Hey guys, I just got my new wheels and tires put on. I ended up going with 295/70r18 Nitto Trail Grapplers on some 18 inch KMC Monsters in black. That's about 34 inches by 12 inches. When doing the research on these tires in this size it was really hard to find any info on this combo for 3rd gen dodges. I read about as much as a could and decided I was gonna go for it. I got em on, and I couldn't be happier. After I post some glamour shots I'll do a small review on 'em so people spending hours on google/this forum like I did will hopefully have the info they need.



Went from the ole 31 inch cooper atr's toooooo.....




These bad boys. No rub when driving around on any turns. So I took em offroading and flexed a little. Didn't get em at full lock while flexing but did turn pretty sharp. No rub on my front tires then either.


Excuse the quality of this photo. It was taken with my phone, edited with my phone, uploaded to a website, saved and then uploaded again to facebook.


Now, onto the review.

Ride Quality -
One thing I noticed with these tires when upgrading to them from 31's is how much smoother the truck rides. I feel like the bumps in the road are absorbed SOOO much better. The only time the ride quality is sacrificed and feels rough because of the tread is when slowing down to a stop or accelerating from a stop. It's between about 0 and 8 mph I'd say. Definitely not a big deal at all.

Noise -
These tires are said to be more quiet than most mud terrains. Compared to the old coopers I had, these things are certainly louder. There is a slight whine at in-town speeds, and when you get up to highway speeds it just gets slightly more noticeable. I've ridden in my buddies truck with mud grapplers and the trail grapplers are certainly not anywhere near as bad. The whine these tires produce isn't annoying to me at all. In fact, I love it. It's not enough to annoy you but it's enough that you notice it occasionally and think about how B.A. your new tires are!

Power and fuel economy -
I only have 3.55s in my truck (I do plan on upgrading at some point), and I did notice a slight loss of power. It's not that bad. I'm not having to floor it to slowly accelerate, but it is there. For having 3.55's and 34's, I'm not complaining, though. When driving conservatively, I used to get about 12 mpg. In town I get about 9.5-10 now. I drove on the highway to the drag strip yesterday and and averaged 10.8. Keep in mind I have a 5.9L, which is a notorious gas guzzler.

Fitment on 3rd gen 4x4 1500 Dodge Trucks -
My truck is a 2002 4x4. I did the torsion bar level awhile back. These tires do not rub and fill out the wheel wells perfectly in my opinion. I'm a big fan of the big tires stuffed into the wheel wells looked (to a certain degree) and I think these tires on a leveled ram look perfect. My wheels are backspaced 4.53 inches.

If there's anything else you guys think I should include or want to know, either PM me or post here. Thanks!

 

That last picture looks so sick! Nice choice man what tires did you go with? Toyo mt?

 

He went with Trail Graps. It says it in the post lol

 

Very nice man, I've had those same tires for over a year now, they are bad-*** meats. I was deep in the Idaho mud with them for a week and never got stuck. They will get a little noisier the older they get but they keep very good alignment and are wearing great. Good choice and nice looking wheel/tire combo, congrats.

 

Also keep in mind that your mpg on your overhead will read incorrectly unless you program your truck for the bigger tire size, your speedo will be off too.

 

Ahhh okay. I was looking at getting a superchips programmer here pretty soon. If I calibrate the speedometer using their tire size programmer thing will that also change up my MPG reader on the overhead and odometer?

Thanks everyone.