Which tire?

[Alweeja]

Forum Poll

Now with issues with Cooper and Michelin not having a quality mt, I'd say trhe toyo mts do have a good rep. I use bfg every time, old habit, but my tire guy who is impartial really likes toyo quality. My bfg's took a ton of weights to balance. Anyhow, most likely you will get 70k miles assuming you don't drive too hard on pavement. If you get 35 from that OEM garbage, you will get 70k easy. Maybe look at load d's too? I got load e's, fairly stiff ride I don't prefer. load c's will give you that piece of mind when low air and on the trail though.

I Love my BFG's on my 74 Stingray BB

 

[Matthew F Roth]

I gotta say that I love my Cooper STT Pros. 10 ply so it takes road abuse better. And not just off road but on too. They really don't drone much at all for as aggressive as they are but I am deaf as well so who really cares, right? LOL

 

[Tom Davis]

Another vote for Falken Wildpeaks.

 

[Schotzy]

Im currently running 35 BFG'S KO2 on my stock rims and love them! I have a 22 PW and the stock tires only lasted me about 22,000.

 

[Schotzy]

New tires

 

[Richard Kim]

Currently running Toyo Open Country III's (42K miles; enough tread to go 55K). The Toyo's are super smooth and balances easily. I pre-bought some Yokohama X-AT's which look really aggressive (3 ply sidewalls / hybrid).

 

[rvance]

I really like my Cooper ATs. If I was rich I would use Michelin.

 

[Kanemd]

Continental Terrain Contact

 

[Burla]

View attachment 541609

New tires

no better tire p o r n the bfg labels out.

you need Bleche-Wite keep those white and clean that blue off.

 

[olyelr]

OK, I have an 18 PW and I go offroad a few times a year. Nothing too crazy, just alot of mud and poor quality trails- no more rock climbing for me. I travel to upper Wisconsin in winter 3-4 times per year. Generally speaking I cannot let snow prevent me from getting to Wisconsin, I'm going anyway. I tow maybe once a year, but usually I'm just towing my Jeep Grand Cherokee.

I don't care about drone as I'm mostly deaf and I don't have riders with me usually. I don't care about price as I believe in making an investment in tires. My driving is 80% highway. I am looking for an aggressive looking tire as well. I know I can go 37" but more than likely sticking with 35". Stock wheels for now, so 17" x 9" I believe.

So far I've been looking at:

-Nitto Trail Grappler

-General Grabber X3

-Toyo Open Country M/T

-BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A KO2

My stock Wranglers are only lasting about 35K miles it loos like so that kinda sucks. I'm hoping to have something that'll last 50k or more and isn't impossible to balance.

​

Based on this, which tire would you recommend?

Since you mentioned snow and winter driving, i would steer clear of most of the tires you mentioned. The ko2 will do well, but the rest of them will be terrible.

I know aggressive looks are always on the priority list for most people. However, most aggressive looking tires (which is very subjective) do not do good in the snow. I would, at the very least, highly recommend the tire you choose have a 3 peak mountain snowflake stamp on the side of it. That will narrow down your search dramatically, but the question is do you want to be able to stop and steer on slick roads, or no?

 

[olyelr]

I agree. You can't go wrong with Michelin's on anything! I've had a few sets over the yrs (have some on a car now), which, like you say, run about true as can be. For those interested, Michelin does offer a slightly more aggressive "look" LT and Trail tires. But like you say, if it's a pavement truck. But I've noticed Michelins (and Goodyears) DO tend to dry rot quicker than some others. If a guy had a seldom-driven truck, i'd probably take that into consideration. In general, I've had good luck with most the tire brands I've bought..which is most over the yrs, on the multitude of vehicles around here.

Tire test are hard to judge. I'd like to see tests when tires are half worn, not new off the rack. How did they hold up? How do they still perform (Rain/snow/ice/dirt)? I say, just pick the one you like (OP) and enjoy. The first thing I look at is, Do they come in the [required] OWL's?

View attachment 541380

Lol. Agree about the white letters. However, the sad thing is most dont even offer them anymore. Even bfg’s got rid of white letters on most of their sizes.

 

[Snowchief]

Cooper STT pro on Ram2500,MasterCraft MXT on Dodge W250 & Mickey Thompson Deegan 38 on Jeep J20. All good in snow&mud!USA produced and owned company Cooper Tires. For the $ MasterCraft MXT’s are my favorites.

 

[SouthernBornRebel]

BFG KO2's

 

[RickyJ108]

I have a 2014 Mega cab 2500 I just bought Falken Wildpeaks 285/60/ R 20 So far I love them drove through some side of the road rivers after a rain rode like they were on rails. Advertised as 60,000 mile tires we'll see. They ride nice, handle well, will be pulling a camper with them real soon. From lower NY.

