New Tires For Big Blue

[Gary Lewis]

I'm now thinking about what tires to put on Big Blue as his Cooper DISCOVERER S/T MAXX tires are toast. So I'm asking for your input. But first I need to 'splain what I'm looking for.

As BB is for overlanding the tires have to be good offroad. Last fall my brother and I took BB to Ouray and ran most of the Jeep trails there. This fall my son and I are going to New Mexico overlanding. So while the offroad capabilities have to be good, the onroad capabilities need to be decent since it is a long way to Ouray or Santa Fe from here. In other words, I don't want a noisy tire.

At this point in time I think I'm looking at these tires, but would look at others if you think I should:

• YOKOHAMAGEOLANDAR M/T G003: This is said to be an offroad tire, but its onroad #'s seem to match those of the others. And this link takes you to the Tire Rack test results.

• FALKEN WILDPEAK A/T3W: This link should take you to the Tire Rack test results on this tire.

• BFGoodrich ALL-TERRAIN T/A KO2: Link to Tire Rack test results.

So I'm looking for any and all input I can get. Even if you've given it to me before I'd like to have it here in one thread to make it easy to get my head around.

Thanks!

 

[grumpin]

I have the BFG All Terrain KO/2 on my Suburban and my Bronco. And I will put them on my GMC when the time comes.

I like them, not noisy to me, and the big plus for me is how they handle on ice and snow. They wear good, last IIRC, 65k to 75k.

[HBF84]

I have the BFG All Terrain KO/2 on my Suburban and my Bronco. And I will put them on my GMC when the time comes.

I like them, not noisy to me, and the big plus for me is how they handle on ice and snow. They wear good, last IIRC, 65k to 75k.

Gary,

I agree with Grumpin/Dane… I’ve put two sets of them on my Jeep TJ and will continue to do such. And, now that HBF has arrived to Hawaii and I have the limited slip in the rear end, I’ll be putting them on the rear wheels for better traction.

[Gary Lewis]

Gary,

I agree with Grumpin/Dane… I’ve put two sets of them on my Jeep TJ and will continue to do such. And, now that HBF has arrived to Hawaii and I have the limited slip in the rear end, I’ll be putting them on the rear wheels for better traction.

Thanks guys. But everyone please keep the cards and letters coming.

Also, I'm going back and editing my first post in this thread with links to more info on each tire as I find it.

[Nothing Special]

Thanks guys. But everyone please keep the cards and letters coming.

Also, I'm going back and editing my first post in this thread with links to more info on each tire as I find it.

I've heard good things about the Falkens, but no experience with them, so take that for what it's worth.

I've mentioned this before, but after 5 sets of BFG A/Ts, my first set of KO2s was my last. They are the loudest non-mud tires I've ever had, and they tended to pull back and forth in grooves on the freeway. I know others love them, and I'm not saying they're wrong, just offering another perspective.

edit to add: I should say that with a bunch of years 'wheeling with BFG A/Ts I'm generally happy with them there. There have been a number of times I've wished for something more aggressive (generally when I'm in mud or on Colorado rocks). But they're good in most conditions, and (prior to the KO2 in my experience) were a good compromise between good off-road performance and really good on-road performance. Now that the on-road performance isn't what I want I'm less willing to accept the compromise off-road.

Milestar Patagonia tires are one that I've started seeing a LOT on YouTube in the last couple of years. The M/T is a pretty mild tread for a mud tire and seems like a pretty good all-around tire (that's the one I see the most). There are also progressively milder M/T-02, X/T, A/T Pro and A/T R. People seem to say it's a class A (or at least really high class B) tire at a class C price. But again, no personal experience.

Not suggesting these for you, but I went with ProComp Xtreme M/T2 on my Bronco the last time I got tires. The jury is still out on their highway performance. they aren't horribly loud, but they definitely aren't quiet. And I haven't got rid of the vibration yet (I'm hoping balancing beads work).

And unless the ProComps pan out well I think I might go with BGF M/Ts the next time my Bronco needs tires. But I don't have any experience with the KM3s either. And again I'm not saying they'd be a good A/T for you.

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks guys. But everyone please keep the cards and letters coming.

Also, I'm going back and editing my first post in this thread with links to more info on each tire as I find it.

I went through Tire Rack's decision making guide and got these results: FIRESTONE DESTINATION X/T; GENERAL GRABBER A/TX; & TOYO OPEN COUNTRY A/T III. But in watching the video about the Firestone they mentioned a high-pitched whine and I didn't like that.

So I called Tire Rack and the gentleman I drew was less than helpful. He was polite but really gave me no help to speak of. For instance, when I asked about the Geolander's on-road performance he said "You have to pick your poison. If it is a good off-road tire it won't be as good on-road as a street tire."

