Goodyear 255/55/19 MT/R

[Dgee03]

Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse here. I just couldn't go thru all these old threads anymore...
I'm in a situation where I can replace my stock Goodyears with these Wrangler MT/R. The guy at the Tire place was kind of not recomending it. He said I needed an H rated tire. he also said the handling would suffer and their would be some road noise. i use my LR3 as our "family car" but it gets plenty of off road use. Anyone have any experience with these tires? Pros/cons? I really wish I could get 18" rims but it's just not an option right now.

Thanks for any help!

[HOUM_WA]

I have the bigger ones, the 275/65R18s and I agree that they're loud and handle like crap on the freeway. The "H" rating must be the speed rating, huh? Because I know that the load rating for that tire is "E" and that's about as good as it gets.

I would not run them full-time, myself. I have separate rims for my rig and normally I run 19's with Michelin Synchrones on them. When I have a trail run planned I swap 'em in my back alley.

You need something in between, like an all-terrain tire...not sure what your options are with the 19" rims though.

[ChesapeakeRover]

Tire Rack says that the 255/55 R19 MT-R's have a XL load rating, like the stock Goodyears HP's.

Goodyear Wrangler MT/R

I'm also assuming that the tire guy is referring to the speed rating, and as stated earlier by Houm, E is as tough as it gets for a load range.

[Dgee03]

Thanks for the input fellas. I went on the goodyear website and compared the tires side by side. The major difference was in the speed rating of the tire. 111V or H for the Wrangler HP and 111S for the MT/R.

The more I think about it...I never really got stuck anywhere last season with the stock tires. They did pretty well considering the way people thrash them on these boards. Even impressed some Jeepers last year as they made their way past us with there expensive suspensions. And there I sat with "street tires" as one guy put it.

So maybe I'll just keep it simple till I can find some inexpensive 18" rims.

[blownf150]

As far as mtrs go I have them on one of my discos. I do like them however on my lr3 I have teragrapplers. On a car that will see more on road time I would run the teraa grapplers. They don't do as good in deep mud but they are still good.

[HOUM_WA]

Dgee....you may THINK that the stock Goodyears did okay, offroad or aotherwise, but trust me, the guys trashing them on these boards are not all wrong. Those tires are crap. I gashed a sidewall on my first trip offroad. Others in my club have as well. They don't wear worth a damn either. ...and the traction sucks. If you think your LR3 did well with the HPs, you will MARVEL at how it does with a set of all-terrains on.

I ran Cooper Zeons for a year or so and loved them.

[drzjoint]

If I had 19" I would go with the MTRs I know guys who have 50k on them ya you will get a hsm but turn the radio on. I would be curious to see how loud it would even be the LR3 is insulated so it wont be like when you are in a tin can of a jeep. I almost bought some 19s for the mtr but wanted the extra height from the 285-65.

[HOUM_WA]

I also came close to buying the 255/55R19 MT/Rs but already had the extra set of 18" rims so figured I'd pursue having the best of both worlds (Michelin Synchrones on 19s and Goodyear MT/Rs, 275/65R18 on 18s). I have no regrets but if I had only a set of 19s and was in the market for tires I'd consider doing MT/Rs only. Especially if I lived in a small enough community that I wouldn't be on interstates much.

[Dgee03]

Thanks again for the input guys. I'd still be doing a fair bit of highway driving in my truck so I'm still not 100% sure about the MT/Rs.

[Learth]

Why not get the perelli scorpion ATRs as a compromise then? People on tirerack love them.

[BIGRED1]

There are plenty of 19" rims on ebay (w/used tires). I was thinking of getting a full set and putting the mtr's on them for winter/off road driving and using my current HP's the rest of the time until there done.