SL / P rated All-Terrains on Imogene and Other Colorado Passes? (1 Viewer)

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I am planning a trip to the San Juans this summer and am wondering if anyone has experience running SL tires on Colorado mountain passes, such as Imogene, Engineer, Cinnamon, and Ophir.

I have Passenger SL rated Falken Wildpeak AT3W in 265/70/18. I plan to run these passes with a RTT and about 175lbs in the rear of my 100 series.

I am not armored, do not have bumpers or sliders. Running stock everything with a 30mm rear coil spacer.

Does anyone think this is a bad idea with P tires and only one spare? I have the opportunity to trade up to Wildpeaks in LT275/70/18, but it will cost me about $800 for 5 mounted / balanced after tire trade in.

Thank you for any advice you can offer.

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Personally I would not do it.

However, it will most likely be fine tho. Those trails are beautiful but they are not terribly difficult. I would want a good spotter that fully understands to be especially careful of your sidewalls.

If you do what you are talking about, I think it would be good to have an additional spare. Not necessarily a wheel but at least the rubber., doesn’t need to be ‘matching’...except for the size, have it match. This way you will at least not need to scramble around looking for a tire to get home on...just in case.

Again, I wouldn’t do it...but you will probably be just fine...careful.🎯
 
Personally I would not do it.

However, it will most likely be fine tho. Those trails are beautiful but they are not terribly difficult. I would want a good spotter that fully understands to be especially careful of your sidewalls.

If you do what you are talking about, I think it would be good to have an additional spare. Not necessarily a wheel but at least the rubber., doesn’t need to be ‘matching’...except for the size, have it match. This way you will at least not need to scramble around looking for a tire to get home on...just in case.

Again, I wouldn’t do it...but you will probably be just fine...careful.🎯


Thanks very much for the advice and your service of our country.
I think I'm going to have to heed it.
 
The Falken techs in the past have said that their P tires are as strong as a Load C tire (assume that is Load bearing) with "ply turnups" essentially making a 2 ply into a 4ply at the lugs of the sidewall. Any more thoughts on this issue?

Clearly the only way to find out personally is to try, but I would sincerely appreciate any other words of wisdom / caution / ridicule on this issue. Has anyone here run these trails with less than ideal tires?

Thanks for your time and advice.
 
I personally wouldn't put "P" rated tires on a landcruiser especially loaded with camping gear and used on dirt roads...its kinda like putting an 3000lbs ATV winch on your cruiser and hoping it will be enough...just my thoughts..
 
Been there done that.

Just have fs spare.

These are high traffic areas w good cell coverage.

U r never more than a hour+ from civilization.
Spot on!

I've done all these passes and more on P rated tires in a 5th Gen 4runner loaded with gear and never gave it a second thought.
 
Just be aware that P rated tires are not suited to be run aired down. A lot of folks are unaware of this. The sidewalls can't hold up to the additional flexing. They are not made for this kind of usage. LT tires are recommended if you plan to air down, which is what most experienced off roaders do when they leave the pavement for several reasons.
 
P rated tires off road are like wearing flip flops instead of hiking boots on a backpacking trip, they work but the chances of damaging your feet are a high probability...
 
^^^
Good analogy.
 
You really dont need any mods to run those trails- (lift would be helpful on MineralCreek.) but tires are an important consideration.

You may come out unscathed with your P rated tires but with all that added weight your chances for tire failure are increased- question is: are you prepared to swap a wheel on a 12 degree incline shelf road?

Fwiw we’ve seen 3ply sidewall E rated KO2’s sometimes fail up there. The rocks on trail in the San Jauns are broken into sharp shards and chunks- they can shred sidewalls.

With the added load on/in your truck Id invest in a set of (5) E rated A/T’s- you may check over in the tire&wheel classifieds, someone is always selling a set that you can usually pick up for a fair price.
 
