Tire choices for 17x9 rims?

[Flameffects]

After a long wait and may $ my rims arrived in the USA. I have been looking at tires and have only found two choices at this time. Any other choices you have found would be helpful. Also any personal experience with 17" tires would be helpful. I want to maintain as close to my trucks stock GVW as possible.
Hankook Dyanapro MT 37x12.50R17 4080LBS
Toyo Open Country MT 37x13.50R17 4300LBS

 

[dtruzinski]

Who built your wheels? If your primary use is mud and sand the Hankooks are rated very good. If you are dealing with rain, snow, sleet, you will need a siped tire. I think the Hankooks allow for studs which will improve the dive-ablilty in wet climates. What is the primary use or conditions you need to solve for? BTW...I think the 17s are an awesome alternative to the standard 16's. The 37's will give you a much better freeway speed (much better is relative, but you get the point). Are the 13.5 Toyos rated for a 9" wheel?
tnx
dave

 

[Flameffects]

Goannatracks was the suppler of my rims. Yes the 13.5's will fit my 17x9 rims. I just don't want to have major clearance problems up front and have been told I will have to move the stock fenders back a bit form the 37" wheels to fit. I live in Nevada and mostly travel in rock and sand. Snow is a issue here but is not my primary concern.

 

[dtruzinski]

I don't have personal experience with the Hankooks, but everyone I have talked to who uses them swears by them for mud and sand.

 

[mog]

I'm using Falken WildPeak A/T (325/80-16) on my FG and am very happy with them. They are listed as 36" on the Falken website but are just shy of 37" diameter and 13.25" wide in real life. For huge tires they balanced well (3 needed less then 1 oz, 2 needed about 2-3 ozs and 1 needed 7 ozs (ouch), I have 2 spares). When cold they have just a little vibration or road following, but once warmed up them run and track as smooth as silk. I'm running them at max pressure (55psi) on the road. They are very quiet, that is an important factor for me with next to no tire noise (as least on my noisy truck).
It looks like in 17 inch rims the only have LT325/70R17 which is listed at a 35" diameter.
I have no problem with running 37" on my 2002, with no mods.
BTW, they are only 3 ply sidewalls, so they WILL limit your GVW running super singles, but I have run mine well++ over the rating on-road when I was moving, with no issues.

 

[Flameffects]

Thanks everyone for your input. I decided to go with the Hankook tires. I got little feedback on the Toyo tires and they were also more expensive. I sure wish someone in the US would have been able to make me the rims I wanted. Between the dock at the port of Oakland and Reno I had $948 dollars in fees. My favorite was the $95 forklift charge. Total cost per rim was $604.70.

 

[mjfreshyfresh]

How are the wheels working out? I'm going to be getting some wheels this Winter. Looking at the EC 16' alloy and the Goannatracks 17' black.

I like the larger size and after the cost of having the EC's powder coated I think the Goannatracks may actually cost less. (even with a $95 forklift fee ;-) )

 

[Flameffects]

The wheels themselves are very well made. I had some problems with the paint falling off but Kym is paying for them to be refinished. The new rims should be fine. One of the hidden costs are the lug nuts. The rim centers are very thick. Probably twice as thick as stock. When you mount them with the stock studs you will find that the nuts do not thread on all the way. I ended up buying another set of rear bud nuts and machining the taper of the backs so they fit flush in the drums. You may also find that alloy rims will have the same problem. You can not mount them with stock bud nuts. The rims must sit flat on the drums or they wiggle all over the place.