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Which tire suffers the most trail damage?

E

ECUDove

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Greenville, NC
I wish I knew how to create a poll, but I would like to hear which tire suffers the most trail damage in your experience? Wether this is a sidewall puncture, dismounting, etc.

Not only will this be interesting to track this data, I'm hoping it may (slight chance here) help people like myself who are using directional tread patterns, to choose which direction their 5th wheel will be mounted.

(please relocate topic if I am in the wrong area, thanks)
 
I think this is a subjective area, because every terrain is different, and every person wheels differently. One person may encounter lots of sidewall gashes, as he wheels in lots of big rocks, where as a different person may never have any problems cause he wheels in woods and mud. One person may also thrash their rig, while another one babies it. Someone could gain lots of cuts in their treads from hitting fenders, which leads to chunks coming out of the lugs, where as someone who bumpstops properly won't have any cuts in the lugs.

I dont' think there really is any way of tabulating this data, there are too many variables.

I personally know someone who blows sidewalls out of MT Baja Claws constanly, where as other people don't have any problems and say they are great.
 
I couldn't agree more,there are so many variables(air pressure,weather conditons,even age of the tire)
 
It has been found that the life span of a tire is inversely proportional to the mass of the driver's right foot. :lecture:
 
ECUDove said:
which tire suffers the most trail damage in your experience? Wether this is a sidewall puncture, dismounting, etc.
Click to expand...

In over 40 years of off-roading, the majority of flats, that I have had or assisted with, have been on the passenger side. YMMV

Why? Who knows?
Maybe there is more crap on the right side of the road.
You cannot see the right side as well as the driver's side.
You tend to steer away from big things when flying down dirt trails and the right side take the hit.
Take you pick or add a reason.

All of my flats have been from nails and chunks of wood or steel.
Others I know have ripped sidewall out in rocks.
It all depends on where you drive and how you drive.
 
In over 40 years of off-roading, the majority of flats, that I have had or assisted with, have been on the passenger side...You cannot see the right side as well as the driver's side...You tend to steer away from big things when flying down dirt trails and the right side take the hit.
Click to expand...

This passenger side theory was one that I was one that crossed my mind too.

I do realize it is VERY subjective, and I do appreciate the responses thus far.

It's just one of those things I was thinking about and curious what others thought.
 
my only flat has been on the driver's side front of my old BFGs... it was a sidewall gash on rocks... but i can agree that in general the passenger side of my jeep has been hurt more frequently and severly than the driver's side.
 
If you go by the rash on my wheels, its always the passenger side rear that gets the most damage every time.
 
guess im left handed....lol i tend to stay left to keep right side safe as when no spotter i cant see as well....lol but i will say unless you want looks. dont buy a fifth tire that matches and or is directional. if its only spare get a used mt or at to put on wheel it will get you off trail (hopefully). i have run tsl bias, tsl radial, general mts, bfg ats, the ats did great all around even ok i mud...but i blew side walls on bias twice
 
a lot of people say the bfg a/t sidewalls are paper thin... and while i havent had any problems besides the odd nail, i beleive it..
 
I've seen just about everything fail. I've had the best luck with the SS SX's. I will be the first one to admit it, I started to drive really dumb with them. They seemed invincible. Ran them at 2-5psi depending on terrain, never a complaint. They are far from the best thing on the street though. That should come without saying, they're swampers. They aren't round, but they wheel good.

I'm picking up some Trepador comps this weekend, I hear they're strong too. We'll see...
 
xcm said:
a lot of people say the bfg a/t sidewalls are paper thin... and while i havent had any problems besides the odd nail, i beleive it..
Click to expand...
Just more BS from your mouth.Ive seen more cuts from the other guys than I have from BFG's.
 
crashzx6r said:
but i will say unless you want looks. dont buy a fifth tire that matches and or is directional. if its only spare get a used mt or at to put on wheel it will get you off trail (hopefully).
Click to expand...

I'll agree with you on the directional thing, but I like having a matching 5th tire for a number of reasons. Sure it looks good, but it also makes it easier to rotate your tires as you only have to have one wheel off the ground at a time, makes your 4WD and lockers happy as they have identical tires to work with, and it extends tire life as one of your tires gets to take a break every 5000 miles. The only thing that kind of sucks is that all the tire offers out there always discount a set of 4. The fifth you usually have to pay the single tire price for.
 
Im running 35x12.5x15 BFG Muds on 8"w steel 15s.

Ive definitely separated a lot of beads on the trail, probably the most frequent annoyance associated with tires.
Next biggest pain is just sand/mud/rocks getting in the bead causing a slow leak.
Ive suffered 2 sidewall flats on the trail. Both were sticks in sidewalls. 1 was a pine branch, one was a brittle creosote bush twig. Road hazard warrantee covered them.
Ive also ripped lugs off to the point steel belts were showing, other than looking bad its never caused a problem. Road hazard warrantee again covered it.
Collected my fair share of nails in tires too.
 
I have cut 2 swamper SSR in the side wall (rtf inside left rear outside) and put a soda can sized stick through the rtf inside of a master craft courser mt
 
easy, don't get something with directonal tread! :p
 
I've never had a tire fail on the trail but my right rear caught a 3 inch bolt that looked like a crossmember stud bolt driving down one of the main roads here in town!
 
The old-school Goodyear M/Ts were notorious for sidewall damage, the directional tread ones that you see on a lot of military Humvees. I believe the military issue ones had thicker sidewalls, but a buddy of mine used to run the available to the public one and ripped a few sidewalls prior to switching to MTRs. Another buddy went through three Swamper SSRs before switching to SXs, but he's a meathead throttle-jockey running a V8, so that's hardly representative of the tire without considering the circumstances. I have known of a couple others who had sidewall failures on SSRs, so I'd have to put them on the list of tires not to run in hardcore rock/abusive trail conditions.

Manufacturers have responded in recent years, you almost can't buy an M/T tire without some sort of sidewall tread/protection these days.
 
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