Best overall tire suited for Overlanding/Expo?

[Redline]

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Stock WJ with 17" wheels is 235/65/17 which is about a 29" tire. I am leaning towards 245/70(75)/17 size.

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I like the taller but hardly wider 245/70 size, lots of truck tires to choose from, though most do seem to be LR E.

If it not too much tire for your vehicle, the 265/70R17 might also be an interesting size. 265 is not too wide, more sidewall height for flex and ride, and there are even some good tires in this size in LR C in addition to LR E, like the Goodyear DuraTrac. Just a thought.

Happy tire shopping in the coming months

 

[LawnDart-XJ]

Yeah John I knew that was coming sooner rather than later. Too bad most of the metric 17" sizes in KM2 are E-rated. Good call though.

I had the same thoughts as the last few posters, does the Siping on the Duratracs stay around for the life of the tire, all the way to say 3/32nds or does it dissapear at half its treadlife?

What do you all think of the Nitto Terra Grapplers? A buddy at work here has had the same set of 33" tires on 16" rims on his Ford F250 and now his Chevy 2500. He swears by them. They are E-rated and he used both trucks for plowing with a large 8ft V-blade. He has gotten 60k out of them with minimal rotations. Looks like the siping on them are just now starting to vanish.

I know you can have siping added to a tire at any point in time, but if its already in the tread design I would like to see it there for the life of the tire, not having to pay $60 just before replacing the tires anyways.

Now if anyone sees my theme here, I keep mentioning E-rated. I would like to avoid E series at all costs really. I dont plan on having "that" much weight in/on my truck. It just seems like alot of the "good" sizes come that way. Oh well.

Phil I have not run Nittos but the tread pattern looks good. My brothe in law runs the mud grapplers on his F-250 and gets a bunch of miles out of them. I have heard the nittos do go from a lot of miles also.

 

[Philagony04WJ]

Would you mind expanding on your experience with the STT? Or writting about it in the STT thread......knowledge without explanation/reason is useless.

Thanks,

Will

Well I have never owned these particular tires. Having said that, I dont think I would unless I plan to not see alot of Highway travel. I have a set of BFG KM's(older tread style) on my now trail only XJ crawler. They are pretty similar to the STT's in my opinion. The BFG's are 3 yrs old, have about 40K on them and do well in Mud and Rocks. Highway driving they were pretty noisey, when I DD'd the truck. And they are very unforgiving if tires are not rotated regularly. They tend to feather and chop pretty quick IMO.

Having explained my BFG mud tire experience, the STT's I've driven on were mostly Customers cars in a shop I used to work at. Sure they would kick ***** in mud and snow, but get them on the dry pavement and they were noisey as can be, and not to mention sent alot of vibes to the steering wheel from the choppyness of the tread. Now maybe the truck owner didnt rotate as they should've, but the experience from a couple different trucks kind of sealed my decision to personally never own them on a street/highway truck. Its just my own preference though.

If you want more driving experience with the STT's I cannot offer it. I am by NO MEANS bashing that tire, I think they are great as M/T's, but you have to go into owning them(or any other M/T for that matter) accepting the fact they might be noisey and send alot of vibes if not cared for properly. If you can handle it, great.

Tire choice comes down to the type of terrain you will be experiencing. For me it comes down to Good ICE, SNOW, HIGHWAY performance; followed closely by Mud, Rocks. You have to make a list for yourself on what you require for a tire before purchace. Which is why I have my list and just seeking others Real world experience. I can read reviews on the Tire stores websites all day long till I go blind, but I am seeking reviews of people who are actually using their tires in the same way I intend to. Gives a little better insight into my decision making.

Besides, I dont wanna drop $1K on tires if I'm gonna hate them in a few months anyways.

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

I'm running the Nitto Terra Grappler in 285/75R16E. Quiet, grippy, but heavy. I can really tell a weight difference on my truck so I would imagine you would on your Jeep. Of course, you may not want LR-E. :sombrero:

 

[WCO]

Thanks philagony! I am on my second set of STT's and love them, but I've also had them on full sizes (78 Powerwagon and my 03 Duramax) so maybe they ride better with the heavier trucks. I commute about 80 miles a day, half of which is on hwy. While they are noisy, I consider them on the quieter end of the spectrum for a mud tire. They are indeed a heavy, meaty tire though, and I can see them causing smaller trucks to feel a bit sluggish. They're performance on dry pavement hasn't left anything to be more desired for a mud terrain, but they obviously don't handle like a street tire, that's to be expected. I personally have not noticed any vibration from my tires, but did note they took a good amount of weight to balance.

