I finally bought the Goodyear Eagle GT tires and got them installed this past weekend.

The deal I got:
$164.88 per tire = $659.52 + tax = $722.28

Price includes:
Mounting / balancing / installation
Road hazard warranty
Nitrogen with free life time nitrogen refills
12 month / 12000 miles road side assistance
30 day exchange guarantee

Free lifetime flat repairs
Free lifetime rotations
Free lifetime balancing
Free lifetime alignment checks

Dry Traction Review: (will be updated as I drive in different conditions)
I've got about 100 miles on the tires now. They are very quiet, probably a little quieter than the stock dunlops. The handling is quick, responsive, and very smooth. Doesn't feel soft at any point in hard cornering. Where you point the tires, they go. I am really impressed by the control and smoothness that I have now, compared to the dunlops. I always felt the dunlops were a bit jumpy and inaccurate. Sure they were responsive, but hard to control and prone to over/understeer. The Eagle GT are the exact opposite. So far I have stayed in full control when pushing them hard. Like I said they are smooth, responsive, and precise.

Dry traction is exceptional. I have pushed them hard and a few times so far and they never felt like they were going to break loose. I took a 40mph turn at 85mph and traction was never an issue. Went around a gentle curve today at about 100mph and they were sticky and stable. They stuck to the road like glue. I have also practiced a few launches from a stand still, simulating a track run or a race. The difference between launches with the GT's compared to the dunlops is like night and day. The GT's win hands down. Not only is the traction superior, but they are also extremely controllable. The dunlops were always prone to rebound and wheel hop, but not the GT's. My launches with the GT's are quicker and more controlled. I haven't had any wheel hop at all so far and have trouble breaking them loose in 2nd year. The dry traction is what I'd expect from a high quality all-season tire.

I'll post how they handle in wet conditions and eventually how they handle in the snow as soon as I drive in those conditions.

The only down side I see so far is that even though the are the same size as the dunlops it looks to me like the sidewall is a little shorter creating what seems like a bigger gap in the wheel well. A nice drop will take care of that. That's next.

Here are some pics:
The dunlops: (with 22,500 miles on them, rotated 3 times)
 tires_001.jpg ( 230.02K ) Number of downloads: 21
 tires_003.jpg ( 295.99K ) Number of downloads: 14

 tires_004.jpg ( 290.71K ) Number of downloads: 14
 tires_007.jpg ( 234.75K ) Number of downloads: 25


Goodyear Eagle GT's:
 tires_002.jpg ( 390.4K ) Number of downloads: 25
 tires_005.jpg ( 388.19K ) Number of downloads: 34

 tires_006.jpg ( 301.65K ) Number of downloads: 22
 tires_010.jpg ( 352.79K ) Number of downloads: 25

the wear on both edges of the dunlops looks like they were underinflated...

and good luck with the goodforayears..... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grin.gif)

oh and btw tirerack has them for 127.00 apiece....

That's a great review.. It is in line with alot of the other review's i've read up on the Goodyear Eagle GT's and i'm leaning towards these for my next replacement set of tires.

I had the Goodyear Fortera Tripletred for my Jeep before and those were real nice. Excellent traction in all weather conditions and lasted well beyond just one year.. Based on that experience, I would be inclined to give these GT's a try since they seem sportier than the Fortera lineup that Goodyear has.

Cheers NY-09GTS for the helpful review!

Regards.

Alignment was off. I knew it was off but since I was planning on getting new tires anyway, I just left it. It beat the crap out of the dunlops. If the alignment was good they probably wouldn't have worn so fast. I check the pressure once every few weeks so I don't think it was that, but I did have two of the tires plugged due to flats, so maybe. I did have to put air in a few times.




Ya I saw tire rack had them for cheaper, and tread depot has them for $114, but that doesn't include all the free/included stuff I got from the place I got them. I could have got them for $60 cheaper from tread depot only $8 dollars cheaper from tirerack after you include shipping, and mounting. One year of free rotations and I'm almost even and after that I'm ahead of the game. If I had to pay for rotations that's $15 a pop, 3 times a year = $45. Sure I could rotate them myself, but that's a pain in the butt. Plus the free flat repair and balancing, that I can't do myself and since I got two flats in a year on the dunlops I figure pay a few dollars more upfront and make out a lot better in the end.




