What's your experience with AT tires. Such as different brands. I'm looking at possibly getting some AT's to use for driving around in the winter. Please don't post and tell me what you've heard on some other forum or what your buddy told you. I want to here personal experiences. Tread life, handling, traction (mostly on road and ice), sidewall stregth, etc. I'm not going to spend a bunch of money and no I don't want blizzaks. I'm going to be looking in the 30"-33" range.
I liked the BFG long trails my wife's explorer had. 31s. wore real well, lots of tread lines (sipes), but no mudding experience.
I had 31" BFG AT's. I had them siped, and they did ok. Tread wear was good, but traction in new powder was lacking. They did ok (as good as anything else) on ice though. Good on Rocks, bad in mud...
My AT's took me around town all winter in 2wd...a necessity with my toasted front pinion bearing.
and ask anyone who was at Fairbanks Creek with me how they do in the snow.
I'm noticing tread chunking in the left rear...but I THINK that has something to do with the scuffs on the sidewall as well. :p They're kind of noisy, but I can barely hear them over the wind/engine noise. I hear Bridgestone REVO's are comparable offroad, on ice and snow, and are alot quieter. they're also about 60-80 a tire more expensive. :O
As for mud, they're hit or miss. On wainwright I had them down to 15 psi and took a muskeg trail...the first part was kinda hardbottomed with water up over the tires, and I had no problem. The second part was thick black mud up past my hubs, and it slowed me down but I was able to power through. I stopped forward motion once, but I just backed up a bit, then hit it again making it through. No turning around out of the ruts though...forward motion only until I hit a dry spot island so I could turn around.
The General Grabber AT2's are the same tread pattern (or very close) and rubber compound, and they're studdable. Also more expensive.
I'm almlost to the point I'm anti BFG. I have the rugged trails on my Dodge and they are chinking and the sidewalls are splitting that is with less than 18,000 miles and no offroad.
I'm not all too concerned about the offroad performance. If I do get some I'll get a set of wheels to so I can change tires easily. But I do want some that will do ok if I get lazy or do a short notice trip. The BFG MT's just aren't all that great on the winter road up here.
Sipe the MT's. Ask Justin how much of a difference grooving and siping his Dunlop Mudders made...and they're similar tread and compound.
BFG's OEM tires are cheaply made..the Rugged Trails are crappy, to put it simply.
I had a set of BFG Commercial T/A Traction tires on our S-10 Blazer and they were great in the winter but I don't think they make them in the size your looking for.
I have run several sets of BFG all-terrains on several different vehicles(including an MJ.)
In my opinion, they are one of the best all around tires you can have.
The sidewalls hold up to rocks, the tread pattern does so as well.
They are excellent on ice (of course, not qquite a blizzak, but they do well),
they wear slowly on dry pavement, they tend to wear evenly,
they do ok in deeper snow, and are excellent on wet pavement as well.
These are what I run on my plow trucks.
These are what I prefer my wife's vehicle to have.
These tires really do well in everything except deep gooy mud that doesn't clear.
Can you tell I am impressed with these tires?
I have had excellent results with BFG A/T's as well.
I'd run them again in a heart beat.
The performance in mud isn't great, but that's not what I would buy them for anyhow.
I got 62K on a set that was on the ZJ, bought a new set and you couldn't even tell I put 12K on it when I sold them to upgrade to 33's.
Wife took a WJ we had through a plowed field in winter with snow over the bumper and somehow got through.
Yes, I've had several sets, and not one bad experience or need for a spare.
Honestly Mel, there's a reason the BFG AT is one of the more popular AT's on the road up here...:p
And I don't even sell them anymore.
I know they are great, I've had them on previous vehicles. I'm just one of these ppl after having many issues with a brand I stay away from them, hence the reason I will never own a GM product again. These aren't going to be for wheeling and only used in the winter or maybe all year as second set to save my next set of offroad tires.
akram Wrote:I know they are great, I've had them on previous vehicles. I'm just one of these ppl after having many issues with a brand I stay away from them, hence the reason I will never own a GM product again. These aren't going to be for wheeling and only used in the winter or maybe all year as second set to save my next set of offroad tires.
No offense intended Mel, but if you avoid anything that has given you an issue, you'll find all brands of vehicles and tires will be off your list eventually (hot much time did your Dodge spend at Gene's?). Everything has a positive and negative about it. No vehicle company today produces more than 20 of 100 cars that roll out of their factory without some sort of defect (Chrysler has the worst reputation of the big 3). The tire companies are the same way. You pick what seems like the best suited tire for your use and go with it. Sometimes you get a lemon, other times you get a gem. It's always a gamble. That's why I like used cars, if it's a lemon, normally it's bugs have shown themselves already.
The thing is BFG have always giving me trouble. Every set I have owned and that would be about 10 plus. The MT's are the only ones that have been halfway decent but I'm not totally happy with them. All my others have split slidewalls and chuncked with low mileage on the road not offroad. I find it hard to believe that I would get 10 sets of bad tires, it's possible but not likely. My dodge being at genes had nothing to do with "dodge" it had to do with the idiots that work there. Just like all the GM products I owned sucked up alot of garage time and my money. Such as the 200 that went through 3 rear axles, three TCM, and two trannies, and engine rebuild at 42,000 miles. I'm not avoiding things that give me issues just the ones that give me alot and do it all the time.
I'm thinking of finding some cheap used at's before this winter as I might be having to dirve the XJ for a DD once again. And I want to get new tires for the trail shortly after winter.
You've had a weird string of good and bad luck Mel.
I think your 2000 was a lemon, just like my 1999 WJ. Dad had three horrible Fords in a row, back when he was attempting to save money by buying cheaper rigs and the Fords were quite a bit cheaper than the similar Chevy's, Dodges in the 85-92 range weren't worth owning.
Weird how you've had that experience with so many BFG's. Don't know what to tell you my friend. The only guy I've heard of that's had even half that many bad experiences was a liar on the boards I moderate. He was a moron though. I do believe you, it's just weird is all.
Many of the ZJ/WJ folks I used to moderate love the Bridgestone A/T Revo, but they are spendy. They are really quiet on the road and have great onroad manners, but their sidewalls aren't all that great for offroading and their tread isn't quite as aggressive as the BFG. If you were looking for a good street tire that wasn't a BFG, that's where I'd point you.
I have heard good things abou them but as you said a little bit much for me. The only reason I was looking at an AT was cause it would do better on the roads in winter and be ok for some trips if I was lazy and didn't feel like chaning tires. But that'll also depend on what tire I decide to replace the BFG's with.
Then shall I direct you to a Yoko Geolander AT, the Parnelli Jones Dirt Grip(may be pricey), the Nitto Dune Grappler, or Goodyear Wrangler Fortera? No personal experience with any of them but I've heard only good things about them.
Although many of my freinds have owned and swear by BFG AT's, I have never owned a set myself and don't plan to. I have owned two sets of MT's and one set of their street tires on a car I used to own. I wasn't happy with any of them.