Another tire thread!?!? Mall Crawler tires...

[sota]

Ok. First off I'm not an offroader with my jeep. Deal with it. :mexsmoke:

I need tires that are a good all around STREET tire; quiet on the road and good handling are paramount. I'm also going to be getting a dedicated set of winter/snow tires as well in the next couple months. I went down to the local Firestone shop (whom I've used in the past for alignments and they do an excellent job at that) and they recommended...
Firestone Destination LE2 (tire rack link)
My out door price from them would be $664.63 (tires, install, balance, road hazard, **** fees, etc.)

Other choice is The Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure, which I'd step up to the 245/70R16 size.
That out the door price would be $853.44

Anyone had these and can comment from experience? Tire Rack reviews seem pretty positive for my intended purposes. Any other recommendations that fit in the same class?

Thanks.

 

[tommudd]

Dislike the LE2s , would do the Destination ATs , still a quiet tire on the road but little more open tread for snow etc

 

[tjkj2002]

Ok. First off I'm not an offroader with my jeep. Deal with it. :mexsmoke:

I need tires that are a good all around STREET tire; quiet on the road and good handling are paramount. I'm also going to be getting a dedicated set of winter/snow tires as well in the next couple months. I went down to the local Firestone shop (whom I've used in the past for alignments and they do an excellent job at that) and they recommended...
Firestone Destination LE2 (tire rack link)
My out door price from them would be $664.63 (tires, install, balance, road hazard, **** fees, etc.)

Other choice is The Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure, which I'd step up to the 245/70R16 size.
That out the door price would be $853.44

Anyone had these and can comment from experience? Tire Rack reviews seem pretty positive for my intended purposes. Any other recommendations that fit in the same class?

Thanks.

If you want just a street tire the LE2 is a great tire,we sell a lot of them for SUV's and they have no issues getting around here in CO in the winter.

 

[tommudd]

Must have improved them some or something,
I had some Destination ATs when I first got the KJ in late 04 ( got rid of the crappy stock tires) They did good that first winter.
Buddy had a set of the LEs on his KJ and said they wouldn't go anywhere unless it was locked in 4WD, interesting that you sell a lot of them out there :shrug:

 

[sota]

maybe there's been a big change between LE and LE2? :shrug:

another question that I HATE to ask (since search should tell me, but I'm failing miserably to find the info because I suck and it hates me)...
what's the MINIMUM I'd have to do to run 245/70R16 on 16x8 MOAB wheels?
Have a set here I've been desperately wanting to shoe up. One of the wheels still has a brand new Firestone Destination AT 235/75R16 on it, so I test mounted it up front. rubs in back where pinch weld (??) is. I also have a height restriction as I still want the jeep to fit in my garage.
I'd had plans to install the diesel's OEM springs front and rear. Would that plus flattening the pinch weld be enough?
If I dropped to the 235/70R16 on the MOABs will that work?

 

[sota]

				7" wheel		8" wheel	
size	dia	width	5.5-os tan	rub?	5-os tan	rub?
225/75	29.30	8.86	[B][COLOR="SeaGreen"]14.85		NO[/COLOR][/B]	[B][COLOR="Purple"]15.05		yes?[/COLOR][/B]
235/75	29.90	9.25	15.18		YES*	[B][COLOR="Red"]15.38		YES[/COLOR][/B]
235/70	29.00	9.25	[B][COLOR="SeaGreen"]14.74		NO[/COLOR][/B]	[B][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]14.95		NO*[/COLOR][/B]
245/70	29.50	9.65	[B][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]15.02		no?[/COLOR][/B]	[B][COLOR="Purple"]15.24		no?
[/COLOR][/B]

Running lots of numbers, I think 245/70 on an 8" wheel w/ 5" offset is *right* on the limit of rubbing.
I looked at the rub marks from the 235/75 on my liner at the pinch weld, took my tire tread depth gauge and set it to 6/32". If that much tread were missing from the tire I'm 99.99% sure it wouldn't have rubbed. That would mean a 29.7" tire wouldn't rub, or if it did it'd barely kiss the liner. PLUS, it's highly dependent on tread design. A blocky shoulder tread like an A/T tire is "wider" at the extremes during steering than a street-type layout with it's rounded shoulders.

 

[Leeann]

I have LEs on my Safari and LE2s on my Astro - both AWD. They're very, very stable in snow and rain and really quiet on the road. No slippage, even in a foot of snow.

I had Yokohama Geolandar H/T-S on my Bravada - also AWD - and they were pretty awesome in mucho snow and rain and really quiet. I have the A/T-S on my KJ and love them, but they are a little more noisy than the H-T/S and mileage is slightly reduced over the car-like Chinese crap tires I replaced. But I love the grip.

 

[tjkj2002]

Must have improved them some or something,
I had some Destination ATs when I first got the KJ in late 04 ( got rid of the crappy stock tires) They did good that first winter.
Buddy had a set of the LEs on his KJ and said they wouldn't go anywhere unless it was locked in 4WD, interesting that you sell a lot of them out there :shrug:

Yeah the LE2's are nothing like the older LE's,much,much better tire.

 

[Birdman330]

LE2 or A/Ts, you won't be disappointed in the choice of either. I would have done LE2's if I had 4WD but chose A/T's instead. Haven't looked back yet. The Original LE's were great tires, of course if you really wanted great Mall Tires, one would have gone with Datyon Timberline AT tires which were slightly beefier Destination LE Tires. My Grandparents have them on their S10.