I hope you can find a good deal on them. I got mine in Sams Club, BF Goodrich (Made in the USA! YEA!) Commercial T/A 215/85/16 LRE M+S is the exact info for them.

Load rating of ~2900lbs per tire IIRC, and I fit them without lifting anything on the KJ. I DID have one of the 235/85 mounted just for giggles while I was there, to check the clearances. It was dang close, almost worked. I had just bought the thing, so I didn't want to pound the pinch weld, but there were only two tiny places where it rubbed: The plastic behind the fog light and the plastic directly over the pinch weld. It did NOT touch the inner fender liner even at full lock, and it only rubbed at close to full lock.

I do think I could have gotten away with the tiny bit of rubbing, as it would have only rubbed when at extremely low speeds and doing maneuvering turns... Not during regular driving. I'm probably going to do a spacer lift eventually, just to be able to fit these. The reduction in RPM is significant: north of 100 revolutions per mile. It may not sound like much, but it adds up quick. Those tires are very close to 32" diameter, the 215/85 are about 1 inch larger in diameter from stock. Not much, but they look GOOD in the wheel wells. Look for the thread about towing a travel trailer recently, a pic of my KJ is there pulling a generator that was larger than the Jeep.

I pulled that genset, 6940lbs and the KJ at 4500~... For a total of over 11k lbs being motivated by just a little 4 banger diesel. Its a tough little train motor!

What? Harsh ride?

These people must be princesses. We always take the jeep when we go on tours because it is so comfy. Low noise at speed, good accelerations and very nice stereo.

Whoever says that a KJ has a harsh ride needs to get themselves reset by going in a small car, like a Suzuki Alto from 1996!

_________________
L.O.S.T forever!
Silver 2002 Skoda Fabia TDI, 235,000km
Former car: Jeep KJ 2003 CRD

DIESEL - saving millions of liters of petrol every day!

Exactly. I know mine isn't as soft as when it had the stock tires, and it was never as soft as my Jetta's responses to bumps... But its a Jeep. The other end of "resetting" yourself is to drive a 24' box truck EMPTY when it has those oil-filled ball bearing tire balancers. That thing bounced unmercifully on SMOOTH roads for the first few miles every day. Nothing in the Jeep ever has felt like that.

Guys, I have plenty of nut-busters already. My M3 has race springs and poly bushings throughout. My truck has load range D tires and is quite bouncy when unloaded. My GLHS will have race suspension, poly bushings, strut tower braces, the works. Rigid tires on the Jeep provides large suspension travel for larger bumps with no compliance on the smaller bumps - quite frankly, it's the worst of all worlds. Is it a Jeep? Sure. Am I willing to live with it? Well sure, if it provides better towing stability. We'll see about that this summer. But the increase in ride harshness is real, and someone contemplating load range D tires deserves to know what to expect. The CRD is my wife's daily driver, and she's "okay" with it because she understands what we're looking to achieve. The Jeep on LR-D tires (Pirelli Scorpion ATRs) at 45psi rides harsher than my truck with LR-D (BFG A/Ts) at 55psi.

Load range C tires would have been perfect for this vehicle.

If you are a true Jeep enthusiast because your ride bounces around and you feel all the bumps, go for it! I did that with my M3. But it's silly to lose ride quality unless there's a purpose to it. That purpose could be hypermile-ing, towing, or even just making it more of a rough-and-tumble Jeep. Folks need to make that decision for themselves.

- Chris

_________________
Used to own:
2006 CRD Sport
Suncoast TC, Transgo shift kit, Inmotion, ORM, EHM, Magnaflow SS exhaust, Fumoto valve, EVIC added, Hensley TruControl brake controller, Pirelli Scorpion ATR LR-D in spring/summer/fall, FIA winter front and Blizzaks in winter

Chris, I agree with your reasons for choosing the tires you have. You have kinda mentioned some of my reasons too: hypermiling and towing performance. You missed one of my reasons tho: tire longevity. I bought highway tires. I keep them pumped way up, but thats me. If I could get the TPMS working with my EVIC the way I want it, (where it displayed the tire screen) then I might consider running them at a much lower pressure, at least for a couple tanks. That way, I could compare the lower pressure against ride quality and mileage hit. These are so strong, I think they would easily handle the CRD even when at 25% of their rated pressure.

Everyone does need to make their own decision.