Beating the proverbial dead horse... AT tires?

[SpeleoRover]

Hi folks - I've been lurking around here for months reading up on what tires/sizes will and won't work on my 2000 Disco II. I wish I could say I've narrowed it down alot, but I haven't. Please excuse the recurring tire question...

I have a 2" OME lift on an otherwise stock Disco that is a daily driver and weekend fun machine. I drive 6 miles everyday on rural Arkansas backroads to get to work. I need tire that will weather sharp Ozark rock, logging roads, mild trails, and still have manners leftover for pavement and taking my wife out for Thai food and a movie. I really don't want M/T's since I don't do any real rock crawling or anything like that. I'd prefer an aggressive A/T. I've been eyeballing the BF Goodrich All Terrain TA KO's - I've had great luck with those on other vehicles on Ozark roads. The Bridgestone Duelers are intriguing, too.

For size, I'm having trouble deciding that, too. I like the idea of 265/75's, but I don't know if I want the weight. I can't help but think they'd be a pretty tight squeeze, regardless of the lift.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

[rmuller]

265/75/16 bfg ats ... you answered your own question

[Private Iron]

I think you'll find the consensus is almost always BFG AT's. I shopped around for a long time before I decided to go with them, and I am really glad I did. I have only been on trails a few times ( i wish it is more often) but they have been flawless, several times pulling me out of big mud holes I thought I would never make it through, course maybe that was just the rover doing all the work. Anyway, drive on 'em to work everyday and they are about as smooth as the OEM tires.

As for sizes, I have a D1, no lift, so can't help you there.

[Thor]

I've found the BFG AT to be garbage here in the west.

Goodyear MT/R is a Maximum traction NOT a Mud Tire and I've had woderful times with a few sets of these.

235 85 r16 would be my choice. Good under axle clearance, less rolling resistance from width and as a bonus pushes less mud in front of the tire. My 1995 RRC is very similar to your D1 and I had the OME MD with the tire I mentioned above (I do run 285 75 r 16 on my 1992 RR1 now, but I also have a lot more engine than the RRC did)

[Funrover]

Originally Posted by Thor

I've found the BFG AT to be garbage here in the west.

Not me.. I love them...... and would recomend them to anyone...... By far the best tires I have had..EVER

[300bhp/ton]

I guess many in America will recommend Goodyear A/T's or M/T's it just seems to be the American way (take a look on a few Jeep sites....)

I've got a set of BFG A/T's (I got for nothing ) in 31.10.50 that's about a 265/65 I think.

The size is probably quite good and IMO look good, fiarly chuncky and bigger diameter than stock. You could go taller, but might need a narrow tyre for clearance purposes (not 100% sure on a DII).

As for the tyre itself, well I'm not really all that impressed to be honest, certainly wouldn't buy them with money. For an A/T they look good, and on some mud tracks recently they performed much better than I thought they would, but show them some serious off road action (mud and slopes) and they are out of their depth.

But it's not the off road ability I don't like about them. It's their on road manners, total crap in the dry and far far worse in the wet. They simply don't drive or handle nice and in the wet lock up easier than my 33" Simex Jungle Trekkers.

I'd rather have BFG M/T's over the A/T's any day, they look way better, perform much better off road and are surprisingly close on road to the the A/T's if not better in the wet.

Might want to take a look at some of the Cooper offerings, the Discoverer STT and it's A/T sibling are better IMO.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by Funrover

Not me.. I love them...... and would recomend them to anyone...... By far the best tires I have had..EVER

I actually did meat to say 'funrover likes them though' in my original post! hahaha

[SpeleoRover]

I thought the BFG AT's did pretty good on my old Silverado, but I never expected them to be anything other than an AT tire on the road. I ran Cooper Discoverer AT's awhile and they did OK, but now the tread design is changed and you can only get the old tread design in an "LT" version with no info on rubber.

My brother loved his Cooper Discoverer ST's, but I didn't think they lasted worth a crap and they drove terrible. He had a WIDE set on a 3/4 ton Dodge diesel 4x4 with a full load of construction toos all the time, and I don't know how often he rotated them. I've been seeing some banter about the Discoverer ST's having trouble with sharp rocks, hence the STC's came out with a better rubber compound. I like the pattern, but I want something that will stand up forever.

My confusion continues...

[SpeleoRover]

So... Is there a decent concensus on 8-ply D-rated vs. 10-ply E-rated? Do both generally hold up the same on sharp rocks?