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Pretty simple. What works on your rig? Size, miles out of, noise on highway, grip, what terrain they work best on, etc....
Keep it based on personal experience.
Last edited by rstrucks; 12-01-2011 at 10:52 PM.
Excellent topic, since I am about to buy new ones, but I dont think its going to be a simple one. Mud/rock/sand/street/dirt roads, I dont think there is one tire out there that covers everything we do...
Currently I'm thinking of either going with Cooper Discovery STT's again or KM2's, whatever I go with though I dont want directional tires.
35" KM2's. Not sure on mileage, but not much. Highway noise is actually very minimal. They have worked well on all of the terrain I've taken them on so far, slick rock, dirt, dry rock. Surprised at how well they worked in snow and ice as well. Definitely a major improvement there over the old KM's. Been happy with sidewall strength as well so far too.
Terrain: East coast style -- pretty rocky and woodsy, but still a lot of slick mud. After rain, the trails increase in difficulty due to lack of traction on the dirt and on the rocks.
Tires I have run:
31x10.5x15 BFG ATs
Great all-round tire for the occassional wheeler. Not a great tire for the terrain here, but it gets the job done if you are DD'ing your rig and only get out a few times a year. The tire is great in the snow/ice
31x11.5x15 Swamper LTBs
IMO, it's the best tire hands down in the 31-32" tire size when you are only concerned with east coast wheeling. They have an extremely aggressive tread pattern and strong sidewall, so they flat out suck on the road. I'd really only recommend these tires for "short" wheeling trips. I did an unplanned 6 hour trip on them and it wasn't very pleasant. For longer trips, I would normally throw these tires in the back and drive there with my BFG ATs.
33x12.5x15 Trxus MTs
I was pleasantly surprised with these tires. I got a smoking deal on these new that I couldn't pass up even though my rig was a trailer queen. For a mud tire, they drive great on the road. My buddy didn't have any issues balancing them, but I've heard that I may have just been lucky in that regard. They gripped really well in the rocks and held their own in the mud (weren't as good as the LTBs, though). For what little street time they did see, I wasn't too happy with the treadwear and my other friends running the same tires had treadwear issues, too.
Now I did tear up three of them (I had a warranty on them, so they were replaced for free), but those were all my fault. The first two I tore on the same run through the woods. It was a local competition, so I had quite an iron foot. Wheelspeed at 8psi with a lot of hidden roots, rocks, downed branches, doesn't bode well for many tires. The last one was a result on my driving on it flat for over a mile with a broken valve stem. A bunch of mud got inside the tire as a result and tore up chunks from the inner sidewall. My buddy did not feel comfortable re-mounting it with the inner sidewall damage.
36x13.5x15 Iroks
I never really liked these tires, but they were also very worn and the beads had some issues from all the times they were mounted before, so the beads leaked a bit. They were great in dry rock and snow, but weren't too great in muddy rocks. The sidewalls softened up quite a bit, so they aired down really nicely. Despite running them at about 6 or 7 psi most of the time, I never busted any of them. Considering their price point, they are definitely not a bad choice, but not the best out there for the east coast.
35x12x15 Swamper LTBs
Hands down the best tire I ever ran. Pearce commented at GSSE last year how "sticky" they were for 35s. The only reason I got rid of them was because I wanted to run 17s and at least a 37" tire for the tire swap.
37x12.5x17 Trxus MT Stickies
Sitting around right now. Looking forward to trying them out once I get back on the trails.
Hands down, 39" reds. They're amazing on rock and for general trail wheeling. I have never run a tire even half as good as a sticky bfg. Highway? I live in the world of fun per gallon. These are not commuter tires.
I'm running 42x16 pitubll rockers and they work very well all around. I haven't really been thrilled with the sidewall strength but so far I've been able to tear sidewalls in every tire i've run to date, i've run 37 mtr's and cut 3 out of 5, i also ran some 38 tsls for a while, managed to cut 2 of them and even cut an inside sidewall..go figure that one..
The road noise is very minimal, although i've spent very little time on the pavement they are much quieter than the tsls, the mtr's were very quiet as well.
I love the traction of the PBR's, they stick to rocks extremely well and work as good as can be expected on the super slick east coast mud too, i would recommend this tire, although the costs have increased significantly since i bought mine. They are a very lightweight tire for their size at 95lbs each, where a 42 tsl weights 115 (IIRC).
They seem to be a good medium between a sticky an off the shelf tire..
33" old style MTR's - went through 2 sets of these. They got the job done and I thought they were OK before I really got my hands on some better tires, in retrospect they didn't stick for crap.
After that I got 35" Super swamper SSR radials. These were...OK. Even at low pressures the tread didn't really conform the way my other tires have, and I slipped a few beads but theres a catch. The one I ran was a 35x12.5x16 with some insane load rating. They weigh 87lbs a piece new, max psi of 65 with max load of 3640 lbs so it seems to be more of a tow rig tire, hell they wore great on the road because of it, probably would have got a ton of miles out of them if I wore them all the way down.
