Tire Brands - the Good and the Bad

[AcesandEights]

Yep, this man's opinion...and wallet. I've had Goodyear and Cooper tires, so I have experience with them. Based on my experience, I'm not uncorking the change jar for them again. It really doesn't matter how many tools are in the drawer, as long as you have the one right tool for the job. Goodyear or Cooper might work for someone else in their driving conditions, on their rig, but they haven't been the right tool for me or my jobs. Good luck.

Sponsored

 

[thestein13]

Those two are the worst.

The Terra Crappler had such horrible reviews on Shitto's own website that when they totally revamped the website a year or two ago all of those reviews magically disappeared. Crazy, huh? My roommate ran them on his Chevy pickup and they wore so poorly that he said never again!

The Ridge Crappler has a reputation for being absolutely horrendous in snow and rain. They last a long time because the compound is so hard. But that hard compound makes them dangerous in foul weather and not good in the rocks off road either.

Just terrible tires. And we're not even getting into the balancing issues, etc.

It's not just 4x4s. I bought a set of Shitto "Motivo" tires for my Mustang GT two years ago. The tire shop said the road force numbers were worse than most truck tires they see. One took a ton of weights to even be usable. Another was so bad it wasn't usable. Had to get them to send me a new tire and refund that one. Just awful....

Man I wonder how Loren Healy, Casey Currie, Shannon Campbell, or Von Gittin Jr ever get traction with Nitto's hard compound. They must use a different brand of tires on their daily drivers and in foul weather. Toyo owns Nitto and I'm pretty sure both brands compete in competitions and comply with industry regulations.

 

[blnewt]

Man I wonder how Loren Healy, Casey Currie, Shannon Campbell, or Von Gittin Jr ever get traction with Nitto's hard compound. They must use a different brand of tires on their daily drivers and in foul weather. Toyo owns Nitto and I'm pretty sure both brands compete in competitions and comply with industry regulations.

Similar to the post saying only buy BFG, everything else is crap. I had horrible experience w/ Nitto street tires so I have a bias against the brand, that doesn't mean they are bad 4x4tires, just not a brand I feel good about trying. I've had Toyo Open Country ATs on my T-100 and they were a great tire, also had Toyo performance Summer tires on our Infiniti and they were great. I think Toyo would be a bit more premium vs. Nitto in their company lineup but ???.

I've had great experience w/ Mickey Thompson, but these were old bias ply tires back 40+ years ago, I have new ones ready to mount, and from all I've read they will be a great tire. Also had great luck w/ Goodyear Wrangler R/Ts on my old CJ7, probably the best tires I've ever owned, so I have a positive bias toward both those brands. Ran BFGs too, and never let me down so there's that

TBH I think the only tires to avoid like the plague would be off brand chinese tires. I currently run Patagonias, and for them being kind of an off brand tire made in Indonesia they actually have performed ok, and for the bargain price I paid they've exceeded expectations. They seem to be priced much closer to name brand tires now, so they're not nearly as desirable IMO as they wear pretty quick and are poor in wet & cold conditions.

 

[wnorton]

Cooper Tires manufactures Mickey Thompson and Dick Cecek brands. I bought a 5-pack of Cooper Evolution M/Ts in 35/12.5x17 for running the Rubicon this summer. I think they’ll do quite well.

Michelin owns BFG. I love their KO2s for low noise, great street grip, good street snow grip, and tough carcasses for off roading. A bit expensive but excellent performance as any Michelin brand should be.

Can I change the subject for a minute. I’m curious how distracting that bull bar (aka: crush bar) is in your forward facing camera. I’m trying to figure out if I can do similar or not do a bar at all?

 

[Iggy]

Can I change the subject for a minute. I’m curious how distracting that bull bar (aka: crush bar) is in your forward facing camera. I’m trying to figure out if I can do similar or not do a bar at all?

I learned to drive back when CJ-5s first had the 'long' 83.5" wheelbase to accommodate their 304 V8s. For me, having the front camera is more of an interesting trinket and I just don't use it much.

To answer your question, the bull bar does block some of the available view, but for what I've used the camera for, it's not really in the way. I can see over high angle break-overs, check boulders for tire placement, and to ease up very closely to a solid object.

The bull bar is great radiator protection for when a deer decides to commit suicide. It's not hefty enough to take on a horse or moose, but it does add a good deal of general protection. In the middle of nowhere, protecting the engine is #1. The camera loses some view, but the trade off is a no brainer.

 

[wnorton]

Th

I learned to drive back when CJ-5s first had the 'long' 83.5" wheelbase to accommodate their 304 V8s. For me, having the front camera is more of an interesting trinket and I just don't use it much.

To answer your question, the bull bar does block some of the available view, but for what I've used the camera for, it's not really in the way. I can see over high angle break-overs, check boulders for tire placement, and to ease up very closely to a solid object.

The bull bar is great radiator protection for when a deer decides to commit suicide. It's not hefty enough to take on a horse or moose, but it does add a good deal of general protection. In the middle of nowhere, protecting the engine is #1. The camera loses some view, but the trade off is a no brainer.

thank you. Like you my first 2 Jeeps were CJ5’s.

i appreciate your response.

