Tire Help- Which one?

[TNRunner99]

Gonna bring this thread back from the dead instead of starting a whole new one.

I ended up re-doing my lift instead of getting tires back when I started this and am now about to pull the trigger on some tires. I've been set on the Cooper STTs still. Talked to my dad and the tire shop and they both didn't like Coopers. The shop said they get out of round and are hard to keep balanced. Is this true of Coopers? Any one had any issues with them? Or is this just normal of a mud terrain?
[MENTION=87436]ugamurph[/MENTION] you had any issues with yours?

 

[dude5x]

Tires

I just bought Firestone Winterforce UV for my 2000 4Runner Limited, 265/75/16, looks great and only cost $124.00 each

 

[ledger35]

I replaced the tires that I had with Falken Wildpeak HT tires. I'm really impressed with the ride as well as the lack of noise! My set of four cost me $632.00 and then I received a $100.00 rebate, so for $532.00 mounted/balanced and out the door I made a really great choice and Falken tires have a decent reputation and come from CA. Good Luck...

 

[Yoter]

Gonna bring this thread back from the dead instead of starting a whole new one.

I ended up re-doing my lift instead of getting tires back when I started this and am now about to pull the trigger on some tires. I've been set on the Cooper STTs still. Talked to my dad and the tire shop and they both didn't like Coopers. The shop said they get out of round and are hard to keep balanced. Is this true of Coopers? Any one had any issues with them? Or is this just normal of a mud terrain?
[MENTION=87436]ugamurph[/MENTION] you had any issues with yours?

I have heard the coopers wear quickly, there seem to be numerous complaints of this on the internet.
I drove on some Toyo MT's in 265/70/17 E rated flavor for a while, Granted it was my first time having Mud tires on my 4runner, they looked awesome and were bullet proof but they were loud and rough riding not really good for my application of mainly street use. For what its worth I had them for maybe 3000 miles before I traded them for AT's and they didn't wear even a single 16th.
[MENTION=9139]steezemcqueen[/MENTION] is on his 2nd pair of Toyo's and loves them, he can probably elaborate more than I on their quality.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/65520-rock-lobster-28.html

 

[Neil_R]

Hey guys, new here but not really a new T4R owner.

Hope I'm not thread-jacking but, what tire for less than $170 do you recommend for the stock 70/16 wheels and no lift? Need some new tires bad, Michelins have had all they can take.

Thanks! Really enjoying this forum.

-NR

 

[ugamurph]

Gonna bring this thread back from the dead instead of starting a whole new one.

I ended up re-doing my lift instead of getting tires back when I started this and am now about to pull the trigger on some tires. I've been set on the Cooper STTs still. Talked to my dad and the tire shop and they both didn't like Coopers. The shop said they get out of round and are hard to keep balanced. Is this true of Coopers? Any one had any issues with them? Or is this just normal of a mud terrain?
[MENTION=87436]ugamurph[/MENTION] you had any issues with yours?

I have been very happy with my Cooper Discoverer STTs until recently. I had not noticed any abnormal wear until I took a 1500 miles road trip to Texas and back. When I got home, I noticed that the outer lugs were wearing unevenly, but only on the front tires. The leading edge of each lug wore more than the trailing edge. This wear occurred before I changed the steering gear, UCAs, LBJs, OTREs. I'm not sure if any of this effected or accelerated this odd wear pattern. It's possible that I had the tires under inflated even though they were at the recommended pressure for the 4R. That leads to the other issue I have with the 16" size tires in mud terrain is the fact that most, if not all, are only available in E rated tires. Because my tires are E rated, they need to be inflated more than the recommended pressure for OEM style tires. The E rated tire is also a much stiffer and rougher riding tire when inflated properly.

I say all that to say… I have no idea why the tires wore unevenly. It could be that the guy you spoke to at the tire shop is right. It could be a combination of all of the above.

Or it could be that the reviews of all MT style tires are true when they say that they don't wear as evenly as a more road worthy tire.

In review… The Cooper STTs are excellent off road tires. Their road manners are also good. But, the longevity and tread wear juries are still in deliberation for me.

 

[Brignola85]

Obviously my first choice for tires would be to go for the norm. BFG KM2's, General Grabbers, or Duratracs. I also ran two sets of Maxxis Bighorns and loved those as well.

For those of you set on the Cooper tire but want the M/T look, have a look into Pepboys store named Definity Dakota M/T. I've been researching tires incessantly over the past few days and I ended up deciding on these. Not only are they affordable. ~$175 in 285/, ~150 in 265/, they are actually made by Cooper and have excellent reviews everywhere I've looked. Also, they are rather awkwardly quiet for being an M/T tire.

Now, as with every other tire in the world, you WILL find a bad review here and there. The One I found in particular, on this particular tire, was that they were difficult to balance. Balancing issues, IMHO, tend to be the fault of the individual doing the actual balancing. Even in this instance, they went to a Yota dealership and had them rebalanced on a hubcentric unit and the problem was solved. The other issue I ran across was actually with this versions A/T tire and the fact that everyone is agreeing that the M/T severely outlasts and outperforms the A/T, both on road and off.

Concerning mileage and wear over time, as long as you keep a good alignment these things are lasting 35,000+ miles. (By the way, they have a 40,000 mile warranty.)

Oh, did I mention that Pepboys also offers the buy 3, get one free deal? For that price.. After I have pepboys give the balancing a shot, I'll take it to Toyota it do it properly if needed. $570ish out the door for 4 brand new tires is very very hard to beat.

