I know this question has been asked several times, but in your opinion what is the best all around off-road tire?? I know boggers may be the best purely off road but some people dont even get 5,000 miles from em. my truck is a daily driver and sees plenty of mud but gets alot of time on the highway too. so what is the best tire as far as off-road performance, price, tread wear, etc? please explain and give reasons why b/c i need all the help i can get.

thanks, a-hodge

p.s. has anyone had any experience with the x-terrains? how were they compared to others?

Although I had never had them, I would argue the Super Swamper SSR.  From the tests i've read about this tire does good in all aspects of four wheeling (Mud, rocks, sand, snow), and even icey conditions because of it's sipping.  It is also a radial and does great on the pavement.  This tire probably won't be the best in any one condition, but it isn't like you're gonna have an all-terrain in the mud or a bogger on ice.  

Short answer: There isn't any, so give up.

Why don't you just buy two sets of tires. There's no sense in trying to combine the best of both worlds because you just end up wit hybrid crap that does everything borderline good and costs more. Get a cheapo set of tires for the highway from a boneyard, and get some nice tires strictly for offroad use/driving to the trail.

But what happens when you're just cruising down the road on your crap road tires and see a nice outcropping of rocks or a muddy trail you want to run?  Do you stop and change all your tires?

No, you wait until you get home then change your tires. Go back when it's dark so you have less of a chance of getting caught since you're probably not supposed to wheel there in the first place!

Offroad tires are for just that -- offroading! They're not designed to go cruising down the road gas station to gas station looking for random places to wheel. You should know all the places to wheel in your area anyways, what are the chances you're just all of a sudden gonna find a mystical, hidden, magical wheeling spot and not going to be able to wait an hour to go home and change your tires?

But I guess if you have enough money to go cruising around in a rig with a V8, big offroad tires, and 4X4, you got enough money to waste on a set of new tires every 5K miles... LoL, just playing with you dude.

But seriously, what's the point in trying to have one set of tires to do everything? You can get a good set of onroad tires that'll last you a good long time and probably help you get better gas mileage, then when you want to go offroad you take a few minutes and change tires. The offroad ones will end up lasting longer, and you can get a better set, not worrying about "ooo how long is the tread going to last on the road???," and sacrificing performance for a hard tire that'll wear "better" on the road. Get a nice set of offroad tires with a soft, sticky tread, and use them when you need to.

Yes, you might have to change tires more often with one set, but for most of us it still cheaper that way then blowing $4000+ on two sets of rims and tires.  When your trying to scratch together money for your truck, the fastes way to get off the road is sometimes the cheapest, and if it means getting tires for the truck now or waiting 2 months so I can get both sets the choice is fairly obvious.  For those who already have one toy to play in the dirt with it may not be so urgent, but soon and cheap sounds good to me.  Yes, I know in the long run it might end up being more expensive changing your tires more often, but it is much easier to spread the cost out than pay it all at once.

I'm curious about what I should look for in street-legal tires that will work the best in sand.

I'm going to be in the market for a new F-250 or a GMC K-2500 and will need to install some good tires for sand.

I live in San Antonio, Texas and make several trips to Padre Island and Mustang Island a year, pulling my camper.

While I plan to order the new pickup with locking diffs front & rear (or at least a rear locker if that's all that's available), I know that stock tires won't do so well in the sand. I do not want to raise the pickup from its stock height, since I will have my family with me and I don't want to have to use a ladder just to get stuff out of the bed when we're out there.

Any thoughts?

::sigh::  

Beware of electronically operated "shift on the fly" 4wd systems. (most modern 4wd systems) Many are operated with a thermocouple or something else, instead of something directly mechanically shifting your transfer case. What can happen with the thermocouple style is if the sensor is wet or cold, it might not let you shift into 4wd since it needs to heat up, for some stupid reason. (lol)

These electronically operated shift-on-the-fly transfer cases can be modified with something like a "Posi-Lok." (brand name) It replaces the factory engagement setup with a cable to let you shift when ever you want into 4wd, regardless of how the t-case "feels" or "thinks." (the way it should be, lol)

Factory lockers aren't as good as aftermarket lockers, usually. I myself would prefer to not pay for upgraded differentials and add something like an aftermarket locking differential like the ARB Air-Locker. You get a fully locked diff at the push of a button, then totally open diff when you push another. (or a switch)

Factory locking diffs seem to have more reliablility or durability issues. Also most factory locking diffs have limiting factors like disengaging above a certain speed like 5, 8 or 20 mph and/or they won't engage unless the truck is in 4wd and in the LO Range.

Highway tires or even almost bald tires can be good on soft sand because they allow for better flotation and since they sink into the sand less, they have less drag. Stock size tires with aggressive tread often "Dig to China." If you feel you need an aggressive tread to be able to pull your boat, try to get a tire wider than stock. You may need to buy wider rims to fit the wider tires.

Last thing, in soft deep sand it is often good to "air down" your tires to 15-18 psi.

A really good tire is the BFGoodrich all terrain. There good on the road and off the road.  

nitto terra grapplers