2018 Chevy Colorado Z71

[great08]

An SL 255/70/18 weighs 42.8 lbs 32.1"
An E LT 275/65/18 weighs 60.1 lbs 32.1"

That's 4ply SL vs 10ply E rating big difference in weight. I have a 2018 Wrangler Unlimited Sahara I don't NEED 10ply tires. Neither does my wife's 17 Z71 Colorado. My 2004 Silverado Z71 has 10plys though.

Yes weight makes a big difference and purchasing unnecessarily heavy ply tires for the application will definitely hurt performance.

I am actually doing a bit of reading up on those tires now. I still have another 30k miles on the current ones since I run high 38psi up front and my mileage has been mostly hwy. The link below is a good read! It is a review done by offroadxtreme.com.

https://www.offroadxtreme.com/engine-tech/wheels-tires/falken-wildpeak-at3w-tire-review/

 

[JCWages]

Some tires are pretty tough even in SL form. The SL Wildpeak AT3W is one of them because even though they are listed as only 2ply sidewalls the plys wrap around the bead then turn up and run back up towards the sidewall armor. The SL Wildpeak is closer to a KO2 in Load Range C. Compared to the notoriously weak-walled SL Duratrac the Wildpeak is very off-road worthy. In LT form the Duratrac is fine, however.

For hardcore off-roading in areas with sharp rocks, shale and thorns there's no substitute for a 10ply tire and few AT tires can match the Cooper ST Maxx in puncture protection. Wanna take a guess at what those weight? :)

I love this video. :)

 

[great08]

Some tires are pretty tough even in SL form. The SL Wildpeak AT3W is one of them because even though they are listed as only 2ply sidewalls the plys wrap around the bead then turn up and run back up towards the sidewall armor. The SL Wildpeak is closer to a KO2 in Load Range C. Compared to the notoriously weak-walled SL Duratrac the Wildpeak is very off-road worthy. In LT form the Duratrac is fine, however.

For hardcore off-roading in areas with sharp rocks, shale and thorns there's no substitute for a 10ply tire and few AT tires can match the Cooper ST Maxx in puncture protection. Wanna take a guess at what those weight? :)

I love this video. :)

That was a cool vid!

I just went to the Falken website. It looks like the Wildpeak A/T3W tires come in either 4, 6, 8, or 10 ply configs. So they label the SL tires as a 4 ply. The XL and C rated tires as a 6 ply. D = 8ply, E = 10 ply. If you go down the page and click on the "sizes & specifications" tab it will show everything from weight for that size/ply, to max load, etc.

The downsides of going up too high in ply are ride quality, flex/traction on rocks, deep sand, snow, etc, and heavier weight = harder on the suspension.

https://www.falkentire.com/tires/light-truck-suv-cuv-tires/wildpeaka/t3w-tire

 

[CG Sahara]

Some tires are pretty tough even in SL form. The SL Wildpeak AT3W is one of them because even though they are listed as only 2ply sidewalls the plys wrap around the bead then turn up and run back up towards the sidewall armor. The SL Wildpeak is closer to a KO2 in Load Range C. Compared to the notoriously weak-walled SL Duratrac the Wildpeak is very off-road worthy. In LT form the Duratrac is fine, however.

For hardcore off-roading in areas with sharp rocks, shale and thorns there's no substitute for a 10ply tire and few AT tires can match the Cooper ST Maxx in puncture protection. Wanna take a guess at what those weight? :)

I love this video. :)

Great vid. Tires have always been like oil. Personal preference . I don't do hardcore...worst I do is fire roads and some pass roads out west. I don't plan to do rock crawling....The snow rating for Falkens are spot on here in mid TN they are great in the snow. And as stated before they are better in the mud than the KO2 on my Silverado....so they work for ME... I'll be putting 10ply Falkens on the Silverado when the KO2s wear out....may be awhile don't drive it that much.... remember when you air down....air back up....

 

[great08]

A Sweet double tire, oil, fuel rack for the Chevy Colorado bed. Have you guys seen this one yet? You can get a good view of it at the 15:05min mark in the attached video below...

 

[madcratebuilder]

They drove that white ZR2 home after cutting the air bags off.

 

[great08]

They drove that white ZR2 home after cutting the air bags off.

I know right. I thought it was yet another testament vid to the Colorado Durability. Did you ever see the first vid that channel ever put out on the Colorado? He jumped it like 20 to 30 ft and drove it home. lol


EDIT: Here is the vid.

 

[madcratebuilder]

I know right. I thought it was yet another testament vid to the Colorado Durability. Did you ever see the first vid that channel ever put out on the Colorado? He jumped it like 20 to 30 ft and drove it home. lol


EDIT: Here is the vid.