Just throwing out my .02c, do with it what you will.

 

[TNRunner99]

I say all that to say… I have no idea why the tires wore unevenly. It could be that the guy you spoke to at the tire shop is right. It could be a combination of all of the above.

Or it could be that the reviews of all MT style tires are true when they say that they don't wear as evenly as a more road worthy tire.

It's good to know that the rear tires didn't rub unevenly. I would guess that the front wearing the way they did would equate to something being off in the front suspension or tire pressure like you said.

Thanks for the input guys. I'm still deliberating and am trying to decide by Monday. I'm gonna add a poll to this thread and see how voting goes.

 

[3rzrunner]

I prefer the BFG T/A KO ($190) or the General Grabber AT2 ($150) - both are great tires that have nearly 0 road noise. I run 265/75/16, been doing it for years.

I don't see the benefits of big expensive noisy tires. These BFG look awesome and perform great in rain/mud/snow.

BFG ALL TERRAIN TA K/O!!!

I 100% agree with BrianSD_42

All terrains are the way to go

 

[TNRunner99]

BFG ALL TERRAIN TA K/O!!!

I 100% agree with BrianSD_42

All terrains are the way to go

That's what I currently have on my Runner now just in 265/75/16.
I'm moving up to a 285/75/16 mud terrain because I live and ride in Tennessee.
Deep South=Deep Mud. That's why I need a mud terrain. I've wheeled with my all terrains and those that had mud terrains had that slight advantage. I had too much slip with just all terrains.

 

[TNRunner99]

Got a chance to check out two different sets of Maxxis Bighorns tonight. One on a Jeep with 285s and one on a Dodge Ram in 305. It was dark and I had to use a flashlight to see, but these tires are really starting to grow on me. I'm starting to lean more towards the Bighorns now.

 

[92-SR5]

I run 35" BFG A/T, I love them. Best all around tire IMO.

 

[cj80cruiser]

Got a chance to check out two different sets of Maxxis Bighorns tonight. One on a Jeep with 285s and one on a Dodge Ram in 305. It was dark and I had to use a flashlight to see, but these tires are really starting to grow on me. I'm starting to lean more towards the Bighorns now.

I had bighorns on my landcruiser. They were truly an awesome offroad tire but they wore like butter on the road. I'm in the south and they worked well in the mud.

 

[TNRunner99]

I had bighorns on my landcruiser. They were truly an awesome offroad tire but they wore like butter on the road. I'm in the south and they worked well in the mud.

Thanks for the input. I figured they wouldn't wear too bad since the 4Runner is lighter than most trucks. The 285/75/16 is a load range E right? Maxxis doesn't have the load range listed on their site.

 

[19963.4lsr5]

Ugamurf you should get a alignment. Expecially after doing all that to the front end.

I just put cooper AT3 on the 4runner. Love them. Have them on the 04 grand cherokee limited too.

 

[cj80cruiser]

Thanks for the input. I figured they wouldn't wear too bad since the 4Runner is lighter than most trucks. The 285/75/16 is a load range E right? Maxxis doesn't have the load range listed on their site.

I don't know. Mine were 35s and I'm pretty sure they were E range but of course that doesn't help you with your question, sorry.

Fightman80 has a set of 285s. He should be able to tell you all about them.

 

[the great him]

i have run a set of 285 bighorns... and i loved them, imo they are the best tire out there for the price, you can not beat them, BFG, GoodYear, Toyo, Mickey Thompson ect all have their MT tires in the $260+ range, the maxxis is the only one that will be in the low $200, like $220-230. in the end you need to ask yourself if the other tires are gonna be $2-300 more tire? will those tires get you places that the bighorns wont? you have already stated that you like the looks of them so appearance isnt an issue here...

like i said i have run the bighonrs and i loved them. i will be going back to them again when its time for me to get new tires. i have had them in mud, rocks, dirt, snow, sand, gravel, and ice. the only place they did not do well was ice, but thats pretty much standard across the board with all MT tires. every place else they did amazing. as far as road manors, yes they were a bit louder than some, but its a MT tire and this is a truck. if you cant deal with some tire noise then you should probably get a lincoln. as far as tread wear, well i think they did great personally. and in the rain they were better than expected, i was really supprised.

-something you also might want to note is i got my bighorns used, they had about half life, maybe 60% left when i got them, and so i dont know how many miles they lasted total, but i know i put over 20k on them. and in that amount of time i had several wheeling trips again in all differeing types of terrain and that sold me on those tires. i jumped back to an AT tire only because i got a good deal on them, and could not argue with the price at the time, well looking back on it, i should have just paid the extra coin(we are talking like $50) and bought the set of bighorns and i would of had zero regrets.

 

[dude5x]

Toyo's

I had Toyo's and they sucked, always had a vibration with them at about 60 miles an hour and gad them balanced 8 times while I had them on and always different.

 

[ugamurph]

Ugamurf you should get a alignment. Expecially after doing all that to the front end.

That was the first thing I did after all that work to the front end.

 

[TNRunner99]

i have run a set of 285 bighorns... and i loved them

Thanks for the honest opinion. After seeing that set of 285s I really liked them. Plus I found they are load range d which is what my BFG ATs are now. Range Ds instead of Es should ride better on our vehicles.

Got a quote from a local tire shop, $1,040 for 5 tires and lifetime balance, taxes included. Not too bad at all!