I am passing on some information that I have learned over the years selling bulk tires via a little company called PepBoys. I had the opportunity to spend two full days in a class with Hankook tires, and took away some valuable information that may be useful to people who……buy tires. Below is a recap of my 10 years of training and personal experience. Please remember I am trying to be as ambiguous as possible to avoid an outpouring of opinions.
Tires rubber is made of compounds, some hard, some soft and some in the middle, much like porridge. All tires are not created equal, and all compounds do not have the same purpose. As an example a high natural rubber compound is hard, this gives you a long lasting tire (think older BFG ATs). With the harder rubber and higher tread life there are a few draw backs. Natural rubber will dry out and crack between the treads much faster, they will also get harder over time making them a handful on wet roads, and lastly they are loud on hard pack. Many Companies still use a higher rubber compound for a couple reasons, it’s cheaper, and the tread does last longer. When marketing tires, a high tread life number is important to the end user for the longest lasting tire. Known manufactures that use a low silicate (or high natural rubber) compounds include; BFG, Bridgestone, Firestone, Maxxis and Michelin too name a few. Now I am referring only to AT and MT tires most common used in the off road market. Most, if not all of these guys do offer a high silicate tire, but in the passenger car lineup. These tires are called UHP or ultra-high performance tires, and are intended for luxury and or performance cars.
Several companies (including BFG) recognized the need for a higher silicate tire in the Off-Road and SUV market in recent years. Some have responded with new offerings and some have not. For instance BFG offers a KM2 mud tire. The KM2 tire that you can buy is a high natural rubber tire intended to get as many miles out of a mud tire as possible. So there is no mistaking, the KM2 does use a silicate compound; it is just very low silicate. What you may not know is that BFG make a KM2 that is a high silicate compound called “red label” and it is avail only to a handful of people on a list of…well…..very few people. I have had these on a friends Jeep and they are amazing. However BFG is no dummy, they know that the general public will look past things like noise and pavement traction if it gets them 6 more months out of a tire.
That said, there are tires out there that have gone to high silicate across the board; AT, MT, and HT tires alike. I will not venture to guess who “all” have made this change but I can name a couple. Hankook tires (mostly made in Korea and China) is a massive tire company, that up until recent years was an ORT (over the road truck) tire company. They broke into the passenger car light truck market and have continued to make an incredible tire. The Hankook RT03 (mud tire) is among if not the highest silicate tire on the market avail to the general public. They however are not alone. Cooper tires (USA made) are also high silicate tires, and our friends at Interco (AKA Super Swamper) have even pushed on the market a little with its Irok tire. Off brands like ProComp and Definity are made by Cooper but they do not use the same compound by any stretch of the imagination, lest anyone should tell you otherwise. Other known tires with higher silicate include (but not limited to) Pirelli, Nitto, and Toyo however it is not across the entire product line on many if any brand.
So what does a higher silicate get you? Well, for starters less noise, A LOT less. I have run Cooper, Hankook and Irok Mud tires on my vehicles and I can tell you that the Cooper and Hankook are as quite as an AT or HT and for the most part remain that quite for the full life. Mud tires tend to get louder as they wear down, but this can be due to air displacement and compound age, more than any other factor. UHP tires also offer the absolute best “BEST” wet traction. You will notice a direct relation with car tires: increase traction and wet performance = decreased tread life. It is not a secret science, race cars use a super soft compound that you can stab with your finger, they grip awesome, but it takes 3 sets to go 1000 miles. The principle does not change because you are not on a race track.
So in conclusion, you do have to make a choice and find the right compromise for your particular needs. Don’t let some guy at a counter tell you what tires are best for your vehicle. There is no escaping the physics behind it…softer grips better…..harder last longer. So find something that is “just right” for you.
This thread is for information only, what matters is what tire you want, so if you love Nitto and hate BFG that is a wonderful opinion and does not necessarily need to be expressed here on this thread.
:lookout::roadkill::angel:
Tires rubber is made of compounds, some hard, some soft and some in the middle, much like porridge. All tires are not created equal, and all compounds do not have the same purpose. As an example a high natural rubber compound is hard, this gives you a long lasting tire (think older BFG ATs). With the harder rubber and higher tread life there are a few draw backs. Natural rubber will dry out and crack between the treads much faster, they will also get harder over time making them a handful on wet roads, and lastly they are loud on hard pack. Many Companies still use a higher rubber compound for a couple reasons, it’s cheaper, and the tread does last longer. When marketing tires, a high tread life number is important to the end user for the longest lasting tire. Known manufactures that use a low silicate (or high natural rubber) compounds include; BFG, Bridgestone, Firestone, Maxxis and Michelin too name a few. Now I am referring only to AT and MT tires most common used in the off road market. Most, if not all of these guys do offer a high silicate tire, but in the passenger car lineup. These tires are called UHP or ultra-high performance tires, and are intended for luxury and or performance cars.
Several companies (including BFG) recognized the need for a higher silicate tire in the Off-Road and SUV market in recent years. Some have responded with new offerings and some have not. For instance BFG offers a KM2 mud tire. The KM2 tire that you can buy is a high natural rubber tire intended to get as many miles out of a mud tire as possible. So there is no mistaking, the KM2 does use a silicate compound; it is just very low silicate. What you may not know is that BFG make a KM2 that is a high silicate compound called “red label” and it is avail only to a handful of people on a list of…well…..very few people. I have had these on a friends Jeep and they are amazing. However BFG is no dummy, they know that the general public will look past things like noise and pavement traction if it gets them 6 more months out of a tire.
That said, there are tires out there that have gone to high silicate across the board; AT, MT, and HT tires alike. I will not venture to guess who “all” have made this change but I can name a couple. Hankook tires (mostly made in Korea and China) is a massive tire company, that up until recent years was an ORT (over the road truck) tire company. They broke into the passenger car light truck market and have continued to make an incredible tire. The Hankook RT03 (mud tire) is among if not the highest silicate tire on the market avail to the general public. They however are not alone. Cooper tires (USA made) are also high silicate tires, and our friends at Interco (AKA Super Swamper) have even pushed on the market a little with its Irok tire. Off brands like ProComp and Definity are made by Cooper but they do not use the same compound by any stretch of the imagination, lest anyone should tell you otherwise. Other known tires with higher silicate include (but not limited to) Pirelli, Nitto, and Toyo however it is not across the entire product line on many if any brand.
So what does a higher silicate get you? Well, for starters less noise, A LOT less. I have run Cooper, Hankook and Irok Mud tires on my vehicles and I can tell you that the Cooper and Hankook are as quite as an AT or HT and for the most part remain that quite for the full life. Mud tires tend to get louder as they wear down, but this can be due to air displacement and compound age, more than any other factor. UHP tires also offer the absolute best “BEST” wet traction. You will notice a direct relation with car tires: increase traction and wet performance = decreased tread life. It is not a secret science, race cars use a super soft compound that you can stab with your finger, they grip awesome, but it takes 3 sets to go 1000 miles. The principle does not change because you are not on a race track.
So in conclusion, you do have to make a choice and find the right compromise for your particular needs. Don’t let some guy at a counter tell you what tires are best for your vehicle. There is no escaping the physics behind it…softer grips better…..harder last longer. So find something that is “just right” for you.
This thread is for information only, what matters is what tire you want, so if you love Nitto and hate BFG that is a wonderful opinion and does not necessarily need to be expressed here on this thread.
:lookout::roadkill::angel:
