Since more than 95% of my Renegade driving would be on-road, would it make sense to order the TrailHawk with "street" tires? The idea being that features such as tow hooks, more ground clearance, access to very low gearing, etc. might be useful on occasion, but "off-road" tires would make ordinary driving noisy, rough, etc.
TrailHawk with "street" tires?
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According to their specs ,you cant order a Trailhawk with any certain tires (or wheels for that matter.. )with anything other than what is stock . That being said.. if you like your all season tires etc.. that tire size that the Trailhawk is spec'd with is your tire size. It seems as though that's mostly the types of tires you can get in that size.
The tires on the TH ARE street tires. They are the most mild "all-terrain" tires on the market today with almost no aggressive features about them whatsoever. I think for purely on road use you'll be fine. They will wear really odd though...those Falkens don't wear worth a dang over time. So I'd probably just wear those out and then go with a HT tire afterward in your case.
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Real offroad tires give you tread block noise. The tires listed as possible OEM do not appear to be particularly at risk of this. What it will actualy ship with, nobody knows. The demo vehicles have had a whole mish mash of tires on them with all sorts of tread patterns.
I think the hard part is going to be finding more aggressive off road tires than whats on there from the factory.
I think the hard part is going to be finding more aggressive off road tires than whats on there from the factory.
This has perplexed me too. In ever pic I've seen of the TrailHawk, it has had H/T tires on it. I want to see it with the A/T tires that come with the Cherokee TrailHawk (obviously in the correct size).
To me, aesthetically, the front and rear bumper treatment have a hard time convincing me it's an off-road vehicle with the H/T tires I've seen it with in every picture.
Hopefully it won't be too difficult to find decent off-road tires for this vehicle.
To me, aesthetically, the front and rear bumper treatment have a hard time convincing me it's an off-road vehicle with the H/T tires I've seen it with in every picture.
Hopefully it won't be too difficult to find decent off-road tires for this vehicle.
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There really aren't a lot of choices. On the other hand, if they ship 100k of them, that might be incentive enough for that to change.
What I think Jeep needs to do is set the image that it is a Jeep that can like the typical Jeep but to an extent, at least doing that helps with making people want to personalize their Jeep to be more off-road capable then it was from factory.
I did some looking around after my earlier post, and what WXman says is absolutely true. The Wrangler SR-A are basically the only A/T (all terrain) tires available in the 215/65R17 size on the market.
I remember one of their big wigs saying they were working on a deal with Falken, to get some actual A/T tires with aggressive treads. At the time I thought it meant they were approaching them and asking to put their tires on the Renegade TrailHawk, but what I think they actually meant is they were asking them to DEVELOP A/T tires in the 215/65R17 size the TrailHawk uses.
I could not find any dedicated A/T tires available in that size.
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Hi WXman, what vehicles did you see problems with the Falkens wearing, Wranglers, Pickups, or?
I wonder if the heavier vehicles and suspensions may have contributed to poor wear?
Perhaps the Renegade with its lighter weight and independent suspension will allow the Falkens better wear. I've had several cars that certain brands of tires got short life vs other brands.
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I wonder if it will be a similar situation to the Jeep Patriot. My Patriot came with 215/65R17 but I was able to put 225/65R17 Yokohama Geolander A-T/S on them for a more aggressive grip offroad and in snow. My fuel efficiency took a hit, though, but it does sit about a 1/4" higher or so.
Jeeps mostly.
The problem with them is that the siping is very shallow, and also the outer row of tread blocks is only 9/32nds when new. So if you look at a Falken AT tire at 50% wear, all you see is 5 solid ribs of rubber...almost like the tires used on the front of farm tractors. It's ridiculous.
Most people will want to replace the factory tires with a quality U.S. made tire pretty early on in the vehicle's life will be my guess. I had these Falkens on my Wrangler briefly and sold them at a $200 loss and never looked back after about 5,000 miles. Terrible tires. They also throw stones all over the body worse than any other tire I've used before. And the wet traction (grass, mud, snow, etc) is non-existant.
They are made in Thailand by Sumitomo. If you noticed...Sumitomo couldn't sell enough of their own AT so they slightly redesigned it, slapped the Falken name on it, and tried again.
The Falken WildPeak H/T tire that you may end up seeing on the Renegade is completely different from the WildPeak A/T tire that WXman had his issues with. Yes, I agree that the WildPeak A/T has its issues once it wears half way down, but they actually did really good for me on my XJ rock crawler. They surprised me by fairing better than the BFG TA KOs that I had on it previously as far as traction and off road grip are concerned.
Back on topic of the H/T, it is just that, a highway tread tire. They will wear fine, be on the quieter side (compared to an A/T or M/T tire) and give fairly good year-round performance considering that they are properly maintained and not worn out and the Renegade's alignment and suspension are in check. Just don't expect to be doing any hardcore wheeling, rock crawling or mud bogging with the H/T tire, LOL. They should be able to handle mild trails or getting you to most camping spots without issue though.
Personally, I plan on sticking A/T or M/T tires on the Renegade if we are able to lift them a few inches and allow for the clearance.
Back on topic of the H/T, it is just that, a highway tread tire. They will wear fine, be on the quieter side (compared to an A/T or M/T tire) and give fairly good year-round performance considering that they are properly maintained and not worn out and the Renegade's alignment and suspension are in check. Just don't expect to be doing any hardcore wheeling, rock crawling or mud bogging with the H/T tire, LOL. They should be able to handle mild trails or getting you to most camping spots without issue though.
Personally, I plan on sticking A/T or M/T tires on the Renegade if we are able to lift them a few inches and allow for the clearance.
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Interesting, this is the first I've ever heard of the Renegade getting a H/T tire, where did you hear this, do you have a link to the info you can post?
I assumed the Trailhawk would come with A/T tires, why would they put H/T on the Trailhawk?
Do you mean the non-Trialhawk models would get the H/T tires, that makes more sense?
You can see the Falken WildPeak H/T in a lot of pictures on actual production Renegades that are being toured around for the public, like the one that was unveiled in Moab at the Easter Jeep Safari. http://www.trucktrend.com/features/...can_debut_at_moab_easter_safari/photo_04.html
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Okay, now I understand where you are coming from, that was a pre-production model, in fact a European diesel model they brought to Moab to test.
From reading the last several months, the Falken WildPeak A/T in a size that would fit the Renegade Trailhawk does not exist yet. One of the Jeep Execs in an interview a few months ago said they are working with Falken trying to develop this new size.
So to summarize, here is how I think it will play out on the actual production models hit our shores, H/T on Non Renegades and A/T on Trailhawks.
The A/T would work for me as a good OE tire since I plan to lift the Renegade and throw larger A/Ts or M/Ts on it anyways. Also, I heard through the grapevine that the new WildPeak A/T will have full depth siping, so that that is a plus!
I just e-mailed a couple people that know some people that know some other people that are all at SEMA together. I will let you know if they can find anything out for us.
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