Tyre Recommendations

[JackAttack]

G'day

I'm in the market for new shoes on my rig and I would love to hear the experiences and recommendations this community has to offer!

Here's some details to help you all in your recommendations:

• Looking for an aggressive all terrain or a hybrid muddy (Like the Toyo RT)
• Size will be 285/75/R16
• Budget not an issue so cheap or expensive I want to hear about it

Here is a slightly outdated pic of the rig to add some colour to the thread!





Cheers all!

 

[pluton]

The BFG AT/KO2's that you apparently had when the picture was taken are a go-to tyre in the USA and much of the world. You were dissatisfied with their performance?

 

[JackAttack]

The BFG AT/KO2's that you apparently had when the picture was taken are a go-to tyre in the USA and much of the world. You were dissatisfied with their performance?

Not dissatisfied, they are currently what I am planning on getting again however I am just keen on hearing experiences and opinions of others.

 

[The Durangler]

My vote is KO2 all the way. Period.

 

[Get Out GO]

We're limited by choice over here so it's pretty much down to these imho. They all have 3-ply sidewalls. I think you're referring to the tread that should be at least 10-ply
BFG KO2
Cooper S/T Maxx
Maxxis Razr AT-811

 

[DintDobbs]

I had a good experience with the relatively moderate Goodyear Wranglers, in my early days, but since went on to Nitto Trail Grapplers. Dedicated mud tire, they don't do well on road.

Maxxis RAZR AT's are a neat hybrid, they are like a significantly less-aggressive Nitto Ridge Grappler hybrid type. I am not sure about the sidewall construction though, but consider researching either of these.

 

[MOAK]

Any one of the three Gs. Goodyear, Goodrich or General; Goodyear owns Cooper so that is a go to as well. I’ve never been able to justify the cost of the gourmet tires. I’ve used Goodyear for street tires for decades, Goodrich AT tires since the early 80s , then switched to Generals. I just bought my second set of Generals. I’ve never failed to get at least 50,000 good miles from any of them. The General’s compound stayed supple at 55,000 miles. The BFGs wear forever, but the compound would become rock hard.

 

[DintDobbs]

@MOAK does speak the truth, Goodyear is hard not to recommend, and BF Goodrich does turn into a brick after a couple of years. I would recommend against BF Goodrich because of that. Hard tires aren't good for street use (no traction) and are terrible for off-road use (can't air down, or they will crack and shred). Generals seem to be a big fave, General Grabbers particularly.

A pal of mine favors Cooper, but he says their A/T's wear unevenly. He also doesn't regularly do 5-tire rotations, so there's that.

 

[BFG.dnews]

Well, you might guess from my “name” that BFG is my go to. I’ve run BFG All Terrain’s for years with a lot of success. Thousands of miles in Baja, nasty ski resort trails in Vermont (winter and summer), numerous trails in Moab and forest service roads in GA / SC / NC mountains. Haven’t ever experienced the compound “hardening” but I suppose it’s possible with older tires. One flat in 40 years (because I was stupid). Now running KM3’s for the past few years. Some of the other tire companies make good stuff too, but the quality, toughness and longevity of BFG’s are hard to beat.

 

[DintDobbs]

@BFG.dnews To be fair, the BFG's I have sat unused for 2 years during somewhat extensive repairs on the truck they came from, so that likely affected their performance once used again. Will be ditching them in favor of the Maxxis RAZR's soon.

I hear these are a fairly hard tire (for AT's) and will see how they hold up over the years. I noticed they recommend a much higher pressure than many others, too.

 

[leeloo]

BFG's are overated. They are good, but not 30 % better than many other good tires.

 

[Longshot270]

I’ve got E rated KO2s on a set of factory steel wheels for trips where the terrain is expected to have puncture, rip, and slimy mud hazards. They are tough tires but they ride rough and have poor stopping and handling compared to my main set. For regular commuting, road trips and beach sand, cooper adventurer highway terrains. They ride much smoother and have noticeably better braking and handling. They also float on sand better without needing to air down nearly as much.

