Help!! Quick decision needed on M/T tire

[Challenger-II]

Hi all,



I need to make a quick decision on which tires to buy today. I ordered Bridgstone Dueler M/T's which are out of stock till maybe next week. They have the Goodyear MT/R's in stock!



Which 285/75 tire should I go with. Anyone's experience on either of these will greatly help. I need to let them know which one I want to go with.



Thanks!

 

[TPCDrafting]

I like the BFG's myself. The M/T's or the A/T TA KO's are good too.

 

[willyslover]

don't let them being out of stock force you into a tire you DO NOT WANT. . find another tire shop or wait.



[note... . not the tire I would use..... but it's your $$$ and your rig, no flame intended here]

 

[Pit Bull]

To get a feel for how others that own these tires feel about them, check out Tirerack.com (owner survey information) on each tire.

 

[sangell]

I have a set of MTRs on a 5000lbs Jeep that is my weekend wheeler and my wife drives it daily, granted they have seen quite a bit of rock but they are not lasting very long. I am sure on a truck as heavy as ours they will wear quick, the people that I wheel with that run the BFGs are getting around 10k more miles on them. The MTRs are as tuff as they come for a radial but wear quick. I agree on the BFGs, look at the new BFG MT KM.



Scott

 

[athompson]

Go with the Goodyears

There is ABSOLUTELY no way I would EVER put Firestone/Bridgstone tires on ANY vehicle that transported ANYONE I didn't want killed. They have a track record in excess of 30 years of building tires that blow up, flip vehicles, and kill people. Now, this doesn't mean that all of their tires do this, but do you know which ones do?



I have had the MT/R and every truck I have owned since they came out. I LOVE them. They have excellent road manners. In fact, they handle MUCH better than the POS Michelins that came on my RAM. When the TSLs wear out on my Sami, I will replace them with MT/Rs.

 

[jdh63]

Tire

I liked the performance of the Goodyears but I only managed to get 18,000 - 20,000 miles out of them versus 50,000 - 60,000 miles with the BFG MT's on my 98. 5.

 

[duaneparks]

Re: Tire

Originally posted by jdh63

I liked the performance of the Goodyears but I only managed to get 18,000 - 20,000 miles out of them versus 50,000 - 60,000 miles with the BFG MT's on my 98. 5.

I'll second this. I have 2 friends (with two different Rams) that run the Goodyear MTR's and they are not lasting like the BFG AT or BFG MT's that they used to have. One Ram is a 1500 4x4 and the other is a 2500 4x4 CTD. The 2500's tires are wearing faster than the 1500's, and they both drive their trucks "normally" as I would describe it. They don't mistreat them.



I love my BFG AT KO's and will probably replace them with a set of MT KM's when they wear out. Last set of BFG AT's I had lasted me 2 years (55K or so) and this set has 12K on them and they are about 25% worn according to a depth gauge I used at the last rotation a couple hundred miles back. I understand the rubber compound in the MT's is the same as the AT's. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.



Hope this helps. BTW, I'm running 295/75/16's on a 16x8 rim



Duane

 

[Beery]

I have 33"MTR on a 02 heavy truck for 2nd mud season and 37"MTR on mine. BFGMT on 11 other heavy tks. The MTR are expensive but last beter. Both are exelent tires.

 

[BTighe]

what about the cooper sst. made by the same company as the toyo's. not sure on sizes though. i was gonna run them but they havent released a 35" for a 16" rim yet.

 

[C.Solomon]

I have had nothing but bad luck with Cooper's.

I ran 3 sets of Toyo M-55's and loved them.

I just (12,000 miles ago) put on a set of MT/R 285's and also love them. They are still over 1/2 tread and I love how they handle. They are very good in mud and snow.

It all depends on what you want out of a tire. If I had nothing but highway to travel I would go the Toyo route. I drive 25+ miles of gravel everday and the MT/R's are holding up excellent.

 

[rivercat]

go with toyos if you can or wait on the bridgestones my two top picks.

 

[biggy238]

My Experience... My BFG KMs just turned 40k and have 5/32-1/8" tread left on them.



Rotated them 3 times (I know I know) and have had two misalignment problems. . I think they are holding up well.



I've seen 3 sets of MT/R's gone in less than to just over 30k on various trucks. . One being an EXT cab toyota. .

 

[Nate]

MT/Rs are rediculously prices for how ****ty they are for off road tires. For the street they are "ok". I had them on the truck... running BFG M/Ts now.

 

[JayWm]

There is ABSOLUTELY no way I would EVER put Firestone/Bridgstone tires on ANY vehicle that transported ANYONE I didn't want killed. They have a track record in excess of 30 years of building tires that blow up, flip vehicles, and kill people. Now, this doesn't mean that all of their tires do this, but do you know which ones do?

