Grrr... shredded sidewall

[jimbiram]

I have found that 25-27 pounds offroad works great, and gives enough flexibility for the toughest rocks. On highway, though, I run 37 and 45.

 

[Houm_WA]

The "C", "D", "E" rating has nothing to do with side wall strength, only tread rating. Look at the BFG, especially the old MT's or the newer replacement, they have a full, actual 3 ply side wall, not a rated 3 ply wall.

I don't think this is correct. I think that the Load rating has everything to do with the side wall strength. Just for reference, the MT/Rs have 3-ply sidewalls and carry a 12-ply rating as well as a load rating of E.

 

[nwoods]

My coopers lasted well over 40k miles also. Curious, what pressure did you run on Top of the World? I broke a bead on a rock (literally broke it, not just pushed off the rim) on my Nitto's, but never had any problems with my Coopers, despite frequent torture off road.

The BFG AT's are going to give you a better sidewall, and the new Kevlar MTR's are awesome, but I don't know if they have our size out yet? The problem, as always, is that unless you run the rod mod, all the good 32" tire options will rub a quite a lot. Not too many options in the 31.5" and under tire size.

 

[codemonkey]

A couple questions to answer here -

Tire pressure: I was running 38/42, as I do on the road. Perhaps I should have been running somewhere in the mid-30's, but I really doubt a few PSI would have made a difference. I know a lot of people like to run much lower pressure on everything, but I only do it on sand and mud. With alloy rims, low pressure, relatively low-profile tires and a big heavy vehicle on rocks, I think you're just as likely to damage or break a wheel running low as avoid a puncture. Even on my XJ I ran street pressures (34/36) on terrain like this and never had a problem with sidewalls on Firestone and GY MT tires, despite many obvious nicks. The XJ weighs barely half as much as the LR3.

Tire Wear: What can I say, other than YMMV. Most of my driving is lots of up and down big Colorado hills (in other parts of the country you might even call them mountains) with twisty roads. In my experience that eats tires on any vehicle.

Load Rating: I wasn't looking at the load rating of the GY MTR as a way to gauge strength, I was questioning its suitability to the LR3. Just over 2500 lbs a corner does not seem enough, especially when others are around 3600. Even the guy at Discount Tire today was surprised to see that low a rating for this size tire, especially when similar sizes of the same tire are higher. I'll see if I can find someone at GY to talk about this.

Tire sizes: This was interesting - the DT guy swore up and down that he had found a 17" wheel that he fit to a customer's V8 LR3 last year. He's going to dig through his fitment notes and see if he can remember where he got them. I'll certainly wait to hear about this before I decide anything.

While at DT we looked closer at the sidewall damage and tire construction. Though I do like these tires, the sidewall is quite unimpressive for an offroad tire. Going back to my original point of this thread, it looks like at least the Nitto TG and AT-KO are "tougher" options.

So I need to look into a few things (rod mod, GY MTR load rating, 17's) but I doubt I'll still with the LTZ's.

 

[nwoods]

A couple questions to answer here -

Tire pressure: I was running 38/42, as I do on the road. Perhaps I should have been running somewhere in the mid-30's, but I really doubt a few PSI would have made a difference.

Ah, well there is your problem I'll bet. With your tires running so stiff, there is no way for them to conform around the rock to avoid puncture. And No, you will not break a wheel! LOL, you have be moving pretty fast to whack a rock that hard. I've seen it done though. The wheel was bent in with a flat spot about the size of my hand. The woman driving it was a hoot. She was this good looking but hard ridden sort of girl, mountain climber body (zero body fat, wiring muscles, etc..) and was TOTALLY amped up on Red Bull. She was going down a local fire road up to 70mph, sliding through corners, drifting, powering out, hooting and hollering and having a grand 'ole time until she nailed a rock and broke the bead by bending the rim flat. I was there waiting for some buddies. She jumps out, laughing and howling , starts running around like a 3 year old on crack. I helped her get her spare tire put on, and she offered my a case of Red Bull. She explained that she worked for them. I asked is she was a product tester What a character. Red hair too!

Anyway, if you are running 31" tires or larger, on 18" rims, air 'em down to 26psi on the trail, and live long and prosper. Regardless of brand.

 

[codemonkey]

And once again a serious question has degenerated from what the OP was hoping to get. Simply saying "I run 26 psi and never flatted is proof that you wouldn't have" is just plain nuts. Hell by by that logic my rear that hit the same rock should have also flatted, since that was 4 PSI higher than the front.

If all it took was airing down and any tire would do, 3-ply sidewalls wouldn't be in the market, and NFW would Goodyear have spent the money to add Kevlar to what has to be one of the best-selling MT tires on the market.

And I won't even go into the red bull thing. It's no wonder I hadn't read this forum in months...I think last time I got mocked with someone's ********** fantasy pics in response to a serious comment about siping. This is definitely the last time you'll see me here.

 

[nwoods]

???

The Red Bull story was just something that I thought was funny, and provided relevance to how unlikely, and how unusual a situation would have to be to break a wheel. As for airing down on the trail, its just truth, not mockery. You've seen my posts on here from day one. Have I ever been anything but try to be helpful and respectful? I apologize if you took something the wrong way. I was not at all sniping at you. Sorry to bum you out.

 

[nwoods]

To back up my comment about airing down, even BFG's website talks about it:
http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/overview/mud-terrain-t-a-km2/3930.html

"Feature: Linear flex zones allow the tire to conform and grab obstacles in aired-down driving
Benefit: Overcome nearly any obstacle"

And: http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/overview/all-terrain-t-a-ko/44.html
"Feature: High-strength single strand bead construction
Benefit: Helps protect wheel and tire from off-road hazards, especially during aired-down driving"

 

[roverman]

And once again a serious question has degenerated from what the OP was hoping to get. Simply saying "I run 26 psi and never flatted is proof that you wouldn't have" is just plain nuts. Hell by by that logic my rear that hit the same rock should have also flatted, since that was 4 PSI higher than the front.

If all it took was airing down and any tire would do, 3-ply sidewalls wouldn't be in the market, and NFW would Goodyear have spent the money to add Kevlar to what has to be one of the best-selling MT tires on the market.

And I won't even go into the red bull thing. It's no wonder I hadn't read this forum in months...I think last time I got mocked with someone's ********** fantasy pics in response to a serious comment about siping. This is definitely the last time you'll see me here.

Officially the most over-sensitive whiny little ***** post I've ever seen here.

 

[Houm_WA]

codemonkey...thanks for the clarification on load rating.