New tire selection?

[resistance]

Now that my 2" BDS lift kit and Rancho shocks are shipped and on their way, it's time to prepare to remove my crappy old 235/70's and decide for new bigger tires

First of all, should I get M/T's or A/T's?
I'm a daily driver/weekend warrior who spends his time 80% on pavement. But I was also quite disappointed one weekend getting stuck on a small bank of dry earth, and I don't want no such experience again.

I hate mud and stay away from that. I do mostly light and medium off roading on dry earth, lightly rocky roads, etc. I LOVE the agressive look and off road performance of M/T's, but since I have most of my time on pavement, I'm not sure if they would be the right choice for me.

 

[Midgear]

Duratracs.. from Goodyear.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

x2, best of both worlds.

 

[incommando]

Duratracs & Authorities are both examples of something that splts the a/t - m/t difference. Good choices.

 

[ThunderbirdJunkie]

Cooper Discoverer S/T's are a reasonably priced alternative. Although the wet traction/road manners are not quite what the Duratracs offer.

 

[resistance]

Well, during my own research, I always thought WHAT I needed was the rubber between an A/T and an M/T. I finally got to the same results, which was hard to decide:

1)Goodyear Duratracs:

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2)Cooper Discoverer S/T:

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3)Cooper Discoverer STT:

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4)Cooper Discoverer S/T C:

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The STT is more like an M/T, though.

 

[ThunderbirdJunkie]

Cooper Discoverer S/T's are not the same as the Discoverer STT's

 

[resistance]

Cooper Discoverer S/T's are not the same as the Discoverer STT's

Yes TBJ, I know. The ST is an A/T. But the STT is said to be a good mix between an A/T and M/T. (So say the reviews)

BTW, ST shoulders seemed a little weak to provide powerful grip, just like BFG A/T's. I maybe mistaken though.

 

[ThunderbirdJunkie]

On the second set of S/T's...just fyi...shoulders don't do that much but hold the rim off the ground

If we were talking ********* rock crawling, running 0 PSI with runflat rings inside of beadlocks where the sidewalls are actually going to see the ground, ThunderbirdJunkie would agree with you though.

 

[resistance]

just fyi...shoulders don't do that much but hold the rim off the ground.

Thank you for the info. Didn't know shoulders had so little effect.

But please just have a look at the shoulders of above images 2 and 3. Shouldn't 3 provide more grip while going over heaps of dry earth+rocks+dirt etc. mixed terrain?

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Yes, #3 is better than #2 in that regard.

 

[ThunderbirdJunkie]

Thank you for the info. Didn't know shoulders had so little effect.

But please just have a look at the shoulders of above images 2 and 3. Shouldn't 3 provide more grip while going over heaps of dry earth+rocks+dirt etc. mixed terrain?

Shoulders aren't going to do much for you unless, like was stated before, you're running 0 psi with beadlocks and ruflat rings, which nobody on JKJ or LOST is.

If you want to base your purchase on shoulders, that's fine. If you want absolute maximum off-road traction, buy TSL boggers, swampers, tractor tires, or something of that ilk.

 

[autoboy454]

traction on the sidewalls can be useful in muddy situations, but as the OP stated, he hates the sticky icky stuff.

 

[eyehatetofu]

I disagree about the sidewalls. Judging by how scuffed up mine get, I'd say having tread that wraps around on the sidewalls is beneficial. I usually run 15 psi and the tires flex quite a bit causing the sidewalls to grip in certain situations. That with 3ply sidewalls seems to do the trick.

That said, I'll throw Treadwrights into the mix. I just got done beating the hell out of mine in Moab and they held up fantastically; no issues whatsoever, and that was running them with 15psi. I have the MT/R style guard dog's with GY MT/R casings. They are suprisingly quiter than the real MT/R's I had before, and they didn't chunk in the rocks like my previous set of MT/R's did. I haven't had them that long, but they already exceeded my expectations. If they hold up 51% as well as my GY MT/R's it would be worth the price. I'd bet they hold up better than that though.

 

[J-Thompson]

here is my .02
I do not wear out my tires but change them due to wanting something new or dry rot
I have wheeled a LOT of places from heavy rocks to deep mud
I just this past weekend wheeled with some one who had the Duratracks
and I must say I was not at all impressed ,to much AT not enough MT
I have wheeled more than once with some one running the Cooper STT's
both locally ,dirt and mud, and up in Tellico ,heavy rocks and they do very good
I have run a lot from cheep MT's ,weak as all hell side walls, to Super Swamper
LTB's ,to now the GY MTR-K's and ran the MTR's ,old style, on the KJ for a while
to date the MTR-K's have been the best
they are not LTB in the mud and nothing like the Yokohama AT's we ran on the KJ on road but they do very well
some complain of poor milage well I dont see how
I know of 1 other person ,who I trust, running them on a HEAVEY DD
2500 Chevy with a Diesel and he has almost 20K on them and says he will probably get 35+
The new MTR-K's or the BFG KM2 would be the only tires I would get right now

 

[resistance]

have wheeled more than once with some one running the Cooper STT's both locally ,dirt and mud, and up in Tellico ,heavy rocks and they do very good

Cooper STT's are not All Terrain tires, they are mud terrain, aren't they?

 

[J-Thompson]

Cooper STT's are not All Terrain tires, they are mud terrain, aren't they?

Yup
but they seem to hold up well
The guy I know who had them ran the 31 X 10.5's on a TJ for 30K+
until he lifted and put on 33's
he had plenty of life left in them and sold them to some one to help off set
the cost of his MTR-K's

yeah I push the MTR-K's
I was the first kid on the block with them ,bought them with in a few weeks of
Discount Tire getting them on the shelf
so every one (bowdown) to me
problem is I will have mine for a very very long time
I only put 2900 miles on them in just over a year

 

[resistance]

What about Cooper ST/C? (For 80% pavement 20% off road, remember

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[ThunderbirdJunkie]

Same thing as ThunderbirdJunkie's Cooper Discoverer S/T.

The C just adds a lot to the price.

 

[J-Thompson]

What about Cooper ST/C? (For 80% pavement 20% off road, remember

You must be registered for see images

if you are fishing for me to put my seal on an AT you should give up
the way I look at AT's is this
they are nothing like a street tire so they will suck on road
they are nothing like an M/T so they will suck off road

you want to drive on road and have good road manners ,MPG no noise ect
buy street tires
you want to go off road then buy MT's
the benefit of having an AT on road will never out weigh the benefit of a good MT off road
you you may get an extra 5-10K out of an AT vs an MT but after about 30K
either will suck bad off road

look at it like this
our VW will never see off road EVER so I will only put good road tires on it
but at the same time I will not look at tires that brag about long life and crazy MPG because that means that the rubber is to hard and their traction will suck so I can not push it or drive it it was built to be driven

My TJ will see so little on road that I can and have run bias ply swampers
even if it were my DD I would still run the MTR-K's

you need to buy tires that will do what you want
and understand what you are buying