Your welcome, and like I said, I'll post more once I drive in different weather conditions, so be sure to check back.

I think I'm going with the Eagle GTs...but a Goodyear shop near my house had them for $92 plus all the free stuff...

Wow, if $92 a tire includes balancing, mounting, and stems then that's a deal. If not still a good price cause balancing and mounting and stems usually will cost you $40-50 per tire. The place where I got them does what they call out the door pricing, everything is included. Most other places sell the tires for less then add on all the extras which in the end ends up more than where I got them. But anyway, good luck with the GT's, I'm liking them so far.

I thought that was weird too, but I called and asked. Mainly because I thought the GTs would be uber expensive..but the Goodyear shop as to contend with another more well known Tire shop a few blocks down...so they always do price wars...

Nice, sounds like a great deal.

how bad was your alignment tho????
did the shop give you a before and after printout?

Ya they gave me the print out. Here's what it shows: (first numbers were the before, second numbers are the after)

Front:
Caster -- initial was the same as final

Camber
left: -0.1 ------> -0.1
right: -0.1 ------> -0.2

Toe
left: -0.15 ------> 0.05
right: 0.00 ------> 0.05


Rear:
Camber
left: -0.7 ------> -0.7
right: -0.6 ------> -0.6

Toe
left: 0.05 ------> 0.05
right: -0.10 ------> 0.10

thrust angle: 0.1 ------> 0.0

All the secondary angles were the same from initial to final.

Plus I forgot to mention, once I decided I was getting new tires I was burning out at will on purpose beating the dunlops up, so I'm sure that did some damage too.

that doesnt look so bad that it would have eaten the tires like that tho....

Ya, I didn't think it was two bad either. I kept the pressure at 32psi (I have a digital gauge that I carry in the car at all times). Probably a combination of me burning out all the time, alignment being off a bit, plugged tires maybe not holding the air as well as they should, and just the fact that the dunlops just plain old suck. The tires all whopped up had 15k total on them being on the front and 7500 on the back(rotation worked out that way). The back tires were in way better shape.

ahhh... it was the loose nut behind the wheel....

LOL, sounds about right.

*** UPDATE ***

Wet Driving Review:

We got some rain here the other day and I got a chance to put the Goodyear Eagle GT’s to the test. The rain varied from light to heavy downpours, road conditions were wet to soaked with standing water.

Wet traction was very good. While accelerating, driving, and braking at normal speeds the tires handled well. No slippage or hydroplaning at all. At normal speeds it might as well have been completely dry out, the tires just didn’t budge.

Once I was confident with normal speed driving I did some hard driving, high speed driving, and hard braking. While accelerating straight, hard and fast from a dead stop I was able to break the front tires loose (as expected), but again like the dry condition driving I was never out of control. They were predictable and manageable, never pulling to one side or the other. I also did some accelerating from a stop around street corners. Most of the time the tires just dug in and traction was fine. I was able to break the front tires loose, but they were very predictable and easy to control. The back tires never broke loose. I actually liked the control so much that I was having some fun spinning the tires as I went around the turn. I then did some high speed driving. Again, the tires handled well. At high speeds on just wet roads, no problems at all. No slippage and no pulling, couldn't break them loose at all. At high speeds hitting standing water puddles on the road most of the time the car just went right thru it, but occasionally I did get some hydroplaning or pulling. As soon as you exited the puddle traction was regained. Driving high speed (3rd-4th gear) thru corners, turns, and curved roads, I had no real problems. Front tires held to the road just fine, I could not get them to break loose. As long as you didn’t hit standing water I had no slippage at all. Going around curves at high speed and hitting standing water could cause momentary hydroplaning, where you feel the wheel pull for a second, but I don't think it's anything that any driver couldn't handle because as soon as you exit the puddle traction is immediately restored and you're always in complete control. Sure you couldn’t go as fast as if it was dry pavement, but I’m confident that unless you push a corner way faster than you should you won’t have any slippage problems. The back tires never once broke loose, I tried to get the rear end to slide and just couldn’t.