May I suggest looking at the cooper discoverer M+S. http://us.coopertire.com/Tires/Light-Truck/DISCOVERER-M-S.aspx?tab=2
I've had 5 sets of these tires on: 84 Cherokee, 95 chevy 2500, and dodge 2500 ctd. These tires wear like iron, have excellent traction in all weather, and perform great when aired down. I never got below 60000 mi to a set, except for one, (and those are one heavy trucks) with approx 30% of miles being heaving towing. I had a bad sidewall gash in one tire that I got at nearly 48,000 miles, cooper replaced 2 tires, and I bought two more. Their only downside is not having any sidewall traction, but I would highly consider these tires again if I didn't want the m/t. I've used them in deep, clay like mud, sand, silt, snow, ice, wet rocks, dry rocks. Look forward to more reading on this thread!

 

[jim65wagon]

. For me it comes down to Good ICE, SNOW, HIGHWAY performance; followed closely by Mud, Rocks. You have to make a list for yourself on what you require for a tire before purchace. Which is why I have my list and just seeking others Real world experience.

With that in mind, it brings up the thought, just how much off-highway potential are you looking for? For myself, I went to the aggressive AT route (Cooper ST Maxx). To me it's no notable lessening of highway (wet or dry - but I don't have snow/ice time with them) performance, with much better off-highway performance.
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My thought is, if you decide on either the ST Maxx (but it's heavy remember), the Duratrac, or the DC Fun Country II (probably your best choice in this scenario for a snow and ice - but I've only had second hand experience with the FCII and no personal experience with the Duratrac).
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You really won't go wrong with any of these aggressive ATs. They represent an improvement of the breed over the earlier AT tread patterns (relatively quiet, excellent road manners, good off highway performance - not far behind mud tires in mud or rocks), and in my opinion have surpassed the tried and true (and more popular) standard the BFG AT set many many years ago.

 

[Redline]

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My thought is, if you decide on either the ST Maxx (but it's heavy remember), the Duratrac, or the DC Fun Country II (probably your best choice in this scenario for a snow and ice - but I've only had second hand experience with the FCII and no personal experience with the Duratrac).
.
You really won't go wrong with any of these aggressive ATs. They represent an improvement of the breed over the earlier AT tread patterns (relatively quiet, excellent road manners, good off highway performance - not far behind mud tires in mud or rocks), and in my opinion have surpassed the tried and true (and more popular) standard the BFG AT set many many years ago.

What he said... I could not have written that better myself!

The only difference is I have lots of first hand experience (and second hand experience) with the F-C II.

 

[Haggis]

I agree with those two..can't speak for the Duratracks though.

 

[Philagony04WJ]

With that in mind, it brings up the thought, just how much off-highway potential are you looking for? For myself, I went to the aggressive AT route (Cooper ST Maxx). To me it's no notable lessening of highway (wet or dry - but I don't have snow/ice time with them) performance, with much better off-highway performance.
.
My thought is, if you decide on either the ST Maxx (but it's heavy remember), the Duratrac, or the DC Fun Country II (probably your best choice in this scenario for a snow and ice - but I've only had second hand experience with the FCII and no personal experience with the Duratrac).
.
You really won't go wrong with any of these aggressive ATs. They represent an improvement of the breed over the earlier AT tread patterns (relatively quiet, excellent road manners, good off highway performance - not far behind mud tires in mud or rocks), and in my opinion have surpassed the tried and true (and more popular) standard the BFG AT set many many years ago.

Those are some GREAT points Jim. There has been MANY inprovements upon the tried and true BFG A/T.

I will likely be going with the Goodyear Duratracs. They seem to be a pretty aggressive A/T with good road manners. I'll let you all know which tire I choose and how it works for me. Its been too many years since I've modded a Jeep for the street, and I almost feel like I've been out of the "Loop" for some time. Its just needed some time to readjust myself to the New Tech.

Phil

 

[Philagony04WJ]

Thanks philagony! I am on my second set of STT's and love them, but I've also had them on full sizes (78 Powerwagon and my 03 Duramax) so maybe they ride better with the heavier trucks. I commute about 80 miles a day, half of which is on hwy. While they are noisy, I consider them on the quieter end of the spectrum for a mud tire. They are indeed a heavy, meaty tire though, and I can see them causing smaller trucks to feel a bit sluggish. They're performance on dry pavement hasn't left anything to be more desired for a mud terrain, but they obviously don't handle like a street tire, that's to be expected. I personally have not noticed any vibration from my tires, but did note they took a good amount of weight to balance.

