tires.. what are my options?

[onecross]

Thank you everyone for your advise and comments. I have been out of town for the past few days and just had a chance to sit down and read your replies. I have narrowed down the tire search a little to BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A KO, the Cooper Discoverer's. i did find a good price on a Definity Dakota A/T its at pep-boys and its only about $90 per tire. Dose anyone have and experience with this tire? http://www.pepboys.com/tires_wheels/...res/index.html

I will be doing manly highway driving with some off road use. Hopefully more off road as i get more into it(this is my first 4x4)

Thanks again!

-Mat From Texas

P.S. i am 19 in college i purchased the rover for my 19th birthday and working this project is funded by me. it has turned out to be a pretty cool project for my dad and i... i just hope i can remember where all the pieces go... ill be sure to let y'all know how its going and post pictures!

day one

11 months later...

[jp-]

Mat,

Is that the original frame? Or a new one?

I think it will be a nice truck when done. What did you have to give for it?

[onecross]

Mat,

Is that the original frame? Or a new one?

I think it will be a nice truck when done. What did you have to give for it?

It is the original frame. My dad has a powder coating business and for my birthday gift my parents had it bead blasted and then powder coated with a high quality powder coating that is supposed to withstand UV light better then any normal powder or car paint. i paid about 4 grand, i think it was worth it the frame had no rust.

[yorker]

Im running BFG Trac Edge's on my series right now. Great tire, too bad they dont make them any more. Those Cooper's look similar, they might be my next set.

Yeah the Commercial Traction LT's replaced the Trac Edge IIRC. they aren't a bad tire for a mix of on and offroad use, and snow if you happen to venture out in that.

[yorker]

Tires.

I went with STA Super Traxions (7.50 x 16) because they were the closest to what my original tires looked like. Yes my tires were left over from the 60's.

http://www.stausaonline.com/light-truck/super-traxion.html

(FIG C)

I love the look, but really wish I had gone with a 235/85's though as the Traxion tires don't flex much at all (Load Range E). In the 88, even with parabolics it rides like a roller coaster.

Those are great old school tires and look perfect on a Series. Most of the serties trucks I have bouight have had them or a similar clone on them when I bought them. They are an aged design but they still work great!

[Tim Smith]

Hey Mat, nice work! Was that seller dyslexic or lazy?

I'm still running on the BFG MT's that came with my truck about 3 or 4 years and about 30 or 40,000 miles ago. I'd say they have about half their tread left at this point. Overall they are pretty good but I'm getting sick of some of the daily driving issues.

1) Off road:

• Very good off road, generally speaking that is. They give good grip off the pavement and usually render a lot of confidence on the trail.
• Good in the mud. I've not been let down yet, but I'm not the deep mudder type and I'm sure there are better tires out there for bogging it.
• Iffy' in the snow. If you loose your momentum in deep snow, you better bring out the shovel. The lugs won't clean out very well until you are moving again so always try to park on a downhill to get moving again.

2) On road:

• When you get the pressure right for your truck, they aren't half bad on dry pavement. Corner well but will break loose in hard breaking... if you try.
• They suck in the rain. You get sucked into puddles and they spin at stop signs (yes, with a stock 2.25) so hold on.
• They are a disaster in the snow.
• With the roof off, you will realize that they are very loud.

Really these aren't bad but I'm now looking for something that is a little more realistic for my driving which really is 85% on road 10% off road and 5% actually needing the heavy off road gear and tires. So I'm leaning toward getting some highway/all weather tires and carrying either chains or another set of off road tires to club events.

Maybe the noise would drop a bit and my top speed and mileage might go up too.

Cheers,
Tim

[jp-]

A tire that I really mis is the General Versa-Trac.

Great tire.



Hey Tim,

What is hard breaking?

[Tim Smith]

Hey Tim,

What is hard breaking?

Sorry my spelling is horendous... but met me explain.

That is what happens when you try not to smoosh the little kid that's looking at you from their car seat when Mom pulls out right in front of you on the state highway while she's on the cell phone behind the wheel of her luxo-ship. Don't get me started.

It also happens when deer come out to play. I struck 3 deer last year with the 88" and I can tell you that I tried like hell to avoid every one of them. No damage to the truck but every time it seemed like the tires would lock up and sort of give up on trying to do their job.

Last year I also struck 3 deer with the Mercedes (yes it was a strange year) and when the brakes locked up the tires which, were obviously road based, felt like they were still trying to slow you down. The BFG's just make noise and slide.

Thats' hard braking. Luckily no breaking was involved.

Cheers,
Tim

[Tim Smith]

...Last year I also struck 3 deer with the Mercedes (yes it was a strange year)...

Before someone points it out, the Merc was made way before anti lock breaks were standard, so that had nothing to do with the braking...

[jp-]

Tim,

They sell deer whistles that you can put on your vehicle to keep from hitting them. You might want to invest in a few...

I have them on my Ducati. Hitting a deer on a motorcylce would suck.

[Tim Smith]

Deer Whistles

I thought those were a joke. I used to have a set on a car years ago and still had many dearly close misses. Ha!

If I'm not mistaken, my neck of the woods (Fairfield County CT) has one of the highest deer populations per square mile in the nation. During rutting season you would be hard pressed to not see one jump out in front of you at some point. We even have a family of them sleeping in our back yard most of the year and I have personally walked up to one as close as 20 feet before it decided to bolt. They are a true terror on the Merritt turnpike.

I guess this is what happens when you take up all of their land with homes and remove their natural predators.

Any way, are deer whistles actually any good?

Sorry for the hijack here folks.

[LaneRover]

A further Hi-Jack

It is not just putting homes in deer areas. Fairfield County and similar Counties outside of New York City have higher deer populations than the Catskil mountains. Because of fewer predators but also because we plant a lot of 'pretty' things that they LOVE to eat. It is also easier to move around in the winter on or near roads rather than through the deep woods.

Back to the thread... I just bought some Goodyear Workhorses for my Rover in Maine. Didn't get to take them off road yet too much but so far I really like them.

Brent

[jp-]

I thought those were a joke.

I'm sure that there are some that don't work. But mine do. Dogs hate them too.

[PH4]

I bought these tires years ago in Switzerland and have found them to be an excellant all around tire. Quite on the and grippy on wet tarmac and good in the mud. I may try to ship a couple of sets over. They are 750x16. SeeLink.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.ciao.com/iit/images/products/normal/146/Firestone_MS_212__578146.jpg&imgrefurl=http://auto.ciao.it/Firestone_MS_212__578146&h=150&w=200&sz=5&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=2DU3K0PXd2jaoM:&tbnh=78&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dms212%2Bfirestone%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DN