Tires: 2 kinds, 3 sizes, which one?

[Chris97K1500]

My wife has given me permission to start the search for new tires. I'm pretty set on either the Super Swamper SSR's, 35x12.50's or 33x14.50's, or Mickey Thompson Radial Baja Claws, 35x12.50's. I do about 75% driving on the highway, the rest offroad. I like my ProComps, but I want a little more aggressive look. I've read many articles about the SSR's and how they are great mud and offroad performers, that can also be driven on the road due to it being sipped. But I haven't heard anything about the Radial Baja Claws. On some sites I have read that they have circumferential grooves to help preventing hydroplaning, but no real world comments from owners. Since all three are close to each other in price, $$ is not an issue. Also, if SSR's are the one's you'd go with, what about the size. I don't want to lose lots of performance by going to 35's, but I think the 14.50 wide 33's might look better. So if the 35's aren't going to hurt my performance too much, what would you do, go wider or taller? The 33's are actually 33.5 and the 35x12.50 are actually 13" wide. I'd appreciate any advice! Chris

[trckn4life]

I think if I were in your place I'd try to find a tire that is about 33 or 34 tall and 13"+ wide. I think those 33x14.5 would look BadA$$ on your truck!! but, the 35's would look sweet too. I wonder how mileage compares in those tires (what you can expect to get with mostly street driving).

 

By the way, where did you get your stepbars? I really like em. (I was meaning to ask you that)

 

btw, when you are offroading, what is the usual types or terrain that you go through? mud, rocks, sand, ...

[Chris97K1500]

thanks! I got the step bars from Cabelas. here's the link http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/template...k.jhtml_A&_DAV= It may be too long of a link, but copy and paste it, should go directly to them. For the most part, when I go offroad it's on our Farm, with lots of mud, some places it's about 6" deep of mud with a few inches of water on top for a couple hundred yards. It's along a creek that runs through our farm, it's like a wetlands area. The only true offroading I do in this truck is getting up on top of a mountain where I then take my Yamaha Grizz 660 riding. On the way up the mountain, there are tons of rocks, about 12-16" high, I try to drive around them in this truck, but with my former Toyota truck I'd take it up and over them. This area I drive on is in Southern KY, Northern TN. I've also taken my truck to a place called Livingston KY, off of I-64. Not too many places I can take this bigger truck, it's too long for some of the trails I could take the Yota on. I think I'm leaning towards the 33x14.50's, I think the wide might look a little better, plus they won't hurt performance as much. And as far as mileage is concerned, I guess that'll be the deciding factor, I've got 36K miles out of the ProComps and they still have 3/8" tread left. I'd like to get similar #'s. Thanks again, Chris

[AZ1500]

Without swapping your gears, go with a wider tire for more traction. As you know, the taller you go, without going to a numerically higher ring and pinion ratio, your truck is really going to be sluggish off the line. Then again, if you want to spend the $$$ 35's and swapping to 4.56 gears would be a nice setup!

[Chris97K1500]

Yeah, the performance change would bother me some. This truck originally came with 3.42's, but were upgraded to 4.10's by the original owner. He towed some to Oklahoma and wanted better towing ability. He only made the trip a couple times until he bought a DMAX/Allison in '02. The 33's are perfect with the 4.10's. Thanks, Chris

[trckn4life]

any new thought or ideas on what you are going to do Chris?

[Chris97K1500]

The guys at the local Performance shop quoted me a price of 245$ ea. for the 33x14.50 SSR's. They also mentioned the Mickey Thompson Baja Belted in a 33x14.50 for 195$ ea. I was told the MT Baja Belted tires would last much longer, and they did look pretty good. If I knew that some people were getting good results out of their SSR's mileage wise, I would get them without hesitation! I would really just need them to get 30-35K miles on them. By then I'd be out of Dental School and then $$ won't be as tight as it is now! Since I'm not getting them until the spring or summer of next year I've got some time to look around. Who knows, something new may come out, or the prices may go down. My wife is going to set aside 100$ a month for the tires, so I've got about 10 months to wait. And then if I go a completely different route, I've considered going with BFG's MTkm. I've had them in the past on other trucks (old design) and was happy with them. I can get those around 160$ea. I guess it will come down to how bad do I need new tires and how much $$ is saved by then. I'm sure I'll ask the question again before I get them put on, just to make sure all opinions are voiced. Thanks for your help, Chris

[trckn4life]

I wonder how the Mickey T's Baja Belted compare. I've heard people that love em and people that hate em. I wonder what kind of wear with mostly onroad you could expect to get out of those Claws, SSRs, or Baja Belteds?

[Chris97K1500]

Those are my exact questions! I've looked all over the net, from Jeep, Dodge, Ford, Toyota, and GM boards, each one has something negative and something positive about each of the tires. From what I've gathered, the MT Radial Claws will wear the fastest of the 3, it's a softer compound. The MT Baja Belted tires have been described just as you say, some love them, others hate them. For the most part those that disliked them use them mainly offroad, rocks, mud, etc. which they are NOT designed to do. But they are also showing the highest mileage, about 40K miles, of the 3 tires. The SSR's are pretty much the same, some like them, others don't. Typically those that don't like them use them offroad mainly, which again is NOT what they were intended to do, it says that right on Interco's website! The highest mileage I've seen from them has been 30K miles. My brother in law is wanting to buy some Super Swamper Radial Trxus STS tires, they look pretty impressive, I've seen them up close. I haven't been able to find one negative post about them. Those that have them say they drive awesome on the road, in any weather, but also are very capable offroad, but do have limitations in deep mud. I guess I'll let him buy them and I'll get firsthand knowledge, they come in a 33x14.50, which is what I want! If you find anything out please let me know, I'll do likewise. Thanks, Chris