Local opinion on Interco tires

[asutherland]

Seriously looking at selling the Duratracs now, before I blow another one out. I'm wearing out my Puma by changing flat tires.

Have you guys run any of the Interco tires? I was looking specifically at the TrXus MT, as apparently they are good in snow. There's a lot of opinions, threads and comparisons, but I'm looking for some actual experience from folks here in BC.

I still want decent highway driving capability and compact snow/ice capability that the Duratracs have, but need a tire with a tougher sidewall for real wheeling.

http://www.intercotire.com/tires.php?id=11&g=1

thx,
Andrew

 

[Enigma]

Seriously looking at selling the Duratracs now, before I blow another one out. I'm wearing out my Puma by changing flat tires.

Have you guys run any of the Interco tires? I was looking specifically at the TrXus MT, as apparently they are good in snow. There's a lot of opinions, threads and comparisons, but I'm looking for some actual experience from folks here in BC.

I still want decent highway driving capability and compact snow/ice capability that the Duratracs have, but need a tire with a tougher sidewall for real wheeling.

http://www.intercotire.com/tires.php?id=11&g=1

thx,
Andrew

Bfg km2's......zero issues in 2 years of wheeling them. I'm not saying......just saying......

 

[Deny]

I've seen Super Swamper Radials get a stick through the sidewall while wheeling and looks like the trxus Mt has a thinner sidewall than the radials. I've ripped side walls on every MT I ever ran until I started running bias ply (only popped two beads in the 10 years I've been running bias tires, no sidewall damage). If you want serious off road preformance, bias is the only way to go, if you want a smooth ride on the highway as well, then you have to give up on some sidewall strength. Course the Michilin XL military radials on my trailer(also running them as a spare) seem like they got pretty killer side walls.

 

[ForealBoreal]

AdamB on the forum from van runs them.
Throw him a pm

 

[toynut]

i maybe wrong but the Dura Tracks have 2 ply sidewalls, you need something with 3 ply's and a decent winter/ aggressive AT tire ! X2 for these Bfg km2's OR why not the BFG AT's ? not aggressive enough ? Have you considered Nitto's ? They don't have as much siping as I would prefer for the winter and I have yet to try them on any ice but they have a 3 ply sidewall and are damn awesome in deep snow and mud. Nitto does a have a less aggressive tire but I am unsure if has the 3 ply's you require .

 

[asutherland]

The Duratracs I have are definitely 3 ply (maybe has to do with the size?)

Considered bfg mt, but haven't heard great things about them on compact snow/ice.

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

Truxus are a great tire off road, very soft and complaint and have great traction on slippery rock and wet pavement. The 255R16 was relatively easy to balance, but then skinny’s are less problem in many ways.
The set of 12.5R15 on my BJ74 was another story. The 12.5R15 took a lot of weight to balance new. I think the worst tire took 8 oz. new. They were OK for the highway for a about two years, but when they got to about 60%, they got increasingly more difficult to balance for highway travel. My last resort was balancing beads, which helped, but they were still intolerable at speed on the highway.
Intercos are made in Mexico and I suspect their quality control may not be as good as a US, Japanese or Korean tires. I would not hesitate to put a set on a trailer princess, but not a truck you wheel and use as a DD.
If you search the Web you will find other storeys about the balancing issue on the wider sizes - for highway running.

I have a set of 315 Cooper STT ready to go on - many good reports on those tires

 

[asutherland]

Truxus are a great tire off road, very soft and complaint and have great traction on slippery rock and wet pavement. The 255R16 was relatively easy to balance, but then skinny’s are less problem in many ways.
The set of 12.5R15 on my BJ74 was another story. The 12.5R15 took a lot of weight to balance new. I think the worst tire took 8 oz. new. They were OK for the highway for a about two years, but when they got to about 60%, they got increasingly more difficult to balance for highway travel. My last resort was balancing beads, which helped, but they were still intolerable at speed on the highway.
Intercos are made in Mexico and I suspect their quality control may not be as good as a US, Japanese or Korean tires. I would not hesitate to put a set on a trailer princess, but not a truck you wheel and use as a DD.
If you search the Web you will find other storeys about the balancing issue on the wider sizes - for highway running.

Thanks Glenn. My Duratracs recently needed re-balancing (probably ripped a wheel weight or two off). One tire was 8 oz out! so I wouldn't consider them any better for balancing.

I would consider BFG MT, if they were better on compact snow. Would siping them help? Anyone done that?

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

I would be interested in others' observations, but I have seen more BFG's with ripped out sidewalls and bead failures on the trail than any other brand of tire.
Just last summer Bill W took out a BFG sidewall on a 10.5R15 BFG AT up near Kluskoil Lake.
That was an older tire and they may have improved over the years, but untill proven to me otherwise I would not risk my money of them.

I do not see many avid wheelers running them.

Others may disagree.

 

[canucksafari]

Thanks Glenn. My Duratracs recently needed re-balancing (probably ripped a wheel weight or two off). One tire was 8 oz out! so I wouldn't consider them any better for balancing.

I would consider BFG MT, if they were better on compact snow. Would siping them help? Anyone done that?

When I use to actually wheel, I had the same issue with wheel weights coming off. The solution is to ask the tire shop to try to do all the balancing with stick-on wheel weights. That said, some tires just need balancing more often than others.

I can agree on the sidewall strength with Glenn of the BFG ATs. When I bought a set of ATs about 6 years ago, James <of james Tire> convinced me out of spending more money on the BFGs by comparing it to the sidewall on the much cheaper Sportking. He told me the Sportking's were a BFG AT knock off but with much better construction. Perhaps that is why they stopped selling them. Michelin owned both brands. The Sport Kings definitely had much heavier side walls than the BFGs.

