Tire Dilemma

[ne715]

Okay I am looking at purchasing new tires for the current project. I need some input.

Currently looking at the InterCo TRXUS MT or the Pro Comp MT.

Anyone ever run either of these and what is your opinion or is there something better out there. The tires are mostly going to be run on pavement with the occasional few times a year off roading, so needs to be a radial tire. Looking at 35x12.50x15 maybe even 36.

Looking at spending around $200 a tire.

All and any input is welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Pam

[jepj2000]

I would not go with the Pro Comps, they have terrible traction and very weak sidewalls. If I had to choose a tire for your application it would have to be the BFGoodrich M/T KM, I run them in a 315/75-16 (35x12.50-16) on my DD and love them. I have also run the Goodyear MT/Rs and they were terrible as well. A cheaper mud tire that I've seen do well and last a long time is the Mud King, I have one as my spare as well. I have heard really good things about the Mickey Thompson Baja MTZ as well so that would be something to look at. I think the Trxus has been known to wear fast but good tire over all.

Rankin

[grand_wag_85]

I'm partial to the BFG M/T's as well or the Goodyear Wrangler MT/2's if you can find those(think Humvee tires), I've seen both take beatings and still live on to wheel many more trips. I like the Wrangler MT's(not MT/R) better but you can't find them anywhere, but that's just me.

[Ronson]

BFG muds.:thumbsup: Goodyear MTRs in my experience, are terrible on wet pavement. I had some 33 Trxus but not the mud version. I had the goofy looking ones. I got stuck with them and hated the looks of em. GREAT TIRE! They were quiet and wore nicely. They balanced well. They were the best DOT sand tire I ever had. I live in the desert so they didn't see much mud which is probably abundant in NE, but they were good everywhere else, including the rocks. My buddy has the Mickey Thompson MTZs and he likes them way better than his MTRs. I have Mickey Thompson bias ply Baja Claws. I bought them right off of the Mickey Thompson trailer at an off road race. I joked about not wasting time trying to balance them because they are bias plys and the guy said they should balance with very little weight. He gave me his card and said if I had a balancing issue he would send me another tire! One didn't balance and it turns out it was the cheap rockcrawler wheel! Try balancing a bias ply Swamper!

[Dmntxn77]

Check out the Cooper Discoverer Radial SST's. I have a set of 33"s on my burb.. They are an awsome tire and they are $210 each for a set of 35x12.5/15 at discount tire.

[rmorit01]

I put the Truxxus MT on the Cherokee. I took the reocmmendation on these based on a large number of guys running them on TJs/YJs in our jeep club.

They were mounted on factory 5 slots and balanced out nicely. I was impressed by them and they had very good traction, but I never took them into deep mud.

I liked the street manners and they are on par with a set of BF Goodrich ATs that I used have on an 87 Toyota 4 runner in terms of working on the street. Just a bit louder, but nothing like a worn set of Goodyear MTrs that really howl.

Bob

[jeepdad56]

I have Super Swamper SSR radial tires and I think they are great. About $227 per tire:thumbsup:

[Dmntxn77]

Thats a good price.. My SSRs were closer to $330 each...

You must have got the skinny 35x10.5 pizza cutters right?

[jeepdad56]

Thats a good price.. My SSRs were closer to $330 each...

You must have got the skinny 35x10.5 pizza cutters right?
Sure did..would U like a slice ?? :thumbsup:

[Dmntxn77]

Those things are GREAT for red clay like the stuff in south Texas.. They will cut right through to the solid stuff, when the big fat tires like my 35x14.5 SSRs will just float and spin...

[jeepdad56]

Yeah but thet look GREAT!!!!

[401-J10]

Yeah, i wouldn't go with the ProComps, from what i've seen they wear down really quickly and a buddy had a stick go right through the sidewall of his 33 inch ProComp MT.

[Dmntxn77]

Yeah but thet look GREAT!!!!

Well, at least they dont make the Jeep look like it is on roller skates. Personally, I like a 35"-36" tire to be 12.5"s wide. 10.5"s are a bit lean, and 14.5"s are a bit too fat.. Eitherway though, the SSR is a neat looking tire.. I just dosent perform nearly as well as the bias Swampers... On the otherhand, the road manners are WAY better..