Both sets are 265/70-17 so the speedometer is correct, the odometer is within 1.5% and average fuel economy is nearly the same, 16.8 vs 16.3.

 

[MOAK]

BFG's are overated. They are good, but not 30 % better than many other good tires.

Agreed! I was a user of BFGs since the late 70s and like BFG.dnews never had a tire failure. Big time loyal customer. Then; my tire guy (very small independent shop) dared me to try out the Grabber ATXs 285/75/16: The first set lasted 55,000 miles and still had another 10,000 miles of street use on them. I sold them for $200. My guy sold me the new set for 255 each- mounted, balanced & tax. That’s way under what BFGs cost. You are correct- not worth the 30% mark up

 

[BFG.dnews]

I absolutely love the passion folks have about their tires! Not kidding. When someone asks for a tire reco it’s so hard to offer a perfect solution because so many different factors are in play. Vehicle type, suspension condition / geometry / upgrades, load to be carried, and budget parameters … not to mention expected use over the life of the tire. What % time actually used on pavement vs. % of time actually off-road. And what type of off-road use will the tires see predominantly? (Moab-like smooth rock surfaces, muddy surfaces, eastern woodland forest service roads, sharp rocky roads, the caliche soils of the southwest, sand dunes / beaches, predominant snow areas … and on and on). Making a recommendation without knowing the answers to these questions is probably not a good idea. When someone asks for a tire / tyre reco we generally end up with one that reflects our own personal experience. So shame on me for doing exactly that … even though I know better.

To me, tires are one of the most important parts of our vehicles. They’re the only thing that connects it to the planet; they carry super heavy loads; and put up with abuse (think running over road-kill) and misuse (think low PSI and overload)and still do their job … most of the time. So I’d just say this … many brands make really good tires … do some serious thinking about HOW you plan to use the tires before you spend a lot of hard earned money and get what works best for your needs.

 

[DintDobbs]

@BFG.dnews Well, from my experience...

1999 Ford Explorer Sport:

Goodyear Wrangler A/T - Medium compound, medium tread pattern, fairly strong sidewall. Great on-road traction, moderate on-road manners. Good on dirt and gravel, not amazing on mud and sand. Good lateral traction on all terrains.

Nitto Trail Grappler M/T - Soft compound, extremely aggressive tread pattern, very strong sidewall. Terrible on-road traction, terrible on-road manners. Excellent on mud and dirt, good on gravel and sand. Poor lateral traction on road, excellent off road. Gravel tears them up.

2003 Dodge Durango:

Nexen Roadians H/T - Medium hard compound, street tread pattern, weak sidewall. Good on-road traction, good on-road manners. Reasonable on dirt and gravel, poor in mud, never tested on sand. Excellent lateral traction on road, never tested off road.

BFG Advantage A/T - Fairly hard compound, very tame tread pattern, moderately strong sidewall. Fairly poor on-road traction, fair on-road manners. Acceptable on dirt, poor on gravel, never tested on mud and sand. Moderate lateral traction on road, never tested off road.

2000 Ford Explorer Limited:

Primewell Valera H/T - Fairly soft compound, tame tread pattern, average sidewall. Excellent on-road traction, excellent on-road manners. Excellent on gravel and sand, acceptable on dirt, never tested on mud. Excellent lateral traction on-road, moderate off-road.

P. S. Tires may perform significantly differently between vehicles, and with different suspension setups on the same vehicle.

I used the GY on the Explorer Sport with worn-out shock absorbers and with Rancho hydraulic shock absorbers. The suspension was totally overhauled between the GY and the Nitto, including Superlift shock absorbers, OME rear leaf springs, and stiffer Ford torsion bars.

