What do you think are really good tires for most off road ventures

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ChambersFamily

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While I usually run a heavier vehicle (8000-8500 lbs), I’ve ran Swamper’s, Cooper’s, Toyo’s, and currently on Falken’s. All M/T’s and now A/T and I’ll never ever go back.

The Swamper’s side walls cracked after 1.5 years about 15k miles.

The Cooper’s and Toyo’s wore out in a year! About 10-12k miles

The Falkens have been on almost a year, due to rotate and still look new. Snowflake rated, I’ve had them in sand, mud, clay, silt, snow... I have yet to use my maxtrax!
 

Travelin'trio

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This has been very interesting so far. I have checked on many suggestions and found some interesting info. One, you cant go by prices to determine quality based on use by buyers. Some of the so called better tires (BFG's, Goodyear) have very poor ratings buy owners of the tire. Several of the cheaper tires have very good ratings by their owners. I think I have found a tire no one has mentioned here so far and would like to know if anyone else has used them. They are Mildstar Patagonia brand. They have a 4.6 overall rating @ Discount Tire sales with all users. I'm looking at 265/75R/16 @ $138.00 each and because I want 5, there is a $100 discount. (discount comes because if I order them now they are out of stock so I will have to wait) I hope there is an OB'er out there who has some knowledge of this tire. It looks promising to me.
My husband who is a retired mechanic of over 45 years says these will be a great option for all of what you have planned. Have fun!
 

Lex77

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I realize this is an old thread, but if anyone is in the market for new tires, I highly recommend the Milestar Patagonias. I have them on my '20 JTR with over 10K miles so far. They are aggressive, great in all weather conditions, inexpensive and best of all QUIET. They aren't the typical noisy MT tires that I've owned before. Will they get louder as they get older and the rubber hardens? maybe... but I've read many reviews of people with over 30K miles on theirs and they are still quiet. They are worth a look if you're in the market.
 

Lanlubber In Remembrance

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I realize this is an old thread, but if anyone is in the market for new tires, I highly recommend the Milestar Patagonias. I have them on my '20 JTR with over 10K miles so far. They are aggressive, great in all weather conditions, inexpensive and best of all QUIET. They aren't the typical noisy MT tires that I've owned before. Will they get louder as they get older and the rubber hardens? maybe... but I've read many reviews of people with over 30K miles on theirs and they are still quiet. They are worth a look if you're in the market.
I didn't end up buying them because of the availability at the time. I will buy them next time around though.
 

Trail_pilot

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I ran dueatracs on my Jeep for a long time. They wore really well, and had great traction on and off road. They don't seem to like to wear as well on heavier vehicles though.
 

Billiebob

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After 40 years of wheeling, starting with a M38.... I've been thru Super Swamper, BFG KOs. KO2s, MTs. MT2s, Goodyear DTs, and a dozen different 235/85R16s on pickups.

I just bought some 7.50R16s for my TJR, they are the smoothest riding grips I've ever had on a Wrangler. And they do everything I need for a 50% saving over the mainstream 10.50/12.50 33s most guys run.

View attachment 114748

Skinniest tiresI could find. A dream on pavement. obviously, not for the extremes of mud bogging, rock crawling or running sand dunes but for what 90% of us really do, they are perfect. Before Dick Cepek,,,, these were the tires everyone ran.
I have heard from a few guys who have been in Africa and they say the 7.50R16 is the most common popular tire there so I say you want to know which tire to buy.... pick the one everyone stocks where you are going.
 

Mojavewanderer

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I was all set to get a set of Milestar Patagonias, but I couldn’t find any in my size. So then I decided to go with the tried and true BFG KO2, but could only find 3. So I ended up with a set of Toyo Open County AT3s and am very happy with them. They performed flawlessly on my recent trip to Death Valley, with great off highway traction and really great on highway manners. They are very quiet. I will definitely buy the Toyos again next time I’m in the market for tires. Who knew how hard it is to find 31/10.50/15 tires. I guess it’s not as common as it used to be.
 

