AT tires for sand/desert/southwest

[dsphoto]

I've been searching and searching trying to find what I'm looking for, but to no avail. By all means, if I have missed a previous thread that answers my question, please point me to it.

I live in southern California and like to spend several weekends out in Mojave NP. Right now I have the stock wrangler st's on the stock 07 liberty. I was out there last weekend and went through some pretty deep sand okay, but it was a very short stretch, then blew a tire on a rocky dirt road. I am looking at getting some new AT tires and am not sure what is best for my application. I see lots and lots of posts related to snow and wet weather, but that is simply no concern to me. I just want some solid tires that can handle the sand and dirt and rocky roads of the desert without fail and not too loud on the street.

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions from other Southwesterners. Most of my miles are paved roads so loudness is certainly a factor.

I have been looking at the general grabber at2 and bfg at ko, simply because those are what I see at tire rack and tend to pop up on the internets. Loads of people seem to like the bfg ta ko's but there seem to also be many other options. I'm not looking to spend crazy amounts of money nor climb sand dunes. I'm just looking for a great value of an AT tire for my needs of occasional deep sand and dirt roads with majority of miles on pavement.

Any ideas?

TIA

 

[CzarKJ]

My grabbers are nice but I wouldn't recommend loose deep sand with them. They just don't clear well enough.

 

[dude1116]

Hard to say because i haven't tested the Hankooks i have on sand yet. Maybe Nitto Dune Grapplers? But their tread looks pretty stupid. My assumption is that most good A/Ts will be good in sand, so in that case I'll suggest the Hankook Dynapro ATMs. They're great for everything on and off road and the tread life is good. Just a little loud but that's an A/T for ya.

 

[dude1116]

This might help: Nitto Terra Grapplers or Dune Grapplers? - Tacoma World Forums

 

[LibertyTC]

Puncture resistant thick kevlar side walls & Treads = Good Year MTR...period :icon_smile:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Goodyear&tireModel=Wrangler+MT%2FR+with+Kevlar

 

[HoosierJeeper]

I run Terra Grapplers on my KJ and LR3, at the sand dunes at the Badlands they work awesome. Refined on road too. I'd recommend them for sure.

 

[eyehatetofu]

X2 on the Hankook Dynapros. I spend a good deal of time driving in sandy wash bottoms with no problems. Traction is decent in rocks, does OK in mud, and performs quite well all around. Road noise is good IMO but I have been running mud terrain tires prior to this so my opinion might be skewed. When I got mine they were 98 bucks a piece; a killer deal if you ask me. Other than a sidewall puncture from a tree branch I have had no real issues. They wear well to boot. I'd give them a look if your mind isn't made up yet.

 

[dsphoto]

sorry it took me forever, like seriously, 6 months? to come back to this. I did read your guys' posts initially. thank you for all the input. I went with the general grabber at2 at stock size. I've been to mojave NP several times and up to death valley down to the racetrack since and so far, I am quite pleased with the value. Obviously, because they are stock size, they won't perform like the big guys, but i've done some light crawling and lots of dirt trail driving and they have been quite acceptable. We even got lost out in the middle of mojave when we took a wrong turn and drove all over the desert on some super sketchy sandy/rocky/rutty ass trails to find our way back to pavement. Had I been going for bigger tires on a lifted jeep, I may have gone for something else, but I was on a pretty strict budget and am satisfied with the dollars spent.