Who runs what tires and why?

[zachwabbit]

Lovin my new 33x12.5 General Grabber AT2's

[Mesozoic]

I picked up a set of Kumho AT51s and love them. I've driven them at speeds over 75 mph on dirt while cornering and they handle better than my old BFG A/T KOs. I find the AT51 is a perfect balance between offroad and highway handling. Kumho tires are very underrated for some reason, not sure why. My vote would be for Toyos 1st and Kumhos 2nd. No experience with the new KO2s, but they do wear well, despite the abuse.

[S00TLYFE]

let me know how you like those at2s Zach. im back and fourth on those, another set of hankooks, or some yokohama geolanders.

[keenanduran1]

37" BFG KR2s because racetruck haha

[S00TLYFE]

anyone have any first hand knowledge and experience of the red letters vs the at2?

I know the red letters can be loud on road because when I worked for ford everytime I drove a truck that had them it was noisy on the street. as far as off road performance, I don't know anything.

[zachwabbit]

anyone have any first hand knowledge and experience of the red letters vs the at2?

I know the red letters can be loud on road because when I worked for ford everytime I drove a truck that had them it was noisy on the street. as far as off road performance, I don't know anything.

I'm still loving the AT2's, went on a little excursion this weekend with my coworkers and got into some deep mud and water, at first they clogged up a little but they self cleaned and pulled me out. No complaints at all, waaayyy quieter and smoother than my old Goodyears. My buddy runs red labels on his '15 F150 and they're fairly quiet but I think it's because that thing is insulated like a fallout shelter lol at least sound wise. Red labels are HEAVY. Believe me, I mount a set of them every few weeks at work. They get louder as they wear out, and aren't the smoothest on road tire. They also lack in wet weather and snow traction but seem to work well on everything else

[zachwabbit]

let me know how you like those at2s Zach. im back and fourth on those, another set of hankooks, or some yokohama geolanders.

My coworker has Geolandars on his Tundra, I'll have to ask him how he likes them. They are a significantly less aggressive tread but are a good all around tire especially for something that sees mostly street use

[S00TLYFE]

I was going to run hankooks, had them on my 7.3 and got 30k miles out of a set before I sold it with 70% tread left. they also did pretty well in the dirt. but they don't make 35s for a 15" wheel so back to the drawing board.

also thinking of doing MTs as the truck will do some trail duty too. anyone run MTs?

[hollandermotorsports]

anyone have any first hand knowledge and experience of the red letters vs the at2?

I know the red letters can be loud on road because when I worked for ford everytime I drove a truck that had them it was noisy on the street. as far as off road performance, I don't know anything.

Yes when I raced Trophylite is when they made the switch from AT2 to Red labels so I have put miles on both types of tires. Red labels are great if you rotate them. Soon as you get away from rotating every 5k they get a little noisy. I have put about 350k miles on Red labels combined and I love them. At2 are great as well but just not as forgiving in the rocks. My last set of 35" red labels I drove on for 55k miles with my ecoboost and sold them 8 months ago for $400 and the guy is still driving on them today. I'm ordering a set of Red labels for my Diesel very soon. It will be the first set of non trailer tires I have had to buy since 2009. It's kinda sad.

[S00TLYFE]

anyone have any first hand knowledge and experience of the red letters vs the at2?

I know the red letters can be loud on road because when I worked for ford everytime I drove a truck that had them it was noisy on the street. as far as off road performance, I don't know anything.

Yes when I raced Trophylite is when they made the switch from AT2 to Red labels so I have put miles on both types of tires. Red labels are great if you rotate them. Soon as you get away from rotating every 5k they get a little noisy. I have put about 350k miles on Red labels combined and I love them. At2 are great as well but just not as forgiving in the rocks. My last set of 35" red labels I drove on for 55k miles with my ecoboost and sold them 8 months ago for $400 and the guy is still driving on them today. I'm ordering a set of Red labels for my Diesel very soon. It will be the first set of non trailer tires I have had to buy since 2009. It's kinda sad.

good to know. both are priced very reasonably and rotation should not be a problem as im very consistent with maintenance on my vehicles.

