Best gas miliage / Offroad tire

ribbon · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2009 8:13 am

I know this subject has been brought up before but it always seems that people veer off subject. Without sending me a link to another thread (i have read those) can someone answer this for me

I know there is no REAL answer to this just opinions... but id like to hear those.
I go off-roading maybe once every month and the rest of the time is commuting. That being said id like to get a tire that wont hurt my highway and city miles (better would be nice) and not blow while going over Mild to Moderate rocks. I don't do anything crazy "yet".

How long have your stock tires lasted? Mine are at 29k and the tread is almost shot.

ac5501 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:47 pm

My tires are still stock with almost 60,000 miles and still have a lot of life left. Im gonna try to get by until next fall. Almost all hwy miles, as the Jeep is primarily a commuter. Although the condition of some the roads in Michigan that I have to travel daily almost qualify as Off Road.

retmil46 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:51 pm

Don't know if they would be "agressive" enough for mild rock crawling, but the Cooper Discoverer ATR's, 245/70/16, on mine have had no noticeable effect on fuel mileage. Of course, I keep them pumped up to 40 to 42 psi. Good heavy sidewalls and tread, 245's make the beast much more stable than those narrow stock Goodyears.

I dumped the stock tires at 25K miles, even though they still had good tread - their lack of wet weather traction directly contributed to my being involved in an accident.

MOSFET · **Joined:** Sat Feb 25, 2006 11:40 pm **Posts:** 295

My stock tires have lasted 44,000 miles, but are just about tapped out. I will have to get new tires this spring or early summer.

I was looking at the Goodyear Silent Armors as a good balance between "mostly on" and "occasionally off" road use.

onthehunt · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2009 8:56 pm

If I went off roading once a month I would have a dedicated set of tires for offroad.

grommet1 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2009 9:59 pm

I have a little over 34k miles on my 2006. The stock Goodyear tires are almost shot. I have always noticed the poor wet weather handling with these stock GY's. I am not a fan of Goodyear tires, never have been. I am a Michelin fan. My next set will be the new LTX/AT.
I have a 1996 Chevy Z71 with 80K miles on a set of the Michelin LTX/AT's, and they still have life left. Even with 3/4 of the tread gone, the wet weather performance is still awesome.
I also have had several sets of the tried and true BF Goodrich All-Terrains with good success. They are fairly agressive and exhibit a slight bit of road noise, not necessarily a bad thing. Not that I can complain too much especially since we drive diesels and mine has a straight pipe...

Bill.Barg · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2009 10:48 pm

Dunlop radial rover R/T
10K and they are in great shape after monthly off roading.
Great in snow.

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/vie ... dial+rover

See profile for details

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:07 am

ac5501 wrote:

My tires are still stock with almost 60,000 miles and still have a lot of life left. Im gonna try to get by until next fall. Almost all hwy miles, as the Jeep is primarily a commuter. Although the condition of some the roads in Michigan that I have to travel daily almost qualify as Off Road.

Don't, they are terrible tires and I think they have been responsible for more than one rollover. Good tires will make the Jeep feel stable on the highway.

If you think it feels fine now, wait untill you have a halfway decent tire on them.

ribbon · **Posted:** Fri Feb 27, 2009 10:14 am

Sir Sam
what do you recommend for good gas mileage (the same or better then stock) and some back roading?

I took a look at the silent armor tires and they are HEAVY!!!!

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Fri Feb 27, 2009 10:30 am

ribbon wrote:

Sir Sam
what do you recommend for good gas mileage (the same or better then stock) and some back roading?

I took a look at the silent armor tires and they are HEAVY!!!!

