUGE difference between my mother's '05 without ABS and my '06 with ABS.....she got new yokohama's because of sliding issues and not much has changed, if you have no ABS, you're gonna slide eventually.

 

[tjkj2002]

me too, there's a HUGE difference between my mother's '05 without ABS and my '06 with ABS.....she got new yokohama's because of sliding issues and not much has changed, if you have no ABS, you're gonna slide eventually.

I don't have ABS and I don't slide in the rain in 2wd(then again I'm running super soft Interco tires to ).Different tires from the OEM one's (like BFG's,General Grabbers,and Toyo's) will change the handling for the better in the wet stuff.

 

[06Liberty]

I find it hard to believe that if you're driving in the rain and someone pulls out in front of you and you have to slam on the brakes that you're not gonna slide. To me that's like saying that if I jump up in the air and hold my breath that gravity wont pull me back down to earth. lol....I know in most "normal" driving situations you don't have to worry about it, but in "emergency" type manuevers like hitting the brakes going down a wet hill it's a hell of a lot more likely to slide without ABS.....at least in my experience-----> the same hill my mother slid off of the road on when it was wet because of NOT having ABS, I drove down the same hill in mine when it was wet and STOMPED on the brakes and....nothing, it just stopped.

 

[tjkj2002]

I find it hard to believe that if you're driving in the rain and someone pulls out in front of you and you have to slam on the brakes that you're not gonna slide. To me that's like saying that if I jump up in the air and hold my breath that gravity wont pull me back down to earth. lol....I know in most "normal" driving situations you don't have to worry about it, but in "emergency" type manuevers like hitting the brakes going down a wet hill it's a hell of a lot more likely to slide without ABS.....at least in my experience-----> the same hill my mother slid off of the road on when it was wet because of NOT having ABS, I drove down the same hill in mine when it was wet and STOMPED on the brakes and....nothing, it just stopped.

Can't even lock the brakes up unless on a sheet of ice!Can't even lock them up on wet pavement doing a full panic brake while trying to turn,tires are just to damn sticky and I weigh to damn much for the stock size brakes,I'll lock up all 4 wheels once I install the HydroBoost brake setup.Couldn't break traction when my KJ was almost all stock with 225/75 MT/R's unless I tried really hard(ie-powerbraking),tires make a world of difference,if you need ABS to feel safe please get off the road and learn how to drive,thank you.

 

[06Liberty]

all I know is that in a "regular" KJ, ie., not lifted with fat tires and 3,000 lbs. of stuff in it, that changing tires to a similar style tire didn't change things that much.....at least not enough to warrant the $600 price tag. in our experience, we had a '05 limited with the 17" wrangler HP's and swapped em for the same size but in a yokohama geolander HT/S....so not much of a fair comparison if you ask me.

 

[tjkj2002]

all I know is that in a "regular" KJ, ie., not lifted with fat tires and 3,000 lbs. of stuff in it, that changing tires to a similar style tire didn't change things that much.....at least not enough to warrant the $600 price tag. in our experience, we had a '05 limited with the 17" wrangler HP's and swapped em for the same size but in a yokohama geolander HT/S....so not much of a fair comparison if you ask me.

Well that was your whole problem,Yokohama tires are no better than the HP's and SRA's that come on the KJ.I noticed a major difference between the SRA's and the MT/R's when I switched,and that was the first day I bought my KJ so it was 100% stock(for about 1 hour!).

 

[06Liberty]

oh well, that was my mom and stepdad's deal....I've still got my goodyears with no problems...yet. I do want to get a bigger size though.

 

[dnm45227]

i have had 3 kj's and put tires on two of them. the first time we went with liberator's from wally world, same kind of wet pavement handling (spins on take off and slides when trying to stop) as the stock goodyears. the second set was when we got the crd. i wanted a really good tire because my wife was really putting on the miles, so we put the new goodyears (the ones that came with the crd) on the rennie and bought the bfg's for the crd. of all three sets (four if you count the goodyears before the liberator's) the bfg's are far and above in handling and feeling of confidence.

just my two cents, but if you have the cash change the goodyears as soon as you can.

