Are "Expensive" Tires Even Worth It?

[TheBirdie72]

Does Michelin make a 33” or 35” all terrain tire? ? Haven’t heard about it.

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[Old Jeeper]

Tires in the past 10 years or so do not seem to last as long as they once did which is starting to make me question why I would buy a premium brand versus a mid-tier or lower tier tire.

In the past, the statement "you get what you pay for" may have been true, but I becoming more and more skeptical of that.

I do not feel like I got what I paid for with the 37" BFG K02's I bought. They have not held up any better than the 35" Kanati Trail Hogs I had previously, perhaps even lesser, yet they were about $800 more (as compared to 37" Kanati's).

Not intended to turn into a bash K02 thread (though I would be first in line), but what are the general thoughts?

Buy BFG, Nitto, Toyo, M/T or look to a cheaper brand?

Money is not the issue for me, it is the service life and minimal maintenance that wins.

Almost 100k miles, over 9 years of wheeling across the US and Mexico full time, that was my job.

Started out with GY MTRs, then where I bought them (Discount Tire) they called me and asked if I would be willing to try a new tire, BFG KM2s. Sure, why not, I did and never looked back, bet wheeling tire. That said I am a rock guy, no mud or sand (other than down on the Sea of Cortez in Mexico).

I have been on trail runs in AZ, where the trail was a dry creek bed, full of SHALE. I was the ONLY Jeep that did not slice the tires. In fact, 2 guys had to remove their wheels and tires and drive into Phoenix to buy new tires, they had sliced the wide open. FWIW if you are going to play in the rocks and Moab etc go BFG KMs.

Sea of Cortez

 

[Zandcwhite]

Never been impressed with the KO2. Certainly not off road in any conditions. Sure they are good in places like moab and typical dry forest roads, but so is every tire ever made. Mud, deep snow, sand, or anywhere you need extra traction I've never run a worse tire unless I ended up in one of those situations in my car. They were definitely quieter on road than the yokohama x-mt's, but somehow were no better in the rain or cornering? The Patagonias and maxxis razrs are every bit as good on road and vastly better off. I hear they are good in icy conditions, but that's not an issue for me. Definitely considering the kanati mud hogs as our next tire as they are available in a 39" size. I think the days of cheap tires with tread separation issues went away with our litigious society. At this point any tire you can buy should be serviceable, so at that point you're just paying for brand recognition.

 

[Ang1Sgt]

Just a little heads up. I read as much information as I can about the tires I am looking at. For my Daily Driver which is a 2020 Subaru Outback that I put Falken Wildpeaks on, I looked for treadwear life. So far, these tires have well over 20,000 miles on them and the treadwear has been very good, maybe less than 2/32” over that time period. I am in my third Snow season with these tires and they are still remarkable.

I have the Firestone Destination M/T’s on the 2020 Willys and I am not sure how they are doing because miles rack up much slower on that vehicle due to it being a 3rd vehicle. But with only 8000 miles, I do not see much of a wear issue with them.

All of my cars I do my own tire rotations. I have a small note book for each of the vehicles and I do tire tread depth measurements across the tires in 4 places. I do that to see if there is any issues in treadwear and/or tire pressure. I usually can get more mileage out of my tires than the warrantee claims, IF there is a warrantee on them.

Another huge thing to consider in the ”LOAD RANGE” of the tire too. This can really change the ride quality of the vehicle. I have made that mistake once way back on the CJ that I had. E range tires on a CJ is a rough ride for sure!

 

[zrickety]

Tires in the past 10 years or so do not seem to last as long as they once did which is starting to make me question why I would buy a premium brand versus a mid-tier or lower tier tire.

In the past, the statement "you get what you pay for" may have been true, but I becoming more and more skeptical of that.

I do not feel like I got what I paid for with the 37" BFG K02's I bought. They have not held up any better than the 35" Kanati Trail Hogs I had previously, perhaps even lesser, yet they were about $800 more (as compared to 37" Kanati's).

Not intended to turn into a bash K02 thread (though I would be first in line), but what are the general thoughts?

Buy BFG, Nitto, Toyo, M/T or look to a cheaper brand?

Money is not the issue for me, it is the service life and minimal maintenance that wins.

Most tires do have some kind of mileage rating...but typically the 'better' tires have a lower lifespan. It depends on your purposes, on my fun car I agonize over tire choices, which has paid off.
Jeep performance is entirely different. I only wander to dirt roads and sand, I haven't found the need for a premium tire. My K02 have not wowed me, but not disappointed either.
That said, I've had General Grabbers that I liked.

 

[JJ_WA]

Does Michelin make a 33” or 35” all terrain tire? ? Haven’t heard about it.

Their TX/AT2 only goes to 285 (https://www.michelinman.com/auto/tires/michelin-ltx-a-t2?tyreSize=17)

They do make the LTX M/S in 35 - https://www.michelinman.com/auto/browse-tires/by-dimension/35/12.5/20/ I doubt you'd want to off-road with it much.

 

[TheBirdie72]

Their TX/AT2 only goes to 285 (https://www.michelinman.com/auto/tires/michelin-ltx-a-t2?tyreSize=17)

They do make the LTX M/S in 35 - https://www.michelinman.com/auto/browse-tires/by-dimension/35/12.5/20/ I doubt you'd want to off-road with it much.

