Tire research

[Hunner]

My Bridgestones work great in the mountains on loose shale and rocks. Its muddin time here so Im looking at something more for that. I need an open tread that hopefully cleans out the buckshot mud we have in other areas. I have decided to stick with 35's because of all the rock crawling I do. Also the other issues that come with changing size that have been discussed to death. Just my opinion to simplfy things. I offroad hard and need all the clearance in the fender wells. Speedo change can be fixed but it also effects the PCM response and boat towing and shifting. Maybe some of that could be addressed in a reprogram. All that aside back to finding a mud and street combo better than AT's. I have a neighbor that has a mobile tire service so Im going with something he can get. The Mickey Thompson specs sound good and it looks rugged. Im sort of leaning towards that. I will post my results.
I looked at BFG MT. They seem overpriced to me. They are not siped at all. Slick on wet pavement like the old Mudders were. I see more of these on trailered rigs. They love them.
Here is a picture I put together of some possible choices. In my search locally I found Pep Boys carried a tire under the name Definity Dakota mt that is a Cooper tire but not quite a Discovery STT quality.
I also found a Mickey Thompson Baja MTX I really like and a Pro Comp. You can do your own research just thought I would pass this along.
First on left is Mickey, then Pep Boy and Pro Comp

[Sewie]

Might want to look at the Toyos also.

[K9sH3]

I have the MT's you mentioned and I like the way it looks and rides so far, have not been in serious mud YET. but will be soon.

[Hunner]

I looked at Toyo and it is also right in there on tread and design. I was going for an American product if I can. (I really did not want "Toyo" on my Hummer tires.) I also was hoping for somewhere around $700 for 4 and probably going to get 5. Just because I could spend a thousand I would rather look for quality at a little less money. I am after all going out to see how hard I can run them. I found I could buy a set for around $700+ and get black steel rims for a total of $1000. Im glad to have so many choices. I ran a Toyota LandCrusher Wagon FJ55 back in the seventies and Armstrong Tru Trac 11 x 15 was a high teck tire except maybe ordering from Cepek.

[Crash ?]

IMHO you should try out a set of Maxxis Buckhorns (not Buckshots) and tell me it they are any good..

They generally go on Ebay for about $625 a set delivered.. One of the places on Ebay that has them is a tire shop in Tuckerman, AR BTW.. I've heard they'll sell 'em for even less (including mount and balance) at the shop since they don't have to ship..

Rob

[raptorman53]

I've ran three sets of the Pro Comp's in the past and never had any problems. I ran the 305's and 315's. The 305 seemed to last longer because of a harder rubber compound. Hope this helps.

[Hunner]

Visitors got to see a new line of all-terrain radial light truck tires available from Mickey Thompson, a company owned by Cooper. The new Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ radial comes in sizes for most light truck/SUV applications, from the traditional 30x9.50R15LT size to the 40x13.50R20LT. This tire, says the company, features ?stone kickers? between each shoulder lug.

I found that on a SEMA report site. Another Cooper huh?
Im liking the reports and wrap around tread.


http://www.mickeythompsontires.com.au/news_stories/New%20Power%20charged%20Mud%20Terrain.htm

[HUMMJAY]

35" procomp Xterrains

[Hunner]

Lots of choices. Im going with the 285 Mickey Thompson new tire Baja MTZ we will see what happens.

[HUMMJAY]

those look bada$$ are you putting them on stock tires?

[Urban Ops]

I have the Pro-Comp X-Terrains on my wifes Jeep (tar baby). We picked them purely for their looks. I'm really not impressed with them for a DD. Slippery when wet if you know what I mean. I won't even think about taking them up to go snowboarding.

[Urban Ops]

Lots of choices. Im going with the 285 Mickey Thompson new tire Baja MTZ we will see what happens.

Please keep us up on how they work for ya.......:dancingbanana:

[Hunner]

those look bada$$ are you putting them on stock tires?

The stock Hummer satin aluminum 7.5 rims. They spec for 7 and up. I measured for 315's and that metal piece in the front of the rear fender well would be real close and not much room for mud to pile up. We got sticky stuff here in the Delta bottoms. I have seen tires load up and fill the wheel wells until you had to dig it out! My Bridgestones rub now on the sway bar offroad. I cranked my torsions up 2 more turns today for a total of 8 just to level it.

[Hunner]

Replace 33 Bridgestones A/T with 33 Mickey Thompson MTZ for all the reasons I already stated. I chose not to go 35 mostly for clearance, mud balling up and rock crawling over loose basketball size and implanted rock formations unlike large smooth boulders you can drive up on and over. Im going to get them muddy tomorrow if its not all frozen!! NARLEY!

[Hunner]

Broadside

[Hunner]

Front, duh

[Hunner]

Rear?