Road

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Though I am not a mudder or rock crawler kind of off-road guy in the least with my van and trailer, I do go all over hell and back on remote back country trails, all over the country and in all kinds of weather, both towing my trailer and not. I spend a lot of time on highways and interstates, too, where a lot of off-road tires suffer or wear prematurely.

I'm sure it's not a popular choice because of cool factor or what everyone else is doing, and they're nowhere near gnarly enough looking for some, but my preference over many years, for all-terrain and all-weather use has been Michelin LTX A/T2 tires, LT 285 75R16:

"Light Truck and SUV all-terrain tire with a compound designed to resist chipping and tearing, providing excellent durability when the pavement ends."
- Long Life on Gravel
- All-Terrain Traction
- On Road Refinement
- Mileage warranty: 60,000 miles.
- 3 year roadside assistance.
- Standard Limited Warranty: 6 years

My last set lasted 90,000 miles. Seriously.

They would have lasted longer if I wasn't an idiot and paid more attention to regular front-end alignments. They still had plenty tread left but were wearing to the side too far, due to tie-rods that went too long before replacing.

Life on the road, available funds, and all that.

I've looked at KO2's and Cooper, Hankook DynaPros, General Grabber AT2s (I liked those, 60,000 mile tires too, but think they've been discontinued) and all sorts of tires, and put it off because I had good tires at the time, and found over time that what I already had were serving me better, and way longer, than what most others were running.

So I'm sticking with my Michelin LTX A/T2s, and may even get three for the trailer and spare for swap-ability, military style.

.
 
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MMc

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Though I am not a mudder or rock crawler kind of off-road guy in the least with my van and trailer, I do go all over hell and back on remote back country trails, all over the country and in all kinds of weather, both towing my trailer and not. I spend a lot of time on highways and interstates, too, where a lot of off-road tires suffer or wear prematurely.

I'm sure it's not a popular choice because of cool factor or what everyone else is doing, and they're nowhere near gnarly enough looking for some, but my preference over many years, for all-terrain and all-weather use has been Michelin LTX A/T2 tires, LT 285 75R16:

"Light Truck and SUV all-terrain tire with a compound designed to resist chipping and tearing, providing excellent durability when the pavement ends."
- Long Life on Gravel
- All-Terrain Traction
- On Road Refinement
- Mileage warranty: 60,000 miles.
- 3 year roadside assistance.
- Standard Limited Warranty: 6 years

My last set lasted 90,000 miles. Seriously.

They would have lasted longer if I wasn't an idiot and paid more attention to regular front-end alignments. They still had plenty tread left but were wearing to the side too far, due to tie-rods that went too long before replacing.

Life on the road, available funds, and all that.

I've looked at KO2's and Cooper, Hankook DynaPros, General Grabber AT2s (I liked those, 60,000 mile tires too, but think they've been discontinued) and all sorts of tires, and put it off because I had good tires at the time, and found over time that what I already had were serving me better, and way longer, than what most others were running.

So I'm sticking with my Michelin LTX A/T2s, and may even get three for the trailer and spare for swap-ability, military style.

.
I have friend that owns a small fleet of 1/2 and 3/4 ton truck in Alaska( pipeline stuff) he swares by LTX’s. He put them on as soon as the truck shows up.
 
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Road

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I have friend that owns a small fleet of 1/2 and 3/4 ton truck in Alaska( pipeline stuff) he shares by LTX’s. He put them on as soon as the truck shows up.
.
Well there ya go. Good testimonial right there, work trucks for the Alaskan pipeline.
.
 

ThundahBeagle

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Not a mudder or rock crawler here either. I tend to pay attention to @Road based in what I perceive to be his experience.

I have used michelin LTX tires on my big old Balzers in the past and they seemed great. I was looking at the LTX AT2's that ROAD mentioned. Very good reviews on TireRack. I would have no qualms running those Michelins.

The Cooper Discoverer At3 on TireRack as well, and they have even better reviews than the Michelins, have 3PMS, and are about $90 less expensive per tire.

