A/T tires

Help me out - I'm a total noob when it comes to off-roading.

I'm looking for a small tire for light off-roading - nothing crazy, just backroads and two-tracks in northern Michigan - so some light mud and dirt. I'd like a chunky-looking tire, preferably in 235/75/15, and I want to spend as little as possible obviously.

Is there a huge difference in All Terrain tires or just get something inexpensive?

General Grabber A/T-2.

I've been very pleased with the General Grabber AT2 I have on my Suburban. Chunky looks similar to the BFG AT at a much lower price. They are wearing well and have had very good traction everywhere I've tried them. They are also severe snow rated, a good thing considering you're in the north. The tread patterns of AT tires do vary quite a bit and some look an awful lot like highway tires, while others have more exposed lugs and void area.

General Grabbers are a good choice. I got a set of Kumho Road Venture AT51 for my Montero and I am happy with them. I haven't done much off road with them yet though. I figured with the smaller lugs they would be better in snow than the grabbers but unfortunately we didn't get much snow this year to test.

https://www.tirebuyer.com/tires/kumho/road-venture-at51/p/tv193001965

Picture hopefully related.

Goodyear Wranglers have been used for ages.

Honestly the good year wranglers that wal mart sells in that size work great for this. If you want a bit more aggresive you can try general grabbers.

My brother and I are fans of treadwright retreads. Great tires formcheap and last a long time but are a little heavy

Tried the generals and they are good but noisey. I then tried HERCULES TERRA TRAC AT II and I am completely sold on these things. Great traction in everything I can toss at it and very quiet on pavement. And very well priced. I will be getting a set for my wife's H2 this year to replace the Yokohamas that have aged out and after some direct comparisons this winter between my truck. With the Hercules and hers. It really became apparent that the Hercules really are that much better.

I had a set of Firestone Destinations on my work truck. They sucked. Good traction but poor wear patterns no matter how they were rotated.

I have Kumho Road Venture ATs on the Samurai. Good traction, decent ride, so far decent wear, but they only have 10K on them.

The Cherokee has BFG All Terrain TAs on it. They are much like the Kumhos. I don't know if they are worth the extra money. They do look better.

My son has Goodyear Wranglers on his Explorer. Decent tire. Decent traction. They only have about 10K on them as well so time will tell in the wear department. They were only $80 per tire which is pretty damn cheap.

Money no object, I'd probably get the BFGs.

icaneat50eggs wrote: My brother and I are fans of treadwright retreads. Great tires formcheap and last a long time but are a little heavy

I've got Treadwrights on my XJ and have been very pleased with them. I'm running the Guard Dogs, which are more of an M/T, but they're not super obnoxious to daily drive, do fine in the wet and what little snow we had this winter, just a little bit of a hum when you're moving. They make an A/T tire called the Warden that is pretty much a knockoff of the BFG A/T.

I have Yokohama ATS on my Z71. We've done light offroading to drop water with them and I'm happy.

A/T is the wisest choice for what you're planning. M/T is really knobby and they really shine in the mud, but on the road they are LOUD and they are awful in the snow.

If you're like me, I kinda dabbled with maybe getting just some M&S rated tires until I saw how helpless my brother-in-law's 4x4 was in the snow with his Michelin M&S tires. I off-road maybe a handful of times a year getting to the cabin, but the truth is I could get there with a Suby if it had 2 more inches of clearance.

So because of the do-it-all nature of A/Ts, I'll stick with them. My other option is M&S for 9 months and have some dedicated snows for winter.

I have Hankook Dynapro ATMs on my F150. They do everything pretty well except noise. They cup very easily and I have to rotate frequently. But they do very well in the snow, good in mud, good in wet, but they're a little noisy for a DD. They were fresh and new on the truck when I bought it last year so I didn't choose them, but I don't think I'll do them again.

I've been looking hard at the Toyo Open Country AT (rated well by off-roader magazines) and the BFGs.

