Let the tire wars begin...again!

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etarasoff

etarasoff

Joined
Sep 2, 2012
Threads
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Location
Ashland, OR
I know this has been brought up time and time again, but come on...do we ever really get tired of debating the best tires for our rigs? :popcorn:

I drive a 1997 LX450. Currently, the suspension is stock except for 1" MF coil spacers. Tires are 285/75/16 D-rated Michelins. Armor consists of Kaymar rear bumper with carrier, ARB front bumper. Sliders are coming soon!

I recently took off an OME medium lift as the ride eventually just got too harsh for me. Some might like the on-road feel, but if I'm looking for a sporty drive I prefer the Boxster. :steer:

I'm looking for something that will give me decent on-road manners while still being rugged enough for mild-to-medium offroad duties. I prefer to stay away from mud but I sometimes encounter a little bit of it while haunting fishing spots here in Northern California. A typical trip for me might involve a 6 hour drive on the freeway to get to an area where I'll drive fire roads, cross small streams and drive around rocky river banks. Sometimes I'll encounter a little bit of snow.

Here's what I'm currently considering:

265/75/16 Duratrac in "C" load range:
I like everything about these tires and the C load range is appealing to me for the ride quality. I'd like a little bit of a taller tire ideally, though.

255/85/16 Cooper ST in "D" load range:
I like these tires a lot but have no personal experience with Cooper tires. I'm a big fan of the tall skinny look. Concerned with how loud these might be? I've heard some people say quiet, some say as loud as a KM2. Also wondering how the ride quality on these 255s with a D load will compare to my 285 Michelins with a D load? Hopefully better since they're lighter?

285/75/16 Falken Wild Peak in "D" load range:
Seem to have decent reviews and are supposed to be quiet on the freeway. Downside is that they are HEAVY. Upside is I can get them for dirt cheap.

285/75/16 Duratrac in "E" load range: All the Duratrac positives but I'm concerned about how they might ride being E-rated tires. But, they are lighter than the competition in this size/load-rating and are supposed to be softer in the sidewall?

At any rate, let the opinions and advice fly! Thanks in advance...Eric
 
I've got 295 BFG AT/KO and they are E rated and ride nice. I have an OME 2.5 heavy and it rides much better that the Medium OME I had. Try this tire, it's a true 33 and a good option for that lift. Not too wide
 
You'll put a hole in the sidewall of a Duratrac.

I've seen it twice personally, in situations where it absolutely should not have happened.
 
How do you like the Toyo MT's, Douglas? The 255/85/16s were on my list since I love Toyo but I heard that in exchange for their ruggedness and durability, they're heavy and pretty harsh on an 80. Your experience?
 
I like the Coopers--I have a set of the AT3's on my RAV4 that I really like. Our driveway gets' REALLY muddy in the Oregon winter, but the AT3's handle the mud just fine, but they're still quiet on the hwy, wear well, and didn't effect my mileage any. I bought them on eBay through Discount Tire Direct, got a screaming deal with rebates, special offers, and free shipping--I wound up paying like $350 for the set, and then took them into America's Tire (same company as Discount Tire) to get them mounted for $16 a wheel with free lifetime rotations.

I'm with you on the tall and narrow tires--I'd love to get a good deal on a used set of 255/75/16's for my '91 Land tank.....
 
etarasoff said:
How do you like the Toyo MT's, Douglas? The 255/85/16s were on my list since I love Toyo but I heard that in exchange for their ruggedness and durability, they're heavy and pretty harsh on an 80. Your experience?
Click to expand...

I don't have much to compare them to other than the mild AT's that were on my 80 when I bought it.

The tires are definitely very heavy and fairly stiff, but they're also tough and they wear well. I would buy them again especially in the 285/75R17 that I'm running which works out to about a 34"x11.5" so there's about an extra inch of diameter over the more typical 285/75R16.
 
Douglas S said:
You'll put a hole in the sidewall of a Duratrac.

I've seen it twice personally, in situations where it absolutely should not have happened.
Click to expand...

I gotta say that's a prett bold statement given the fact that I run those tires in C load rage (31x10.5) ive been on some pretty sketchy rocks with them and rubbed the sidewall on lots of rough stuff and have never had a problem. yes they are a softer tire and that's obvious but the weekend wheeler should have no problems at all with light wheeling and a little bit of smarts.

