I need some new tires for my Toyota Tacoma pickup. Any recommendations for ones that would handle the occasional light off-road duty and mud though mostly paved roads?
Thanks.

-Blast

No questions BFG AT.

Awesome on road characteristics, awesome in the snow and ice, and they are a good occasional off-road tire. They also wear very well on the road and are not loud.

I just put a set on my wifes jeep in 2008, a set on my F250 in 2009, and have had them on other street/snow/mild off-road vehicles in the past.

On my dedicated off-road jeep I run the BFG KM2 (but the non-DOT approved, "sticky" comp tires) they are awesome but SUCK in the snow, and ice due to the lack of small tiny grooves.)

Another good tire is the Goodyear MTR. I ran those on my old Jeep, and my brother ran them on his. Street driven, hard core trail usage, and snow.. they work great too, not as good in the rain but a great all around tire, and again you will get good mileage.

If your looking for more economical tires Liberator AT. You can get them at wally world or i think sams.

I work at walmart, in the bays. The liberator is the best truck tires they sell. quiet on the road, grip good off. snow is a breeze, and ice actually is passable. (Personally i think no tires rock on ice unless they are studded)
rubber has good grip, without being too hard
big clean outs to clean the tread in mud/snow
good sipeing for traction in water/ice

sipe = little cuts in tread

I live in MO, and have 4 inches of snow on the ground now, I am currently running them and have no complaints.

50,000 mile tires, yet they last usually more like 60,000 if you maintain them (rotate/proper inflation)

Blast,

I ended up learning a lot about different tire capabilities by looking at the charts on the tire racks website (no affiliation, just found it on the web).

Light truck tire comparisons

For reference I went with Michelin LTX A/T 2 tires on my Jeep Grand Cherokee. I get seriously off road rarely these days, but I do get to drive in lots of snow and ice during the winter

Hope that helps,

- Eric

I bought winter tires for the first time ever, and every time I mentioned I got winter tires the first words out of everyone's mouths was "Did you get them through tirerack.com?". Apparently this site has been around for a while and a lot of people seem to like them. Oh, and for the pun "your mileage may vary".

I always go with the BFG AT ko's. This time I went with the 10 ply sidewall. Their traction in snow and ice is nothing short of amazing, I've put over 200K on them in this truck and my last truck (both Toyotas). I get over 50k miles out of them, and they do great off road up in the mountains of Colorado. And they aren't too loud for highway driving, either...

I run 33"x12.5"x15" Mud Kings on my Jeep. I ride with guys running everything from BFG's to IROK's. I've yet to find anywhere they can go that I can't.

Previously I ran Super Swamper TSL's. I just wasn't really that impressed with them for the cost difference.

That said, when I start building a new rig soon and gathering parts, I'll be needing much bigger tires. So my current brand won't be an option. Not a whole lot of companies make a serious offroading tire in the 49" range.

Just my .02

I run Big O brand tires on my 2001 jeep. They are aggressive enough to get my through 4 and 5 feet of snow, pretty good on ice and quiet enough on the street that you dont have to shout to the person sitting next to ya.

The other reason is that they have a lifetime guarentee. If you stick a rock or branch through the side wall, they will replace the tire for you for free. I have used this warrentee (which is free) and it was flawless. I was in and out with a new tire. No hassles.

Name brand no, but good quality and so far so good.

YMMV

I like the BFG AT's, but they did affect my fuel economy, my truck can't get over 20mpg anymore with them

I have Courser ATs on mine-I run 31's currently-any higher I get death wobble on my jeep. This is my second set. The first set went bald after about 30,000 miles. I mentioned this to the dealer, and he stated that the model I had picked up were actually discontinued due to the fact they wore out prematurely. He assured me the current model was a better tire. So, I bought a set. They are nothing special, but they are quiet, good in the snow, and great for light offroading. I have put about 20,000 miles on them so far, and they arent wearing NEAR as bad as the other ones were. I got them cheap-mounted & balanced for about $400. I cannot wholly recommend them, as I had a bad experience with the first set, and the second one is "adequate". But, I did want to throw them out there, in case you were looking at them. Me, I wouldnt recommend them, if you could afford better. But, if you are looking cheap, and will not be replacing tires or putting a lot of miles in the next few years, they may work for you.

eprider, I am going to look into the Big O Brand-did you find them online, or through a dealer?

