TSL's on the street

I finally found a set of stock steel wheels that will fit over the disk brakes on the 77. Now I want the whole shebang - the 34" TSL's on the logo jeep. Admittedly, I want them for the look; my off-roading is limited, although increasing. The warning on Interco's website about using TSL's on the "highway", together with comments I have read about driving them on wet pavement has me concerned, as I often have small kids with me in the rig. So, in layman's language, please give me your take - are TSL's safe to use on a street machine? Thanks.

 

honestly I have no personal past with the tsl's, but I must ask if it is a street majority vehicle then why? There are so many excellant Mt's out there: Goodyear, BFG's, Cooper STT's, etc, etc ,etc My honest opinion, you should go after the tire that "best" fits your needs. Not what you think everyone else is running. Just my $.02

edit: btw I have the the STT's on my K5 w/ a plow and last year I locked it in 4WD once plowing in Northern new england, best darn tire I have personally owned in the deep stuff (snow)

 

I have had a bigger size on a 3/4 ton pickup, so the comparison will not be exact. My own personal opinion about all the warnings are that they are not really directed toward guys who drives older Cj's. I mean....we all know that our Jeeps are not a super high performance street machine that flys around corners. Well, if you don't know that, you will soon enough. Anyway, since you are more aware of your surroundings and more in touch with your vehicle (or should be) it's not such a massive surprise when something does not handle well. I feel that the warnings are for people who buy a new truck (that drives like a car), they get used to it handling great, then throw a set of TSLs on it and it turns into a hog on ice.
That being said. On my truck, the wet or dry condition of the road did not change the way it handled really all that much, it was bad no matter what. It was really just the wandering more than anything though. Well, that and the noise was no picnic.

 

Had a set of LTB. Similar to the TSL. Obnoxiously loud, don't take a balance too well and the tread wears down really fast with highway use. Why would you want to run a set on a jeep that primarily sees pavement?

 

I have a set of 3315.5x15 TSL's on a Samurai. Loud is not the word. But the took a balance fine and have over 50K on them, and I have a locker in the rear. I will run some form of Interco TSL or IROC or bogger on my cj when I get it togheter. And I'll be runnign 39's or larger.

But they are an offroad tire. Buy it as an offroad tire and have those expectations and you will be fine.

 

Another option to improve wet weather driveability would be to sipe the center tread blocks. Sipes are small horizontal cuts in the tread that allow the tread blocks to flex and open up giving more edges to bite the road for traction. In some cases it can make the tire run cooler and last longer too.

 

Yeah, I did that to my 33 BFG mud terrains. They were a good handling, mellow tire to start with, but the sipes made a noticeable difference. Seems it cut down some road noise too.

 

I've run TSL's from 31 to 42 inches on the street, and I sure as hell wouldn't run them on a daily driver. If you want the aggressive looks, check out some of the other radial tires that are available. For worry free service, I'd consider the Trxus from Interco, but there are a lot better brands out there for mainly street use. Cooper Discoverer STT (???), ProComp Xtreme MT's, ProComp Xterrains, Goodyear MT/R's, Micky Thompson Baja Claw radials, Maxxis (a couple models) ,Pitbull (a couple models), and Yokohama (Geolander) all have aggressive tread and a nice look, but stay balanced, ride well, aren't obnoxiously loud, and won't wear out in 15,000 miles.

 

I have 35" goodyear mtrs i have used on my suburban jeep and blazer and theyir very good tires. Pretty quiet and behave well in all conditions. I have 33" Yokohama geolander II's on my blazer and they are great its my daily driver. Youd think they dont look cool enough but in the bigger sizes they look good. I can post a pic if you want. Iv never had a set of tsl's but based on everything i gather i wouldnt unless it was an off-road mostly application

 

I have about 27,000 miles on a set of 33x12.50x15 TSL radials on 15x8.5" rims on my CJ7 and they are down to about 15% life left (my guess). These are mostly street miles, with some Rubicon trips, a Barrett Lake trip, Moab, and other misc. wheeling. The first winter that I had them they were scary on wet pavement, really slick. I took them to Les Schwab and had them sipe the center tread blocks, (I think it was $7 a tire), and it made a tremendous difference.
They handle on wet pavement now about like an A/T and they seem to grip better all around, both on road and off.
I am completely sold on siping after running the tires both ways on the same rig.. I am not sure that I am going to go with TSLs again, I had Wrangler M/TRs on my CJ5 and really liked them, but whatever I go with will be siped.

 

If you want swamper but want to drive on the road a lot, look at SSR's. I have a set of 33x12.50-15s on our 78. They are a bit louder than all terrains but not much. I can't tell you how they do in snow as we don't normally get any. They are decent otherwise. They do well aired down and seem to offer plenty of traction. I don't know if I'd want to go on any long road trips with them but thats probably more the jeep than the tires. I normally drive up to an hour to go ride. Anything over that we trailer it. The downside is they are a bit on the expensive side.

John