[arse_sidewards]

I run 12-bolt H1s with skid steer 10-16.5s in an R4 tread pattern and approximately 31" diameter.

On pavement they are loud as all hell from 15-45 but from then on they're no louder than any other aggressive tire. R4s work well in mixed trail conditions but the tire compound has little grip on hard surfaces. Skid steer tires (and many other types off heavy equipment tires) come with a "sidewall guard" which is a 3/4 inch thick rubber slug that's molded onto the sidewall. It's job is to act as a wear surface and take any punishment that would otherwise be taken by the sidewall. Obviously they have a negative effect on tire flexibility. H1s + skid 10-16.5s are also very heavy (and I haven't even cut down and installed my rubber inserts yet). Balance is pretty terrible compared to a street tire but about what you'd expect from a cheap 35". I still haven't tried to knock off the weights Uncle Sam put on my rims or made any attempt to balance them. I'm waiting on a set of Centramatics in the mail. I'd like to see if they can do the job by themselves before I balance what I have.

What you gain from all these trade-offs is a long wearing tire in a small (29-33 or so) size with aggressive tread. Once I get my inserts in I'm gonna leave the spare at home and just bring a lot of patching supplies.

I haven't done more offroading than just bombing down a few power line roads but will update when I do. I don't expect these do perform better than a run of the mill A/T except in mud.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, the brand new set of four cost $419.00 and shipped free.

[arse_sidewards]

So, I've been running the R4s for a few months now. Here's what I've learned.

Yup, bias ply tires get flat spots just as bad as I remembered.

Install new O rings on the H1s right at the start. It's not worth fighting leaks.

You've gotta be anal about checking tire pressure. At 0psi they look like how a normal car tire looks when it's 10psi low. These are not a flexible tire. I'm not sure how they'd do in the dunes.

They suck in snow, exactly as one would expect from a tire with that tread pattern and a hard as heck compound. However, one the snow starts getting deep they do just fine.

Even with the massive "sidewall guard" they don't get appreciably hotter than the 31x10.5s and 235/75/15s they replaced. I'm thinking I'm gonna get an IR thermometer so I can actually keep a log of temps vs conditions.

Noise is still an issue. When you slow down to a stop you think the engine stalled because it gets so quiet. When decelerating everything in the truck that can rattle does as the tire noise passes through it's resonant frequency.

These tires suck up ~3mpg for highway cruising.

Above 50mph the Doppler effect lets you outrun the noise so it gets quieter, however, you'd have to be going a lot faster before the 2nd row gets quiet.

These are not the kind of tires you put on a truck your wife has to ride in. At the rate they're wearing I'm gonna be getting annoyed by the tire noise in 2027.

I'm not sure I'd put these on a street vehicle again but I'm sure as heck putting them on my trailers.

[zachwabbit]

Yeah sound really extreme for street use, and I'm sure don't handle well in rain. I'm happy with the KO2's on my F1 now, no complaints about the AT2's, just got a really good deal on the KO2's and Methods as a package deal

[zachwabbit]

Funny, the dude who bought my Bronco wasn't willing to buy it unless I left the AT2's on there cuz he loved how well they bit when we tested the 4wd

[arse_sidewards]

I blew up one of my skid steer tires. I got within 5mi of my destination before the tread came off so it wasn't a big deal. The rest of the tire still held air. Wasn't nearly as bad as a blowout (and anyone who's had one in real life knows they're only 1/10th as bad as the Internet would make you think they are). I knew I was pushing the limit by running them at 70mph for 70hr straight (literally no stops).

I got normal tires back on it now. Drive slugs are also pulled for a different reason. Holy crap I forgot how quiet and smooth my truck used to be. I think I might keep the street tires and toss in lockouts.