Milage is important.
Traction on wet roads is important.
Quietness would be nice, but not too important.
Traction in shallow mud is important.

-Blast, who needs to see which of these are available at his tire place.

The BFG AT's are quiet for the deep tread they have.

+1 on Michelin LTX and Tire Rack.

I have the LTX's close cousin -- Michelin Cross Terrain SUV tires -- and they are fantastic. Great ride, excellent in rain and snow (up to 14" of unplowed snow in my case). Have a little mud experience with them, but not much. My Element is AWD.

Tire rack is a great place for research. My Michelins were not cheap but they are terrific and slated to last for 70,000 miles, which I expect they will. I've had them on my Element for three years.

Good luck. There are lots of opinions on tires.

these are the tires I was talking about. Not too bad on ice, but very good in snow, rain, mud and crawling. Not to mention the warranty. Didnt effect my gas mileage but I went from 33 inch tires to 35 inch. just my .02

Maybe I should rephrase my question to be what tires shouldn't I get? Anything out there y'all regret buying?

-Blast

I am not a fan of the BFG all terain. I think they wear fast and are noisy.

YMMV

Blast,

Based on your requirements I think you would do well with a light truck Highway all season radial, like Michelin LTX M/S (Highway All-Season). These get good mileage, run reasonably quietly, last a long time and have good performance in light mud and light snow conditions. I wouldn't try driving in mud up to my axle with these, or take on snow up to my bumper but they will more than cover the needs you describe.

These run about $100-$120 per corner depending on sales etc. Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza run a bit cheaper most of the time and are very similar in overall capability.

I have never had any problems with either of these tires on my wife's SUV. I put the Michelin LTX A/T 2 on my Jeep since I tend to drive it in snow conditions that more reasonable people avoid.

- Eric

Uniroyal Tiger Paw, came stock on my wife's car when we got it at 14K, by 30K they would squeal going around turns no matter how slow you went.

Bridgestone Dueler AT's. The AT implies they are all terrain, but in their case it seems to just be blank letters, I pocked holes in two with sticks and had to plug them just driving on dirt raods in WV, switched over to the BFG's and haven't had any problems like that.

The Goodyear Tracker 2 @ walmart. I ran a set of these on my current truck, after about 30,000 miles they really sucked. I got stuck in wet grass (unloading a piano at my house, pulled into the front yard) snow was kinda nerve racking, no traction. When it rained (most of the spring) i lost traction taking off from a stop and spun a lot. I am not talking about a power take-off, i mean 2000 rpm and a slow let-out on the clutch. i ran them until the belts slipped and i got them adjusted out at walmart for the liberators i have now. (ps this all happened before i worked there)

I doubt you can get them for your truck, but the douglas brand name is REALLY substandard. they are cheap, but total junk. i would not even put them on a car to sell!

Edit: if noise is not an issue, and you need good mud traction look into mickey thompson and super swampers. Mickeys do better on the road, but swampers are kinda the go to brand for mud traction

Mileage: I'd suggest you reconsider this as an important criteria. IMO the cost factors are going to be negligible in the long haul; and the performance, and hence your safety are much more important. Not saying if all things are equal don't take the tire with better mileage, I just suggest you take the better tire over one with better mileage.

I consider tires a very critical component on my vehicles, and have been on the ongoing hunt for the best A/T for our Jeep GC (now Acura RDX) for a couple of decades. Since we live in the NW, wet performance is also key for us.

The tire I've fallen in love with is the Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo, now being replaced by the Revo 2 (the "Revo" part of the name is important).

Bridgestone was one of the first to start using dual compounds to increase wet weather performance on their ultra high performance summer tires. Likewise, they were one of the first to take their dual compound technology and apply it to A/T truck tires.

