So I also ordered my wheels and tires late Friday.
I really stressed on this because I really want an aggressive look but have not been totally happy with past tires I have tried.
I love the look of the BFG KM2s and have used them in the past, but living in the high desert and mountains, I have learned they are not confidence inspiring in very wet/icy road conditions and they do get louder as they wear. But dang good looking tire and not bad handling either in totally dry conditions.
I also like the BFG ATs and have also run these on numerous past vehicles, but the outdated design does not fare as well performance wise when compared to the newer hybrids like the Duratracs, MT ATZs, and so forth.
I had tried the Nitto Trail Grapplers a couple of times, but they are heavy and noisy although I think they look really good. Not bad street performance either although I did feel a bit nervous in packed snow/icy conditions.
Most of the other mudders are probably too aggressive and not suited for daily driving and/or slippery mountain driving.
Also had the Nitto Terras but they didn't look very aggressive once mounted and wore fast (albeit on a heavy Dodge 2500 diesel).
My recent set were the Duratracs and overall a very good looking AT with great street and trail performance; I had them with 20-inch wheels (per my F150 shown above) so very little sidewall and thus great turn-in feel with very little sidewall flex. However, I know the Duratracs also have a thinner sidewall and have read on a number of forums where folks have observed the sidewall flex issue especially with smaller wheels during hard cornering, etc. So now that I am stepping down to a 17-inch wheel but keeping a 33-inch tall tire, I am a bit concerned about that some as I do like my occassional "spirited" driving...lol. Also, because of the thin sidewall, folks have also reported punctures/lost beads when trailing. But the Duratracs remained as my default go to tire if I couldn't decide.
So I have been doing a comparison analysis on tire specs (can't help myself as I am an engineer...lol) and think I found what will suite my needs! I wanted something that is more aggressive looking than the Nitto Terras or BFG ATs with good sidewall design, very good wet/dry street performance, very good packed snow/ice performance, very good off road/trail performance, provide decent mileage, and come in a LT285/70R17 size. I think that turned out to be the Cooper S/T MAXX:
I had the Cooper SST on my shortlist but still thought they were too MT derived and would be noisy over time, but never ran any Coppers in the past (not sure why not as I think they make a good looking/performing tire).
Anyone using these or have good experience with them? I only found a couple of folks with 4Runners that had them.
I will make my final decision once I see them in person and get more feedback. But so far, they seem to have pretty good reviews.