In MI I'd go with a AT that carries the RMA severe snow service "mountain snowflake" stamp, these are true all season tires.

I've been happy with my BFGs. Photo related.

Furious_E wrote:

icaneat50eggs wrote: My brother and I are fans of treadwright retreads. Great tires formcheap and last a long time but are a little heavy

I've got Treadwrights on my XJ and have been very pleased with them. I'm running the Guard Dogs, which are more of an M/T, but they're not super obnoxious to daily drive, do fine in the wet and what little snow we had this winter, just a little bit of a hum when you're moving. They make an A/T tire called the Warden that is pretty much a knockoff of the BFG A/T.

I rock the Wardens in 285/75-16 on my 4runner. They're heavy buggers and my set were inexplicably hard to balance. However, I suspect that was due to the tire person's inexperience than anything. They were good in the snow Portland got this year and haven't let me down in the hundreds of miles they've spent off-roading in the desert.

I recently purchased a set of Nitto Terra Grappler G2's for the ZAV in 285-60/18. Now, I'm not a off road guy, and I have nothing to compare them to but the half worn out Yokohamas that were on it. But, these Nittos are nice. Quiet on the road, actually quieter than the Yoko's, in my observation, and in the rain, amazing. My off roading experience is the half mile dirt road home and my driveway, but they grab really well there. Yeah, they were not cheap and the set cost me one large at wally world, but they are pretty nice.

I have Yokohama Geolander G015's on my Outback. I also looked at the BFG KO2's. Both are severe snow rated. The KO2's are a bit more aggressive tread pattern, but the deciding factor for me was that the KO2's weighed 10# more per tire and the Yoko's were the same weight as the stock tires. So far the Yoko's have been able to handle any of the dirt/gravel roads and creek crossing I have around here.

I've had the Toyo Open Country A/T on my Grand Cherokee for a three years now (25k miles)and am pleased with their performance and noise level. I'd buy them again.

Bfgs are the e36m3. They're all I run for offroad or truck tires.

In reply to bastomatic:

What vehicle are you looking for tires for?

The reason I ask is some tires have different load ratings for the same model. I sought out C rated A/T tires for my Wrangler because I wanted to preserve at least a little ride quality. A friend bought E rated Mud Terrains for her Wrangler and besides being super heavy, they rode terribly.

I ended up buying 33x12.50x15 Goodyear Duratracs. They are a pretty aggressive A/T tire that has the Severe Weather rating. They are awesome in the snow but work really well in mud/sand. They were kinda pricy for 33s but they might be cheaper in the size you are looking for. I bought mine from Discount Tire Direct.

Another vote for Grabber A/T2's here. They're a great tire for the price.

Thanks for the responses guys. Gonna go with either the Generals or Kumho, whichever is cheaper probably.

I put Duratracs on my truck and LOVE them

I have positive feedback for Cooper RTX after a couple year of use:

http://us.coopertire.com/Tires/Light-Truck/DISCOVERER-RTX.aspx

I needed an all terrain tire that could be used also for daily driving and heavy towing. I picked this up from NTB. They have a couple of different load ratings. I have E's for towing, that don't squat as much as C or D. But if you don't need E's, they are less expensive and will not ride us rough.

Don't overlook Cooper's offerings. I've been pleased with the AT3 on our XJ, my brother-in-law liked ours so much he put them on their XJ, and my uncle has had 2 sets on their Youkon. I have a cousin who has the S/T Maxx on his F-250, they blur the lines of A/T and M/T, and have had my attention as the next tire for our Wrangler.

In my experience the BFG A/T and General's very similar Grabber tread, do not clean out well in mud.

The Goodyear AT/S are garbage, had 5 punctures and one replacement in 7 months on our work truck which the only "off road" it sees is gravel roads, rice levees, field roads, and turn rows. Replaced the AT/S with the Goodyear Allterain Adventure with Kevlar and they've survived the exact same abuse for 3 times as long now, and haven't had puncture yet. They're a pretty mild AT tread though.