 

[JeepViking13]

I'm running the Goodyear Wrangler Territory® MT and have been pleased so far.

Do they pick up stones like the KO2s? Better or worse? One thing I like about the Wrangler Territory on paper is how light they are over most other tires. With the weight reduction have you seen better fuel economy? Better handling? Did you change the spare as well?

 

[KrispyKotex]

As others have stated, I was also running BFG KO2 AT, but they picked up all sorts of rocks where I live. When out of the rocks, went down the highway and had a couple rocks dislodge and land on my hood. They are a great tire with great wear, but I would not recommend them if you live on a rocky road. I now run Falken MTs, no more issues. They do hum a bit more than the KO2s, but I like that sound.

 

[jaymz]

Do they pick up stones like the KO2s? Better or worse? One thing I like about the Wrangler Territory on paper is how light they are over most other tires. With the weight reduction have you seen better fuel economy? Better handling? Did you change the spare as well?

They don’t seem to pickup as many stones as the KO’s did.

I honestly have no clue on fuel economy. I rarely even check. It’s just not a concern or a curiosity for me.

Handling seemed unchanged, ride feels slightly more plush, but lift and tires were installed at the same time, so I can’t honestly say the tires made that difference.

I did all 5 wheels and tires.

 

[blink9cd]

I was researching used/take-off tires so naturally looking at BFG KO2s and Falken Wildpeak AT3Ws. Both seem like great options from this thread and others. When I was checking out the stats on Discount Tire for 285/70/17/C in both, it mentions KO2s are 51lbs each vs 64lbs each for Wildpeaks.

Is that right? That'd be 52lbs in unsprung weight plus another 13 sprung for the spare (and on the tailgate) -- according to the CJPony parts article on sprung vs unsprung weight, unsprung is roughly 3x sprung, so overall I should think of that as a difference of adding a total of 169 pounds of sprung weight between the two.

Since I'm starting from stock Willys M/Ts at 47lbs each, that's like adding 52lbs sprung weight for KO2s, or 221lbs to switch to Wildpeaks. That seems like quite a difference? Is there a compelling reason the Wildpeak weighs so much more? Real world is their difference in ability on/off road worth the extra weight?

 

[roaniecowpony]

Still on my OE KO2s on my 2018 JLUR. Seems like a middle of the road "ALL" purpose tire. It doesn't stand out in any particular aspect. Not too noisy on-road. Not very good off-road. Their rubber compound ages poorly. Always has. I am starting to get chunking out when off-roading on 3 year old tires. The new and improved KO2 isn't. Nothing terrible about them, nothing great either. Probably never buy another set.

BFG never had decent rubber compounds that lasted like others. They still haven't caught up. IMO, Cooper, Mickey Thompson, and Toyo have much better rubber.

 

[TheBirdie72]

I was researching used/take-off tires so naturally looking at BFG KO2s and Falken Wildpeak AT3Ws. Both seem like great options from this thread and others. When I was checking out the stats on Discount Tire for 285/70/17/C in both, it mentions KO2s are 51lbs each vs 64lbs each for Wildpeaks.

Is that right? That'd be 52lbs in unsprung weight plus another 13 sprung for the spare (and on the tailgate) -- according to the CJPony parts article on sprung vs unsprung weight, unsprung is roughly 3x sprung, so overall I should think of that as a difference of adding a total of 169 pounds of sprung weight between the two.

Since I'm starting from stock Willys M/Ts at 47lbs each, that's like adding 52lbs sprung weight for KO2s, or 221lbs to switch to Wildpeaks. That seems like quite a difference? Is there a compelling reason the Wildpeak weighs so much more? Real world is their difference in ability on/off road worth the extra weight?

Not sure those numbers are right…. I have Falken at3w’s in 285 70 17 and each weighs about 50 lbs, comparable to same size KO2… confirmed on tiresize dot com:

And I weighed one on a bathroom scale when I got them. ~50 lbs.

 

[Bikemobile]

In my actual experience with the falkens and bfg’s, the falkens seem to have a bit more sidewall and shoulder thickness. The falkens wear more evenly as well. BFG is a great tire no question but falken has got them beat at this point.

I run the falken at3w on my truck and falken mud on my jeep. Great tires.

 

[4-play]

Falken Wildpeak MT’s were absolutely awesome in the snow. They should be called “ blizzard rated”. I sold the set, didn’t like the stock wheels. Now running BFG K02’s. Haven’t had the chance to snow test them yet.

 

[blink9cd]

Not sure those numbers are right…. I have Falken at3w’s in 285 70 17 and each weighs about 50 lbs, comparable to same size KO2… confirmed on tiresize dot com:

And I weighed one on a bathroom scale when I got them. ~50 lbs.

Ok so that's interesting, here's a screenshot from Discount Tire. Not pictured but I did pick Load Range C1:

Tire Size also seems to disagree on tread depth (which seems too low?), rim width,.... what's going on between the two sites?

Either way if you weighed it on a scale, that sounds good. Makes much more sense to me that they're close to the same weight.

Sponsored