I know right. I thought it was yet another testament vid to the Colorado Durability. Did you ever see the first vid that channel ever put out on the Colorado? He jumped it like 20 to 30 ft and drove it home. lol


EDIT: Here is the vid.

Carlos at 420Motors runs his truck hard and stays on top of maintenance, his super jump was amazing. I was really impressed at what the ZR2's did compared to the Raptors when running high speed in the desert.

 

[great08]

Rough Country... has 3 pages of things for our trucks

I just went to their website and saw that their 1" is $45 and their 2" is $55. Not Bad!

It says that the 1" will leave about .5" of rake and make room to fit "265/70/17 on factory wheels". That is basically jumping from the 30.6" tall tires that are stock (265/60/17) up to 32.5" tires. Nothing special... but something that though considered small by today's standards... is GIANT by yesteryear's standards.

So then I went out to the parking lot (At work during lunch break now) and used my hand to see what the difference is in upper wheel space front vs rear. It looks like the diamondback cover, tools, tow hitch, recovery hitch, recovery strap, large air pump, tools, etc. I have in there right now have taken away that .5" and the front/rear difference is just around 1".

I will sit on this for a while and will likely make a leap for a 1" @ $45. I like that it says you don't have to break down your strut to install. I would throw in an alignment though afterwards.

Parts & Accessories | Rough Country

Suspension Lift Kits, Leveling Kits, body lift, Ford, Chevy, Jeep, Dodge, Toyota, Mickey Thompson Tires

www.roughcountry.com

 

[great08]

Torture test hill climb of both a ZR2 and a modified Taco.

All I have to say is... I am DEFINATELY getting a locker or torsion up front. Also, I am glad I have the excessive cooling on the transmission now and a much lower 47:1 crawl ratio. The Taco had to shut down due to overheating going up the hill. I wonder if he had it in 4Low.

Still... I may want to do some re-gearing some day. I know it will add stress to the half shafts and rear axles (between the diffs and rear wheels). However, I will allegedly get 1.5 better mpg around town... and the rest of the drivetrain will last much longer due to less stress during acceleration, towing, and off-roading. My commuting days are almost over. Almost time to start stepping up the off-road performance perspectives. Fuel economy won't matter anymore once I start driving 50mi per week instead of 100+ miles per day. lol

 

[madcratebuilder]

That Dirt Nation vid was great, watched that a few days ago. If you go with 4.10's your crawl ratio is 54-1, actually 53.64-1.

The tire manufacturers no longer use "Ply" rating. With the new materials and construction techniques a new "2 ply" may be as strong as a old 6-8 ply.

My oem Duratracs have a rep for soft sidewalls, so far I haven't had any issues when aired down to 14-16 psi. I stopped at my local Discount Tire the other day and they pushed the KO2's, they had the 255/75/17's in stock.

 

[great08]

That Dirt Nation vid was great, watched that a few days ago. If you go with 4.10's your crawl ratio is 54-1, actually 53.64-1.

The tire manufacturers no longer use "Ply" rating. With the new materials and construction techniques a new "2 ply" may be as strong as a old 6-8 ply.

My oem Duratracs have a rep for soft sidewalls, so far I haven't had any issues when aired down to 14-16 psi. I stopped at my local Discount Tire the other day and they pushed the KO2's, they had the 255/75/17's in stock.

I will have to read up on those new techniques for building tires you are talking about. I want just enough sidewall strength as to not have issues blowing tires... but as much flex as possible for added grip on rocks and floating/increasing traction in things like deep sand.

Do you happen to know of any good articles on the subject?

 

[great08]

Here is a great video of a guy in Australia with his son taking a trip for a few days. He looks to be driving a pretty close to stock Nissan Nivara. He has some decent tires of about stock size, minor protection, OPEN diffs, and a winch. Makes it through some pretty narly stuff on his own. I would say he winched at least 6 to 10 times.

I do like his style of front bumper. Every time I see something like it I have to stare at it for a few minutes. Eye candy! lol
I want a bumper that is something similar. Sitting on the thought for a while...

 

[madcratebuilder]

I will have to read up on those new techniques for building tires you are talking about. I want just enough sidewall strength as to not have issues blowing tires... but as much flex as possible for added grip on rocks and floating/increasing traction in things like deep sand.

Do you happen to know of any good articles on the subject?

