Tire Advice

[IslandJeeper]

I was hoping to get your thoughts...

I was pretty sure I was going to upgrade my new TJ to 31" Michelin LTX M/S's, but am now considering BFGoodrich A/T's in the same size.  The sorry fact is that I am stuck behind a desk 6 days a week which severely reduces my opportunity for off-roading.  When I do go off-road, it is normally when I am either hunting or fly-fishing (i.e. I normally don't look for new and inventive ways of getting my rig stuck).  Which makes it a real toss up between the two tires.  The Michelin having better road manners, better tread life, but being more suspect off road.  The BFGoodrich being better off road, worse on road, not lasting as long, looking better, but also requiring more frequent rotations, and seemingly being more hassle prone when it comes to keeping them in balance.  I am looking for feedback from people that have used both, can tell me the real limitations of both tires, and maybe help indicate which is going to do the best job for me.

[HBZ]

I have used both on an XJ.
The Michelin will out wear the BFG 4:1 if not more.
The down fall is that on wet grass or mud they flat out suck!
On the other hand, they are top notch on the road and on ice
and snow. If you want a tire that is going to last a long time,
and you do not encounter much mud, the Michelin has great value.
I wanted a more aggressive tire when I stopped using the XJ for
300+ kms a day, so I went with the BFG. I got tired of waiting for the
 Michelins to wear out and trade them in on the BFG. The A/T ended
up being reduced 1/2 price.

Rob

[IslandJeeper]

Thanks so much for the response!  It sounds like you were running your AT's mostly on the highway (I take it with 300+km's a day) - ball park - how many km's would you get out of a set before it was time for new tires?  I am familiar with the the LTX's, and getting 100,000 + km's out of a set before needing new treads (I had them on my old XJ).  I found that my LTX's were great on road, were even good on dirt roads etc., but yeah, as you said - wet grass and the tires would start spinning.  I have a fear of getting caught in Prairie mud on some lease road even though, as I last posted, I don't get that many opportunities to go off road, and when I do - I don't drive looking for new and inventive ways of getting my rig stuck.  I have to say, with my style of driving - the Michelin's are seeming to make more sense.

[IslandJeeper]

One other question too, while I am on it - have you noticed your gas mileage dropping 2-3 mpg, with the AT's?

[HBZ]

My mileage was better with the Michelin LT M/S.
I ran the Michelins for over 100,000 kms.
The BFG AT are a good all around tire, but they
can't compare to a Michelin for quality and longevity.

Good Luck!

[calltrex]

BFG A/T are useless in mud


Good for everything else

[bae146]

I have run BFG at's on all my rigs with the exception of my current jeep.  I really like them and cant wait till my current tires wear out so I can justify buying a set.  As far as longevity I got over 80,000 kms with a ford explorer with tthe ttb front end.  These trucks are brutal on tires as they never run paralell to the road.  If you are looking for an all around tire they are a good tire in my opinion.

[CanaMatt]

So what is the best strictly mud tire to get?

Then what would the best comprimize for a road/mud tire?

I was leaning towards the BFG MT's but I was also thinking of having 2 sets of wheels, one set would be for road, the other set would be strictly mud tires. Sure its more work; having to change them out everytime I want to go mudding then changing them back when I get back into town. But the needless wear and tear on my mud tires would be much less, and they would last longer. I am not sure how my stock rims would look when I jack the heep up a few inches, probably look silly and I would have to buy some larger street tires. Costing more money.

[IslandJeeper]

If you want mud tires, I have heard that getting a set of BFG MT's siped would be a good way to go...  I have also checked out some other sites such as Tirerack, 1010Tires etc., and think that the Michelin LTX A/T's might be the best compromise between the BFG AT's and the LTX M/S's...

[BlackYJ]

So what is the best strictly mud tire to get?

BOGGER

Then what would the best comprimize for a road/mud tire?

MTR

[Bnine]

So what is the best strictly mud tire to get?

Then what would the best comprimize for a road/mud tire?

I was leaning towards the BFG MT's but I was also thinking of having 2 sets of wheels, one set would be for road, the other set would be strictly mud tires. Sure its more work; having to change them out everytime I want to go mudding then changing them back when I get back into town. But the needless wear and tear on my mud tires would be much less, and they would last longer. I am not sure how my stock rims would look when I jack the heep up a few inches, probably look silly and I would have to buy some larger street tires. Costing more money.

TSL's are the best mud tire. Boggers are alright but lack side traction. They better for just straight line mud.

Two sets is the betterway to go and worth the work and money.  If you swap regularly a TSL will last a long time. Probably 5 years plus.

If you drive a TSL all the time, you are lucky to get 30,000km's out them. Basically a year to a year and half.

A good AT will get you 100,000kms or close to it.

So instead of a new set of expensive TSL's every 1-1.5 years, you would buy one set of each that would last around 5 years.

The savings is about 2000$ over five years, depending on how much you drive. The more you drive and use the AT's instead of the muds, the more you save.

Thats not including saved money on gas mileage for running a smaller, lighter AT.

Increased safefty running a AT in the winter.

Reduced maintenance on steering compenents and wheel bearings.

Increased offroad performance buy running a truly offroad built tire.

Increased winter wheeling performance running an AT vs a mud tire. Most muds, especially TSL's dont work well in our cold climates when winter wheelin.

Basically you cant go wrong running two sets of tires. A lot of people look at the initial expense and think it isnt worth it.

I've run tires both ways, and I wont go back to throwing money out the window daily driving my offroad tires.

Good luck.

[CherokeeCharlie]

Given your parameters, take a long, serious look at the Bridgestone Dueller A/T Revo.