Need new tires...help me choose!

[mrfjsf]

Hey all, The ranger is in need of a new set of tires. The stock goodyear wrangler RT/S's just dont cut it in snow conditions and anything off road.

Im tore between an All-terrain and Mud-terrain tire. I love the look and off road ability of a mud terrain tire, but I hear they flat out stink on packed snow or semi-icey conditions. Ive never had them so I can't say.

The most important things to me are traction in all types of snow conditions (packed, loose, etc.), off road traction (not so much mudding, but I need to be able to run on a trail now and then), and tread wear (I can't afford to buy tires every year).

My last set of AT's were Toyo Open Country A/T's. I had them on a Dodge 2500 diesel. They were amazing in the snow, but I never got the chance to take them to the trails so I can't speak for their off road ability.

Make your recommendations!

 

[JustWood]

GOOD winter tires are just that ,,,, winter tires. You're not gonna get good mileage out of winter tires on dry pavement.
Difference is, 2 different rubber compounds.
Winter tires- softer more pliable rubber.
Summer tires - harder more durable rubber.
If you want the best of both worlds get an aggressive mud tire and have them siped 3/16 or 1/4".This way the part that is siped will be worn off and down to solid rubber by the time spring rolls around. But they still won't be as good as a strictly winter tire.
I have a set strictly for winter for all my trucks. Extra set of rims at a junk yard go for $10-$20 each. That way there is no remounting every fall and spring.


A good explanation of how siping improves a tires traction.
http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/tireSiping.dos

 

[OhioBurner©]

If you really want the best tire for all conditions I'd recommend an agressive a/t. Even siped, mudders will be slippery on hard surfaces. Atleast IME, even today going to work I did a bit of slipping in town around a corner and nearly 'didnt turn' right into a car at an intersection, and thats with 400# in the back of my 150 with siped Kuhmo M/T's (which I love, but are slippery unless they have something to bite onto).

I have been thinking along the same lines myself and looking at agressive a/t tires like http://www.4wheelparts.com/Tires/Pr...dium=froogle&utm_campaign=product&emlprox=out just for example.

For a proven mud and snow tire look for the mountain and snowflake symbol as I understand it those tires have to pass certain tests to be called such, where as any manufacturer can label a tire M+S which doesnt mean squat. I think procomps regular a/t has the severe weather rating and 50k treadware warranty but I'd have a hard time not going with the extreme a/t or extreme m/t

 

[raiderfan]

I put 4 new General Grabber AT2 tires on my truck (Dakota) last year and like them a lot. Good traction and not too much noise on dry pavement.

 

[RED FRONTIER]

I love my BFG ATs I was able to get over 100,000 miles on our Xtera and my old Frontier.
My Frontier was 2wd but was unstopable on my 90mile daily comute in CT.
The Xtera is my wifes and she has the same comute for 2nd shift. They dont plow Hartford CT
at night. I dont want her to need help on the way home. These tires are pricy though.
I was thinking of putting them on my Ranger, but I dont plan on keeping it to long.

 

[wahoowad]

I always thought Sam's Club had good prices but the a-holes now charge $15 per tire to install. Outrageous.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

I run 33-9.50-15 BFG Mudders on my CJ-6. Narrow and aggressive, always worked well in my conditions but it's a pretty light vehicle. Yokohama geolanders on my Scrambler. I liked those a lot, good traction for a seemingly mild tread. My 1-ton has a set of off brand studded mudders( I won them in a raffle) i run Firestone winterforce w/ studs on my and the wifes cars. Those tires work well, have worn well, but suck in the summer (we run 'em year round, why not? mabey 3 months without snow is normal). After approx. 18k on mine, I have very little wear. We run Nokians on our welding trucks, they seem to wear fast but hauling around that much weight has to affect the tread wear some. I list those because I have run the BFG A/T's in the past, and all of these tires are superior in snow and ice to the A/Ts in my honest opinion.

 

[fossil]

Bridgestone Blizzaks. Best snow & ice tire I've ever run. Got a set on my Jeep Grand Cherokee right now (4th winter season I've run them). Not really an off-road/mud tire, I s'pose, and you definitely want to swap them when Winter's over (you'll wear them out quickly if you're always on dry pavement)...but if you're wanting to just get around safely and comfortably without studs on snow and ice, I can't think of a tire I've ever owned that performed as well. Rick

 

[gpcollen1]

Those Toyo OC ATs are one of the best tires for the price. I had a set on a van for extra traction in the wet and winter as well as currently having a set on my 4runner. They are great in rain and great in snow. Of course they are not going to be as good as MT tires off road and in the mud but they are pretty damn good...

I am at 60k on my Toyos right now and won't need new ones til next year...you get what you pay for with tires...

 

[jharkin]

Another thing you can do is check out tire rack. Their reviews and tire test reports are great. you can look up your truck and they will tell you the most popular sellers for it or you can pick and choose and see the owner reports for each tire. They also have views that average the review ratings for each tire by category (dry wet snow wear noise etc) and you can look at tales that rank tires from best to worst rated in each category (A/T, light truck, passenger, touring, performance, etc).

Even if you don't buy from them you can sometimes get a local shop to match the price.

Ive bought & helped family buy, many many sets of tires from them and the recommendations have never let me down.

 

[woodmeister]

I have the toyo o/c on my F-250 which is my plow truck and skidder great off road and in snow decent ride ( not real noisey ) of course you sacrifice some mileage. I also just picked up a 1951 chevy pickup with the very same tires and they are so wrong for that truck.

 

[festerw]

I've got these on my Dakota

Treadwright Warden AT's

Good traction and a whole lot cheaper than the BFG AT's, plus they make me feel like I'm helping out the environment by recycling.