 

[JeepJeepster]

Ive not read what everyone has said, but those tires suck plan and simple.. They suck.. What did you say? yea, they suck..

The bridgestone revos are one of the most popular tires although I like yokohama..

 

[Dave]

Ive not read what everyone has said, but those tires suck plan and simple.. They suck.. What did you say? yea, they suck..
..

ditto....ditto................

 

[K Dje Ryu]

I can't get my tires to hydroplane or spin, either. No ABS here, as well.

And yes, I know all about how most of you feel about them but, I had people who have been 'wheeling for a LONG time tell me that my GY SA's performed much better than BFG AT/KO's, weekend before last. I got to witness it first-hand as my KJ walked through obstacles that Wranglers with the BFG's had trouble with. And I don't have the problem of them throwing rocks into my fenders or filling with a lot of mud.

 

[nfmisso]

........

I should note that she only bought the car for looks and room - we will likely NEVER off-road with it so I'm basically after the safest wet-road highway tires I can get.

Thanks for any advice!

First, you are asking in the wrong place, for a street only tire, get a copy of Consumer Reports (or similar) tire test. You will note that there is a HUGE difference in wet performance.

I would suggest an All Season Passenger car tire for your 2WD street only Liberty. Personally, I like Michelin. Note that Michelin owns Uniroyal and BF Goodrich.

As mentioned above, the Liberators at Wal-Mart are very slippery in the wet - they are a rugged long lasting tire (50K miles on my Ranger 2WD and look almost new). Not recommended for your application.

 

[MoladoGuy]

I would suggest changing tires when you are able to. Look into the Bridgestone Revo tires or maybe the Goodyear Silent Armor. I ran my stock KJ with the Goodyear SRA's and had major issues with traction in rain/sleet/snow. I switched them out for the Revo's and it was a night/day difference. This was all when I was stock. If you don't feel comfortable with what you have don't wait to change them.

 

[KJ02Ltd]

I can't get my tires to hydroplane or spin, either. No ABS here, as well.

And yes, I know all about how most of you feel about them but, I had people who have been 'wheeling for a LONG time tell me that my GY SA's performed much better than BFG AT/KO's, weekend before last. I got to witness it first-hand as my KJ walked through obstacles that Wranglers with the BFG's had trouble with. And I don't have the problem of them throwing rocks into my fenders or filling with a lot of mud.

I find this difficult to believe to say the least.

I think those guys were being nice to you so you didn't think you were runnin' an inferior tire and lose all confidence on the trail.

 

[Marlon_JB2]

I can't get my tires to hydroplane or spin, either. No ABS here, as well.

And yes, I know all about how most of you feel about them but, I had people who have been 'wheeling for a LONG time tell me that my GY SA's performed much better than BFG AT/KO's, weekend before last. I got to witness it first-hand as my KJ walked through obstacles that Wranglers with the BFG's had trouble with. And I don't have the problem of them throwing rocks into my fenders or filling with a lot of mud.

... how? The Goodyear SR-A isn't even an all-terrain tire...

 

[MoladoGuy]

I can't get my tires to hydroplane or spin, either. No ABS here, as well.

And yes, I know all about how most of you feel about them but, I had people who have been 'wheeling for a LONG time tell me that my GY SA's performed much better than BFG AT/KO's, weekend before last. I got to witness it first-hand as my KJ walked through obstacles that Wranglers with the BFG's had trouble with. And I don't have the problem of them throwing rocks into my fenders or filling with a lot of mud.

You have Goodyear SilentArmors LT245/70R17. At least that is what your sig says. We are talking about the stock Goodyear SR-A's that come with the KJ's tehee.

 

[hyde]

LT245/70R17 wow.. Talk about fitting large tires on 17s.