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A/T vs. M/T

M

mbogosia

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Nashville, TN
Alright I am going to be getting new tires here soon. I mainly drive on the road, but would like to do more offroading. The best tire for me would obviously be an A/T tire, but I love how M/T's look and perform offroad. My question is will I be able to tolerate them on road? I have never had an MT tire. I drive around quite a bit with my boss and would hate for them to be so loud we can't hear ourselves think. Anyone go from AT's to MT's and drive mostly on the road? Whats your thoughts?
 
MT's are not that loud unless you get some big lugged tires. I would say get the MT's for the aggresive tread. You will be thanking yourself when you hit some nasty off or on road terrain. Get some AT's if you are going to be on road 90% of the time.
 
Well, right now I am on the road 90%. But, I am hoping some good MT's will get me to go offroad more often. I am looking at the Dakota MT's. Seems like a decent tire.
 
It depends on what you consider noisey. When I was younger I enjoyed the the hum of my Gateway Gumbo Monster Mudders, it was music to my ears. But last year I replaced my Les Schwab generic A/Ts with a set of Maxis Bighorns, a modern, relatively quiet mud tire & they were way too loud & buzzy for me. My son bought me a new set of A/Ts & put the Bighorns on his rig & he loves them & says they are quieter than the MTRs they replaced. I still run a dedicated mud tire on my Ford truck though. Buy some M/Ts & then you'll know if they're too loud for you. At least your friends will hear you coming.
 
I drove 11 hours to Moab on retreaded mud terrains from High Tech Retreads. If I could tolerate that you can tolerate any mud terrain out there.
 
Why not look at Cooper SST? Awesome looking tire, but probably the most "roadable" MT tire on the market. I have run mine down to 12 psi without a beadlocker, and I'm not aware of another tire that can do that.
 
Well I ended up with the Dakota Definity AT in a 30 x 9.5 x 15. Pepboys is very convenient and the price was right. I wanted the MT, but I am on the road a lot so I just decided to go with the AT.

Before:

DSC02825-1800.jpg


After:

DSC03346.jpg


DSC03347.jpg
 
very nice improvement!
 
well, it looks better atleast
 
Looks good although I would have gotten 1 more tire to make a fullsize spare.
 
Are those ZJ Canyons or TJs?
 
Thanks guys. Really I would love to go the 4.5" lift with 33" mud terrains, but since I drive a good 400-500 miles on the road a week I need to be realistic. I think I will pick up a retreaded tire as a spare once I get a chance. Also, the canyons are the TJ ones which I believe to be 15 x 8" wide.
 
With that much weekly mileage running MTs will get costly if nothing else.


I've run everything from TSLs and LTBs to BFG ATs to cheaper all terrains on XJs and similiar sized rigs (Toyotas and 1st Gen Explorers). My favorite tire is the BFG ATs for anything that is going to see more highway than trail. However, if you really want a MT, go for it and get a good one. You'll get used to the little "quirks" in no time.
I drove an '87 S10 with a worn out set of SXs for almost two years to work and back six days a week. It was loud and didn't handle as well as I would have liked, but I liked the fact that I could run over debris from a couple of ice storms to get to work when others had to turn around.
 
Last edited:
Sounds like you made the right choice.

Happy Trails

Nick
 
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