Looking for dependable year-round performance in a light truck or SUV tire, but don’t want to empty out a bank account to do it? The good news is that at the affordable end of the price spectrum, there are plenty of options out there for light truck tires. In most cases, there’s a straight-line tie-in between a tire’s price and its quality, but the Thunderer Ranger R007 HT is an affordable all-season tire that manages to beat expectations handily. It’s a tire that you can count on for a ride that’s surprisingly supple and quiet, has excellent tread wear properties, handling that’s capable and predictable, and exemplary road manners.

But don’t just take us at our word on that, let’s go in and get a closer look with this Thunderer Ranger R007 HT review:

Features and Benefits

Here are some of the great features and innovations that make the Thunderer Ranger R007 HT a great performer and a great value:

• Tread pitch, profile, and casing design are optimized to cancel certain frequencies and overtones, cutting down on road noise and vibrations at highway speed
• The advanced tread compound is designed for good wear properties and is consistent, and predictable on wet or dry pavement
• Wide circumferential grooves route standing water through and behind the tire’s tread footprint to mitigate any tendency toward hydroplaning
• A dense network of sipes helps to deliver improved traction by multiplying the tread’s surface area with hundreds of edges to slice through snow, slush, water
• Covered by a 60,000 mile limited manufacturer tread life warranty
• Initial tread depth 10/32” for long wear, excellent traction
• Available in a wide range of sizes for various fitments
• Reinforced, closed shoulder helps reduce tread squirm and deformation during hard maneuvers to enhance cornering ability

Pros and Cons

So, is this Thunderer tire the right choice for your ride and budget? Before you decide, let’s take a look at the tire’s pros and cons.

PROS:

• Generous tread life warranty
• Ride quality is composed and quiet
• Dependable grip on wet or dry pavement
• Road manners and highway stability are solid and stable

CONS:

• The tire should not be used in moderate to heavy snow as it is not Three Peak Mountain Snowflake certified
• It can be noisy on some pavement surfaces

SimpleTire’s view on Thunderer Ranger R007 HT tires

Are you acquainted with SimpleTire’s SimpleScore ratings system? SimpleScore is what the SimpleTire team devised to give you a quick at-a-glance idea of a tire’s capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses. In the case of the Thunderer Ranger R007 HT, our SimpleScore ratings are:

• Traction: 7.8
• Handling: 7.9
• Longevity: 8.6
• Overall average SimpleScore: 8.1

Designed around the weight, center of gravity, braking, handling dynamics and power of today’s pickup trucks and SUVs the Thunderer Ranger R007 HT is a top-quality all-season tire that you can rely on for consistent performance year-round. Thunderer Ranger R007 HT tires feature a proven 5-rib all-season tread design with wide circumferential grooves that resist hydroplaning by channeling water away from the tire’s contact patch, and a pattern of 3D sipes that give them a real leg up in grip on snowy pavement. Their tread pitch is randomized and computer-tuned to keep highway noise low and isolate passengers and drivers from roughness and vibrations by neutralizing certain frequencies and overtones. Even on rough and uneven pavement, the Thunderer’s ride quality stays composed and balanced without any tendency toward jitters or choppiness.

Out on the road, the Thunderer Ranger R007 makes long road trips easy with rock-solid straight-line stability and tracking, and its solid center rib also helps enhance steering response for quick maneuvers. Handling is light and quick without being overly sensitive or touchy, with little tendency toward understeer or oversteer going into corners, even when crowding the envelope of the vehicle’s handling to its limit. On wet pavement, the Recon CUV is capable and predictable, with its circumferential groove design resisting hydroplaning by routing water through and behind the tire’s contact patch. A 60,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty is superb coverage for any tire at this price point (really, it’s the kind of warranty coverage you’d expect from premium tires that cost far more). The Thunderer Ranger R007 offers a balance of a comfortable and quiet ride, dependable grip, capable handling, and exemplary road manners. All in all, that makes the Thunderer Ranger R007 a great value for anyone who’s looking for top performance in an all-season light truck/SUV tire but doesn’t want to empty out a bank account to do it.

Want to learn more about the tire? Check out our comparison of the Thunderer Ranger R007 HT vs Sumitomo Encounter HT2.

Vehicles the Thunderer Ranger R007 HT is a good replacement tire for

While the Thunderer Ranger R007 HT isn’t featured as OEM on any light trucks or SUVs, it would make a great replacement tire for vehicles like these:

• Ford F150
• Chevrolet Colorado
• GMC Canyon
• Toyota Tacoma
• Land Rover Range Rover
• RAM 1500
• Dodge Durango
• Jeep Compass
• Buick Encore
• Kia Sportage
• Hyundai Santa Fe
• Subaru Outback
• Honda Ridgeline