Now for my favorite tire...my current 36" irok radials. They work great on all the terrains I encounter (dry granite, wet but not muddy rock, snow) hands down better than all the other tires I've run. The group of guys I wheel with went through a total of 3 sets of 36" bias in the past, and I can say these are NOTHING alike. The road manners are nothing short of incredible for a swamper. I drove the jeep down to KOH, 1000 mile round trip, and was able to hold 75MPH constant comfortably pretty much the entire trip, at that point I'd start to get a very subtle shimmy in the steering wheel. Can't complain though, they haven't been balanced in over a year and I know at least 1 is off. I bought the tires used with like 95% on them, been ALL over california driving thousands of miles wheeling the hell out of them and still have 65%+ tread compared to old bias's which you could visually watch the tread depth change through our trips.
OH and I can't recall ever slipping a bead with the Iroks yet. I run them around 11-12 PSI in the snow and rocks usually, though I've been creeping lower and lower until I start running into issues
Gonna be based on opinion and where you wheel for sure.
Trxus MTs 265/75/16 Worked well in rocks and Moab. Semi-out of round and not too nice on the road.
MTR's old style 285/75/16 and siped. Worked well on rocks and Moab. Great on the road.
LTB's 34x10.5/15 Sucked on rocks, sucked in Moab, so I siped them. Still sucked on the rocks after siping. They were also out of round (eggs) and sucked so bad it hurt on the road. Sold them and went back to MTR's.
MTR's old style 35/12.5/15 and siped. Work great on rocks and Moab! Never a side wall issue with any of the MTR's.
Next tires - I'm looking at the new MTR's with Kevlar, just can't decide if I should stay with 35's or jump to 37's.
On emy second set of Trxus MTs, first were 31x10.5s and current are 35x12.5s.
For over all performance I have been happy with them. Road noise is minimal. The sipping help them in wet situations, but like others have said, they are not deep mud kind of tire. Balancing is an issue, so instead of weights, I have used airsoft BBs and I have not noticed any problems since.
31x10.50 MTR - Loud, cupped badly, gripped ok off-road but not impressed on wet/snowy roads.
31x10.50 BFG TKO - Lasted a looooong time. Good wet traction, ok snow traction, off-road were good, unless you were on rocks.
34x10.50 LTB - Beast on rocks. Loved them! Super tough. On road, very bad. Clunking when cold, hard to balance, not as loud as MTR, wore quickly, bad wet/snow traction.
285 75 16 Treadwrights:
Fairly quiet (hum at hwy speed)
Wearing extremely well so far
MT tread
Look pretty cool too
Havent wheeled with them yet ;(
An actual 33" tire measuring in at 33.2"
BFG carcass
Perfect timing on this thread.
The Polar Bear has 33" BFG Mud Terrains - for rock and mud they seem to work great, for snow and ice, they are atrocious. I can't get traction in 4wd to save my life with these. Since it's starting to warm up I'll probably keep them through the summer and start looking for a different set in the fall.
The Rock Limo has a cheapo recently discontinued set of 35" Dunlop Mud Rover Maxx Tractions. I wasn't terribly impressed with these, although I have only wheeled with them a couple of times. I got a pierced sidewall in one not too long ago and haven't found any matching to replace it. I'm leaning towards selling the remaining three and buying a full set of MTR Kevlars...
How are the MTRs in snow and ice? How about road noise. I don't own a tow rig yet so my Jeeps all still see long highway miles to the wheeling spots.
My Experiences
BFG AT KOs (31s) I only ran them a short time but have to say they were a good all around tire, good snow, good trail duty including slick rock, great highway tire. Not so good for mud as they were not very good at self cleaning. I would buy them again and recently had them on my 78 F150. They make a good truck tire that sees double duty with an emphasis on street.
Truxus MTs (32s) Good offroad and sticky on the rocks. I had a lot of chunks come off the tread and at first they were decent on the highway but later were noisey and hard to balance. I would not buy them for a double duty rig. Trail only would be considered.
Firestone MTs (32s) These had good traction offroad and in the snow. Not as good on ice other MTs I have owned but doable. Decent highway use but got noisey with more miles. The only offroad tire failure for me was a severly damaged sidewall with these. I do not necessarily blame the tire as I was behind the steering wheel when it happened. I would not buy them again, but would not tell someone not to either.
MTRs (33s) Good offroad including rocks and slick rock. Good tire in the ice and snow too. Long lasting with decent higway maners. I would buy MTRs again and would use for double duty street/trail.
