THE RIGHT TIRE & WHEEL

[Millerfish]

I have had several sets of BFG AT's over the years and never a problem. IMHO all things considered including price and how long they last the BFG E rated AT is pretty hard to beat.

[BIGVANS]

Originally Posted by Millerfish

I have had several sets of BFG AT's over the years and never a problem. IMHO all things considered including price and how long they last the BFG E rated AT is pretty hard to beat.

X2 on that!

[Ultrasport12]

Just make sure what ever you buy is E rated, do not settle for anything less...

[daveb]

I'm not happy with the wear the Toyo's are giving me and am looking hard at these. They got really good reviews.

review on the Hankook

315/75-16 HANKOOK DYNAPRO M/T RT03 OWL




Retail Price: $277.66/each
Sale Price: $231.38/each

Brand: HANKOOK
Part #: 2001295
Size: 315/75-16
Speed Rating: Q Type: OFF ROAD
Load Index: 127
Load Range: E
Sidewall: OWL
UTQG:

[MadScience]

Originally Posted by jjtwister

Looking at 285/70R17 with an E rating.

BFG has a new Rugged Terrain TA in this size....has anyone tried it?

I'm running them in 275/70R18, e rated in the back, and the non e rated Rugged Trail in the same size as the back (the front is marginal, but still within spec, so I'm using them up).

For a compromise highway tire, I really like them in the snow as well as on rocky and sandy trails. No experience in dirt (yet).

Two complaints:

On the highway, they will hang on to ruts like nothing I've ever experienced. Very scary the first couple times I went through it. Now that I know about it, it's workable, but I'll still try to get out of lanes that are particularly bad.

I need to do more work dialing in the tire pressure in back, but at the moment at least the e rated ones have a harsh ride unless I'm carrying real weight. When I am loaded I'm pretty happy with the ride, so my next step is to play with dropping the pressure a bit more when running light. From what I hear about e-rated tires as well as from driving other heavy duty vehicles, this seems more tied to the load rating than the particular tire.

Despite that, I'm likely to stick with them as they do well for me on the trail. I also don't see going to a tire with a tread that would have much more significant trade-offs on the highway.

[maxacceleration]

I just pulled my Nitto Terra Grapplers. The had a bounce or vibration their entire life (35K).
I had them re-balanced several times and whenever I rotated tires (every oil change apprx 5K) the bounce would come back.
I could have got 40K out of them although they were pretty thin.
Enter my new Toyo MT at 295/70/17 E(up from 285/70/17 E) and I have smooth running tires!
Even with mud terrain tread they let me cruise at 70 without vibration.
My Nittos' ruled in the snow though. Good all around tire, BUT MINE VIBRATED FROM BRAND NEW, and could not be resolved.
Hopefully its not the Walker Evans wheels (with street locks).
You mention wheel also which requires the right backspacing to match your lift, whether you have buchwacker flares, etc. Many get their backspacing wrong.
You have variables not mentioned.
But you sound highway biased vs off pavement biased.

[Philupngo]

Unfortunately I don't have an SMB in my driveway yet, but do have a quick review on the Falken tires. I recently purchased a set of Falken Rocky Mountain tires while looking for something new to try on my Dodge Ram 1/2 ton 4wd truck (size LT245-70-17 I believe off the top of my head). I've owned BFG All Terrains (3 sets on different vehicles) and a couple set of Goodyear Wrangler All Terrains. I'm happy with the Falkens, but want to provide a couple quick thoughts:

Pros:
- Great looking tire
- All terrain tread that's also good on pavement (95% of my driving so far)
- Tread wear is minimal at 7K miles (mostly asphalt)

Cons
- The road manners of the tires concerned me at first. Driving away from the tire store it felt like the truck was rolling on balloons (slightly flexing left to right with back and forth steering input). They tracked well down the highway, but you can definitely feel the flex in the sidewalls when going down the road. I almost turned around and went back to the tire store but had a 500-mile trip ahead of me and I figured why not drive them a bit and see how I like them. The flex is still there but after 7,000 miles I don't even notice (nor do I feel unstable or unsafe driving). I wasn't completely surprised by this as it's mentioned a few times in some of the reviews online of this tire. Hopefully Falken will make them more rigid like the BFGs and Wranglers I've been used to driving on (stiffer sidewall).
- Tread pattern is aggressive but street friendly, however, rocks do get into the tread grooves easily and will fly off the tire while getting up to highway speed.
- Wet weather--somewhat less traction in wet conditions than I expected, of course part of this could be the light rear half of my pickup. Still no concern as far as overall traction in the rain, but I can easily break the rear end loose when it's wet out without much throttle input.

Hope this helps with your ultimate choice, good luck.

[redrock]

I picked up my van yesterday from Advanced 4x4 in Salt Lake City. I still have stock wheels and tires. Randy at Advanced 4x4 showed me another van that has Goodyear Wrangler Duratrak in 285/75-16. It and they looked great. He said they were excellent on-road. Quiet and tracked well. He said they were the best more-aggressive tire on road that he's driven. The look of the tread was more chunky than BFG ATs. More than the Hankook ATMwhatevers. I'm considering them a strong candidate.

[Gnarvan]

Originally Posted by redrock

I picked up my van yesterday from Advanced 4x4 in Salt Lake City. I still have stock wheels and tires. Randy at Advanced 4x4 showed me another van that has Goodyear Wrangler Duratrak in 285/75-16. It and they looked great. He said they were excellent on-road. Quiet and tracked well. He said they were the best more-aggressive tire on road that he's driven. The look of the tread was more chunky than BFG ATs. More than the Hankook ATMwhatevers. I'm considering them a strong candidate.

The Duratrak is a good looking tire. Not sure I buy the marketing Blaa...Blaa...Blaa about the tractive groove technology helping traction. I can see where it may help clean out the tread which would help traction. In the size I run it looks like they offer both a D rated and an E rated tire which is kind of nice for different applications

I stumbled across this video if anyone is interested in checking the tire out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7B2Rvpfkqc

[Bones_GSXR]

Just switched to the Hancook Dynapro MT in 37x13.50-20. with 12oz of Dynabeads in ea they are quiet and handle great on and off. Switched from Kuhmo (studded and sipped them for winter) and had my Terra Grapplers on after the snow went while I waited for the Hancook's to come in. The Terra Grapplers in the same 37x13.50-20 wander a lot.