Tires

[Tress]

Ok so im new to this forum and cant decide where the best place to post this thread would be so i guess ill just start here. Im going to be driving the Pan AMercian highway and am trying to get some advice on tires. I am pretty sure we are going to go with some All Terrain's but not sure which. For a while i was leaning toward the BF Goodrich A/T but have recently been considering the Mickey Thompson A/T, and even more recently i heard that Nito or excellent tires. I am sure there has been lots of discussions about this but i cant find any of them, so any input or opinions about what type of tire would be best for such a journey wouyld be greatly appreciated. And while we dont plan on staying one the roads at all times we dont plan on doing any serious off roading so somethin gin the A/T range. Oh and in case it matters we have a Ford E-355 4x4.

[crawler#976]

Take a look at the GoodYear Wrangler Silent Armour. The tire uses some of the technology that make MT/R's one of the toughest tires available. The tread doesn't look overly aggressive but they've performed very well for us on a '05 Tacoma. They are available in an E rated version suitable for you van.

[Scott Brady]

I like the Silent Armor idea, especially with the quantity of highway driving you will be doing. For a little more aggressive appearance, the BFG AT is always excellent too.

[Tress]

I have not heard good things about Goodyear's, has anyone here had any bad experiences with the brand?

[kodiak1232003]

I have not heard good things about Goodyear's, has anyone here had any bad experiences with the brand?

the goodyear AT/S's that came on my LJ wrangler have 45k on them and are just at the point where they are ready to be replaced.


i think that is pretty darn good for a stock tire. plus, these tires took me through the mud video that i posted as well as a trip down Coyote canyon trail, as well as about 5k on the highway in the last 5 months...I want something a bit more aggressive, but if i didn't, i'd just get 4 new ones.


:)

[ujoint]

I would plan for the worst and get a tire that is readily available wherever you plan to travel. There may not be a tire that meets those demands, but I would try!

[Tress]

Prolly a good idea, anyone know the answer LOL!, i figure BF is a pretty big name but not sure what will be available where we are going, but definitely something i will look into, thanks.

[crawler#976]

I have not heard good things about Goodyear's, has anyone here had any bad experiences with the brand?

In my opinion, one derived from very hard core rock crawling with a truck that was also used as a daily driver, the GoodYear MT/R is with out a doubt the finest, toughest, dry terrain traction radial tire on the market. It's the "parent" of the Silent Armour tire. I never punctured the sidewall of an MT/R. At one point I had three trucks all shod with MT/R's.

We recently switched to the Wrangler SA on the '05 since it doesn't get the abuse my Taco does. Road noise went away, fuel economy went up, and with what little snow we've had, my wife noticed better grip on ice, and she feels the truck is more stable on wet roads. I've only had it on a few local FS roads/trails, and while they did pack up quickly in mud, we still made it thru with no trouble. They balance with very little weight, and are actually round - a big improvement over the MT/R's.

The Wrangler SA uses the same Durawall technology for sidewall strength as the MT/R, and adds a layer of Kevlar to the tread for decreased road noise and puncture resistance.

Anyway, at least take a look at'm while your tire shopping, and ask the tire guys what they hear about'm. Our local Discount Tire is selling them as fast as they can get'm.

Mark

[jeff@work]

I had the Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armors Pro Grade on my van when i first purchased it, i then swapped the tires between my Trooper and Van so I had the Goodyear's were on the Trooper and my Mickey Thompson MTZ's were on the van. After the swap it became very noticeable that the Goodyears were significantly stiffer and rode much rougher than the MTZ's, both tires were 265/75r16 load range E. This is probably just due to the tough sidewall construction and I have no idea how the regular silent armors would compare to the pro grade. Anywho that's a limited comparison since it's just between 2 tire types but personally I wouldn't get the Goodyears again.

[Tress]

Hmmm, well it sounds like these Silent Armors are getting some good reviews aside from the last person who felt they were kinda stiff. Its a tough call we will be doing a lot of long miles on these so the stiffness doesn't sound great but i like the idea of the side wall reinforcment and the fact that they are supposedly pretty quiet. I bought the van with BF M/T's and they were pretty loud, although im used to regular old tires so the MT's were like driving a trackter down the highway. Anyone know how widely available the Silent Armor tires are, cuz while i hope there are no issues it would be pretty ugly having to replace something that is hard to find in the US from say Guatemala. In any event thanks a lot for the info and keep the opinions rolling. Oh whats the consensus on the Mickey Thompson tire? long lasting? loud? good traction? Thanks again

[haven]

For a long trip outside North America, be sure to take the wheel diameter into consideration. It's quite difficult to find replacement tires for rim sizes like 17" 18" and 19.5." The more commonly used truck rim sizes are 16" and 22.5," with 15" rims on a lot of light pickups.

If you decide to run a less common size, be sure to carry two spares so you have a way to keep going while you're waiting for replacement tires to arrive from USA by air freight. There are tire shops in every small town and village that can plug a simple puncture. But they can't fix a sidewall problem or a big hole in the tread.

Chip Haven

[ujoint]

A good tire repair kit wiould be good to have, just read the article in OJ!!

[Tress]

Has anyone here used the Firestone Destinations A/T? Just found s review chartt and it placed the Firestone tire above the Goodyear Silent armor and the Pirellelli Scoprion at the top above them both. Check out this link:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=ORAT

[Clark]

I don't think that they would work because of the load rating. The highest I saw was a D and most of them where C's.

[Tress]

What load rating does a 1 ton van need? Can i only use E or would D work?

