I currently have General Grabbers (HTS) 275/60-20. I am looking to get a good price for a good tire. These tires have been great thus far, I just wanted to see if there were any other recommendations out there?

 

The Nitto Terra Grapplers seem to be the leader of the pack around here as far as usage and recommendations. I haven't read a bad review on them. Anywhere. If they had the stupid rating mark required over here, I'd have a set on the way to me right now. Seriously, I haven't read a single bad thing about them.

I'm very interested in the Cooper S/T Maxx tire, myself. They are new on the market, so there really isn't a whole lot of long-term data available on them. I've only read two bad reviews on them, and those said that the sidewalls swayed on the tire, and made the rear end feel like it was fishtailing. I dunno... If I could find someplace that had 285/70/17's in stock, and would ship for a reasonable price, I'd give them a go in a heartbeat.

Hammer and a few others like the Cepek FC-II. Expensive initial buy-in, but apparently they last forever and will get you through just about anything. Another tire I seriously considered until I found they didn't conform to the stupid winter tire law here.

Cooper also has the new Discoverer AT3 which I think at least one or two folks here have recently spooned on their trucks to a good reception.

I'm sure there's plenty others, but those seem to be the big ones talked about here.

 

Thank you for your Input Chet... This will help me out quite a bit.

 

It also depends on how aggressive you want your tire, I am running Nitto Trail Grapplers and I love them, but I have ALWAYS had good luck with the BFGoodrich A/T.

 

You are from SoCal, so I'm not sure how much experience you have, or can offer on this part... but, I've read a bunch that the Goodrich A/T is not that great in snow. Do you have anything on that, either way? When I was looking for new tires, it was hard to find snow/winter experience and reviews on the tires I was looking for (especially if they were newer offerings from the manufacturers). Lots of great, "THIS TIRE IS UNBEATABLE IN MUD/ROCK/TRAIL/COW PASTURE!" reviews, but not a lot of winter reviews. Being Ohio, jbailey might find those useful, too.

I know others (many, actually) who swear by the Goodrich A/T for one reason or another, and vow never to have another tire. So, they must be doing something right at the Goodrich plant.

 

Personal Opinion (since tire opinions differ greatly from one person/review to another):

Better All-Terrain: Nitto Terra Grappler, Toyo Open Country A/T (pretty much a clone of the Terra Grappler or vice versa), Cooper Zeon LTZ, Cooper AT3, General Grabber, Mickey Thompson ATZ, Mickey Thompson STZ (another new Terra Grapp, Toyo AT clone but if it wears like other Mickey Thompson tires you should see 80k miles out of them).

Worse All-Terrain: ProComp A/T, BFG A/T, just about anything that says Goodyear on the side. Lot of people love the BFG, good tread pattern, but I could never keep a set balanced or keep them from cupping.

Better Hybrid A/T - M/T: Dick Cepek FCII (my current tire, over 30k on them and still have 90% tread - almost as good on pavement as the better A/T tires, almost as good in mud as all but the most aggressive mud tires), Nitto Trail Grappler, Interco M16, Cooper ST MAXX (basically a Goodyear Duratrac tread but with a stronger sidewall).

Worse Hybrid: Nitto Dune Grappler (great in sand, poor everywhere else), Goodyear Duratrac (this is another tire I love the tread on, rivals the Cepek FCII in a great crossover A/T - M/T tread but it suffers from a weak sidewall and there are many documented failures on larger/heavier trucks.

Best Mud Tire while still maintaining some highway control: Mickey Thompson MTZ, Toyo Open Country M/T, Cepek Mud Country, Interco TRXUS MT, Cooper STT, Mickey Thompson Baja Claw TTC (slightly scaled-down, more road friendly version of the legendary Baja Claw - probably my next tire).

As far as bad ones, their are a LOT of mud tires out there that do real well until the pavement use starts to wear 'em down and chunk 'em up. I've seen this happen at fairly low miles on Maxxis Buckshots, Hankook M/Ts and Pro Comp M/Ts.

Best pure Mud/Off-Road: Interco Bogger, Nitto Mud Grappler, Mickey Thompson Baja Claw.
* although these are GREAT tires, they will wear down quickly and handling can be downright squirrely on pavement, especially wet pavement due to their aggressive nature, but all three have super reputations among the mud/rock crawling crowd.

and that's my opinion about tires...

 

Price, federal MTs are good tires from what I've heard. And +1 on the Claw TTC's as your next set Hammer! They pull extremely hard and wear very well

 

Yeah I really want a set, my only "problem" is my damn FCIIs are wearing so well. My last Mickey Thompson/Dick Cepek tires were Mickey MTXs and they had 68k on them, still had a good 20k of good tread on them when I traded in the truck. It's looking like my current FCIIs are gonna wear equally as well, if not even better!!!

When I put these on, I had just gotten divorced and the ex took her Grand Cherokee with her, making my truck my 100% driver. I needed a good road tread AND something that I could hunt/fish/camp with - and I hog hunt in some pretty nasty sh*t. The hybrid FCIIs have been perfect - BUT I now have my own Grand Cherokee - a V8 4x4 as my daily driver (take that b*tch, LOL) so my truck is not needed for daily /highway use nearly as much. I have Nitto Terra Grapps on the Jeep, so I would love to go even more aggressive than the FCIIs on the truck.

I don't have the $ to basically scrap perfect tires to replace them...

 

I've got Pro Comp A/T's on my truck right now (33x12.5/17). When I first put them on, I loved them. Granted, I was going from the stock Goodyear tires on the 20" rims to 33" A/T's on 17" wheels, and it might have been a bit of "new toy syndrome", but I never had a problem with them for the first 15,000-20,000 miles, or so. I've had them on some pretty sloppy hunting trails around the base, and back on a buddy's hunting property and drop zone in Arkansas, and never once had the feeling I wasn't going to get out of wherever I put it.

Unfortunately, these tires saw a LOT more highway miles than I ever anticipated when I put them on. They've been through every type of weather you can imagine while over the road, from hot and dry, monsoon rains, to snowfall. Only once the tires really started wearing did I ever feel uncomfortable and unconfident in them. The siping does not go all the way down to the carcass, and the lugs are now worn flat. I do not have the confidence to turn out in front of traffic, for fear of the rear end spinning and not getting traction to go. They spin A LOT now, which they didn't do when newer. The want to break free in traffic circles, though I don't think stopping is an issue with them, yet.

I haven't had them in snow in quite some time, but I've read that once they get beyond about 50% wear, they are slick as ice in any sort of snow. I'm well beyond 50% right now, so that's just one more reason for them to go. I'm still trying to decide on my next tire. I want to try the S/T MAXX real bad, but I can't find anyone that has them in stock. Everyone that has them in stock online wants hundreds more to ship them. I can buy Goodyear, Bridgestone and Goodrich here, though they say they can take up to 12 weeks to come in! I'm kind of at the mercy of the internet...

Anyway, that's my take on the Pro Comp A/T's. I bought them back in '06 because I liked the complete lug pattern and aesthetics, and they were also pretty cheap at the time. I never had a balance or round issue with them. I don't regret buying them, but it's past time for them to go and be replaced, and I don't plan on buying them again.

 

Chet, how many miles would you say you put on those ProComps when they hit 50% wear? Just curious, I have a good fishing buddy who had them on his Jeep Wrangler and they were near bald at 18,000 miles...