I started using their high performance summer tires and found it really worked. The old S02 Pole Position tires (they now have better tires) were some of the first high performance tires that really stuck in the wet. Likewise, the Revos also work well in the wet.

On the Jeep:


On the RDX:


They have medium aggressive tread and are pretty good in most conditions. But be aware, A/T tires as a class are going to have some pretty significant performance limitations in mud.

I've also heard good things about the LTX and Yokohama Geolandar A/T, although I wouldn't pick either of them over the Revos. While popular, I haven't been won over by the BFGs, I suspect they are better in mud, but I feel like the compounds are too hard and you give up pavement -- esp. wet pavement performance. And I live mostly on pavement.

I've run the Pirelli Scorpion A/Ts and they do pretty well, although not quite as well as the Revos and IMO their sidewalls are a bit soft. I've heard the Scorpion ATR, although a milder tread, has traction to rival the Revo.

I've run the Goodyear Wrangler AT and felt the compound was too hard and gave poor wet weather performance. I would not consider them again.

The Wrangler MTR as suggested above, is somewhere between a mud tire and an AT tire. Certainly it is going to work better in mud than any of the suggestions in this thread, Revo included, but your on road performance is going to suffer, and considering you talk about wet performance, I suspect that is important to you.

One good resource would read the ratings and reviews on Tirerack. Of course you always need to take the user reviews with a grain of salt since their is no scientific process other than the benefit lots of data points.

Another thing is to hang out on a 4x4 site for a while and see what tires people like since they are more likely to more critically evaluate tires.

I've hung out for years on the GC forum of Jeepsunlimited, which is probably a pretty good match since most don't do real hard core stuff with the GC, but they are also more serious about off road performance that most other SUVs.

Good luck!

-john

My guess is a mud tires is probably a bit more serious than Blast is considering -- as a class they tend to be noisy, ride harshly, wear fast (if using soft compound) and uneven -- but, if you can stomach it, the Interco (Super Swamper) SSR is road friendly, and my understanding has a super soft compound which makes them good in the wet. I've never seen a bad review of this tire.

-john

Hey John,
Thanks for the info on the Revo 2's I have been interested in these tires, who are they on ice?

For 5 years I have been using BFG A/T KO's on my 4x4 Toyota Tundra. I have found them to be good snow/mud tires but like skates on ice.

I have Nokian Vativva All Purpose (not like all-season) tires on my work truck. The rubber is softer making them a much better ice tire but I tend to get flats on freshly graded gravel roads.

Mike

I`m going to have to possibly try the REVO2 next when my BFG AT wear out.

With the jeep I tried a few times to slide it around the corners to check traction and it's amazing, I can't get them to break loose! With my F250 I can, due to no weight in the back but it's VERY HARD, much harder than I would ever drive either vehicle around a turn in traffic/city. That = good for me The same is true for snow, and ice, their performance is amazing.

If the REVO2 is better then awesome.

I used to have the Pole Position on my old cars, they were nice back in the day!

My feeling is they do extremely well in slippery conditions, but they are still an AT tire. A dedicated winter ice tire is going to be infinitely better.

But, the way I approach it is when it gets REAL bad out, chain up all four.

-john

Try TireRack.com. They have a large selection and many reviews that are very handy. Prices are good too.

I have had several good experiences with tirerack.com. I have no affiliation with them other than as a customer.

I go to America's Tire and have them match tire rack price + I pay $25/tire to install/mount/balance. Depending who you get they may charge you "shipping" too which is normally $80 or so. Still way better than full retail.

Another advantage to Big O is they are a national chain that operates under various names in differing areas. In Texas they are Discount Tire. I know Blast has seen a Discount Tire, there are several just off I45 in the areas from Conroe to south of Gunspoint (woops, sorry, Greenspoint) mall.

I use Discount Tire exclusively. They typically will match Tirerack (minus shipping) as well. The other thing is they will order *from* Tirerack and can order pretty much anything you want.

-john

TireRack has a wholesale program too, find someone who is in with them and it's normally 5-25/tire cheaper than their web posted price too. I got America's Tire to honor their wholesale price too.