WU7X
New member
I was recently looking for a new set of tires for my '97 T4R. I'm not a rock crawler, but rather enjoy exploring the many thousands of miles of US Forest Service roads we have here in eastern WA, northern ID, and western MT. So my primary goal was to find something that could handle a lot of weight on the rear axles, were somewhat quiet, and gave both good grip and mileage.
I settled, after looking for a long time, on a set of Mastercraft Courser LTR radials, size 265/75R16. They are made, I discovered, buy Cooper Tire, one of my favorite manufacturers, and are designed primarily for truck fleet use. They are M&S type with pretty deep lugs, and have six ply sidewalls.
My first trip on them was to the Expo Rallye in Plain, WA (near Leavenworth). Most of my mileage was on asphalt. I tried to maintain the max speed limit of 65 mph over most of the trip on a local highway between there and Spokane. My mileage over was 21.3 mpg and the return trip got me 18.9 mpg. I was impressed, especially because the T4R was fully loaded and has my Columbus RTT on it.
I just got back from a short three day trip into northern Idaho with my wife and several friends. Driving 75+ mph on I90 out over Lookout Pass in MT, then all gravel for the next couple of days at much slower speeds; finishing off with another race home on the asphalt. Mileage at the higher rate of speed and over the mountains, with a little 4WD low thrown in for fun brought the mileage down to 17.4 mpg. I'm happy.
The tires are luggy enough to get me anywhere I want to go while four-wheeling. The only "problem" so far noted is that they pick up a lot of gravel in the lugs. Then when you hit higher speeds on the highway the gravel spins out, pinging off the inner wheel wells like shotgun pellets. That only lasts for a couple miles though. So all-in-all, I'm very happy with these tires.
Does anyone else have experience with them?
I settled, after looking for a long time, on a set of Mastercraft Courser LTR radials, size 265/75R16. They are made, I discovered, buy Cooper Tire, one of my favorite manufacturers, and are designed primarily for truck fleet use. They are M&S type with pretty deep lugs, and have six ply sidewalls.
My first trip on them was to the Expo Rallye in Plain, WA (near Leavenworth). Most of my mileage was on asphalt. I tried to maintain the max speed limit of 65 mph over most of the trip on a local highway between there and Spokane. My mileage over was 21.3 mpg and the return trip got me 18.9 mpg. I was impressed, especially because the T4R was fully loaded and has my Columbus RTT on it.
I just got back from a short three day trip into northern Idaho with my wife and several friends. Driving 75+ mph on I90 out over Lookout Pass in MT, then all gravel for the next couple of days at much slower speeds; finishing off with another race home on the asphalt. Mileage at the higher rate of speed and over the mountains, with a little 4WD low thrown in for fun brought the mileage down to 17.4 mpg. I'm happy.
The tires are luggy enough to get me anywhere I want to go while four-wheeling. The only "problem" so far noted is that they pick up a lot of gravel in the lugs. Then when you hit higher speeds on the highway the gravel spins out, pinging off the inner wheel wells like shotgun pellets. That only lasts for a couple miles though. So all-in-all, I'm very happy with these tires.
Does anyone else have experience with them?
