A very excited Goodyear marketing team recently invited a group of the media to their proving grounds in San Angelo, Texas to see, feel, and hear the brand new Wrangler with SilentArmor Technology. 2005 is "The Year of the Truck" for GoodYear and the Wrangler is Goodyear's premium brand on/off road tire. While the Wrangler M/TR is commonly seen on the trail and the extreme rock crawling courses this Wrangler is a more likely sight on your SUV, daily driver, or tow rig. This tire is designed for the vehicle that spends most of its time on the road but needs to be tough enough for occasional off-road use and inclement weather conditions. The market leader in this category, and one of our personal favorites, is the BF Goodrich All terrain KO. We have used the BF Goodrich tire on a number of vehicles through the years and have always been impressed with it's on road and off road capabilities. Well, with Goodyear's new secret ingredient it just may have the product to de-rail the BFG.

Kevlar

This is us arriving in San Angelo on our way to the proving grounds.

The new Wrangler with SilentArmor technology now includes Kevlar. Yes, this is the product that bullet proof vests are made of along with many other items to protect our armed forces. Kevlar is a very unique fiber produced by Dupont that is stronger and lighter than steel. Kevlar is resistant to corrosion and has properties that allow it to absorb large amounts of energy. Kevlar is not really new to tires, it has been used in very high performance tires for years, but it IS new to this segment of the market. Working closely with Dupont Goodyear has created a kevlar blend fiber that could replace the nylon layer. Wrapped over the steel belts it soaks up energy and protects the tire. No it does not make the tire bullet proof but it DOES add to it's impact resistance. While adding impact resistance it also absorbs noise to make a quitter tire. Therefore the name "SilentArmor".

This is part of the road test section with varying surfaces and conditions.

Goodyear took us to their proving grounds, a 7200 acre test facility just outside San Angelo, Texas, so that we could see the difference for ourselves. The Goodyear proving gounds is an increidbile facility where Goodyear can put tires through just about any kind of condition you can imagine.

They had multiple courses setup for us where we could test Tahoe's and Avalanches equipped with the new Wrangler with SilentArmor and the competitor's All Terrain TA/ KO. Now I am not a tire expert by any means and really did not expect to be able to tell a difference. We were also testing the Fortera which is Goodyear's premium brand on road SUV tire. I was very surprised when I came away from these tests. In the slalom course there was a noteicable difference in the quietness of the tire. The engineers called the noise created by the competitors tire "shaw". This noise did not exist with the Goodyear Wrangler. In the impact area where we drove over pot holes and impact strips the Wrangler seemed to absorb the impacts better creating a more muffled pounding.

Testing wet conditions through a slalom course. Now this was FUN.

To test the tires in the wet we drove a slalomn course over a specially built hydroplane area. Again the Wrangler excelled and seemed to experience better grip and less hydroplaning. At this point I was already sold on this new tire but we would also take the Wrangler through an off-road course. Unfortunately the weather had not cooperated and they were forced to move us to a very mild course since the other off-road course was under water due to several days of rain in the area. We were also only able to test the Wrangler and not it's compititor in this area. The tire performed well but it was really hard to get a feeling for its off-road performance. The engineers assured us that the Wrangler tire was comparable or better in all off-road conditions.

This is ONE large truck.

Next we went to spend some time driving some earth moving equipment. No it did not feature the Wrangler but none the less it was and interesting experience. Goodyear tests all sizes and kinds of tires at the proving grounds including these huge 12 foot tall tires designed for heavy equipment. We were able to take this 700,000 pound piece of equipment around a 2 mile test course. Equipped with a Caterpillar 16 cylinder engine with quad turbo's producing 1900 Horsepower. This machine had incredible steering response despite taking up the WHOLE road.

Walker gave us quite a ride on the new Goodyear Wrangler's

After some time on the heavy equipment it was time for a ride with Walker Evans. Walker was on hand to give us a little faster ride on the new Wrangler with Silent Armor. To do this Walker brought along Donahue Racing's Toyota built for SCORE's stock mini truck class. This was the same truck that Donhoe won their class with just a few short months ago at the Baja 1000. Walker gave us a fun ride on the Wrangler and expressed how impressed he was with this tire. Walker also told us that we could expect to see him winning the championship in the UROC Rock Crawling series this season. His new buggy will feature rear steer to help him do just that.

Durawall

We talked about the use of kevlar and it's properties in the new Wrangler with SilentArmor but in addition to those changes Goodyear has also brought over the Durawall technology from the off-road MT/R. This sidewall has proven to be extremely strong as proven in the rock crawling competitions. Well now this same sidewall technology is in the new Wrangler with SilentArmor.

Silica

What about Snow conditions? Well we couldn't test this on our trip to San Angelo but the new Wrangler had just been through extensive snow testing up in Ohio. The new tire compound includes a uniquie Silica blend compound and has achieved the Mountain Snow Flake certification which you can see on the sidewall of the tire.

Wrangler Utility Package

And to add even more to the package your Wrangler purchase includes the Wranlger Utility package:

• 50,000 mile tread life warranty
• 30-day no obligation trial period
• Nationwide Warranty Serivce
• Off-road Assistance Program
• Online D.O.T. Registration
• Special offers and updates at the new GoodYearGarage.com

Summary

As I mentioned, I am not a tire expert, but Goodyear has definetly made me a believer in their new Wrangler with SilentArmor. This is one impressive piece of rubber. You can be assured that the next set of All Terrains we purchase will be the new Wrangler with SilentArmour.