Not sure which direction I'll go, but would like to choose one in the next 2 weeks
 
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Road

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Not a mudder or rock crawler here either. I tend to pay attention to @Road based in what I perceive to be his experience.

I have used michelin LTX tires on my big old Balzers in the past and they seemed great. I was looking at the LTX AT2's that ROAD mentioned. Very good reviews on TireRack. I would have no qualms running those Michelins.

The Cooper Discoverer At3 on TireRack as well, and they have even better reviews than the Michelins, have 3PMS, and are about $90 less expensive per tire.

Not sure which direction I'll go, but would like to choose one in the next 2 weeks
.
Well, I've got you fooled...I just make all this stuff up as I go along :tonguewink:.

No, I was thinking about it the other day; that I first started wandering North America in vehicles as soon as I got my license, over 50 years ago. I'd run all the way up to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia from the Ohio River valley, or take a two and half month trip to the west coast and back, stopping to work at the North Rim, and so much more. And I'd hitch hike all over hither and yon before that. If my long-winded stories about where I've adventured and how I do it is of help, I'm honored. I appreciate you saying so.

Those Cooper Discoverer AT3 LTs look really good. I was unaware of them. Some tire outfits seem to re-issue the same tire with slight improvements and change the name to suit. The Michelins I like used to be called something else, though I forget what.

A lot of the blacktop roads along the border in west Texas, and I'm sure other places, are made differently to withstand the desert heat or something, and are rougher in surface, and much rougher on tires. I know a lot of guys out there run Hankook Dynapro ATs on their ranch and work trucks. Here's a comparison of the Hankook and Cooper ATs.

The nerd in me wants to have two vehicles so I can compare gear like tires under same conditions. I buy too much stuff just so I can compare and review.

If you get the Coopers, I'll be really interested to see how you like them and how they perform.
.
 

Steward I

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I’ve ran lots of different tires over the years from super swamper ssv, toyo mt and at2, duratrac, buckstop mudder, ground hawgs, cooper stt pro, cooper at3 xlt, bfg all terrain and mud terrain the newer tko2.
An all around best tire I found was the duratrac for mud, snow, highway and longevity, for a second tire for less off-road but still awesome grip in snow up to 6-8 inches deep and obviously highway and longevity is the cooper at3 xlt. The cooper has a mileage guarantee of 80k and ride amazing on road and heavy gravel roads which I live on. True mud tires wear quick and offer little traction on wet roads and ice unless studded. the bfg tires, I would never buy again myself as they wear on the shoulders even when properly inflated and alignment is good and just plain wear quick in my opinion when compared to other tires I’ve run. For me I’ll stick with Goodyear duratrac and cooper at3 xlt. I’ll also mention that I’ve ran all those tires on several types of suv and pickups, from grand Cherokee’s, ram 1500 and 2500, Chrysler aspen, Ford F-350 tallboy, jeep cjs 5 &7, bronco.and I was a weekend warrior, hard core off-roading every weekend and my Dailey driver through the week on highway approx 100kms per day with 7-10kms being on gravel.
 
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Apoclapedia

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When i lived in the city. BFG ko2 were great. They held up when my rig was my daily driver. Now that i live in a small town with mostly dirt roads BFG km3 are my go to. They clear mud and dry snow really well. And on ice i just chain up. However they do wear down fast if youre on blacktop everyday.
 

Dusther210

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On our Frontier we are currently running the Milestar Patagonia M/Ts. They are a very very capable tire but they come with a bit of noise on the highway. This truck is our primary adventure and inclement weather vehicle and these seem like the perfect choice for this role at a solid price. We live just outside NYC and I would not recommend these if you are driving 99.9% highway/heavy traffic commuting in ideal road conditions only because there are better options for those conditions. If you’re off pavement often I would definitely recommend these.

On our Xterra we are running Westlake SL369 A/Ts. Our xterra is the daily driver and these tires are quiet, handle rain and pavement very well and really get the job done in dirt and snow. The price is unbeatable. We ran these on the Frontier and they were great off road and they last FOREVER. If you want tires that work in the winter and off-road on your daily driver I would definitely recommend these.