Dean Mud Terrian SXTs 285/75/16

[78Bronco]

I have run the Dean SXT's in 255/85/16 for almost 5 years now. They will need replacing this fall. After less than a year the side walls started cracking. Les Shwab wouldn't do anything about it so I was stuck. In all honesty I will be glad to be rid of them. They have a really hard rubber compound that is horrible in snow and ice. They have cupped really bad and in the last few months have been impossible to keep balanced. I think one of them has started throwing a belt. I'll dig further into that last problem this weekend and replace them now if that is the case. It's hard to think about 5 new tires $$$.

How many miles in those 5 years?

 

[cruisertoy]

I've put about 30k on them. I'm not upset with how long they have lasted, just dissapointed with their performance from the start. I was also disspointed with Les Shwab. I've run a lot of tires in my lifetime and never had the rubber on the sidewalls crack within 5 years, let alone in less than 1 year. They treated me like an idiot when they offered to put a special liquid on the tires that would swell the rubber and seal the cracks stopping further cracking. When I pushed they guy he admitted it was basically Armoral. I work with rubbers, plastics and bonding every day and they were feeding me a line of BS because they didn't want to take care of the issue. This is after buying my last 4 sets of tires from them for my other vehicles. Dissapointing. The tires were difficult to ballance from the beggining. They told me it was probably the rims so I had them put them on another set and they still couldn't balance them right.

 

[Haggis]

I was looking at some Dean SXTs on a truck at a stop light the other day... They appeared to not have lots more void than the DCII. 'A little' more void in the center of the tread, but the outer lugs appear to be about the same void ratio. And Dean SXTs have less void in he center than Cooper ST... do you agree with those generalizations?

This post is for our buddy Redline...

Here's some tread pattern shots from our Core Banks adventure. Where better to check on tire void but in the damp sand of an ocean beech.

First up...the Dean SXTs. Size 285/75/16; tire pressure at 22 lbs

Next...Cooper Sts. Size 255/85/16; tire pressure at 20lbs.

The Deans preform very well in the sand and I had to blast through some deep wet stuff at one point as the tide was right up to the dunes. A Tacoma had been stuck in the same spot, moments before but the Deans rolled on through without any wheelspin. The I-force V8 might have helped some there to...:sombrero:

 

[Redline]

Cool

At those pressures the tire footprints don't look much wider than normal (a 285/75R16 is usually about 9+ inches wide at the tread).

Just an observation, not being negative or critical. Depending on the weight of the truck, 22 psi is not super low, but I'm sure it was low enough to let the tire flex for better traction.

Thanks for sharing... we have been a little light on tire geek material lately.

 

[IdaSHO]

Great to hear you like them. Ive got the Dean A/T's on my pickup, and have been considering the M/T's next go around.

I dont know if it has been mentioned, but Les Schwab carries Dean tires.

These are the tires I have, and are made by Dean
http://www.lesschwab.com/tires/light_truck/wildcat_at.asp


And here are the M/Ts

http://www.lesschwab.com/tires/light_truck/m55_traction.asp

 

[Haggis]

Depending on the weight of the truck, 22 psi is not super low, but I'm sure it was low enough to let the tire flex for better traction.

Yep, your right. But both trucks were loaded to the gills and carring some weight so I didn't feel to comfortable dropping them down to 15 lbs.

Thanks for sharing... we have been a little light on tire geek material lately.

Once on the beach and seeing all the pristine truck tracks, Jim and I looked at each other and thought..."Redline could spend all day comparing treads while the rest of us are picking up shells."

 

[Redline]

That's Hilarious :sombrero:

 

[Haggis]

As of Friday this week the Deans will have given up the ghost on the Tundra. Mounted up in April of '09 and retired (get it "re tired" :sombrero mid October of '11 these tires have given their all. They have covered 49,000 miles of blacktop, gravel, shale, mud, clay and sand and have preformed well. I could squeeze a few more thousand miles out of them to surmount the 50,000 mark but snow will be blowing off the lake here soon and the last couple of thousand miles have seen a loss in traction as the tread fades away. Time for new treads. I would highly recommend these tires but it's sort of useless as Cooper has discontinued them. It's to bad as they were an economical alternative and great bang for the buck tire. The tale from the Cooper distributor is that a new Dean tire based on the Cooper Armor-Tec carcass found in the Cooper ST-Maxx will be available early next year. Think of this post as closure on a fine tire. Though I'm still running them on the LJ as they have around 39,000 miles and will probably last through 2012 for me.