I was expecting him to say something like "That tire is designed for max off-road traction and isn't really good on-road." Or "That's a really good combination tire but it is noisy." But instead I got nothing definitive whatsoever.

[Gary Lewis]

I've heard good things about the Falkens, but no experience with them, so take that for what it's worth.

I've mentioned this before, but after 5 sets of BFG A/Ts, my first set of KO2s was my last. They are the loudest non-mud tires I've ever had, and they tended to pull back and forth in grooves on the freeway. I know others love them, and I'm not saying they're wrong, just offering another perspective.

edit to add: I should say that with a bunch of years 'wheeling with BFG A/Ts I'm generally happy with them there. There have been a number of times I've wished for something more aggressive (generally when I'm in mud or on Colorado rocks). But they're good in most conditions, and (prior to the KO2 in my experience) were a good compromise between good off-road performance and really good on-road performance. Now that the on-road performance isn't what I want I'm less willing to accept the compromise off-road.

Milestar Patagonia tires are one that I've started seeing a LOT on YouTube in the last couple of years. The M/T is a pretty mild tread for a mud tire and seems like a pretty good all-around tire (that's the one I see the most). There are also progressively milder M/T-02, X/T, A/T Pro and A/T R. People seem to say it's a class A (or at least really high class B) tire at a class C price. But again, no personal experience.

Not suggesting these for you, but I went with ProComp Xtreme M/T2 on my Bronco the last time I got tires. The jury is still out on their highway performance. they aren't horribly loud, but they definitely aren't quiet. And I haven't got rid of the vibration yet (I'm hoping balancing beads work).

And unless the ProComps pan out well I think I might go with BGF M/Ts the next time my Bronco needs tires. But I don't have any experience with the KM3s either. And again I'm not saying they'd be a good A/T for you.

Thanks, Bob. I'll follow up on those other tires.

 

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks, Bob. I'll follow up on those other tires.

I'm getting a bit frustrated with Tire Rack, both their customer support awa their website. On the website you can compare several tires, but you can't get more than 3 on the screen at a time. And if you try to print that screen you get a floating banner that covers some of the results and I can't figure out how to get rid of it. But then I realized that the comparo info is from customers, and it isn't likely that any one of them has good quantitative information regarding two different tires, so when they rate a tire as low in noise or high in off-road traction it probably isn't kosher to compare that rating to someone else's rating on another tire.

However, a bit more poking around on their website found a page like the one below where they compare the tire you selected with two other tires. But two other tires they picked, not ones I picked.

However there appears to be quantitative info on those pages, or at least is info from people who apparently test tires for a living and not average users like us. So hopefully the data will be something that can be compared. Anyway, I'll poke around some more and see if I can come up with comparable data for the tires we mention on here and try to create a spreadsheet that allows us to see them in one go.

 

[Gsmblue]

I'm getting a bit frustrated with Tire Rack, both their customer support awa their website. On the website you can compare several tires, but you can't get more than 3 on the screen at a time. And if you try to print that screen you get a floating banner that covers some of the results and I can't figure out how to get rid of it. But then I realized that the comparo info is from customers, and it isn't likely that any one of them has good quantitative information regarding two different tires, so when they rate a tire as low in noise or high in off-road traction it probably isn't kosher to compare that rating to someone else's rating on another tire.

However, a bit more poking around on their website found a page like the one below where they compare the tire you selected with two other tires. But two other tires they picked, not ones I picked.

However there appears to be quantitative info on those pages, or at least is info from people who apparently test tires for a living and not average users like us. So hopefully the data will be something that can be compared. Anyway, I'll poke around some more and see if I can come up with comparable data for the tires we mention on here and try to create a spreadsheet that allows us to see them in one go.

I have KO2's on my Bronco, but the worst it sees is gravel road. The noise does not bother me as the exhaust is pretty loud.

My friend put Falkens on his Sprinter and said they are the best tires he has had on it. Does great in the dirt and snow according to him.

I have Wrangler Duratracs on my F150. Rubbish in the ice, great on dirt and snow. I prefer the KO2's

[Machspeed]

I have KO2's on my Bronco, but the worst it sees is gravel road. The noise does not bother me as the exhaust is pretty loud.

My friend put Falkens on his Sprinter and said they are the best tires he has had on it. Does great in the dirt and snow according to him.

I have Wrangler Duratracs on my F150. Rubbish in the ice, great on dirt and snow. I prefer the KO2's

I have KO2's as well. Can't vouch for them off road, but they a quiet on the highway. For my needs, they are perfect.