Tire Question

[AZBillyBoy 2]

Please move this if I put it in the wrong place.

 

Anyone know anything about the Falken Rocky Mountain ATS? It looks like a Mud-style tire but the price makes me wonder how well (and how long!) it would last off road.

[curbjumper 30]

I have considered these in the past, but went with Nitto Trail Grappler. Overall the Falken Rocky Mtn. is a good All Terrain tire with a 50K warranty to boot. Below is a good unbiased review with video of the tire:

 

http://www.lastgreatroadtrip.com/off-road-adventure-accessories/falken-rocky-mountain-ats-review/

[AZBillyBoy 2]

So is it considered an All terrain tire or a Mud Terrain? It doesn't look like an All Terrain in the BFG or Goodyear mode. Discount sure has a lot of tire brands and styles listed but when I click on many of them I am told they are not stocked locally. I will have to check out the Nitto. I have Hankooks now 31 10.50 Mudders and they have been very good but WOW the price for a new set is causing my pacemaker to stutter. Plus I was thinking of getting new wheels since my old ones are pretty much toast (they're functional but look pretty worn!).

 

On edit: I checked the Nitto Trail Grappler and it isn't listed in a 31" size for my Yota

[curbjumper 30]

Hi:

 

The Falken ATS is an All Terrain, yet looks more agressive. A few questions: What size rim are you using? Is your 98' Taco lifted? Are you specifically looking for an Mud Terrain? Would you consider going from a 31" to a 33"? Below is an inch to metric conversion chart that can help with your alternative metric tire size selection e.g a 31 X 10.5/15 would equal to a 265/75/15.

 

http://www.crawlpedia.com/tire_size_converter.htm

 

Also, here is a very good review site to help with other tire brand considerations.

 

http://www.offroaders.com/tech/AT-MT-Tires/MT-Mud_Terrains.htm

 

Hopefully that helps a little. I shopped tires last year, so I know it can be a bit info overload with choices and prices out there.

 

P.S: These are an inexpensive alternative (re-treads), but I have no experience with using these, so more research would be needed. https://www.treadwright.com/p-12-31-10-50r15-guard-dog-m-t.aspx

[AZBillyBoy 2]

I can't go to a 33 because they won't fit. My truck is standard height + a little lift but no way enough for 33s. It came with 15 X 7 alloy wheels, which everyone told me didn't happen.... Go figure yet they are stock Toy rims with the little (some missing) Toyota center caps.

 

I would like to stick with Discount because every time I go somewhere else, like Purcells or Big O, or Firestone, I get royally screwed. I have always used BFG Mudders but over the years their life span has dropped way down and they CHUNK horribly.

 

Past excursions into mistakes were Firestone Destination MTs and Big O's Mudder which both turned out to be total losers. I was out working on my Adopt A Road a couple of years ago right before I bought the Hankooks. A bunch of guys drove through and they had the Hankooks on their rigs and told me I couldn't go wrong buying them.

 

They were right but I bought them at Purcells because they were cheaper than Discount. Wrong. You get what you pay for in service. NONE!

 

Last year I wanted to upgrade my bleached-out rims. Discount has ONE 15" rim that fits my truck. So I thought about going to a 16" wheel as there are a lot of rims to pick from. But the 16" tires are a lot more money than the 15s. Plus I don't know if I like the shorter sidewall. Yes the P265 is the size I was looking at.

 

So after deferring on the ONE 15" rim that Discount has, I figured maybe I should go with it after all or just get the tires and keep my crappy old rims. I mean they work fine; they just look........OLD.

 

I have seen some guys with Kumho (sp?) tires; Discount has them listed but "not available locally."

 

It kind of sounds like the Falkens might not be durable enough for what I do. The truck sees almost all of its time offroad or getting there. Of course the "getting there" is more mileage.... but the driving is over typical forest roads with the usual rocks, gravel, etc. No rock crawling obviously and I run away from mud whenever possible except usually in the summer I have to deal with it across the AF Monument.

 

I see the Falkens have a mileage guarantee. How do they do that? I would make out like a bandit if that were true! 50,000 miles on a set of tires? Never happened to me in my life! Even on my '73 Vega!

 

I only get around 2 years on a set of tires. Yes; that's right. Two years. It's always been that way unless I drive the truck more daily then maybe I can stretch that out a bit. It looks like the Hankooks are going to pass the BFGs in mileage though.

 

So what is the difference between Discount Tire and Discount Tire Direct? I mean the latter ships them to you; then it looks like Discount charges about $20 a tire to mount them. I don't see much savings there! I guess that must be fore people who live in the boonies or something?

[curbjumper 30]

I think you made a good decision narrowing down to the Falken Wildpeak ATS. The Kuhmo Road Venture MT's are more aggressive mud type and are also regarded well.

 

As for Discount vs Discount Direct = same cost. A benefit to Discount Tire is that they are everywhere, and little waiting when you need something done. The 50K on the Falken's is for treadwear, but not for sidewall punctures. For that you have to purchase their tire replacement certificates.

 

Good luck. Please let us know what you decide.

[AZBillyBoy 2]

I don't know who sells the Kuhmo tire. DT has it listed as not locally available. Does a treadware warranty cover chunking and other typical wear found from offroading (or running on unpaved roads?). I get the need for a road hazard warranty but never saw an offroad tire with any kind of tread wear warranty. It looks like I will probably stay with the 15" tire size and either keep my faded out alloys or maybe opt for the one rim DT has (and it's a special order item!). I can't justify (read that "afford") spending extra money for a 16" tire when it really gains me nothing. As for what tire I will end up with: right now that's totally undecided. At the price tires command today I can't afford to make a mistake.

[SSRx7 0]

I have the Rocky Mountain ATS ( Identical to the Falken Wildpeak ATS but named Rocky Mountain specifically for Discount) on both my wife's ZJ, and on my Silverado 1500HD. We have a mile and a half of very rocky dirt roads for a driveway and we were tearing up street tread tires very quickly. I bought the RM ATS and have found that they are great for our driving, both on and off highway. They allowed me to climb a steep hill in my Silverado that with other tires I would just spin. The LT tires have 3ply sidewalls, but my truck is a 3/4 ton so it rides rough anyways. On my wife's Grand Cherokee, they ride very well for an offroad tire. The smallest size they come in is 235/75/15. Only drawback is that I had to order them for the ZJ because they didn't have them in stock for it. For my truck, they had them in stock (245/75/16) I am very pleased with them. So far we have about 6,000 miles on them since June 5 when we put them on. We have their road hazard warrantee, so basically anything that happens to the tire before 50,000 miles they replace the tire for free. Without the road hazard, they will pro-rate the replacement according to the mileage of the tire. Balance and rotation free for life of tire. They recomend rotating every 8,000 miles. Hope this helps.

 

Here is a pic when I first put them on:

 

Here is a close up of the tread:

 

[AZBillyBoy 2]

Really? 3 ply? Wow that is a plus for sure. I will probably be making my purchase after the first of the year so I have plenty of time to agonize over it before then :-) I'm not adverse to ordering them. Usually only takes two or three days. I seem to recall DT had them in a 31 10.50 size. Will have to check that again.

[Bradywgn71 746]

You could always freshen up your original rims with a sanding and repaint. Minimal cost and it'll take a Saturday to do.