Yes they're retreads, yes they are legal, I've got about 20,000 miles on them with good wear.

 

[fossil]

Another thing you can do is check out tire rack...

Yup, Tire Rack. Great website with tons of good info. Nice selection of fairly priced tires (and wheels). If there's a tire on the website you want that your local dealer doesn't normally stock, there's a whole network of dealers who will take delivery of the tires sent from Tire Rack and mount them for you. I've done business with Tire Rack a couple of times (once a set of Blizzaks mounted and balanced on "winter wheels" for my wife's car and sent direct to me by UPS ready to install, and the other was a set of Blizzaks for my Jeep sent to a local dealer for mounting on my wheels). I've been completely satisfied both times. Rick

http://www.tirerack.com

 

[BrotherBart]

I can only add that last year I bit the bullet and bought a set of B.F. Goodrich Commercial T/A Traction tires for the 3/4 ton Suburban. They turned that tank into a mountain goat. They cost a fortune but since I don't put that many miles on the Sub any more they are worth it. Climbed down and back up that uphill nine hundred foot s-curve driveway last year with three feet of un-plowed snow on it.

The power had been out for a week, I was out of beer and cabin fever was driving me crazy. When I got to the end of the driveway where the plows had totally walled in the end of it I started singing the theme from The Dukes of Hazzard at the top voice and crashed that 7300 pounds right through it.

I love those tires.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Hey BB, I'll bet the grin was still on your face after a mile down the road. That is just plain fun.

 

[OhioBurner©]

I can only add that last year I bit the bullet and bought a set of B.F. Goodrich Commercial T/A Traction tires for the 3/4 ton Suburban.

Actually I really considered those until I bought my 350. For the 150 the 235/85/16 would be a great tall skinny tire. But the problem is with my 350 that severely limits your tire choices when you need both E rated and 17" rims, and good ones like the commercial t/a dont have those sizes.

 

[firefighterjake]

I've got BF Goodrich ATs on my 4Runner and I have to say they were a little more expensive, but they've held up pretty well and do well in the snow. Years ago I ran General Grabbers on my wife's Nissan Hardbody and they were also very good tires in terms of wear and grip.

 

[mrfjsf]

I think I have my choices down to either going back to the Toyo's, or trying out either Nitto Terra Grapplers or BFG A/T's. The tire I spotted that I REALLY wanted to try was the new Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac. They are supposed to be an cross between A/T's and full on mud tires. The reviews I read on them were excellent and I was ready to pull the trigger but the wife really wanted me to find something cheaper. The cheapest I found them were $180 something a tire for the size I need. Shipping was free so It ended up being almost $750 for 4 tires. I just can't justify spending that much for tires right now. Especially considering I plan on getting rid of this truck once im done with school and get a better paying job. The 3 aforementioned A/T's are $30ish cheaper per tire so its just a matter of me picking out a tire now.

Thanks for the input guys!

 

[Beetle-Kill]

mfrjst- This is an odd thing. My good friend and co-worker just bought a new(used) Chevy HD2500 with the 8.1 motor. Brand new Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac's. I don't have any experience with these tire so I ask him how they perform weekly (almost daily, truth be told- tire tread designs are my #1 personal porn). His only glowing report was in fresh snow on a dirt road. They were aggresive enough to get him where he needed to go. BUT for driving on winter roads, he's been less than impressed. They suck on ice, but OK on fresh snow (not so much on packed). The tires have a good looking tread pattern, so I was a bit surprised. I'll still try to steer you away from the BFG A/T's, but that's your call. They do wear well, if tread wear vs. traction is your goal. Just my opinion, I may be wrong. ( really hate to add this, but the TSL trxus tires work pretty darn good, but wear quicker than others.) They were on a F-150 that did 50K a year up here.

 

[mayhem]

My truck had a set of Toyo open country A/T's on it when I bought it. They weren't brand new, but they were fairly close to it. They wore down to the cords in about 30,000 miles, but while they had tread they were good...I didn't feel like they were great though.

Slapped a set of MT tires on there after the Toyos. Great traction in the snow when plowing, but those didn't even last 10k.

Currently I have a set of Firestone Destnation AT's on the truck. So far so good. I haven't plowed with them yet, but they're quiet on dry roads, I don't do smoking burnouts at the first sign of moisture on the road (like the MTs did) and in the few inches of snow we've had thus far I've had excellent performance in 2wd.

 

[kobudo]

I 2nd the comments on the Blizzaks.
My wife has a set on her car and I have a set on the SUV.
We just had a 22" snowfall here in MPLS and I was out and about without an issue. Most of my neighbors couldn't make it down the street with their SUV's and all season tires. My highway mileage does suffer a little bit and they aren't as quiet as my summer tires but I wouldn't be without them.

 

[Badfish740]

Check out General Grabber AT2's-very similar to BFG All Terrains but cheaper. They are studdable too.

 

[dave11]

If you want the most bang for little money, look for a decent snow tire (like Cooper/Mastercraft) that can be studded. Studs are only a few bucks per tire, and make a world of difference.

If you want to go off road though in heavy snow, you'll need a more aggressive tread.

 

[jeromehdmc]

I wouldn't count out the Treadwright Warden's. The tread pattern looks alot like the BFG AT's and those are about the best all-around tire out there. A guy I work with got a set of Treadwright mud tires and has nothing but good things to say about them. They even sent him a free tire because one of them had a slight blem on the edge of the tread. If you aren't keeping the truck I'd go with a cheaper tire.

 

[Blazin]

My Jeep had a set of Uniroyal Liberator A/T's when I purchased it. They worked really well in the winter here in MT. And they stood up to the sharp rocks and such found in our mountains. I'd recommend them any day.