superman3043
Senior Member
New Shoes!
It's been a busy past week. I was already budgeting for wheels and tires next year as my Mud Graps were getting close to that time. I wanted to go down to a 17" wheel since the cost of a set of 20" tires would cost me the same as a set of 17" wheels AND tires. Among the other benefits of smaller wheels, like more sidewall for off-road and a more comfortable ride. I also wanted something lighter to reduce unsprung mass, quieter so that I could actually use my bluetooth, and narrower to possibly cut down on the tram-lining as well as rubbing of those wide meats. My timetable was accelerated when I was approached by a gentleman that wanted to buy my tires... for 25% MORE than what I paid for them 2 and half years ago!! Done deal.
So the research began:
For wheels I was between Eagle Alloy Series 012's, Fuel Trophy's, and Method Standard's. Ultimately the decision came down to price as it always does for me. The Fuels are nice but costly. The EA's look very similar to the Methods but cost less. Now here's the best part; in buying these I learned that the EA's are made in the good ole USA where as Methods are actually manufactured in China. So the irony is that a US made "knock off" of a Chinese made part is CHEAPER! And not only that, the EA factory is right down the road in the town next door, so I'm also supporting a local business. That's wins all the way around in my book. Thy also make this wheel in a True Beadlock, but they're pretty expensive and are also available in this really nice Graphite color that was initially only available for Ford Raptors.
For tires, the size was clear 285/70R17 and for type it basically came down to Goodyear Wrangler MT/R's w/ Kevlar, Goodyear Fierce Attitudes, and BF Goodrich KM2's. Initially there were more on the table of course, including these new hybrid style AT's like the Duratracs, KO2's, and the new Toyo Open Country R/T's, but they actually cost the same as MT's so.... After researching and speaking to friends that have owned both, I pulled the trigger on the Kevlars. Which, truth be told, were always the front runners from the start, but I wanted to make sure I did my due diligence.
Enough of the jibber jabber:
Freshly installed, mall crawling, taking the Mud Graps to their new owner. I asked the tire shop not to install the center caps so of course, they did.
Goofing around after removing the center caps
Yes I know my front skid is not on.
Initial Thoughts
-Wheels: So far I love them for all the aforementioned reasons. I'm toying around with the idea of making a custom flush center cap down the road. Maybe 3D printed or something. For now I'm happy. They don't have the "bling" factor of Dub Rockstars, but I'll get over it. I believe the beauty ring (fake beadlocks) hardware and maybe even the outer ring themselves are removable if one so desires, but I haven't messed around with them yet.
-Tires: Definitely quieter than Mud Grapplers though it would be hard not to be, but that's not to say that they don't have their own audible hum. Just not a roar like the Nittos. They also do still have a subtle noticeable bump to them. Truth be told, though well mannered, they are still definitely a mud tire not an all terrain. Lots of tread caused a great deal of rubbing on the body mount over my old worn tires. This could have probably been remedied by removing my wheel spacers, but I did not want to re-stud my hubs just yet (lazy). Instead, I opted to hack further into the body mounts... And not owning a grinder I opted to do it with the tool I had.... a Dremel lol. I would not recommend it. It did the job, but damn. They eject mud amazingly and do very well on wet roads.
After driving on them, I can only describe the sensation I was feeling as "darty". Almost as if the low caster mentioned above was really coming into play. What I mean is the truck would want to stay the direction I would point it and didn't want to re-center right away and the heavy Mud Graps were dampening that and these new tires were exacerbating it. Took it into my regular alignment guy to have him look at it. The last two times I took it to a shop that was more local, and they basically just set the toe and camber and call it a day. Both times I was told that caster is "not adjustable". I had my guy max the caster out and he told me that he got it in spec, but the print out I received showed blank on the caster read out. I left in a hurry though so I still don't know where it's at. Car still wasn't driving like I wanted it to. I think the new front end suspension and tires and stuff was just so different than what I was used to. I decided to re-install my front sway bar and it seems to have been the ticket. With my old blue Fox coil-overs it seems like they were valved so stiff that I needed to remove it for comfort, but these were really valved to work in concert with the sway bar.
So that's what I've been up to. We have a huge T4R run at Uwharrie National Forest coming up this weekend that I'm organizing, so that will be the true shake down test of everything I've done recently. I would love to finish flushing my ATF fluid between now and then and I've also got to get my front skid beat out lol. Oh and I've also got some links on order from [MENTION=98153]MStudt[/MENTION] for his group buy. I've been working on designing my own set of links for a long time and the project has gone through many evolutions, but truth be told, I really can't beat Mike's price even building my own. He builds some quality products.