This is an example of what can happen to a tire that's seen a lot of off road miles - and it's LT rated! Tire was about 5 yrs old and the owner, @spyduh could probably give you more history of the tire. This happened on the highway and same thing happened before with another tire from same set. What failed? Looks to be the sidewall, although the tread looks fairly worn, too. And I can imagine that a lot of the damage happened after the blowout, before the rig could be stopped and thankfully it was on the rear. Most tires are not subjected to the use this tire saw, but the sidewall was extremely weakened to rip like that. Although the beadlock may have assisted the tearing apart sidewall from the tread, the sidewall was seriously weakened to allow this result. Conclusion: Sidewalls are the Achilles heel of tires. Ignoring punctures, your sidewalls are the most "at risk" part of your tires.

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So, what's my point? Not a good idea to run unsuited tires off road habitually, not that this tire was unsuited. You may get away with it, even for an extended time. But a failure at the most inopportune time could have disastrous consequences for you and the passengers in your rig. Most tires have sturdy enough treads, but the sidewalls need at least as much consideration when choosing what you're going to use, especially if off road use is your future. And pay close attention to the psi that you're running, because your sidewalls are as much affected as tread wear. As much as under-inflated tires affect tread wear, it's the sidewalls that suffer without much visible evidence and go unnoticed until it's too late.
 
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I would argue that the beadlocks saved the tire from coming off the bead and was less scarry. My other Turbo80 on oem 16s blew out on the freeway as well 2 years ago. That was only a 2 year old tire (Duratrac 35) and the bead came off of that one. That was way scarier than the blowout in that pic. It was just a couple months ago going down the freeway to Hammers.

37 STT Pros that were 4.5 years old with about 50% tread life left.

None of my cruisers are daily drivers and get very little miles on them on pavement.

IMHO, P tires on any cruiser is asking for death. Cruisers are heaaaavy and need a E rated LT TIRE. The Duratrac was a E rated. The STT Pros were a D rated.

Ive blown out 4 tires on the highway in 2 different 80s. Front driver and rear driver on the Turbo80.
Front driver and reae passenger on the Crawler80.

Don't be cheap and buy yourself a new AT tire and inspect the crap out of them.
 
Lots to consider. Lt has much better sidewall and more rubber protecting the cords. Airing down will save the sidewalls but only if you remember not to hit ledges etc too fast. You can probably but a set of better tires then store or sell them if not needed again. Personal call.
 
Thanks very much for all of the insight and advice. You've convinced me to go E rated, but I wonder if the Wildpeak AT3W in E will even provide more sidewall protection. Both SL and E have 2 ply sidewalls. Obviously E would provide more protection against puncture on the tread, but will the sidewall be beefier? Any experience with AT3W in E range off-road? Thanks again.
 
Love my 315/75r16 Wildpeaks
 
I would argue that the beadlocks saved the tire from coming off the bead and was less scarry. My other Turbo80 on oem 16s blew out on the freeway as well 2 years ago. That was only a 2 year old tire (Duratrac 35) and the bead came off of that one. That was way scarier than the blowout in that pic. It was just a couple months ago going down the freeway to Hammers.

37 STT Pros that were 4.5 years old with about 50% tread life left.

None of my cruisers are daily drivers and get very little miles on them on pavement.

IMHO, P tires on any cruiser is asking for death. Cruisers are heaaaavy and need a E rated LT TIRE. The Duratrac was a E rated. The STT Pros were a D rated.

Ive blown out 4 tires on the highway in 2 different 80s. Front driver and rear driver on the Turbo80.
Front driver and reae passenger on the Crawler80.

Don't be cheap and buy yourself a new AT tire and inspect the crap out of them.

Didn't our rigs come with P rated tires from the factory?
 
Didn't our rigs come with P rated tires from the factory?
That means absolutely nothing. No disrespect, but off road tires are an option with a bump in price, usually. Unless they’re part of a package, but the package will also bump the $.
 
I read everyone's post and most of them are good, I work for a fleet and some drivers loves to argue about tires and what is best for their vehicles.
Just want to share this in case you haven't read it, in the end it is your money, spend it the way you want. :cheers:


 
^^^

A good read @vipergrhd …especially the bottom one.
 

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