The last thing I did was some braking tests. Normal speed braking had no problems, tires felt like it wasn’t even raining out. I then did high speed hard braking dropping the speed from 60mph to 20mph then left off the brakes. The tires dug right in, no slippage, control was perfect, the anti-lock brakes didn’t even kick in. Last I did high speed hard braking dropping the speed from 60mph to 0mph. Again the tires dug right in and control was exceptional. I did this a few times and only got the anti-lock brakes to kick in once.

Overall I was pleased with the wet traction performance. I would say if you wanted to drive fast and really push the car in wet weather you'd be safe with these tires if your an experienced driver. If you just drove normal you'd have no worries at all.

Nice write up. I'm still kickin myself in the head over those tires......I had those right next to my Yoko's when I bought my last set & the guy told me to go with the Yoko's........I could have went eith er way....but I went with the managers suggestion. IDK....time will tell how they do inthe winter....but I think you made a good choice with the Goodyears.

^ Ya, I'm happy with them so far. I think Goodyear did a good job actually concentrating on the all season aspect. Some all season tire manufactures still like to concentrate on dry weather conditions only and then add some all season capabilities. I think the GT's concentrate on the all season conditions, balancing wet and dry. Time will tell, after a little wear, if that will compromise dry condition driving or not. As far as snow goes, I hoping not to have to drive in it for a while yet, but once I do I post how it goes.
I'll keep an eye on your thread and see how your yoko's do in the snow.

Winter conditions review:

Conditions: snow covered roads, wet slush, and some frozen slush/ice

First thing I’ll say is these are not snow tires. They are not a substitute for dedicated snow tires. That said, here’s my review of the Goodyear Eagle GT’s in snow conditions. Since I was driving in snow conditions I did not do full out tests like in the rain or dry conditions. I basically drove how the conditions allowed while staying safe in bad conditions.

This past week we got our first winter storm. Where I live we actually got spared from the brunt of the storm. We only got 2”-5” total snow over 2 days. Anything under 8”-12” isn’t even really considered a storm around here, but this gave me a good chance to see how the tires held up in winter conditions.

The first day we only got a dusting of snow, so the roads were kind of slushy with standing water and some ice. First thing I noticed was in slick, slushy/ice conditions the tires lost traction pretty easily when accelerating. If you drove too hard you certainly could lose control. If I kept my speeds down and accelerated slowly, the tires performed well. They handled the slush/ice well and would drive right thru it without too much trouble while at slower cruising speeds. If you tried to accelerate hard or drive fast you could easily hydroplane. The up side is if you did lose traction as soon as the tires found a drier spot they hooked up right away and kept you in control while doing so. As long as you accelerated slower and kept you speeds down, the tires held up well in these conditions.

On the second day the roads were completely snow covered. From the moment I pulled out of my driveway onto the snow covered roads I was impressed. The tires seemed to dig in well. Again, as with the slick, slushy conditions hard accelerating was non-existent, but once you got going the tires held up in the snow extremely well. Not once did the front or rear tires slide while going around turns or while driving straight. Going up inclines or hills was no problem at all. Driving at speed was controlled and the snow didn’t seem to affect handling much at all. On the expressway, which was snow covered but not as bad because of the increased traffic, other cars were doing 30-40mph and I was able to do 50-55mph with no problem at all. My confidence level with these tires were 100 times higher than with the stock Dunlop’s. I also had little to no problems when braking. If you hit the brakes too hard the anti-locks would kick in, but otherwise braking was fine.

Conclusion:
Accelerating from a standstill or hard accelerating while driving ended up with the tires breaking loose and losing traction. Slow acceleration is fine. Driving at speed on slush you had to keep the speeds down. Driving at speed on snow was no problem. On snow, you could easily do the speed limit or slightly slower and be able to stay in complete control. Overall I was impressed with the performance of the tires in these conditions.

I just purchased myself a set of these as well 2 days ago from Discount Tire Co. for $140.59 per wheel...plus lifetime service etc. bringing the total to $760.68. I replaced my stock Dunlops at 39,900 miles and so far I am pleased with the performance in light snow. I feel much more comfortable now. More details to come later.