Possible source for 33x9.50r15 BFG "unicorn." (2 Viewers)

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daner

daner

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The old BFG 33x9.50 tires were probably my favorite tire for a variety of rock crawling, sand and occasional mud or snow. There are other "pizza cutters" out there, but most have aggressive tread that will struggle in sand, and are noisy or have poor road manners. So I have been very sad that they have been unavailable for years. I even purchased several 33x9.50r15 spares on Craigslist to rotate in every once in a while to prolong their life.

Yesterday I was doing a random search I found a source online that claims to have them in stock....

I ordered them yesterday. Paid for them too. They are scheduled to arrive on September 15th (two weeks away), which leads me to suspect they are coming from overseas. Who knows.

What are the chances of these things actually arriving?
 
  1. Bfg only makes them currently 33 10.50r15 in the K02 . if someone had some of the 9.50 original K0's then they would be really old tires ...
Psoo
 
If they are not pliable/acceptable, I will return them.


The last set I had was purchased in 2005. They lasted over 30,000 miles of everything from Montana and Canada, Death Valley and the Baja. They were still roadworthy (albeit 40% tread) in 2017 when I sold the old Willys.

20161224_144250_0.jpg
 
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Reading up on this a little more-there should be a manufacture's date on the sidewalk. If they DO actually have them, I will not accept them if they are more than a few years old.

I also will call BFG to see what their recommendations are as far as age. From what I can tell, different manufacturers have different recommendations. The most restrictive say tires over six years should be replaced. Other manufacturers recommend inspecting them after six years.
 
Day four. The plot thickens....

I emailed BFG yesterday and asked them a few questions about their 33x9.50r15s, and they responded. I have to admit, I was expecting a disingenuous, cut-and-paste "thank you very much for your interest in our product..." letter. Instead they gave a well-thought response in less than 12 hours:

According to BFG, the 33x9.50r15 was discontinued in June of 2013. BFG themselves do not sell tires to other companies more than three years old, but their standard six-year warranty starts at the time of invoice (sale to customer). While not citing a specific policy or regulation, they said if they were manufactured in 2013, they are fine. If they are from an older manufacturing date they asked me to contact them. Maybe they will feel sorry for me and give me a screaming deal on the 33x10.50s....then ill just need to find a sketchy tire shop that will mount them on a 5.5" wheel.

They also mentioned all BFG tires are made in the USA. Perhaps a bit of a shameless plug for their product, but Ill gladly support a quality product made in America over a product made in a third-world country that pays their employees $8 a day.


And kudos to BFG.
 
Yeah kudos for bfg to continue to manufacture a tire that they did not sell to their local market :meh:

I recalled people talking to bfg directly and said they were not making these tires ... in the 2010/2011 time frame

Did a quick look ... one of those who talked directly to them was @SteveH

He should be happy to know that they were still manufacturing a tire two years after he was told they were not :meh:
 
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I was little surprised as well that 33x9.50's were manufactured at that late of a date. From everything on the internet they were discontinued much earlier, sometimes I wonder if there is misinformation on the internet...

Having said that, it is not looking good. I ordered the tires through Walmart.com. Before I ordered them I contacted Walmart.com and they assured me that if the item was available. I could tell the person didn't even look before they answered. I was also suspicious that it would take more than two weeks to deliver the item.

Two weeks later, no updates on my Walmart.com account.

They were supposed to be delivered to the local Walmart by 6:00 tonight. This morning I received a cut-and-paste form email saying the items are on backorder. No further info.

As of right now, I cant say anything good about Walmart's customer service. I had contacted the local Walmart yesterday and learned Walmart.com and Walmart are two separate companies and they do not communicate with eachother, have access to information about eachother and Walmart cannot help me.


Will update next time Walmart.com sends a disingenuous computer-generated form email telling me how much they value their customers.


Meanwhile-the FJ40 is still rolling on these wonderful vintage tires:



IMG_0794[1].JPG
 
I should state, that I rarely complain about service. I never, ever belittle people who work in the service industry, and only return items if there is a legitimate reason to return them, and even then I treat their employees with respect. My theory is that if I am not happy with a product or service, ill take my business elsewhere.

Might be time to take my business elsewhere.

But Walmart.com's poor service is getting under my skin. I navigated the "contact us" page (well hidden to discourage customers from contacting them, I might add).

under the "describe your reason for contacting us" I started to explain the issue. Didn't make it very far as evidently I must describe my issue in less than 150 characters. This is a really, really bad way to treat a customer that just spent 1K at your store.

IMG_0971[1].JPG
 
Apologies for the rant. it is a necessary venting process.

A Walmart.com sales rep contacted me yesterday and apologized. They said they would give me 5% off the purchase when they came in, or refund the money.

What good does a 5% discount do on a product that does not exist?
 
daner said:
Apologies for the rant. it is a necessary venting process.

A Walmart.com sales rep contacted me yesterday and apologized. They said they would give me 5% off the purchase when they came in, or refund the money.

What good does a 5% discount do on a product that does not exist?
Click to expand...
Did the tires ever show up?
 
Nope. After wasting my time for a month i received a computer-generated email saying they appreciated my shopping with Walmart etc...
I ended up buying BFG K2 33x10.50s from Costco. They really don't look much wider. Even though the truck doesn't run yet I photographed on a rock so it looks badass like on Pirate 4x4.

IMG_1202.JPG
 
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Bummer. I have the 10.5's on my Trekker and would've liked to have a 9.5 for the spare.

Your 40 looks good, I mean, bad ass with the new meats.

I had 10.5's on my daily driver fj40 back in the day. If I remember right, they were about as wide as you could go without needing fender flares.
 
Thanks, I'm happy with the BFG 33x10.50s, especially how light and balanced they are compared to other tall skinny tires I've had.

They do stick out about 1/2" to 1" from the body, I suppose an officer could give me a hard time if that were his prerogative, most I've met have been pretty good folks with a crappy job...
 
I couldn't find the kenda 33x9.5r15 for sale online. The sales sheet linked in this thread had an asterisk for the 33x9.5 with an "* Est. Available Q4 2020."
 
Vasopressor said:
I couldn't find the kenda 33x9.5r15 for sale online. The sales sheet linked in this thread had an asterisk for the 33x9.5 with an "* Est. Available Q4 2020."
Click to expand...
Toyo at3 are the best but buy what u like
 
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