[spencyg]

My BFG 295-75-16 AT's are D rated, and are load rated to 3100 lb ea @ 65 psi.

Most E rated tires Ive seen in the same size range are rated to around 3500lb.

Spence

[Tress]

I need 305/70 16's, i found the Silent Armor in E rating but not the Fireston's. I think im between BF A/T's and the Silent Armor but i have heard Goodyeears dont last very long, tough call, too many tough calls these days LOL!!

[AlpineSMB]

Well, I know they are not technically A/Ts but I recently installed a set of Toyo Open Country M/T's. They're 285/75/16's and are rated at 3700+ lbs. After a few hundred miles this past week, they're not much louder than the BFG AT's I replaced and they seem to ride relatively smooth. From my research these were one of the highest rated MT's in the durability, smooth ride and lack of noise departments.

-d

[charlieaarons]

My BFG 295-75-16 AT's are D rated, and are load rated to 3100 lb ea @ 65 psi.

Most E rated tires Ive seen in the same size range are rated to around 3500lb.

Spence

We're getting up there in tire diameter. Michelin 255/100R16 XZLs are rated at 4665 lb @ 85 psi @ 62mph or 3750 lb @ 65 psi @ 68mph. They are 10" wide, 36.4" tall and weigh 87 lb.
I found they fit on my 88 F350 4X4 with no lift and no rubbing even at full lock on stock rims; but it needed a gearing change.
XZLs are a high mileage tread despite their comparable appearance to M/Ts. I'm wearing my 395/85R20s on my Unimog at an average of over 70,000 miles/tire despite the high weight (67% of 70 mph rating, 52% of 55 mph rating).
I think they'd work great on a Sportsmobile with perhaps a slight lift and gearing increased by one notch.
On the recent Australian trip with one Mitsubishi and one Isuzu from Magadan to the Trans-Siberian, one rig had the Michelins referred to above and absolutely no problems. The other had Mickey Thompsons on 18" rims and had to replace two tires. Fortunately certain Russian medium duty military vehicles run 10.00-18 bias ply tires so I think they rounded up a couple of not well matched replacement tires by sheer good luck.

Charlie

[dennisuello]

Check out Hankook DynaPro ATM RF10 (http://www.hankooktireusa.com/product/tire_detail.asp?pid=290). I think, I'll get these for my Titan.

http://www.hankooktireusa.com/uploadfile/product/rf10_tire_left.gif

[spencyg]

Where do you find said 255 series XZL's? I've looked for XZL's before because they appear to be a far superior tire for my vehicle, but the smaller ones don't seem to be available in the U.S. I REALLY want 8.25R16's, but apparently they aren't available in the US....

Spence

[charlieaarons]

Where do you find said 255 series XZL's? I've looked for XZL's before because they appear to be a far superior tire for my vehicle, but the smaller ones don't seem to be available in the U.S. I REALLY want 8.25R16's, but apparently they aren't available in the US....

Spence

Order them from a Michelin (truck) tire dealer, using the correct inventory #s.
8.25s are 46526. My US truck tire catalog (2004) doesn't have the 255s, just 9.00R16 XZLs which are 68169.
I have purchased 8.25s twice from US Michelin dealers in this decade.
Or, if all dealers look at you like they would if they were on hallucinogens, order from a European source and pay the 2.5% duty.

Charlie

[crawler#976]

Our Wrangler SA came with a 50,000 mile tread wear warrenty...

[spencyg]

Order them from a Michelin (truck) tire dealer, using the correct inventory #s.
8.25s are 46526.

I called every commercial dealer within 250 miles, and none of them even had that stock number in any of their corporate resources. I've got an e-mail out to Michelin UK in hopes of getting an idea of European availability, but regardless of their answer, I'm not going to jump on it. The chances of finding a replacement tire on the road if necessary (only carrying 1 spare) is practically non-existent with the ZXL's. I'll stick with my reliable BFG/AT meats which I know can be replaced everywhere I plan to travel.

After searching, it also appears that our lovely military is consuming ALL heavy off-road truck rubber in the entire country....

Spence

[Tress]

So whats the deal with these Michelin XZL's? I was just going back through this thread cuz im on the verge of installing some new tires for the trip. Im still leaning toward BF A/T's but how do these XZL's do? Are they expensive, do they make them in 305x70x16? What makes them so special aside from the load rating, are they much much tougher? Thanks for any input!

[charlieaarons]

XZLs are tires for military vehicles and are not made in a lot of different sizes. In 16" they come in 7.50R16 and I think 235/85R16 labelled as "OR 4X4"; you must order these sizes from Europe. These are 32", suitable for unmodified small 4X4s. 8.25R16 XZL is available in the US and is 34" tall. They will fit on dually setups for 235s without rubbing and have a 3200 lb load rating single. They aren't cheap.
There's also a XPS Traction in 235/85R16 which also has an all steel casing and is sold all over the US. Maybe that's what you should look into. They are about 50% more expensive than 235s with polyester casings, but I believe you get what you pay for.
The next size up in XZL is 255/100R16, which is 36.4" tall, 10" wide and would require a lift for most small 4X4s and re-gearing. Then there's 11.00R16 (38.7" tall) and then all the 20s: 275/80R20 (37"), 335/80R20 (40.7"), etc.

Charlie

[Tress]

Sounds like there prolly a ways out of my price range, for this trip at least. What would you say would be a good load rating for a 4x4 van that weighs around 5000. I was looking at some D rated but when i search per vehicle i am told to use an E rated tire. What is the big difference besides the weight they can carry, would one last longer than the other? Will it ride stiffer?