 

[Enigma]

In 25 plus years of using almost exclusively running BFG muds and AT's, I have never had a sidewall failure /rip/tear/puncture.
I had a bead pop once when driving too fast with very low air pressure, that's it.

I'm not saying it can't happen, that's just my experience.

I shall admit that the 2 front 20 year old bfg mud ta's tires on my 40 have a slow leak, but that's most likely UV damage after all this time.



Of course now I'm going to go out and have a flat now.

I have used Interco swampers in the past. Great tires and would use them again.

You will probably be happy with anything recommended to replace the Crapatracs you have now.

 

[WrenchMonkey]

You guys aren't giving enough info. Lots of sidewall issues come from too wide of a rim for the tire for off road. I had 33" trxxus m/t good tires went thru 2 with sidewall damage they were on 15x10 rims. I now have mtr/k 37x12.5 on 17x8 rim, now some people have had problems with the side walls recently I had a stick try to puncture my sidewall it didn't it was pushing so hard it actually ended up unbeading my tire and I have 2 friends with similar good experiences with there duratracs, so Maybe the tire is not the problem? Truxxus good in snow and ice soft compound warrants easier trail damage but they did wear quick on my 2900.+ kg rig.

 

[Wheelingnoob]

I had Truxus MT's on my SAS 4runner, they are a great tire all round off road. They suffer a bit on wet rock but no more than any other tire I have used. Hwy they are alright, not loud but you know you are driving on a MT. In deep snow off road they are good, they dig quickly if to much throttle is applied though.

They do not hold a candle to the Druratrac's on compact snow and ice. When I had them I thought they where good but after a couple winters on the Dtracs there is no comparison.

I cut the side wall in one down to the cords but it still held air so had it Vulcanized. I did get pulled over at a tire check in the interior and given a ticket for not having extreme weather rated tires (snow tires) or chains. That is why I went with Duratracs on the 80.

You obviously have much more issues with your tires than I have whether its wheeling style or terrain I have no idea. If I cut the side wall on a Truxus with my style I'm sure you will have little issue shredding them too.

Get a 2nd set of wheels and get some bias tires, bounce them off anything you want off road with out worry then put on decent road tires after you are done. Interco Swamper SX would be a good strong tire.

In radial tires you are never going to find one that is as strong as a bias, you have to decide what you are ready to sacrifice.

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

Andrew - you see the consensus on tires here is a clear as mud

Me thinks opinions on tires are a little bit like women --its a big investment with no guarantees of performance or reliability and everyone gets a different experience that ranges from the good, bad, ugly and indifferent.

 

[asutherland]

Thanks for the replies guys. And agreed, Glenn! Haha.

For more info, I am running OEM 80 series alumn rims (16x12.5 I believe??) with 315 75 R16's at the moment. I would really like to get a narrower tire but not sacrifice any height. Is this possible with these rims?

Jeremy. when you got the ticket, did they say you needed to have chains ON or just in the vehicle with you? Where was the road block?

 

[Wheelingnoob]

Thanks for the replies guys. And agreed, Glenn! Haha.

For more info, I am running OEM 80 series alumn rims (16x12.5 I believe??) with 315 75 R16's at the moment. I would really like to get a narrower tire but not sacrifice any height. Is this possible with these rims?

Jeremy. when you got the ticket, did they say you needed to have chains ON or just in the vehicle with you? Where was the road block?

The stock 80 series rims you have a 16x8. Hard to get a tire that tall but narrower on a 16" rim. In fact most tires 35" and over are all minimum 12.5" wide (like the 315's).

It was at a road check going to Silver Star ski mountain. They said I was driving on a road that was mandatory snow tires or carry chains from Oct 1 to April something. All roads in the interior we drove through this last week had a sign with the date to have snow tires and or chains and the date range. it sucked but what was I suppose to do I passed 3 signs on that trip I could not plead ignorance.

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

snowflake tires are pricey for the amount of ice we Coastal dwellers experience.

 

[neoworm]

I would be interested in others' observations, but I have seen more BFG's with ripped out sidewalls and bead failures on the trail than any other brand of tire.
Just last summer Bill W took out a BFG sidewall on a 10.5R15 BFG AT up near Kluskoil Lake.
That was an older tire and they may have improved over the years, but untill proven to me otherwise I would not risk my money of them.

I do not see many avid wheelers running them.

Others may disagree.

I think Bill's old dried up tire would have blown out the sidewall if you looked at it the wrong way Glenn!

Just to muddy the waters further I have been using BFG's for about 15 years of wheeling. From BC roots to Death Valley Shale and I've NEVER suffered a sidewall failure. Had some bad slices but the tire held. I've witnessed it plenty of times though and I can attribute almost every case to bad luck or driver error. Usually both and that's for any brand I've seen fail.

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

Thanks for the replies guys. And agreed, Glenn! Haha.

For more info, I am running OEM 80 series alumn rims (16x12.5 I believe??) with 315 75 R16's at the moment. I would really like to get a narrower tire but not sacrifice any height. Is this possible with these rims?

Jeremy. when you got the ticket, did they say you needed to have chains ON or just in the vehicle with you? Where was the road block?

I think there is a huge demand for a 35" tire in a 11"-11.5" or 285 - 295 mm width (non-Interco). The tires available in this width are less than 35", so I am forced to run 315s because I need the height for my Mark's underdrive gears

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

I think Bill's old dried up tire would have blown out the sidewall if you looked at it the wrong way Glenn!

Just to muddy the waters further I have been using BFG's for about 15 years of wheeling and NEVER suffered a sidewall failure. I've witnessed it plenty of times though and I can attribute almost every case to bad luck or driver error. Usually both.

Yes I believe they put only enough UV inhibitor in tires to last about 7-8 years or so - they put more UV inhibitor in trailer tires.