New member saying hello & tire question

[saburai]

Hi Gang!

I'm very glad to have found my way here...

I have a new to me '99 XJ with the I6, 5spd & 4WD. The PO did a good job of installing a 4.5" lift with some Old Man Emu shocks and other good stuff.
It's a nice truck, more on that to come later...

My Wife and I are nomads and as such when we are state side we pretty much live out of our vehicle, it's different, but so far it been great!

I'm in the process of sorting the Cherokee, making it over in to more of an "Expedition Vehicle" as opposed to an off road toy.

My tire question is this:
the truck as I bought it is outfitted with 31X10.50 M/T Baja MTZ's. They look great and definitely seem to do the job in the rough. However safety and road manners are a major factor for us.
What is the best off road performance I can get w/o compromising safety?
I would like the widest margin for error when driving down the interstate at 75mph.
I know that a tire that can offer good high way safety and performance will compromise a good deal of off road ability...
I can't have it all so I think I would rather have to winch my self out or do a tire repair vs. crashing at high speed due to poor wet road traction or lousy steering response.

BTW -
I'm thinking I would like to stay with 31X10.50's or some thing very close.

All thoughts, ideas and recommendations appreciated!

Many Thanks


Rich

 

[Backwoods Rambler]

I've heard nothing but good things about that tire, so safety should not be an issue with it. However there are better tires for interstate driving if that's what you do primarily. I would start with the Cooper ST, I've read very good things about it on this site.

Check for yourself here> Cooper ST Thread

They are a tad more aggressive than most AT's you'll find. If they seem too aggressive to you, I've read here that quite a few members have run or are running the Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor

Check them out here> Goodyear Silent Armor @ Discount Tire

 

[jeepmedic46]

Welcome, I've always liked the BF Goodrich all terrrains or Mts and never have had a problem with them.:REOutIceFishing:

 

[sboada]

I just purchased a set of 265 75 16 BFG AT KO for my 04 Discovery and I love them. Good road manners and good on the trail so far.

 

[ExpoMike]

I have been very happy with our Bridgestone Dualer AT REVO's (make sure the REVO model). They are great on the highway, quiet, very sure footed. On the trail they have worked great. The only thing I haven't put them through is snow but that's coming soon. A couple weeks ago I got to try them in mud (towing our Kamparoo trailer too) on the El Camino Del Diablo trail and we never even slowed down and mud was slinging.

I have been in rocky (sharp and smooth type), sand, dirt, gravel, mud and thousands of highway miles and continue to love these tires. If you are looking for a tire that has the "look" of offroad, they don't have that look but if you want a tire that works great, you'll be happy with these.

BTW, I have own a lot of different AT tires over the years, on different vehicles and I would not hesitate to buy these again (and will when I need to). I did a ton of research on the web and on NAXJA (Cherokee forum) and never found anyone with negative responses outside of not having the "look" of a offroad tire. I am about performance and not looks so I took the shot and haven't been happier.

Good luck and congrats on the XJ.

 

[saburai]

Thanks Guys!

I thank you all for the good info and the warm welcome!

The Cooper ST's look good but I'm pretty sure I want to stay with the
31X10.5 size and I didn't see them in that size.


Please keep the tire suggestions coming...

I was looking at the BFG T/A KO's, any input on these?

Many thanks:safari-rig:



Rich

 

[tdesanto]

Please keep the tire suggestions coming...

I was looking at the BFG T/A KO's, any input on these?

Many thanks:safari-rig:

Rich

This is a great tire. Good performance off road (sure, there are better) with excellent on road performance. So, like you said, if you have to compromise somewhere, you'd rather sacrifice off road performance. This tire offers a great balance.

I went with this tire too for better performance on pavement in wet conditions.

Oh, and welcome to ExPo!

Now get a truck thread started on that XJ so we can all watch and admire the progress.

 

[ox4mag]

First off, welcome to the ExPo community. Sounds like you're well on your way to some fun overlanding adventures.

I use the Cooper Discoverer STT tires and LOVE them! The tread life is excellent for daily drivers and the 3-ply armour tek tread provides remarkable performance on and off-highway. I wrote a review on these tires in the new issue of JPFreek so you can check out more on them there. I do like these tires a lot and for the price, you can't beat 'em.

Good luck and happy adventures!

 

[w_b]

I've been looking at tires for a Cherokee myself.

You're right. No one tire is going to do everything you want. Where to compromise (and how much money to spend) is the difficult part.

Here's a few links I've found helpful:

Tire Rack's M/T survey results

Tire Rack's A/T survey results

Offroaders.com tire reviews

I'll probably be in the minority here, but other than being durable off road, I don't like the BFG A/T KOs. Sure they've updated aspects of the tire, but it's still a decades old tread design. They're expensive for what they deliver, they're louder on road than other A/Ts and I'm thoroughly unimpressed with the traction they deliver off road.