I run my truck hard and live in the snow, mud and rocky dry summers. for all that the duratrac is so far the best tire I have found, but again I live, hunt, fish and next year guide, in slop and they are what works for me.

duras are not that loud imo, have great grip in the wet stuff compared to BFG TA all terrains (<-horrible snow/wet tire, great summer tire) but it comes at the price of being softer. provided though on my steel rims they are still heavy and weigh in at about 75lbs total rim+tire.


so as you can see I like the duras a lot and are really great in snow and wet stuff but will get chewed up fast if you have a heavy foot on the skinny pedal.

OP and also PM me if you want guided fishing trips next year in the Plumas National Forest area. I can do Lake almanor, davis, Frenchman and the middle fork of the feather river areas plus lakes basin and some of the Yuba. I also need guinea pigs this year to work out some guiding stuff free of charge...fly fishing preferred but I can guide spinning and bait casting outfits too
 
I have run Cooper Discovery's twice, a set of BFG at's and Toyo mt's all on the same rig. I live in western NV and spend a fair amount of ime off highway in the fall and winter. The Coopers are just plain awesome. Expensive, but never let me down. The Toyo's about the same, but I never quite trusted them if th rocks looked sharp. Probably due to the fact that my buddy runs them andhas had several side wall punctures while deer huning. The BFG's were a great tire and never had an issue, but thdy look so tame that I always worried they would fail. They neved did, but I was always concerned. The Toyo's were the loudest on the road and it progressively got worse fom 12K on to the point where it was ridiculous at around 25K. Coopers were OK but the BFG's were great almost all the way through. The same buddy runs the Falkens now and swears by them. Quiet and good off road he says. He chases trophy trucks in his off time and says they hold up great. My current shoes are Nitto Trail Grapplers. Look awesome, work great, wear fast and aee noisy. All above were 35" size. Coopers were the best, IMO.
 
No Bridgestone Revo II's in the mix?!?!

Load range E...smooth, quiet,excellent traction in all weather
 
KWalkerM said:
I gotta say that's a prett bold statement given the fact that I run those tires in C load rage (31x10.5) ive been on some pretty sketchy rocks with them and rubbed the sidewall on lots of rough stuff and have never had a problem. yes they are a softer tire and that's obvious but the weekend wheeler should have no problems at all with light wheeling and a little bit of smarts.
Click to expand...

That's what my friends said right up until the moment they put huge gashes in their sidewalls.


Not worth the risk.
 
@KWalkerM - thanks for the invite. My usual haunts include things along the 101 corridor - Eel, Klamath, Trinity, Smith - and mostly for salmon and steelhead. That said, I've always wanted to drift the lower Sac which is more out your way when the 'bows are stacking up behind the reds. Count me and my dad in as customers on that if you start putting any trips together there.

So, after much agonizing and back-and-forth, I finally pulled the trigger today on a set of 255/85/16 Cooper S/Ts. They're show up at my door in a few days. I'll let y'all know how I like them once I put some miles on them!
 
Any feedback on Yoko Geolander A/T-S?
 
bobthebuilder said:
Any feedback on Yoko Geolander A/T-S?
Click to expand...

I have a set of these on my daily driver Tacoma DoubleCab. Awesome on-road manners. I have 37k miles on them and they have worn perfectly evenly and have probably 5-10k miles left. Almost zero off road use but they've been fine snow. I'm thinking about putting them on my 80 and would like some feedback in that application also.
 
See the wife has Yoko Geolander HT-S on the highlander and we had to have them replaced after 30k because they only had 2/32 left. Big-O did warranty them with a new set but I am now apprehensive about Yokos. Thinking next go round will be Cooper ATP or AT3s.
 
etarasoff said:
@KWalkerM - thanks for the invite. My usual haunts include things along the 101 corridor - Eel, Klamath, Trinity, Smith - and mostly for salmon and steelhead. That said, I've always wanted to drift the lower Sac which is more out your way when the 'bows are stacking up behind the reds. Count me and my dad in as customers on that if you start putting any trips together there.

So, after much agonizing and back-and-forth, I finally pulled the trigger today on a set of 255/85/16 Cooper S/Ts. They're show up at my door in a few days. I'll let y'all know how I like them once I put some miles on them!
Click to expand...

Any update on these tires? Pics on the truck would be nice too.
Thanks
 
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