Just google the tire size you want and you get a lot of info. Tiresize.com is good place to get specs. I'm looking at 255/75/17 (32") and 255/80/17 (33"), these are not the most popular size so it is some what limited. I'm leaning toward the 33" so I'm limited to Falken and BFG's. The Falken Wildpeaks are probably going to be the choice. It's a 10 ply rated at 52lbs. Can't get the Kevlar Duratracs in that size, 255/75 only, 49lbs and 32".

 

[great08]

Moving into my new home now in Elizabeth City, NC. Time to get my own garage back! As well as garden/fruit.

On an acre and less than half the taxes of Virginia. Plus the house is $100k less (even less taxes)... and sits on a full acre!

I will be about a 45min drive to Virginia Beach, Kitty Hawk, and Oregon inlet. Perfect for salt fishing. Lots of inshore fresh and brackish water in between. I love me some beach driving and kayak fishing.

This truck is awesome towing this size of load. Forget it is there at times.

 

[great08]

ICON stage 5 suspension upgrade as well as wheels and tires...

Best Z71 video I have seen so far! This dude's truck is essentially the twin of mine but with slightly different mods. That ICON suspension upgrade looks simple and sweet.

I especially like the rims and tires.

 

[great08]

Beach Driving Update:

In case anyone was wondering where I have disappeared to... I have become a slave to the new house for a while. Lots of projects going on and money going elsewhere besides the truck. Planting out an acre of grass/throwing down straw/setting up a sprinkler network today for instance.

Anyways, I took the family back out to the beach yesterday to go looking for wild horses again/use the 4wd. This time I left the truck in 4HI the whole time. Aired down to 20psi up front and 15psi in the rear. Both sets of tires ride evenly that way.

However, This time I hit the Traction Control button and held it down to fully disable it. So long as staying below 35mph it stays fully disabled. Waaaaaay Better! It didn't skip a beat when climbing the dunes. I could actually feel the rear axle lock up when climbing up. Much more power available. 1st gear on the 8spd is much lower than most vehicles.

There was a line of Jeeps cruising along the beach. I am talking well over 100 in a row. Must have been some sort of annual get together. They were watching me hard when making turns up over the dunes/deep fluff sand to explore around for horses. The sand was MUCH worse than back in March. It has been almost a month since seeing rain and a ton more traffic.

Anyways.... This truck is great in deep fluffy sugar/powder sand.

I need to get out and do something real!!!

 

[Boostpowered]

Beach Driving Update:

In case anyone was wondering where I have disappeared to... I have become a slave to the new house for a while. Lots of projects going on and money going elsewhere besides the truck. Planting out an acre of grass/throwing down straw/setting up a sprinkler network today for instance.

Anyways, I took the family back out to the beach yesterday to go looking for wild horses again/use the 4wd. This time I left the truck in 4HI the whole time. Aired down to 20psi up front and 15psi in the rear. Both sets of tires ride evenly that way.

However, This time I hit the Traction Control button and held it down to fully disable it. So long as staying below 35mph it stays fully disabled. Waaaaaay Better! It didn't skip a beat when climbing the dunes. I could actually feel the rear axle lock up when climbing up. Much more power available. 1st gear on the 8spd is much lower than most vehicles.

There was a line of Jeeps cruising along the beach. I am talking well over 100 in a row. Must have been some sort of annual get together. They were watching me hard when making turns up over the dunes/deep fluff sand to explore around for horses. The sand was MUCH worse than back in March. It has been almost a month since seeing rain and a ton more traffic.

Anyways.... This truck is great in deep fluffy sugar/powder sand.

I need to get out and do something real!!!

Throw mud tires on and you will see a ton more traction. I was getting stuck alot even in wet grass with all terrains on it was very embarrassing so i went to mud tires and to be honest i wont be switching back ever. Going to muds pretty much made my winch useless weight and i havent found a need to air down with them yet . I even bought an extra stock rim on ebay and put a matching mud tire on for my spare. The worst part about putting big 33" mud tires on besides the lift is getting em balanced. I dont notice much road noise with mine but that may just be the brand i have your mileage may vary.

 

[JCWages]

Generally speaking ATs are better than MTs in deep sand. You want to float on sand, not dig down. A lot will depend on specfic tire design but more depends on tire pressure and sand conditions. For someone like @great08 I wouldn't recommend MTs for his current driving patterns. :) If he starts rock crawling and hittin mud bogs then MTs all the way.

 

[Boostpowered]

I suppose it depends on the sand i have no problem with the sand bars alond the red river i havent been in any dry powdery sand yet with muds, i grew up on the bolivar peninsula so im no stranger to sand as long as you stay on the wet packed sand down there your golden with any tire but the thing ive learned on dry powdery stuff is air down and control your throttle or your gonna be stuck even with the biggest baddest rig.