Thanks. Yeah, Michelins seem to be more road tires vs all terrain.

 

[Jeep Dude]

Tires in the past 10 years or so do not seem to last as long as they once did which is starting to make me question why I would buy a premium brand versus a mid-tier or lower tier tire.

In the past, the statement "you get what you pay for" may have been true, but I becoming more and more skeptical of that.......

Time for some out of the box searching..

The "Snow Flakes" are available in in 37in sizes and one of them in 40in.

https://leinatyre.com/Product.aspx?pid=686&typeId=705

????

 

[blackthought_]

Does Michelin make a 33” or 35” all terrain tire? ? Haven’t heard about it.

Ha! I don’t think that they do. But, on my sports car I had to make the same decision about getting the Michelin Pilot Sport 4s or a less quality brand. Needed to spend a bit more for the quality!

 

[roaniecowpony]

Ha! I don’t think that they do. But, on my sports car I had to make the same decision about getting the Michelin Pilot Sport 4s or a less quality brand. Needed to spend a bit more for the quality!

I put some Sport 4s tires on my SS Camaro and it was incredible. I like that tire.

 

[kylebw7]

I previously worked for the world’s largest tire manufacturer (Michelin). The amount of r&d they put in on making a well made safe tire was insane. The quality control and development is lightyears ahead of the cheap companies. The other “name brand” companies are similar. A few hundred bucks for piece of mind and safety is worth it when you’re carrying passengers you care about

 

[Pinky Tuscadero]

Nary a trace of information here as of yet ?
The post was about service life and minimal maintenance and not even the OP gave any actual data on his own experience - mileage, treadwear evenness, premature failure, maintenance ??? - wtf is minimal maintenance on a tire ? - do some get rotated less ? do some need the air changed out ?
How many miles did everyone get out of the different tires ? miles per $ would be nice
How do they really perform on and off road - not wild guesses
Which ones dry rotted after a year and which ones ran strong 10 years later
And, oh yeah.... on a Jeep... not a Camaro, not a Subaru, not a Yugo... but on a Jeep
"Brand X tire sucks" is not actual data unless your 4 years old ?
But thanks to the OP as these posts are fun and besides, we've got plenty of other real tire posts if we wanted research - lol

 

[RubiSc0tt]

I always check reviews of similar use case vs. pricing. And if your review relies solely on "road noise" and concerns of hydroplaning/ understeer on ice/ Snow, and having an "aggressive look"- it gets thrown out, because 9/10 times you're driving outside your abilities or the conditions of the road, and that's not on the tire. I've seen too many people who are new to Jeeps pretend it's like their previous F150 or BMW SUV. Not aimed at anyone, but since the proliferation of the JKU, I've seen more of these and it really does not help make the user experience and performance of the tire any clearer.

I live in the Northeast, daily drive/ and wheel in all muddy/ snowy/ rocky forest conditions. I've had great luck with the BFG KM series, BFG KO series, and the Mickey Thompson MTZ. They were all expensive or unavailable when I ordred my 37's, so I went Milestar Patagonias after reading some reviews and watching several Youtube people abuse the ever-living shit out of them. Seeing those use cases made me feel more confident in them, especially for the price. I have to say, I'm happy with them, but if they raise the price point I may be looking elsewhere.

I refuse to touch Goodyear- they're complete trash, and the MTR's can wear odd, wear out of round, and cause a shimmy. Happened on my 04 Rubi. While they were normal, they did well on the Rocks but that's about it. I bought some Duratracs, which were OK, but really failed to impress me on the trail. Couple that with a pretty short wear down over 12k-ish miles (whereas my KO's would regularly net me 15-20k), and I wasn't going to give Goodyear money again.

In the past any "no-name" tires were considered dangerous in my book because of the various wear issues, tread separation, inferior carcass, etc. Now, with some of the advances in tech, money flowing into some of those companies via new ownership groups, and the ability to research here and occasionally being able to see said tires perform on places like YouTube, I'm more open to new brands and models, as long as they fit my use case.

 

[Xcoaste]

Find a good tire shop that sells a lot of brands. Specifically ask about balancing large tires and see what brands they recommend. Just one more thing to consider when tire shopping for large size tires.

 

[CarbonSteel]

I previously worked for the world’s largest tire manufacturer (Michelin). The amount of r&d they put in on making a well made safe tire was insane. The quality control and development is lightyears ahead of the cheap companies. The other “name brand” companies are similar. A few hundred bucks for piece of mind and safety is worth it when you’re carrying passengers you care about

While I do not disagree (with the R&D), Michelins from 2000-2015 were awful--goose eggs on the side walls, treadwear rates that were abysmal--with the exception of the LTX AT/2.

Michelin does not make a 37" A/T unless you count BFG, but it is not something I would ever consider again.

While safety may have been an issue in the past with "cheaper" tires, I am not seeing that today--no widespread tales of tire "X" being a safety risk, especially with the "Internet Amplification" that happens. There are number of lower tier brands that are just as good as the premiums, they just cost less.

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