 

[dieseldave]

The problem with buying the online Coopers is, Walmart installation and balancing around here is terrible, and staffed by jokers with older, uncalibrated balancers (according to the guys there) and limited to no experience. And a lot of turnover. Based on a lot of prior experience, I don't trust them to do a good install/balance job. They can do a mediocre or terrible job though! I'll give them that. That's just the one particular Walmart nearest me. Others could be a lot better (??).

It works out for me b/c I load the new tires and Ram wheels in my other pickup & take them to Walmart & have mounted. And YES you MUST watch them install the tires, even from afar. I had a guy a couple yrs ago wash the OWL lettering protectant off the tires I was putting on my GM truck with a hose. Only the tires were NOT mounted! THEN he went to install the wet tire which had maybe 2 cups of water inside the tire. He was going to mount the wet tire onto the rim!! You can't balance a water-logged tire and the moisture will rot your tks wheels out. In fact he had washed all the tires like that before balancing. I put an immediate STOP to that and told him we needed to get the water out. He was completely befuddled why? So he sloshed some out. I'm like "We have to get all the water out and dry them!" They didn't have any rags in the shop that would absorb water. I had some in my truck. And we wiped them dry, let them sit in the sun/wind outside for 15 minutes to completely dry inside. He was kind of upset by that.

Another time I saw the tech peel off a big chunk of bead from another guy's tire because he didn't know you had to push the tire down past the rim as you install it! I saw the tech bust the tire changer foot/arm b/c he was trying to stretch the tire over my wheel's bead. I yelled out, "You have to push the tire down as you go!!" I've seen them try to balance wheels not properly mounted onto the balancer. I've had them put big truck weights on a car tire b/c that's all they had ...and they were so loose they wiggled with light two-finger movement! I've run tire changers and balancers so I know what NOT to do.. lol. I could tell more, but you get the point. They say ignorance is bliss...but I don't want that kind of bliss with my tires! LOL. Point: You MUST stand by the open bay doors and watch their every move and be prepared to hit the "STOP" button the moment BEFORE they do something stupid ....or have another shop do the install/balance. You just don't know what they'll do at Walmart. The only reason I go there is they mount for free, $3 disposal fee, and I usually need something there anyway (and it's near the GM garage).

After the Walmart install, I then stop by the nearby Chevy garage for a quality balance job. I know the guys who manage the small-town GM garage and they usually do them on the spot (or maybe a very short wait), I usually call in advance just to make sure. They have brand new top quality equipment (by GM requirements), and I can watch & BS with the guys next to the balancer as they balance them (to make sure they don't skip steps ....which EVERY tire guy is prone to do - trust me!!). Overall, it's a hassle not a lot of guys want to go through to get a good job. Sure, I'm not getting the Walmart balance warranty (Pfeeew!), but i am getting a first-class balance job from my guys at GM. It also gives me a chance to inspect brakes and other items when the wheels are off, and I get a real good balance job.

Maybe you're better off buying the Falkens at Discount Tire. They do Road Force Balancing there and one-stop shopping. They "seem" to do a 'good' job. Just keep an eye on the balance guy like a hawk to make sure he doesn't skip the Rim-Matching process (a lot of techs will say "aawww it's "close enough" and skip that when it might have cut the weights in half by rim-matching). Even the discount tire mgr I was talking to said they a lot of times (that's code for 'Usually') skip the rim-matching process. You WANT that for your best tire longevity. Best of luck

What is the rim matching ?

 

[Jeepwalker]

It's a process of matching the tire and the wheel (rim) to achieve a better balance (use fewer weights).

The Hunter balance machine does an initial balance spin and attempts to determine imblalance of the wheel balance, AND tire balance. The machine will provide a balance score. But the balance machine may (usually) suggest that by rotating the tire to a certain spot on the rim, a better balance score can be achieved. It's an estimate. Then the tire tech must remove the tire/wheel from the balancer, then put the tire back onto the tire changer, deflate & break the bead, and the specially-designed Hunter tire changer can rotate the wheel (rim) to align the chalk marks on each, per the balancer's previous suggestions. Then reinflate the tire & move it back over to the balancer and repeat the balance process. I've seen it halve the weights on tires. Sometimes the gains are minimal, usually they can be a lot. Definitely worth the effort IMO.

The balancer also has a rotating drum with a sensor which applies 1200# of force to the tire during the balance process to determine other possible tire issuues: out of roundness, broken cord, etc.