[jepj2000]

The SSRs seem to have a weak sidewall as well. I have seen plenty of those with hamburger sizes holes in the the sidewall. In fact a guy had a set of 35x12.50s on his CJ and he was going through so many due to the sidewall that he was just wanting to give them away and not have to deal with them anymore.

Rankin

[Dmntxn77]

WOW, thats an expensive tire to have to keep replacing..

Of course, if a person wheels that hard, they should really consider a cheaper and stronger bias design.. I am amazed with my 36x12.5 bias TSL's!! Next I plan on spending the little extra and going with the TSL/SX's though. They look WAY better, plus the side lugs woudl have to make them even stronger, and aid in traction.. That is of course if I dont just go with the bias Iroks instead :D...

[jepj2000]

Yeah there really is not much better than the tried and true TSL. I have never run the SX but been around them plenty and would not have 2nd thoughts about running them myseft and the same for both the radial and bias Iroks, although I do feel the bias hook up better on the rocks.

Rankin

[jeepdad56]

How do you guys like the Iroks? Wear? You guys are up late....

[shepherdskeep]

Pam, I'd go with the TrXus MT over the ProComp MT, if you plan on doing any serious wheeling. I have beat the living crap out of mine on the TJ, it used to be my DD - put 18,000 street miles on 'em....and they're about 50% worn. Over 1,000 trail miles too. Traction will amaze you, many times off road onlookers swore my TJ had lockers (open/open, btw) in mud, on dry & wet rocks - and I never air them down. On the street, heavy rains & a few inches of snow were no problem. The TJ is now my wife's wheeling rig, and she loves the tires.

It is general knowledge that nobody makes a tougher tire than Super Swamper (Interco), and the TrXus MT won't dissapoint in that regard. The only drawback to them is they're not always easy to balance because of the thick sidewalls. Keep in mind they use less air pressure than most radial truck tires (I run 22psi on the TJ all the time), and need to be rotated regularly in order to get maximum treadwear life. They are fairly economical too, I paid $148/ea for my 33x12.50 - BUT, I was fortunate to find www.4wheelparts.com (http://www.4wheelparts.com) doing a "buy 3 get 1 free" sale on all Interco. Basically got my spare tire for free. :D

[jepj2000]

How do you guys like the Iroks? Wear? You guys are up late....

They have great offroad traction and are decent on the road, of course the radial will be better on road. They however wear on the fast side but if its not your dd then you should be alright.

Rankin

[Ronson]

- It is general knowledge that nobody makes a tougher tire than Super Swamper (Interco), and the TrXus MT won't dissapoint in that regard. The toughest tire I have ever owned is the BFG Baja Terrain. They are bias ply and are used on pre runners and some race vehicles that don't run projects. I never measured but the sidewalls were about an inch thick. They are, however, prohibitively expensive! The bias ply Mickey Thompsons hold there own AND balance well. The Swamper ARE tough tires! I have a friend who bought a set brand new (38's) and a chain tire store tried to balance them and gave up. He shaved about an eighth of an inch off the tires all the way around and it made all the difference! They balanced fine after that. If anyone wants to try this I can get more info from him tomorrow on how he did it.

[jepj2000]

Are you talking about the bias Mickey Thompson Baja Claws? If so the only problem I have with those are they measuered up really short. They were the 35x13.50-15 and were almost the same size as my 33x12.50-15 Super Swampwer TSLs. And I have to say I did not think the traction was all that great but not the worst tire either.

Rankin

[Stuka]

BFG MT's are in NO WAY better than the Pro Comp. And there is two Pro Comp MT's, the standard MT and the Xtreme-MT. The extreme varient has MUCH stronger sidewalls than a BFG. Not to mention they are an American owned and run company. BFG is not.

But for 200 bucks a tire in a 35-36" size, you are very lmited in what you can buy. You can still get TSL's for that much, but thats about it.


It should also be noted that any tire that performs well offroad is going to wear down fast, period. If a tire last for a long time on road, that means it uses a hard rubber compound and will have worse offroad performance. If you are looking for an offroad tire, tire wear should be the least of your concerns.

