Thanks! Good to know. I remember very well that when the KO2 was released BFG claimed gravel life of 2,000 miles. I guess that means racing speeds.
My use is nothing like that but is substantial enough to make my tires last half of what they are advertised. So the BFG numbers helped me a great deal in realizing that this is simply part of the deal.
If you had the chance to legally go very fast in a well-prepared 4runner on regular use 32-34" tires, what tires would you choose and what pressures would you run?
I don't really have a great tire choice that is better than anything else for going fast in the desert type terrain. I think for me I'd want a few things that are all competing with each other. Ideally something light weight, but also very durable, and has great traction in all types of terrain. Since there's really nothing that fits that description, my preference is for something more along the lines of an AT type tire. I have Cooper AT3s that I'm generally really happy with. I don't spend a lot of time out jumping in the desert, but I get a chance periodically. So far the traction is pretty good in everything except mud, the weight is reasonable, and they're nice for highway miles to and from the trails. But I really can't say that they're better or worse than a lot of other choices. I just haven't had a chance to compare back to back.
If I were spending nearly all my time in the desert going fast, I think the ideal tread patter looks something like the ATTURO trail blade
But I haven't really heard anything about them other than that they don't balance well and most of the sizing is for show trucks, not off road use. I also don't know what rubber compound they use. So I'd probably go for something like a BFG KM3, a Maxxis 772, Cooper STT Pro, or something like that. What I would generally look for is something with a durable tire casing and a tread that has a lot of biting edges without too much void area. Short of testing a bunch of tires side by side I really have no idea though.
As far as use on my FJ40 - It's just not safe to go too fast. But I would not choose a Swamper TSL that I have for overall trail duty. Mud tires are not a great choice for sand in general unless you have enough power for paddles, and TSL's are not great for dry packed dirt traction. They're also very heavy and unbalanced.
What does work well is big tires and more sidewall. A 37" tire would feel a lot more confident than a similar 33" tire on pretty much everything to me.
I run my 34" tires down around 18-20psi going fast in the desert. Last year I went out to hike near the end of the hole-in-the-rock road in southern Utah. Our hiking trailhead was about 70 miles out off the pavement. The road is very heavily washboarded with periodic desert "wash" crossings that can be really rough. Most traffic out there only goes the first few miles and they go at around 10mph - that is about how fast you'd want to go in a subaru or other crossover comfortably. Going 70 miles out would take 7 hours each way. I do that run out in about an hour. Meaning at times I'm 80mph+ and leaving the ground occasionally and at other times I'm slowed down to 30mph when I see other traffic or come up to blind hills/corners. I've found 20psi works well for that type of driving. Softens up everything a lot, but not soft enough I'm risking a pinch flat on the wheel.
That's also where the higher level of shocks and springs start to really shine. There was Jeep Cherokee trail hawk out there the last time. On the heavy washboard it was all he could do to keep the thing pointed the direction he wanted to go at around 25mph. It was bouncing all over the place trying to get sideways. Once I had a chance to pass I could easily run the same conditions at 50+. It's just night and day how much better the Fox suspension is at that task. I've also been out there in an ICON Tacoma - same thing. Worked great. Stable. Comfortable. It probably makes more difference to have shocks valved well and sized appropriately than having the best tire choice.