I had BFG A/T KOs, 235/85-16s on my '99 superduty. They were more than 60% worn in 30k miles. I did rotate them and they did wear evenly, but that seems like a short tire life for a mostly highway pickup, even considering the tread width. And the tread started separating on two of them. I didn't want to put new tires on it because we were going to sell the pickup so I put a set of almost worn out (about 6/32s), with dry-rot cracks in the sidewalls, Michelin LTX M/Ss on it. That was my first set of Michelins and they were amazing in ride quality, ride comfort, handling and road noise. It was like driving a different vehicle.

I've also done some hardcore wheeling in the southwest and I've developed a conditioned wince when I'm spotting and I see a rig with BFG A/T's coming up on a rock obstacle or a rock obstacle with loose dirt on it. Compared to the Goodyear MTRs that most of the guys ran (streetable rigs), this tire gets almost no traction at all. If the rocks were steep enough, wheel spin was almost guaranteed, even when they were running fully locked.

I've run Interco TrXus M/Ts on another rig and didn't like the road noise and they had worse traction on the rocks than did the MTRs (but still better than the BFGs).

I've run Bridgestone MTs on the Cherokee in a 30x9.5 That's a respectable tire when it comes to durability and tread wear. I commuted 130 miles a day. The road noise wasn't bad. It had the hum of a mud terrain but it wasn't as loud as a BFG MT. This is another tire that got poor traction on the rocks, not so much when it was new, but definitely as it got older and the lugs rounded and got smaller. This is not a good sand tire, in fact that's the reason I swapped them off of my wheeling rig and put them on the Cherokee.

Because of where I live I cannot relate any significant experience in snow, ice, or real mud. I hope this is helpful.

 

[saburai]

Thanks Guys!

Please keep the input coming:bowdown:

I don't think I want a MT tire. Primary is on road safety - quite is nice too!


Many Thanks


Rich

 

[theksmith]

nitto tera grappler was my favorite AT tire ever before switching to a MT

 

[nwoods]

On my Land Rover there are very few tire choices that fit our wheel wells, the Nitto Terra Grappler, and Cooper Zeon LTZ's both do, and are very similar. I've owned both with about 30,000 miles on each. In my opinion the Coopers are better in all conditions, longer lasting, with better road feel, quieter, and less expensive.

Nitto:

Cooper:

Another shot of the Cooper Zeon LTZ (with an STT in the background for comparison)

 

[saburai]

A few pictures!

This is a great tire. Good performance off road (sure, there are better) with excellent on road performance. So, like you said, if you have to compromise somewhere, you'd rather sacrifice off road performance. This tire offers a great balance.

I went with this tire too for better performance on pavement in wet conditions.

Oh, and welcome to ExPo!

Now get a truck thread started on that XJ so we can all watch and admire the progress.

Thanks!

Here are a few pics from the PO - they will have to do 'till I take some of my own...

 

[Root Moose]

I'll probably be in the minority here, but other than being durable off road, I don't like the BFG A/T KOs. Sure they've updated aspects of the tire, but it's still a decades old tread design. They're expensive for what they deliver, they're louder on road than other A/Ts and I'm thoroughly unimpressed with the traction they deliver off road.

I've also done some hardcore wheeling in the southwest and I've developed a conditioned wince when I'm spotting and I see a rig with BFG A/T's coming up on a rock obstacle or a rock obstacle with loose dirt on it. Compared to the Goodyear MTRs that most of the guys ran (streetable rigs), this tire gets almost no traction at all. If the rocks were steep enough, wheel spin was almost guaranteed, even when they were running fully locked.

I'll agree with this 100%. That makes two of us I guess. LOL

I ran them on my LWB SJ-413 (33x9.5x15) and they were unimpressive for any kind of vertical rock obstacle. They were ok in mild mud for flat sections but again lacked when trying to climb.

I can't comment on wear. On a SJ-413 at full loaded and ready fighting weight (~3100lbs?) they wore like iron. That was annoying in itself as I wanted to rid myself of them.

 

[saburai]

Hi All!
It seems that many of the tires suggested, including tie Nitto Terra Grappler & the Cooper Zeon LTZ are not available in the 31X10.50X15 size that I'm currently running

I'm not opposed to going with a different size wheel & tire combo since I will be selling the M/T Baja MTZ's. It, of course, would be less of a hassel to sell them mounted.
I don't want to effect my speedo or odometer by changing the overall diameter. It's dead on now and I'd like to keep it that way!
Is it an easy fix to change the calibration of the speedo on the XJ?
I'm an experienced mechanic but a rank newbie to the XJ platform and 4WD systems in general.

I've got the FSM for my truck, I just have not as of yet committed it to memory

Many Thanks


Rich