As you can see it's double the work for a tire tech, but the end result is it usually yields a better balance and a smoother running tire. And it catches tire build problems on the spot. Tires with the lowest balance score are usually located near the driver, and those tires with a little higher score further away from the driver.

Note: In contrast, a 'dumb' balancer will have no problem suggesting weights or a out-of-round tire. Then you'll be wondering where thata 'vibration' came from. Watch video below, and HERE. Truck tires are larger and can benefit a lot from cancelling whee/tire vibration. Tire/wheel vibration is the "root cause" of a lot of driveline failures.

Why Do We Balance Wheels? – Understanding Road Force

We balance wheels to cancel out the uncomfortable vibration that can be felt when an unbalanced wheel is traveling at speed. However, imbalance is not the on...

www.youtube.com

 

[turkeybird56]

For me, and my needs Falkens or Toyo AT's. Currently running Falkens. And FTR, I have and/or do 5,000 mile OCI's and the tires are also rotated every 5,000 miles. Last rotation, I have the tires balance(s) all checked and either redone or verified.

ADDED: But tires are like batteries, oil, and all filters and systems: Everybody has an opinion and "swears" by it.

 

[62Blazer]

I ran two sets of the BFG AT's on the my last truck and really like them. The BFG AT's and MT's are the only tires in which I bought the same style back to back. Every other tire on my trucks have been replaced with a different brand or style because I wasn't that impressed with them. With that said, the BFG AT's are all-terrains and really don't go with the other choices you have in regards to aggressiveness and mud. The BFG MT fits into the list better. The last set of BFG MT's I ran were the older tread style but had really good luck with them and wouldn't hesitate to run them again. Currently have 37x13.50R17 Nitto Ridge Grapplers on my truck and not very impressed with them. In hindsight wish I would have tried something else. Looked at the BFG AT's but they don't make them in the 13.5 width, and seriously looked at the BFG MT's in that size but they were on backorder at the time (Covid supply issues). A couple people I work with recommended the Cooper STT Pro's, but again they weren't available at the time.

 

[Adamcr68]

Cooper STT pro on Ram2500,MasterCraft MXT on Dodge W250 & Mickey Thompson Deegan 38 on Jeep J20. All good in snow&mud!USA produced and owned company Cooper Tires. For the $ MasterCraft MXT’s are my favorites.
View attachment 541647View attachment 541649View attachment 541650

That 2500 looks awesome!

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

It's a process of matching the tire and the wheel (rim) to achieve a better balance (use fewer weights).

The Hunter balance machine does an initial balance spin and attempts to determine imblalance of the wheel balance, AND tire balance. The machine will provide a balance score. But the balance machine may (usually) suggest that by rotating the tire to a certain spot on the rim, a better balance score can be achieved. It's an estimate. Then the tire tech must remove the tire/wheel from the balancer, then put the tire back onto the tire changer, deflate & break the bead, and the specially-designed Hunter tire changer can rotate the wheel (rim) to align the chalk marks on each, per the balancer's previous suggestions. Then reinflate the tire & move it back over to the balancer and repeat the balance process. I've seen it halve the weights on tires. Sometimes the gains are minimal, usually they can be a lot. Definitely worth the effort IMO.

The balancer also has a rotating drum with a sensor which applies 1200# of force to the tire during the balance process to determine other possible tire issuues: out of roundness, broken cord, etc.

As you can see it's double the work for a tire tech, but the end result is it usually yields a better balance and a smoother running tire. And it catches tire build problems on the spot. Tires with the lowest balance score are usually located near the driver, and those tires with a little higher score further away from the driver.

Note: In contrast, a 'dumb' balancer will have no problem suggesting weights or a out-of-round tire. Then you'll be wondering where thata 'vibration' came from. Watch video below, and HERE. Truck tires are larger and can benefit a lot from cancelling whee/tire vibration. Tire/wheel vibration is the "root cause" of a lot of driveline failures.

Why Do We Balance Wheels? – Understanding Road Force

We balance wheels to cancel out the uncomfortable vibration that can be felt when an unbalanced wheel is traveling at speed. However, imbalance is not the on...

www.youtube.com

You can do the same process manually just by watching the tire on the machine, it's just not as precise.

I've taken lately to checking the wheel with the tpms sensor installed before I mount the tire. Usually there can be an out of balance with the wheel. I then mark it with a grease pencil and look at the dots on the tire If they are marked. To know which one I want to follow either yellow or red.

If you mount enough wheels and tires you can develop a feel for the process, but nothing is as precise as the machine.
Last I checked they were truly the gold standard in output and price