June 29, 2005 Goodyear Fortera SUV tires Accessories
By Grant Davis
Goodyear Fortera SUV tires
Sure, All-Wheel Drive, 4-Wheel Drive, and Traction Control all promise to keep your car or truck on the road when Mother Nature decides to throw a blizzard or a torrential downpour between you and where you want to go. But here's the thing: that tech means nada without good rubber on your tires.
So after slip-sliding my way through the winter on a set of once-burly knobbies that, after 70,000 miles, looked like Kojack's head, I knew it was time to replace my treads. To that end I threw a set of Goodyear's new Fortera SUV tires on my aging Toyota 4Runner. They feature something called SilentArmor Technology, which is G'Year's fancy way of saying they put a tough Kevlar layer in the tire that helps protect it from nails, rocks, glass, and random tire slashings from painfully bored adolescents.
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Now Kevlar is all fine and dandy, and the next time I roll through a neighborhood hellhole of sharp detritus and teenage angst, I'm sure I'll appreciate the fact that I got out without a tire going flat, but this is not why I fell in love with the Forteras. No, I became enamored of their performance after spending two hours driving through a summer hail and thunderstorm at 75 miles an hour without so much as one hair-raising hydroplane moment, regardless of the sheets of water pouring off the asphalt. In my wake there was a parking lot of stopped cars and trucks too timid to continue down the Interstate. In gear terms it was the equivalent of say, spending years riding a hardtail mountain bike and then hopping on a full-suspension rig. Suddenly whole new worlds of travel opportunity opened up to me, namely, arriving at my pre-determined ETA no matter what the weather. When you travel with small children and their persnickety nap schedule, this is COOL. 70,000-mile tread life; $115 each, 330-796-2121, www.goodyeartires.com
