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what MT resists hydroplaining the best?

X

XJ4x4

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Charleston Tennessee
Just curious because I know what tire I'm gonna put on the xj when the lift is on.

Tirerack.com shows the mtr and bfg mt to have a 8.6-9.0 rating out of 10.
Ive heard several people say the BFG's slide all over the place in the rain.
 
BFG's that I have driven on, do tend to have poor wet, cold traction characteristics. There is a differrence though between wet traction and resistance to hydroplaning. Wet traction can be affected by rubber compound and tread design. Hydroplaning has more (all?) to do with tread design and how well it can evacuate water from the tread area. My TSL radials heavily siped handled wet roads great, but in hitting deep water(more than a few inches) at speed could still make them hydroplane.
 
I kinda know what you are talking about when you said theres a difference between wet traction and hydroplaining.

You'll get better traction on ice when its 15* than you will when its 30* due to the stickyness of the ice, a hard rain on pavement is safer to drive on than a drizzle cause a hard rain washes the oils in the asphalt away...somethin like that.
If someone were to buy a tire like a tsl radial or bfg mt that dont have siping, how much would it cost and where could the person take them to get them siped? I'm guessing the way you want them siped would have somethin to do with the price?
 
Try local tire shops. If you can find one, they typically charge $10 per tire, maybe more for used tires. Otherwise if you want to drive up here, I have a commercial siping machine in the garage as well as grooving iron.
 
Trying to find an MT that does not hydroplane is kind of like finding a brick that floats, not gonna happen. While the MT's look good and perform well in some off road situations I'd opt for an AT if you are like most of us that put 99% of our milage on paved roads. The carnage I heard about this past weekend at camp jeeps rocky trails and the number of ripped sidewalls and MT's was mind boggling as well as the number of stock tires, kept the jeep mechs pretty busy.
 
XJ4x4 said:
Just curious because I know what tire I'm gonna put on the xj when the lift is on.

Tirerack.com shows the mtr and bfg mt to have a 8.6-9.0 rating out of 10.
Ive heard several people say the BFG's slide all over the place in the rain.
Click to expand...
And that's for stock tire sizes, when you go oversize your going to hydroplane even more often




MT tires are best off road but suffer on pavement when new hydroplaning is not bad but wet stopping is poor.


AT tires are ok off road but better on pavement wet stopping is better as so is hydroplaning.

The bad characteristics of any tire are increased as tire size is increased over stock tire size.

So the way I look at it is, if your XJ is your daily driver/family car get the AT’s and stay close to stock tire size. I can’t see putting your family at risk to show off on the trail a couple of times a year. AT ‘s will wear much better on pavement.
 
I can only speak about tires I'm familiar with, which would be the BFG MT's. I had AT's before, so I've been able to compare the two. I've had the MT's over 2 years now and drive them quite frequently in wet weather....if you consider October thru June your rainy season.

Are AT's better....probably so. Are my MT's horrible...no. Would I get MT's again...yes, in a heartbeat now that I'm familiar with how they react in wet weather. I get the traction I need with MT's, but I don't drive stupid either. Moderation on the skinny pedal in wet weather with ANY tire is key.....

Ivan
 
I dont know what came on my jeep when it came off the line in 1988 but it now has 235 AT's and I plan on putting 30x9.5's on it because I dont wheel hardly at all besides gettin deeper into the deer woods.

I think I have a way of getting around the driving every day thing because I still have the wheels that came stock on my jeep so I could put the MT's on them and use them during hunting season instead of all year.
 
Ivan said:
I can only speak about tires I'm familiar with, which would be the BFG MT's. I had AT's before, so I've been able to compare the two. I've had the MT's over 2 years now and drive them quite frequently in wet weather....if you consider October thru June your rainy season.

Are AT's better....probably so. Are my MT's horrible...no. Would I get MT's again...yes, in a heartbeat now that I'm familiar with how they react in wet weather. I get the traction I need with MT's, but I don't drive stupid either. Moderation on the skinny pedal in wet weather with ANY tire is key.....

Ivan
Click to expand...


I dont drive like a bat outta hell either but after the wreck I was in 2 years ago Ive been picky as hell about wanting a tire that has decent wet traction. And I know it doesnt matter how much siping is on the tire you are still gonna skid if you go too fast.
 
XJ4x4 said:
I dont know what came on my jeep when it came off the line in 1988 but it now has 235 AT's and I plan on putting 30x9.5's on it because I dont wheel hardly at all besides gettin deeper into the deer woods.

I think I have a way of getting around the driving every day thing because I still have the wheels that came stock on my jeep so I could put the MT's on them and use them during hunting season instead of all year.
Click to expand...
Factory was 205/75/15
 
factory is 225/75/15

and yes, going larger makes it worse, i thought my 33x12.5" boggers were bad, until last night, when i was trying to drive home w/ the 35x16's i was all over the road
 
Look into the TrXus M/Ts, they work quite well in rain and cold climate. I had a set when I lived in Rochester. Aside from tread life, awesome tire. I think I even tried to hydroplane plowing thru about 1 foot of standing water on a road and she just stuck the pavement.

--Matt
 
RichP said:
Trying to find an MT that does not hydroplane is kind of like finding a brick that floats, not gonna happen.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree with you on this Rich. The tread depth and design of some MT designated tires is good at resisting hydroplaning. High void ratio tread and tread design that is designed to clean well in mud is also typically good at expelling water at speed. Directional tires would be even better. Again, there is a difference between wet surface traction and tendency to hydroplane. My last set of TSL radials, when worn out, hydroplaned easily if there was more than @ 1/4" of water. But they still gripped excellent on hardpack/ice and wet roads as long as there wasn't standing water due to the fact that they were siped right down to the carcass. On roads that were wet you can actually see that the sipes suck up water off the road, as the tracks they leave appear much more dry than most other tires.
 
explorer said:
I have to disagree with you on this Rich. The tread depth and design of some MT designated tires is good at resisting hydroplaning. High void ratio tread and tread design that is designed to clean well in mud is also typically good at expelling water at speed. Directional tires would be even better. Again, there is a difference between wet surface traction and tendency to hydroplane. My last set of TSL radials, when worn out, hydroplaned easily if there was more than @ 1/4" of water. But they still gripped excellent on hardpack/ice and wet roads as long as there wasn't standing water due to the fact that they were siped right down to the carcass. On roads that were wet you can actually see that the sipes suck up water off the road, as the tracks they leave appear much more dry than most other tires.
Click to expand...


I never thought of it that way...
 
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