[Hunner]

Front tread

[Hunner]

profile

[Hunner]

Rear of Rear and yeah I had the heat on. Its 29 outside. My neighbor has a mobile tire service and we did it here this afternoon. We were a little slower than NASCAR because we could not feel our fingers. Awesome service! Im not sure a 35 would fit back here in this tire. +Maybe I could mount another one on the front and play bumber cars with the Heeps on the trail.
Anybody got a set of stock rims for sale?? Time for tire trials.

[Hunner]

Oh and here are the specs. I guess everybody knows what each means. Im lazy, just copied it.

LT285/75R16 56lbs D 3305 65 7.5-9.0 8.0 11.3 8.9 33.1 18.5/32

Im done.

[Sewie]

They look small. :giggling: Let us know how they work for you. I was looking at the Baja Claws at one point but saw pics of some with the sidewalls tore to hell. They were on a FJ I think so it could've just been the driver. :shhh:

Im not sure a 35 would fit back here in this tire.

Betcha it would. ;)

[Mike E]

You're gonna LOVE those MTZ's off road!!!

[Hunner]

Yeah I got the ones that raise the vehicle a whole inch shorter off the ground. I also have a whole inch more travel and clearance all around in the wheel well. I can probably get over or around most things. I will have to check and see about mall parking stops and speed bumps. Since that is not where I wheel I can probably get by. Im fairly certain I will have all the travel allowed by the suspension. I have tested that. Again suspension travel and clearance is alot more important than looks out here in the sticks and rocks and gumbo. Besides my rear skids will just skate over the taller rocks. The tires have 2 ply sidewalls with a third wrapped at an angle, that is a total of three. The claws are not the same tire. They are softer rubber and do not wear well. OOps, missed the trail, what trail??

[Hunner]

Bump Ahead!

[Hunner]

Could have used a taller tire on the right but oh no what about on the left? Is there anymore room in there? Do I always have to lean right then change tires to go back?? What to do?:dancingbanana:

[Hunner]

You're gonna LOVE those MTZ's off road!!!
Indiana huh? Might have to come up there. Maybe you guys could come South for an adventure.
http://www.orvpark.com/

[Hunner]

OOps need and inch taller tire on the drivers side.

[Hunner]

Im just thinking outloud and maybe somebody with better math skills can look this over.
I stand corrected that big ole 35 in BFG M/T is only 1.7 bigger overall and only .85 bigger in height not a full inch. It just changes your gear ratio, speedo, shift points and fuel calibration and acceleration. I know they fit cause a bunch of peeps gottum. In fact after seeing all these figures they are not enough bigger to make much difference in clearance.
BFG 35 is 34.8
Mickey Thompson 33 is 33.1
1.7 inch diff. divided by 2 is .85?
At 55 reads 57 mph which changes your odo
shift points and fuel calibration?
To get same gears you would have to drop down to 4.794.
Heck I thought they were really 35 inches and would have issues with clearance in extreme suspension articulation and mud build up.
Rim size seems to also have an effect not easily measured. Like squeezing a 34.8 tire made for an 8.5+ rim down to a 7.5 should change the footprint some. Would this also make the tire crown in the middle of the tread? When properly inflated do the edges touch the road? Hmmm:popcorn:
Even more facts the Mick Thompson 315 is actually 34.6 so even less difference, Im going wheeling and fergit about it! Gotta break um in!

[f5fstop]

At 55 reads 57 mph which changes your odo
shift points and fuel calibration?
I would check your odo with a GPS before assuming this. My odo is already off, reading 70 on the speedometer, but 68 on GPS devices (I checked with three so far, a Magellan Sportrak TOPO, my Pioneer AVIC NAV system, and a Garmin 60csx, and all three show 68). So if your speedo is like mine, it might only read 1 mph off.To get same gears you would have to drop down to 4.794.
Heck I thought they were really 35 inches and would have issues with clearance in extreme suspension articulation and mud build up.
Rim size seems to also have an effect not easily measured. Like squeezing a 34.8 tire made for an 8.5+ rim down to a 7.5 should change the footprint some. Would this also make the tire crown in the middle of the tread? When properly inflated do the edges touch the road? Hmmm:popcorn:
Even more facts the Mick Thompson 315 is actually 34.6 so even less difference, Im going wheeling and fergit about it! Gotta break um in!
\:)

[Hunner]

I used a little calculator gizmo on the BFG site that showed that speedo diff. Im going to run down the road with my DeLorme hooked up and see what it says. I got a Garmin around here somewhere too. Im running the 33.1 Mickey so it should not have changed much if any. The Bridgestones say they are 33. Im also wondering about rpm. I think I was running 2000 rpm at 60 with the Bridgestones.
This picture is one place I was concerned about losing clearance. Now it seems in my case it would be 3/4" closer with the bigger size in a Mickey. Leaving 2" clearance. About the size of a small rock where I go. I have wedged a rock in there already with the stock tires. When that happens you let the smoke out of the tires, and that's not good!
Oh and that was shot at F3.5