QUOTE]



That's gotta be the most uninformed opinion I have seen in a long time. You're worried about safety? How safe is a lifted Suzuki Samari? So by your logic all Fords are unsafe as well? That's the only vehicle that's been flipping over. By the way, there is all kinds of documentation of Explorers flipping over with Michelins and Goodyears mounted on them. Do you have any experience with the Bridgestone Dueler M/T? Your beloved Goodyear had two very quiet recalls, one of which resulted in a number of deaths. Do a little research into Goodyear Wrangler H/T's installed on (could it be another Ford) yep it is, on the Ford E series full size vans several years ago. The other was a recall on their Marathon trailer tires that kept blowing out and ripping up rv trailers.



Now for some helpful information for the original poster. The Bridgestones are a solid all around mud terrain tire, nothing fancy like the MT/R's or the new Toyo or the new Cooper. My experience with these tires comes from installing Bridgestones and Goodyears on a well known utility fleet. Average tire life of the Bridgestones was 18,000-20,000 miles. MT/R's 6,000-9,000 miles. MT/R's are heavy when balanced. MT/R's have a lot of thread squirm when new on the street. MT/R is a better off road tire. So you decide.



Jay

 

[rivercat]

I wouldn't do the mt/r s unless money was a serious factor.

1st ALL goodyears are soft and therefore wear quick and can't take abuse and can't give long life of service

2nd I am speaking from expirence I had my local SAM's club order 315-75-16s for my rig once. Got them for 801. 88 or something close. When they mounted them I hung close to the bay window but they worked slow and got bored and walked off. After I got back the techs had the look of a cat that just swallowd the canary whoudn't make Eye contact and stuff. I brushed it off as nothing and paid and whent on my way less than 8,000 miles later I returned after they seemed to be almost 1/2 worn out and riding very choppy to get a free balence and rotation, actually the truck had a bad pull to one side that would not go away NO MATTER WHAT I did to the front end adjustments toe was on and I tweaked the caster each day for weeks and never could get the pull out of it. So I returned to SAM's club and THIS time I watched and to my amazment the techs stuck upto 22 onces of weights on a single wheel. one particular wheel would never read 0 and the lowes they could get was 3 Ounces out. So I shrugged it off again thinking you get what you pay for. When I left the ride was even choppier and the pull was to the other side this time. So I had found my problem.


LUCKY for me I had only worn 1/4 of my swampers im running now and had plans to sell them after I got the MT/Rs put on but didn't cause I had them put on and the pull was gone and I took the MT/Rs back to SAMs and claimed A DEFECTIVE installation cause they didn't have a big enough machine to balence such a big heavy tire right explaining why they didn't stock any bigger than a 31. It shouldnlt have ever taken over 5 OZs on any of them 22 was Way too much I learned. So the manager threatened to prorate by the wear on them and I kept up my rant about if YOU meaning SAMS were never equiped to balence this large of a tire on the initial install then they didn;t wear properly anyway. SO in the end I got my FULL refund but I would still never buy any goodyears again balenced right or not cause the free ride wasn't worth the nerve racking steering pull it caused. sorry about the RANT a Quick expanation wasn't possible. . .

 

[rwineman]

I also like the BFG's. The M/T's

 

[GaryCarter]

Am I the only one finding any humor in responding to a three year old thread titled "Help!! Quick decision needed on M/T tire"?



FWIW I had the 285 duelers on an F350 and liked them. Rode good, pulled good off road, and only a little noise.



I expect by now the original poster has worn out whatever tires he bought.



Gary

 

[480RUGER]

I saw the 03 post also, laughed and wondered what he went with. I had a set of the old BFG M/Ts 35/12. 5-16. 5 with over 35K miles, nice ride and pull good. Now I run the same size SSRs, over 42k on the first set and have 35k on the second ones I'm running now.



I also got a set of the new BFG A/Ts 315/75-16 on the stock 16x8s, THEY STINK. Wear fast and don't pull for squat. Never would have imagined M/Ts would outlast a A/T. I think someone told me BFG went with a softer rubber for the new tires.



PLEASE BRING BACK THE GATEWAY (not bridgstones) 305/85-16 BUCKSHOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 36" of the best pulling tire ever. (never had a set of Boggers)

 

[firemanmarc]

The Buckshot Mudder????? Oo. Oo. I could full silage wagons out of the field that a White 2-105 couldn't move because it was too muddy... ... ... ..... Damn best mud tire... ... . Happy New Year, Marc