It's been a busy past week. I was already budgeting for wheels and tires next year as my Mud Graps were getting close to that time. I wanted to go down to a 17" wheel since the cost of a set of 20" tires would cost me the same as a set of 17" wheels AND tires. Among the other benefits of smaller wheels, like more sidewall for off-road and a more comfortable ride. I also wanted something lighter to reduce unsprung mass, quieter so that I could actually use my bluetooth, and narrower to possibly cut down on the tram-lining as well as rubbing of those wide meats. My timetable was accelerated when I was approached by a gentleman that wanted to buy my tires... for 25% MORE than what I paid for them 2 and half years ago!! Done deal.
So the research began:
For wheels I was between Eagle Alloy Series 012's, Fuel Trophy's, and Method Standard's. Ultimately the decision came down to price as it always does for me. The Fuels are nice but costly. The EA's look very similar to the Methods but cost less. Now here's the best part; in buying these I learned that the EA's are made in the good ole USA where as Methods are actually manufactured in China. So the irony is that a US made "knock off" of a Chinese made part is CHEAPER! And not only that, the EA factory is right down the road in the town next door, so I'm also supporting a local business. That's wins all the way around in my book. Thy also make this wheel in a True Beadlock, but they're pretty expensive and are also available in this really nice Graphite color that was initially only available for Ford Raptors.
For tires, the size was clear 285/70R17 and for type it basically came down to Goodyear Wrangler MT/R's w/ Kevlar, Goodyear Fierce Attitudes, and BF Goodrich KM2's. Initially there were more on the table of course, including these new hybrid style AT's like the Duratracs, KO2's, and the new Toyo Open Country R/T's, but they actually cost the same as MT's so.... After researching and speaking to friends that have owned both, I pulled the trigger on the Kevlars. Which, truth be told, were always the front runners from the start, but I wanted to make sure I did my due diligence.
Enough of the jibber jabber:
Freshly installed, mall crawling, taking the Mud Graps to their new owner. I asked the tire shop not to install the center caps so of course, they did.
Goofing around after removing the center caps
Yes I know my front skid is not on.
Initial Thoughts
-Wheels: So far I love them for all the aforementioned reasons. I'm toying around with the idea of making a custom flush center cap down the road. Maybe 3D printed or something. For now I'm happy. They don't have the "bling" factor of Dub Rockstars, but I'll get over it. I believe the beauty ring (fake beadlocks) hardware and maybe even the outer ring themselves are removable if one so desires, but I haven't messed around with them yet.
-Tires: Definitely quieter than Mud Grapplers though it would be hard not to be, but that's not to say that they don't have their own audible hum. Just not a roar like the Nittos. They also do still have a subtle noticeable bump to them. Truth be told, though well mannered, they are still definitely a mud tire not an all terrain. Lots of tread caused a great deal of rubbing on the body mount over my old worn tires. This could have probably been remedied by removing my wheel spacers, but I did not want to re-stud my hubs just yet (lazy). Instead, I opted to hack further into the body mounts... And not owning a grinder I opted to do it with the tool I had.... a Dremel lol. I would not recommend it. It did the job, but damn. They eject mud amazingly and do very well on wet roads.
After driving on them, I can only describe the sensation I was feeling as "darty". Almost as if the low caster mentioned above was really coming into play. What I mean is the truck would want to stay the direction I would point it and didn't want to re-center right away and the heavy Mud Graps were dampening that and these new tires were exacerbating it. Took it into my regular alignment guy to have him look at it. The last two times I took it to a shop that was more local, and they basically just set the toe and camber and call it a day. Both times I was told that caster is "not adjustable". I had my guy max the caster out and he told me that he got it in spec, but the print out I received showed blank on the caster read out. I left in a hurry though so I still don't know where it's at. Car still wasn't driving like I wanted it to. I think the new front end suspension and tires and stuff was just so different than what I was used to. I decided to re-install my front sway bar and it seems to have been the ticket. With my old blue Fox coil-overs it seems like they were valved so stiff that I needed to remove it for comfort, but these were really valved to work in concert with the sway bar.
So that's what I've been up to. We have a huge T4R run at Uwharrie National Forest coming up this weekend that I'm organizing, so that will be the true shake down test of everything I've done recently. I would love to finish flushing my ATF fluid between now and then and I've also got to get my front skid beat out lol. Oh and I've also got some links on order from [MENTION=98153]MStudt[/MENTION] for his group buy. I've been working on designing my own set of links for a long time and the project has gone through many evolutions, but truth be told, I really can't beat Mike's price even building my own. He builds some quality products.
Last edited:
. Haters be damned, I built it the way I wanted to. Now it looks just about like every other built 4Runner out there. But I'm ok with that.