May I suggest looking at the cooper discoverer M+S. http://us.coopertire.com/Tires/Light-Truck/DISCOVERER-M-S.aspx?tab=2
I've had 5 sets of these tires on: 84 Cherokee, 95 chevy 2500, and dodge 2500 ctd. These tires wear like iron, have excellent traction in all weather, and perform great when aired down. I never got below 60000 mi to a set, except for one, (and those are one heavy trucks) with approx 30% of miles being heaving towing. I had a bad sidewall gash in one tire that I got at nearly 48,000 miles, cooper replaced 2 tires, and I bought two more. Their only downside is not having any sidewall traction, but I would highly consider these tires again if I didn't want the m/t. I've used them in deep, clay like mud, sand, silt, snow, ice, wet rocks, dry rocks. Look forward to more reading on this thread!

You're welcome. I can see your point of view on the STT's considering what vehicles you had them on. Those trucks had Full Frames and most likely would help to absorb most of the vibes, noise from the tires as they wore down. And you are correct that those same worn STT's(or any other brand) on a Uni-body Jeep would shake you like you were in a blender. Uni-body vehicles tend to amplify out-of-balance, unevenly worn tires.

 

[Buliwyf]

May I suggest looking at the cooper discoverer M+S. http://us.coopertire.com/Tires/Light-Truck/DISCOVERER-M-S.aspx?tab=2
I've had 5 sets of these tires on: 84 Cherokee, 95 chevy 2500, and dodge 2500 ctd. These tires wear like iron, have excellent traction in all weather, and perform great when aired down. I never got below 60000 mi to a set, except for one, (and those are one heavy trucks) with approx 30% of miles being heaving towing. I had a bad sidewall gash in one tire that I got at nearly 48,000 miles, cooper replaced 2 tires, and I bought two more. Their only downside is not having any sidewall traction, but I would highly consider these tires again if I didn't want the m/t. I've used them in deep, clay like mud, sand, silt, snow, ice, wet rocks, dry rocks. Look forward to more reading on this thread!

I used to run the Cooper M&S, some of my co workers still use them on thier work trucks.

My Goodyear Silent Armors are far better in goo. About the same on ice. I might even use them on my personal truck soon, but will most likely choose the Duratrac instead.

 

[eric1115]

I've got about 15k on my Duratracs on my FJ60 (right at 5k lbs). I measure about 4/32 of tread used up (14-15 /32 remaining). If I run them ALL the way down to 3/32, that means I'm about 1/4 of the way through them. They are IMO better tires in pretty much every regard than the BFG AT's I ran in the past. Better in snow, much better on ice, much better in the slop, just as (if not more) quiet and smooth on road. Tiny amounts of chunking, but not significant. The siping is not full depth from what I've seen on some more deeply worn tires; it is deeper in some places than others and starts to diminish at about half tread. Some siping remains down close to 6/32, I believe.

-Eric

 

[Philagony04WJ]

Good observation Eric, thanks for that info.

 

[chasespeed]

Quick observation on the DuraTracs...

We use them on our Quigleys at work... I have about 3k on mine (2011 Chevy Quigley). We do a bit of work at cell towers, SO, we see plenty of snow, mud, 2 tracks, fire roads, you name it(best part of my job is driving up an abandoned ski slope somewhere, or creeping up a mountain in 4 low in a foot of snow)...

These are probably about the most sure-footed, best compromise, tires I have used. No problems in the snow, pretty decent in the mud, highway and road manners are excellent, especially on wet pavement. This is a one ton service van, so, its noisy.... but, I only really notice tire noise, when going through a sweeping turn. Even towing the quad(grizzly w/ tracks), with extra stuff on the trailer.

The set that came off this van last month, had about 30k them. But, we just decided to start fresh this January. Are they a "PERFECT" tire? I dont know... define that.... Are they suited and matched for what I do with my work and personal vehicles? Yep. Will they be going on the next truck/suv etc... Yep...

Take that as you will... I am sold on them...

My 2 pennies....
Chase

 

[Slopoktj]

I have seen a few people running the Duratrac here in lloydminster. Seems i am the only one Ruming the MTZ's by MT. i have around 10,000 km on them. And i have used them on my old XJ and now my TJ. Ran my XJ in The NL back Country for about 6 months hunting and fishing and trail running no complaints, here in lloyd i've done a bit of everything ,snow, rain, mud, sand and ice. I have no complaints about them yet. Would i get another set? yes, but I want to try the KM2's.