EDIT: I take that back, there is THREE Pro Comp MT's. And actually, the 3-ply MT looks to be the toughest.

http://www.procomptires.com/images/pctxtmt2img.jpg

[Stuka]

Are you talking about the bias Mickey Thompson Baja Claws? If so the only problem I have with those are they measuered up really short. They were the 35x13.50-15 and were almost the same size as my 33x12.50-15 Super Swampwer TSLs. And I have to say I did not think the traction was all that great but not the worst tire either.

Rankin

33x12.50 TSL's are not real 33's, they measure 34" tall. Most 33's measure 32.5" tall, and most 35's measure 34-34.5" tall. But with that said, T's do run more undersized than most.

[SVO42]

Hey, Alan, have you considered the Fiestone Destination MT? That's what I have on my Exploder now (:eek: ) and they are awesome. Matt also has them on his Cherokee. They have been great offroad so far, and are the best mud I've experienced on the street. They're VERY quiet for a mud. BethAnn and I loved them for our trip up to Glacier Park and then to the Invasion in Ouray. Over 4000 miles on the road with them and we were very satisfied. I got them for about $180/ea. They're available in 31x10.50, 33x12.50, and 35x12.50. :fsj:

[Ronson]

Yeah the bias ply Baja claws do run small! I live in dry country where sand is a bigger issue than mud. We avoid mud for the most part because the tire and mudflap laws are lax(ok, non existant) so all of our tires are exposed. If I drive very far in mud the inside and outside of my windshield is dirty, as well as the back of my neck! They are a great desert tire and I've run them on the freeway at 5psi with no probs! I bent my front axle housing and I am spooled in the back so it wouldn't be fair to comment on wear, except for the fact that this is the first set of tires that have lived long enough to actually wear out!

[jepj2000]

BFG MT's are in NO WAY better than the Pro Comp. And there is two Pro Comp MT's, the standard MT and the Xtreme-MT. The extreme varient has MUCH stronger sidewalls than a BFG. Not to mention they are an American owned and run company. BFG is not.

But for 200 bucks a tire in a 35-36" size, you are very lmited in what you can buy. You can still get TSL's for that much, but thats about it.


It should also be noted that any tire that performs well offroad is going to wear down fast, period. If a tire last for a long time on road, that means it uses a hard rubber compound and will have worse offroad performance. If you are looking for an offroad tire, tire wear should be the least of your concerns.

EDIT: I take that back, there is THREE Pro Comp MT's. And actually, the 3-ply MT looks to be the toughest.

http://www.procomptires.com/images/pctxtmt2img.jpg

Last I saw the tire you pictured was a special edition and was only offered in a 37x12.50-17. I could be wrong about that but like I said thats what I last saw. I have to say I've never seen the original Pro Comp M/T perform well in any terrain including the street. I have never run them myself but plenty of close friends have so I have been able to see how they do. I feel that Pro Comps are not worth the money they sell for but to each their own.

I really think it will just come down to what you think is the best tire. Everyone will have different opinions and experiences about every tire out there so it will boil down to what you like.

Rankin

[shepherdskeep]

Since we're getting into "actually"s, ProComp's parent company bought out Mickey Thompson, and for the longest time ProComp tires were manufactured in Cooper factories. Interco is a Louisiana company, but the TrXus I bought were made in their Mexico plant. Btw, the prices for ProComp's "fancy" MT's are too high - the original poster listed their budget........and this is just plain getting off topic if the price is above $200/tire.

[unclethumbtack]

I run procomps m/t, I run about 11 psi and never had a problem so far. The traction seems to be just fine too. Been in some bad spots they never fail.

[Stuka]

Just about every radial 35x12.50 made is over 200 a tire, unless you get really cheap tires like the dunlop mud rover or the like. Otherwise you have to go bias ply for the most part.

And yeah, after looking the MT I posted the photo of comes in two sizes, 35 and 37, but are for 17" and 18" wheels.

[Dmntxn77]

I bet you can get some High-Tec radials for UNDER $200.. ;)

[shepherdskeep]

MT radial Baja Claws are averaging $194/tire for 35x12.50/15 right now. Very tough tire, little loud on the street, great traction, ride good, average treadwear.