BFG KM2s. (33s) These are what I have now. Good trail tire in rocks, slick rock and mud. I like them in the snow and ice too. Great higway maners and quiet for an MT type tire. They are getting louder at around 15k miles then when new, but still decent. I would buy these again no problem for both street/trail use.
I think for tires in rocky areas like the South West you will want a MT type tire with a reinforced sidewall. There are fewer options than you might think and more expensive. I see a lot of bargain type MT tires that I am sure ok for mud and sand. However I see in almost any large group trail run someone damage these types of tires in this area do to rocks. Most of the time climbing an obstacle and the tire get pinched or rubs a sharp rock. Therefore every tire I have purchased for my Jeep the first consideration was the sidewall then the tread.
Tires I am familiar with that have heavy duty sidewalls:
BFG
ATKO
MT
MT KM2
GoodYear
MTR
AT Silent Armour
Interco
Truxus MT
I am sure others too
Firestone
Destination MT - again only sidewall I have damaged beyond repair
I know there are others too.
Last edited by Mtn WJ; 03-03-2011 at 11:37 AM.
Almost none. There was one time that someone stopped unexpectedly in front of me on a steep hill and I had to stop to avoid a collision. Could not turn around or back straight up due to deep ruts, and couldn't start from a dead stop. The LTBs might have been able to get me out of that situation. Other than that, the reds perform better on everything.
They are so much lighter that I can put noticeably more power down too. Now I just try to flutter the throttle on slimy hills so I can generate wheelspeed on demand when I need to power through a low traction section. On rock just about any driving style works. That was not the case with the LTBs.
I'll report on the tires I've run
BFG All-Terrains, stock 235/75/15 and now 32x11.50/15. I was really unimpressed with the set of stock-sized ones I ran. They were loud, wore like crap and didn't do nearly as well as everyone said they would in the snow. Now I'm running a set of 32x11.50/15s for street use and so far I've been extremely happy with them. Tire selection in 32x11.50/15 is very limited so I made the choice based on availabilities. Maybe going from MTs to ATs changed my mind but they are quiet and have done well in the little bit of snow we've had this year.
Trxus M/T. I replaced the stock sized BFG A/Ts with these when I initially lifted my ZJ with a set of 31x10.50s. On road these rode well but were loud and didn't wear that great. I think I sold them with 20k miles on them and they had maybe 10k left in them. In the winter they did exceptionally well. Better than my first set of BFG A/Ts and there successor, the KM2s. Off road they also did really well. I had about 3 or 4 trips to the Badlands on them as well as several trips on some trails in the UP. I would say for a mixed terrain radial tire they are about as good as it gets. I have considered getting another set when the KM2s wear out but I don't think I will as I now have street tires and can go more aggressive on my next set of M/Ts.
BFG KM2. My set of trail tires are 285/70/17 KM2s, load range D. I have been extremely happy with them. I have almost 20k road miles on them and they don't show much wear at all. They are surprisingly good in the snow, and I've had it through a couple of harsh winters in MI's UP. There were hills my wife and roommate couldn't make it up with FWD cars that I could make it up in 2wd. As far as wheeling goes, they don't have a ton of trail miles on them, but I have been pretty happy with them for the few miles they do have. The trails they were exposed to were mostly a combination of rocks mixed with dirt and mud.
33x12.50 bias-ply TSLs on 8" wheels. For the 'wheeling I did in Wisconsin they worked awesome. This was a combination of loose rocks, downed trees, stumps, big rock fields, and muddy trails with a combination of the above conditions. Aired down to 15psi they seemed to stick like glue. Lower than 12psi I would slip beads on downhill stretches. I am anxious to get them on the trails here in Colorado. Loud as hell on the road. Currently balanced with airsoft BBs, and it has made an incredible difference. Still start out square in the morning, but after a mile or so they ride so much better than they did with wheel weights.
33x9.50 BFG A/Ts. Good road manners, decent in moderate trails. Footprint is lacking for some places that I can easily drive with the Swampers, but that's not what I got them for. As a DD tire they are the best out of these 3 sets that I have run. Hardpack, dry conditions these work as good or better than the Swampers, although not very good for sandy conditions, again the narrow footprint is not very helpful. Also balanced with airsoft BBs.
32x11.50 Trailhandler A/Ts. This is the second Jeep I have used these tires on, bought them from Sears and I believe they are discontinued. Not as grippy on hardpack as either the Swampers or the BFGs. Better in sandy conditions than either one of the others. Tread pattern is very mild, noise is non-existant. Going to use these for the trailer I am going to build.
I've only run two different types, but I haven't seen either reviewed yet. I've wheeled in New England only.
1. Cooper Discoverer STT 30x9.5R15: This was the first set of "real" tires I had on the ZJ. I was stupid/broke enough to never rotate them, but got 30k out of the fronts before they were toast due to alighnment/wheel bearing issues. Traction was good at street pressure (never aired these down, as it was mostly stocker wheeling) and never had an issue clearing mud. Rears had 50% tread on them when the fronts were done, so I don't see why I wouldn't have gotten 10-20k more out of these without front end issues. Tolerable on the road and didn't have a problem with mounting or balancing.
