I'm lookin' for an aggressive street/off road tire, and i've narrowed my search down to three tires...

Interco Thornbird's
BF Goodrich Mud Terrain T/A's
Conti Mud Trac Radial's

Which ever one I get will be a 33 12.50, I just need some basic opinions on which would be the best tire to get. Thanks a ton guys.


Travis

 

I've read a lot of bad things about the thornbirds. I would advise against those.

Normally I don't like doing this, but...
Have you looked at Bridgestone Dueler MTs? They are one of the best road mannered MTs going. Also, mastercraft makes an excellent MT that is pretty cheap.

 

like what? any info i'd love to get. I've been leaning towards the BF Goodrich's for awhile... They seem like a good looking tire that would handle itself off road and still run good on the street.

 

no never heard of them, but I will for sure take a look, thanks a ton...

 

These are going to be your best bet:

Best bet

See even the link says so....

 

And right now they promote a 30day FREE trial!!!!

 

Do some searching... google is a good place to start. Search this board, and any other off-road boards you can find. Basically, I heard that because the lugs are pretty large and rather close together, traction off-road is ok at best. The shape/design of the lugs/voids also causes poor traction on road in the rain, and apparently they are just awful in the snow.

 

Bias ply tire (not radial), so they get out of round easier.

Very, very rough and loud on road.

Compound is extrememly soft, you will probably wear them out in 15K miles.

Hard to balance, but you probably won't notice since they are so rough anyways.

Out of those three, go with the BFG mudders

I recommend Dueler M/T's I ran a set of 33X12.50 15's on my old 94 Ranger.

 

check out the write-ups at tire rack:

Click Here

 

Interco Thornbird's - Not a good tire. I had some on a JEEP I had, and they were horrible. You can never balance them, they follow all the holes in the road, very hard to control. They also wear out very easy. While I had the JEEP, which was only about 5K, you could notice significant wear.



BF Goodrich Mud Terrain T/A's - Never have personally own them, but I would love to get them as my next set of tires in the next few days. I've been told however, they wear at fast rates. I think by 40K, you're going to be planning on the next set of purchase. Noise is another factor if that's a problem with you. Personally, I would love the noise, but they are noisy, so beware.


Conti Mud Trac Radial's - Never heard of.

 

I'm definantly looking for the noise. I'm still leaning towards the BF goodrich Mud Terrain T/A's to. And thanks for the comments on the Thornbird's to, I think I'm done looking into those. I'd say my two choices have been narrowed down to the BF Goodrich Mud Terrain T/A's and the Bridgestone Dueler MT's.

 

I never thought I'd meet another one of me.


I think both are great tires.

As I've said before, I don't have experience with neither of them, but I don't think you see them a lot on the road for nothing.

 

Glad to see you looked into the Yokohamas...:pat:

You would be spending less on a superior tire, but it's your pocketbook and rig....

 

From what I've heard, the Dueler is a better tire on road - quieter and wears better. Not sure about how they compare off-road, but the BFG certainly has a good reputation.

As for the yokos... I'm not sure how you judge a tire to be that much more superior, but it's a directional tire, so the lateral traction won't be as good as it would be with a typical MT. That's the same problem other directional tires have (Baja Claws, Boggers, etc.). I'm not arguing that it's a bad tire, just that when it comes to off-road, how do you decide one tire is clearly better than another?

 

I have BFG's and I love them. I think compared to most tires they ride like a Cadilac on the street. They are noisey, but heck your driving a 4x4, get over it. We'll see how they wear over time, Ive only heard a handful of mixed stories of how long they last. Off-road they are unstoppable. The look is great too. I would say either way you go Dueller's or BFG's you really can't go wrong. The Dueller's as said will probably last you longer on the road and the BFG's are probably better off-road, but it's really up to personal prefernece. I'll put it this way, if I hadn't gotten such a great deal on my BFG's I would probably be rolling on Dueller's right now. Good luck

Jonathan

 

BFGs are okay but make sure you get them siped.

Even with my siped BFGs sometimes I think I won't be able to stop quickly enough if the ground is wet. It doesn't rain in San Diego too often so I'm not concerned but when it does I take it slow.

 

For the longest time, I've been eargerly wanting to know, what having them siped means.

Now is your chance to shine and teach this KING.

 

Siping is making a series of cuts in the tread. They are made perpendicular to vehicle movement and about ¼" apart. They allow the tire to flex a little better and offer more edges for traction. Until a few years ago, it used to be illegal but now just about any tire shop can legally do it.

 

Interesting, but you took TACOME DUDE's job of looking good and shinning.

Anyway, thanks for the information.

I had never imagined that.

I wonder if there are pictures showing this, I'd like to see what this looks like.

 

A siped tire: