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DD tires with a little beef?

4K views 51 replies 17 participants last post by  chris87xj 
#1 ·
I currently have a set of Nokian tires which I love, but I just lifted my xj 3" and theyre looking a little small in the wheel wells. The measurement I see on the side says 235/75R15 105T and when I measured yesterday the diameter came out to 27&3/4". I'm going to college in Colorado and I'l be doing a lot of commuting back to Illinois so 31 mud tires are out of the question, but I would like my tire to be a little larger with a little beef to them just to fill out those wheel wells and complete the lift. I just want minimal road noise. Oh and if possible I'd like to keep my stock rims, I really like the look of the Limited's. Right now I'm thinking along the lines of snow tires because its Colorado.

Any input would be appreciated!
 
#7 ·
Actually 235s are close to 29" maybe it's because it's compressed? BFG all terrain always had very good reputation.

ive heard of those. The ATs have enough beef to fit the look of a lifted XJ?
They may have a good reputation (most likely dating from the 80s or whenever they were designed and tehre were no better alternatives :D ), but they are by no means even close to best ATs around. Depends on your use and requirements though. Their snow and ice grip is apalling, wet pavement grip is medium at best, and they only do good on dry rocks or sand when wheeling. Their best qualities are the fairly cheap price, and they last forever on the road.

There are many better alternatives available when purchasing ATs, from pretty aggressive to more like street tires. You might want to search for threads about ATs, there are a gazillion of those threads on this forum. Don't look just on the XJ section, look for Wrangler and Grand Cherokee section as well. Even though they are a different platform, the tire recommendations are pretty much the same. Look for a load range "C" tire, "D" range tires tend to be fairly noisy and hard under a light vehicle like an XJ.

by beef I mean tread, I don't want city slicks but I don't want a trail specific tire either. My only issue with a trail tire is the road noise and gas mileage
I've been running BFG MT KM2 32 x 11.50s on my niner for the past four years. I don't think you will notice more than .5-1mpg difference in gas mileage between ATs and the generic MTs people use. Unless you buy a full-out bias- ply tires, MPG isn't really gonna be that much different betweeen ATs and MTs. You definitely notice MPG difference between MTs and street tires though.. As far as road noise goes, my MTs make less rumble on the streets than the OEM- installed tires on my moms '11 VW Golf :rofl:
 
#5 ·
TylerU said:
Well I'm only 24 but I just got confused about people talk sometimes. What do you mean by beef? Here is mine 3 inch lift on 32" but I trimester fender like crazy.
by beef I mean tread, I don't want city slicks but I don't want a trail specific tire either. My only issue with a trail tire is the road noise and gas mileage
 
#9 ·
My buddy has them on his Dakota and they're quite literally the worst tires I've ever seen. Their grip in rain is appalling at best, they're even worse in snow. In four wheel drive, he gets stuck on wet grass. Definitely avoid them.

Now, I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone mention Duratracs? Amazing in the snow, excellent off road, and they're not quite an MT.

 
#10 ·
Teej said:
My buddy has them on his Dakota and they're quite literally the worst tires I've ever seen. Their grip in rain is appalling at best, they're even worse in snow. In four wheel drive, he gets stuck on wet grass. Definitely avoid them.

Now, I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone mention Duratracs? Amazing in the snow, excellent off road, and they're not quite an MT.
Gotta say I never tried bFG myself. Hand good year wrangler until my mud king takers over.
 
#14 ·
X2, ran then in 31s on a previous XJ, was very pleased.

They only go up to 31" on a 15" wheel, and 265/75 on a 16 (last I checked), so if you want bigger than that go Duratracs.
 
#19 ·
#22 ·
Well, if this guy just wanted the best DD street tire, yes, those LE2's are up there with Michelin MS2, General HTS, and Kumho Solus. I know you thought you were joking, but for only a slightly different person, you gave excellent advice.

Sent from my phone
im going to have to agree with this... id go LE2s or the destination ats. get them a tad larger than stock and call it a day. i know the LE2 is a high all-season, but they do have a somewhat agressive/modern tread pattern to them and all the reviews i have read have been positive as hell.

the destination is a tried and true a/t, with little to no complaints from owners.

check out hercules tires too, the terra trac II is a nice tire
 
#25 ·
Teej said:
My buddy has them on his Dakota and they're quite literally the worst tires I've ever seen. Their grip in rain is appalling at best, they're even worse in snow. In four wheel drive, he gets stuck on wet grass. Definitely avoid them. Now, I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone mention Duratracs? Amazing in the snow, excellent off road, and they're not quite an MT.
Duratracs are garbage in warm weather. Barely got 15k miles out of mine. They are soft compound and I'm sure they are great in cold climates and such. But if you live someplace warm year round. I'd avoid them.
 
#27 ·
mschi772 said:
Tires I approve of fully in this particular case from mild to aggressive: Firestone LE2 General HTS Michelin MS2 Firestone AT Hercules AT2 Cooper AT3 General AT2 Goodyear Duratrac OP, if you want "beef" in terms of size, that's just a matter of buying a larger size. Assuming your XJ is a 4.0 auto, you have 3:55 gearing and can do 30x9.5 well enough or even 31" tires decentish (I'd personally regear for 31" myself, though) assuming you have the clearance for them. Bigger than that and very few people are happy without regearing (and lifting, trimming, bumpstopping are mandatory). The larger and/or the more aggressive the tire, the more your XJ will guzzle the gas. If I was having to do a CO to IL drive on a regular basis with an XJ, I would not be using an aggressive tire at all. The XJ is already a thirsty vehicle--no need to throw even more $$ away on gas if I could avoid it. If you don't go wheeling with your XJ, use one of the first three tires I listed. They'll save you TONS of money in gas in the not-so-long-run. P.S. If I was driving between CO and IL often, I wouldn't be using a 3" lifted XJ at all. I'd get a much more fuel efficient vehicle to use. Purchased at a good enough price, the thing would probably come close to paying for itself depending on how often that trip is made. Or I'd use a bus/train/plane to get to and from home when necessary. Making that drive often with an XJ is just plain dumb for a college kit imo, but maybe you're a rich kid who doesn't need to worry about money like others do :dunno:
Buddy, there's no way in hell buying a second car would be cheaper. I get 22mpg on the highway with my lifted xj, and it's way cheaper than a plane ticket. And I do plan do some not-hardcore wheeling, I'm going out to crested butte in a week to do some camping
 
#29 ·
bpmtb said:
Buddy, there's no way in hell buying a second car would be cheaper. I get 22mpg on the highway with my lifted xj, and it's way cheaper than a plane ticket. And I do plan do some not-hardcore wheeling, I'm going out to crested butte in a week to do some camping
Watch your tone when dealing with someone who is trying to advise you on a topic that you asked for advice on.

Yes, there certainly IS a way--both in hell and here in the real world, buddy. 22 mpg is about as good as it gets for a lifted XJ on the highway, and if you go to even bigger, more aggressive tires, whatever you get will be worse. You can acquire a 30-40 mpg vehicle for relative pennies (AND resell it when you no longer need it), and if you're driving between CO and IL often enough, it will pay for itself in savings almost certainly before you're done with school--maybe even within the first year or two if you drive home a lot.

I understand that you go wheeling; it's not like I'm telling you to get rid of your XJ--you can still go wheeling--I'm telling you to consider getting a 2nd vehicle for your school commute. If you want to go wheeling both while at home and at school, I guess you need to drive the XJ. You're going to have to figure-out what you need and what you're willing to sacrifice in choosing a tire. Sent from my phone
 
#31 ·
The only component that I think would hinder the paying it off that our Buddy is referring to is probably the extra insurance an under 25 male would get plus maintenance. but that would depend on buddy's driving history and stuff too.
 
#30 ·
Don't know what part of CO you're going to be in, but you can certainly fly Denver to Chicago round trip for a good bit less than the cost of gas for an XJ. I've got about 2000 miles for the round trip which at 20mpg and $3.50 a gallon comes out at $350. Checked google flights and all over the calendar (great app btw) and didn't see anything approaching that amount even around the holidays. If you're talking college hell I only went to school 200 miles from home and didn't drive back more than a few times a year.....well, once I no longer had a home grown piece of tail that is.
 
#32 ·
mschi772 said:
Watch your tone when dealing with someone who is trying to advise you on a topic that you asked for advice on. Yes, there certainly IS a way--both in hell and here in the real world, buddy. 22 mpg is about as good as it gets for a lifted XJ on the highway, and if you go to even bigger, more aggressive tires, whatever you get will be worse. You can acquire a 30-40 mpg vehicle for relative pennies (AND resell it when you no longer need it), and if you're driving between CO and IL often enough, it will pay for itself in savings almost certainly before you're done with school--maybe even within the first year or two if you drive home a lot. I understand that you go wheeling; it's not like I'm telling you to get rid of your XJ--you can still go wheeling--I'm telling you to consider getting a 2nd vehicle for your school commute. If you want to go wheeling both while at home and at school, I guess you need to drive the XJ. You're going to have to figure-out what you need and what you're willing to sacrifice in choosing a tire. Sent from my phone
apologies, didn't mean for it to come across like that, but no, it isn't possible because I'm a college kid who is only able to bring my car out because my grandparents have a house there where I can store my car. I can't drive two cars out there because I'm only one person, and I've just spent 100 hours and countless dollars of my already meager savings on this car converting it from 2wd to 4wd, I cant pay for license plates and registration and insurance and gas and maintenance for two cars as well as a parking permit.
 
#33 ·
Plates, registration, insurance...they're all tiny and would be paid for by the gas savings you'd accumulate driving an efficient vehicle. You could buy said vehicle in CO. Your XJ would be in CO with you, and you'd have the gas-sipper to drive home when you need to.

You're worried about plates, registration, and insurance on a compact, but you're willing to drive an XJ that gets 22 or less MPG 2000 miles on multiple occasions???? I mean, if you don't want to or can't do a commuter car, that's totally fine. I have no intentions of continuing to push it on you given that you understand what I'm suggesting but can't or won't go that route regardless, but you shoot-down the single best way for your to SAVE money by saying you can't afford it, so I'm not sure you're grasping the idea very well.

If you want to make the drive, still go wheeling, and handle the conditions of 4 seasons of CO, IL, and everywhere in between all with one tire on one vehicle, you WILL have to compromise something. I'd personally direct you to an AT such as Firestone, Hercules, Cooper, General.... there are lots of AT tire discussions around. My personal pick of the AT litter for you would probably be Firestone. All of them are weak in the winter compared to a true winter tire (I'm not even about to try suggesting that to you), but decent for non-winter specific tires. The Firestones are quiet, long-lasting, mild enough not to suck too much gas, and have great traction but will suffer in mud. Really, all AT's suffer in the mud overall anyway. Hercules would be better in the winter and a little better in nastier offroad conditions and maybe as fuel efficient. General would be better in really rugged terrain and OK in winter but perhaps less fuel efficient. Cooper is a solid all-arounder which can even do OK in a little mud while maybe being as fuel efficient as Firestone.

If you want a solid tire that is serviceable in many ways for dirt cheap, try Goodyear Wrangler Radial. SUPER cheap price with very decent performance. It's not the best at anything, not terribly fuel efficient, and demands caution in heavy rain, but the price is quite nice. I have them on my work truck. Kumho AT KL78 is another AT tire for a great price (and does alright in winter), but it's not going to be the most efficient or quiet--it's meant to see the dirt a little more often than the occasional weekend. If you want to go nuts and go for something that can tackle offroad and winter well at the cost of road manners (road manners are still fine, though), Duratracs could be your friend.
 
#34 ·
Just got my first set of Duratracs (in a load range E) for my tow rig F150. I need all the highway manners I can get, but also have been known to get off the pavement while pulling a heavy trailer. They're better on the highway than I was expecting; downright nice actually. I hope they stay tight as they wear. Haven't had them off road enough to post testimony but I've seen enough tires in mud to feel confident I'll not be disappointed in these treads. They're only rated 45k mi though in comparison to 33% more from many ATs, and now redhorse has me wondering how long they're going to last. :dunno:
 
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