When the Durango had the Roadians, it needed new shock absorbers. The BFG's have been used with worn-out and new (Rancho RS5000X) shock absorbers.

The Explorer Limited needs new shock absorbers. The Primewells handle outstandingly well despite this fact.

 

[Lazynorse]

Firestone Destination XTs are newer and among the lighter AT tires. I think my 32” 255/75/17 C load are 44 pounds. I wanted nearly no hit to acceleration, breaks and MPGs.

 

[leeloo]

Firestone seem to do well in tests and they look interesting for my application . Nowhere to be found in my size in Europe at the time I changed the tires.

 

[JackAttack]

Cheers everyone for your recommendations. I'll add some more detail as mentioned by [B]BFG.dnews[/B] if it will help in everyone's recommendations.

Vehicle Type: Dual Cab Ute - built for touring
Suspension: Currently cactus however will shortly have OME 3.5 metric tonne GVM upgrade with 2" suspension lift.
Load: Full time 3 metric tonnes with an occasional max of 3.5 metric tonnes.
Budget: $500 AUD a tyre.
Expected use: 60% road, 40% off road
Type of off road use: Extremely soft sand (beach & dunes), sharp rocky tracks, Forest/Rainforest and heavy corrugations

 

[cug]

For what it's worth: I've been running BFG KO2 on a Land Cruiser 79 with canopy camper box (FiftyTen) and have now started using Falken Wildpeak Mud Terrain (both in 33" size). The Falken are noisier than the BFGs, but they seem to handle mud and rocks better than the KO2. Between the two, if you're okay with the noise on asphalt, the Falken would be my choice. Just better off-road tires. I have not tried the Falken Wildpeak All Terrain, they might also be an option. Plus a lot of other tires out there. You'll always find people swearing that one particular tire is great and that another particular tire has let them down.

 

[Alanymarce]

2010-2018 - Tyres we have used in South America:

- Dunlop Grandtrek AT3 - good tyre on the highway, OK offroad
- Pirelli Scorpion AT - similar to the Dunlops
- Yokohama Geolandar A/T-S - the best of these three - good on the highway, more capable offroad.

2017 - In 2017 we made a "big trip" through Africa and had BF Goodrich T/As on our vehicle there - they were a little noisier on the highway, however better than all of the previous tyres offroad.

2019 - In 2019 we made a "big trip" around Australia and at that point had the Yokohama Geolandar A/T-S on the vehicle. When we needed to replace one we found that the nearest shop had BF Goodrich T/As and we asked them to put one on the vehicle, however they recommended a Toyo Open Country AT as being as good as the BFG at a lower price. We took their advice and when we subsequently replaced two more tyres put on two more Toyos, which we have on the vehicle now (in South America).

2022 – In 2022 we acquired another vehicle – it was way too expensive to ship our Montero to North America so we bought a Wrangler JK LWB and took it 24,000 km around Western/Northwestern Canada. It came with Michelin LTXs and although we were initially concerned at their capability they proved remarkably capable on tarmac, gravel, and “offroad”. We did experience 2 punctures, which we fixed, however it should be noted that on this section of the Dempster we helped fix a lot of punctures on other vehicles (as many as 3 simultaneous punctures on one vehicle in one case!), so having only 2 was not bad. Later in the trip we replaced the tyre which had experienced 2 punctures with a new Bridgestone Dueler A/T and put the spare on the rear axle. The choice was partly owing to the fact that the spare tyre was a Dueler and the tyre workshop in Fort Nelson had one available. We now have 2 x Dueler A/Ts at the back and the Michelin LTXs at the front and as the spare. If we were replacing all of the tyres on the Wrangler we’d go for the Toyos. The tyres on the Montero are Toyos now, with one Geolandar left.

I've seen a lot of recommendations recently for Falken Wildpeaks, however have no experience to offer.

The Toyos are excellent - quiet and capable on the highway, good offroad, and cheaper than the BFGs. So, I'd recommend Toyos.