2. BFG MT (JK Rubicon Pattern) 255 75R17: Running these currently on my ZJ. On road manners and road noise are awesome. MPG has been anywhere from 15-18 with 4.10 gears and 4.5" of lift, which is nothing to complain about. They weigh in at 75 pounds per corner (Wheel, tire, spacer) so I imagine that has a lot to do with the good mileage. I bought the tires with 3-4k on them, and have put approximately 30k on them and I wouldn't be surprised to get another 15-20k out of them. Off road, they leave something to be desired. I wheeled them at 20 PSI, 18 PSI and 15 PSI, and I couldn't get the traction I wanted out of them in a lot of situations. The extra bit that is added into the JK-specific tread didn't allow them to bite as well on the rocks, and I really wasn't comfortable running under 15 PSI due to the small sidewall. I will be keeping these around for inspection/road miles, however.
3: 35 12.5R15 MTR-K: Picking these up this weekend.
I freakin hated mine. The tread was chopped a bit when I got them so maybe that had something to do with it but god what a noisy POS tire IMO. We have people in at the dealer all the time with issues steming from these. They were 2x as noisy as the treadwrights I have now.
For proper format
255 75 17
BFG MT
10k mi
Horrible
I forgot I also had BFG Mall terrains
33 12.5 15
Quiet as sin
A pain to balance
Wore well
35k out of a set
Sucked in mud DUH
I guess I'll jump in here too! I have never run a tire on my rig more than 1-2K miles so...
BFG All Terrain- 31/10.50/15: Do not belong on an off road vehicle. other than that were pretty good on the road and look good too I used these for about 1/2 season before going to...
Good Year MTR(old style)- 33/12.50/15: I got a free set well used evenly worn and had about a 1/4" tread left. Basically worthless, wheeled them maybe 5 times.
BFG Mud-Terrain(old style)- 33/12.50/15: These were also used only about 5 times. I sold them promptly! They were really good at what you would buy the BFG All-terrains for doing.
Truxus MT- 34/12.50/15: These stuck like glue in CO rocks and Moab. They did chunk quite a bit and got really out of round in only 2 seasons.
Swamper TSL- Q78-15(35.5/11/15): Absolutely great in the CO rocks decent in Moab. Pretty much horrible at hwy driving.
Swamper TSL radial- 33/10.5/15: good in mud but can't say were good at anything else.
Mickey Thompson Baja Claw radial- 35/12.5/15: Absolutely phenomenal tire. I wheeled these on every surface possible for 2 seasons and all I can say is WOW!. On the road they are a bit loud, off the road they grip rock like it is going out of style! I have had the sidewall of these tires completely folded over and pinched between rim and rock and come out without a scratch. I ran them without even balancing them and never noticed. The bead is so strong I never once blew this tire off the bead. They did chunk a bit but here in western CO the rock is shaaarp. I would definitely buy again.
Yokahama geolandar AT-S- 285/75/16: This is a true all terrain tire. I have these on the ZJ now and have used them for almost a year. I use this Jeep for mostly camping, light wheeling, driving to and from the trail, Wife's heavy snow day DD and these tires do it all. I showed up to run Pritchett Canyon, Moab, last year and almost got laughed off the trail. But as the trail leader they quickly shut up I only winched one time as I was wedged in on the right side of yellow hill. I would suggest these tires to anyone looking for a true all terrain tire.
I am getting ready to purchase a new set of MT's 315/75/16 for the ZJ and am thinking of going with the new Cooper STT's or the Baja MTZ's any reviews of either of these would be great.
Thanks,
Clint
Nice topic...this should basically end up being a "be all end all" discussion on tires.
I've ran 235/70R16 BF Goodrich A/T's; Great in snow and rough, dry terrain but not "great" in mud. I've wheeled this small tire size in 7" of snow off road and not got stuck. Ran them through some pretty thick strip mine mud (any one from the east knows what I'm talking about) and still didn't get stuck but I was not confident and they didn't clean out well.
Current off road tires; 31" KM2's and so far have been a great tire. I'm fully confident that they will serve me well in this nice western PA mud. At around 5 mph on dryer or more solid surface on the trails the mud will literally fall off like hot butter...no worries about cleaning out with the I6. I would like to test them on some rocks at Rausche Creek (not sure if gas prices will allow that trip though) because the KM2 looks like a pretty decent rock tire. The only disappointment I've had with them is the snow...my A/T's showed these up like I was running summer tires. However, they're an M/T so I didn't expect much and I also wasn't aired down (running 50 psi).
Why are you running so much pressure?
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