I would recommend the BFG Radial Long trail TA's, They are great on the highway, very quiet and smooth, and still do pretty well offroad:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... rail+T%2FA

Now they aren't mud tires, but just about the only thing that is any good in mud is mud tires.

clackclack · **Posted:** Sat Feb 28, 2009 6:46 pm

My KL71's gave ~2 mpg bump over the MTR's and they are much quieter... My suspicion is that quieter may have some correlation to rolling resistance in MT's and their lug design... aggressive wide spaced cross lugs and lots of weight are probably not good for mpg.

ribbon · **Posted:** Mon Mar 02, 2009 2:06 pm

at 38lbs a tire how much would that hurt my millage? they seem to last a LONG time. one review says they are still good at 75k

liberty2.8 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 02, 2009 2:49 pm

Quote:

I took a look at the silent armor tires and they are HEAVY!!!!

After a bit of research, I decided on the Silent Armor's. 4 of them coupled with my 4x4 CRD have not left me stranded yet. I do not do much offroading but have been in some fairly questionable dirt,mud,sand combo situations and they pulled right through without hesitation.

MOSFET · **Joined:** Sat Feb 25, 2006 11:40 pm **Posts:** 295

liberty2.8 wrote:

After a bit of research, I decided on the Silent Armor's. 4 of them coupled with my 4x4 CRD have not left me stranded yet. I do not do much offroading but have been in some fairly questionable dirt,mud,sand combo situations and they pulled right through without hesitation.

Do you have a lift? How do they fit, any rubbing? Would you go with the 245/70R16 again?

clackclack · **Posted:** Mon Mar 02, 2009 4:31 pm

I cant speak for Silent Armor, but I did some trimming when I got the MTR's and I have ~3" inches of lift between the Frankie II and the 2 ring clevis/rear spacer. It took maybe 3 tries to get it right because I didn't bother to run the wheels up a ramp to see if they rubbed when loaded up into the wheel well. Hearing the lugs chewing into the plastic is a great motivator though... kind of like fingernails on a chalk board. I found the most effective tools were a heat gun, and flap cloth wheel on a hand grinder (takes off just the right amount of material without melting the plastic). And a sharp knife. I didn't have to pound the pinch weld or do anything to drastic. I probably didn't spend more than an hour if you added the time of all three efforts put together. And cosmetically it is almost impossible to tell that it has been trimmed unless you are very familiar with KJ's.

mrkake · **Posted:** Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:01 am

I love my MT/R's for off roading. I am not a fan of them on the road. They are noisy and I lost 3 mpg when I put them on (I did go from 245 70R's to 255 75R's). I do a 5 tire rotation religiously every 3000 miles and run them at 35psi. I have about 20k miles on them and they don't even look worn yet. I should be able to get at least 45k out of them. When they are worn out, I will go back to the 245 70R All Terrain T/A KO's. Much quieter, better mileage and still enough grip for most of the off roading that I do.

ribbon · **Posted:** Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:42 am

liberty2.8
Did you lose any millage when you switched to s. armors? If so how much? PSI?

jthomas12 · **Joined:** Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:40 pm **Posts:** 5

I replaced my stock 225/75-16s with Goodyear Silent Armor 245/70-16's. I love the ride and the look, but they are heavy and cost about 3 mpg and that is with running them at 44 psi. I have about 40,000 miles on them and will probably get at least another 25,000 miles before replacement. I do 95% + on road, so I may be looking at the Goodyear Fortera Silent Armors next time around.

John

MOSFET · **Joined:** Sat Feb 25, 2006 11:40 pm **Posts:** 295

I just put on a set of Goodyear Silent Armors in 245/70R16. The wider width does make cornering/handling better, but I have not put enough miles on to notice a change in mpgs.

I think 44 psi is too high. The stock 225s were spec'd at 33 psi, and we all know that was too low. 36-38 was probably a better range. Going wider the pressure should drop to maintain a similar contact patch (at least in length), so I am running my 245s at 34 psi for now. I'll monitor the treadwear on the center and outer portions and see if the wear is even.

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:14 pm

You don't need to wait for the tread to wear -

put a chalk mark across the tire - drive 2-3 tire revolutions -
if the chalk in the center is gone - pressure is too high
if chalk on the edges is gone - pressure is too low
chalk should dissappear all at the same time
(front and rear can be different)

it's just like treadwear - but you can see the results in 100 ft of driving.

Best gas miliage / Offroad tire

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