I didn't consider the purchase of Treadwright Guard Dogs (315/70R17) for my Jeep to be "skimping." I bought them for their features - the tread pattern of the right aggressiveness, the quality BFG A/T KO casings, and the addition of the innovative "kedge grip" crushed glass and walnut shell particles to the tread compound for increased traction in snow and ice, since I do a lot of on- and off-road driving in snow country. The fact that they were so much less expensive than brand-new tires was just an added incentive to give them a try.
In 25,000 miles of hard driving (including 300 off-road miles in Death Valley, several trips through the Rubicon, countless other offroad trips, and daily driving including towing a trailer) I had zero complaints about their performance and only one criticism of them: they're noisy because they do not have a variable pitch to the tread pattern. Regarding their traction, they were terrific off-road and in snow/ice, and they were on par with every other tire I've run on dry asphalt. I only run offroad tires through the first half of their treadlife so I sold them for 2/3 what I paid for them new and replaced them with Cooper Discoverer ST-MAXXs.
I didn't get another set of Treadwrights not because I was in any way dissatisfied with their performance, but rather because I wanted a quieter set of tires and I was surprised by how much the price of the Treadwrights has gone up under their new ownership. The differences I've found with the switch to the Coopers are primarily how much quieter they are and how much better the traction is on wet roads than the Treadwrights. Whatever proprietary rubber blend Cooper uses makes a big improvement in wet-roads traction compared to every other tire I've ever driven over the last 25 years.
Treadwrights aren't the bargain they once were, but they're still a good solid choice. If you have the extra money to spend though, I wholeheartedly recommend the ST-MAXX as the new benchmark in the hybrid all terrain/mud terrain category.
