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BDS Springs ordered, now for some new tires

Discussion in 'Early CJ5 and CJ6 Tech' started by jbjeeps, May 6, 2015.

  1. May 8, 2015
    Norcal69

    Norcal69 Out of the box thinker 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Northern California
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    Sep 6, 2014
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    I have 2.5" Rancho springs and 31x10.5x15 Goodyear Druatracs. I removed a brand new set of Toyo Mt's that came on my jeep. The Mt's are nice on the trail, but the road howl was unbearable.
    [​IMG]
     
  2. May 8, 2015
    colojeepguy

    colojeepguy Colorado Springs

    At the foot of...
    Joined:
    Apr 4, 2010
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    7,110
    Good for you! I like to buy local whenever I can.
    Sometimes the price difference is just too much to swallow but if it's not, I'll buy from the "mom n' pop shop".
     
  3. May 8, 2015
    OHALE

    OHALE New Member

    TEXAS
    Joined:
    Feb 24, 2010
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    21
    i'm on my second set of cooper discovers i bought the first set in 1987! Just replaced them last month, they had good tread but i was wary of the age. Guesstimating the milage at 60-70 thousand.

    Ohale
     
  4. May 8, 2015
    Focker

    Focker That's a terrible idea...What time? Staff Member

    WA
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    Aug 18, 2014
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    7,540
    In the late 90's I was a Tire Shop Manager and had the opportunity to drive 12 identical year, make and model SUV's on 6 different sets of AT and MT tires. The class was by "The Rod Hall DRIVE Off-road Driving School". We did road tests, highway tests, hill climbs (with spotters...A Blast!), mud pits and more. My final "drive" was driving Rod to the top of a mountain in Reno NV (talk about intimidation). After the class, Rod took those who were interested around an off road race course in a beefed up Hummer. I have to mention this, they strapped me in a 5 point harness while he only wore a lap belt. He drove one hand while hanging on to his Big Gulp in the other...What a stud! Anyway...This was a 2 day event paid for by my employer. They wanted us to be able to give a first hand account (opinion) to our customers. Looking back, that's all it was, my opinion. Every vendor had scientific reasons why their tire was better but it simply boiled down to my opinion. In no other capacity in my life time will I be able to asses a variety of brands/treads like that again. Plus, the technology has changed over the last 20 years so I can't really say I would buy what I favored during the course. On a similar note, I've had car dealerships offer FREE oil changes if I scored them a 100% satisfaction on an evaluation card that is to be submitted to their headquarters...Talk about skewed reviews! :shock:

    X2

    Most tire threads and oil threads are fairly worthless. I'm not offended. ;)
     
  5. May 8, 2015
    47v6

    47v6 junk wrecker! 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    USA
    Joined:
    Oct 25, 2006
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    5,798
    I have 35x12.5x15 BF Goodrich ATs. work well for me and I fully agree that any similar tire would leave me similarly satisfied. I need a tire with good road manners because that is where it spends most of its time.
     
  6. May 11, 2015
    jbjeeps

    jbjeeps Member 2022 Sponsor

    The Idaho side...
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    Jun 12, 2010
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    Thanks to all for the additional comments. Nice looking Jeep Norcal69!

    The new springs and tires should be on within a month. I'll post some before and after photos and comments.
     
  7. May 11, 2015
    PeteL

    PeteL If it wasn't for physics, and law enforcement... 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Hills of NH
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    Timgr makes good points of logic.

    Another factor is price - for example Goodyear always seems too expensive to me. On the other hand I avoid the cheap knock-offs for any vehicle I do much milage with.

    I can report (anecdotally) that I do keep going back to BFG ATs for an all-around daily driver tire, at a reasonable price.
     
  8. May 11, 2015
    Glenn

    Glenn Kinda grumpy old man Staff Member

    Apopka, Fl
    Joined:
    Sep 21, 2002
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    12,367
    It seems like anything is a gamble anymore. A BFG MT is the only tire that I have ever had a sidewall blow out on. Tire wasn't abused, wasn't old, was never run low on air, no reason to but out of the blue the sidewall let loose. That gave me a temporary disliking for BFG, but ended up putting the BFG ATs on anyway since I didn't really need the MTs.

    As far as discussing recommendations on tire types/tread design I do agree (and I think we all do) that for the most part ATs are all going to perform quite similar.

    As far as the value of opinions........well, I don't really know how to comment on that. ;)
     
  9. May 11, 2015
    uncamonkey

    uncamonkey Member

    Greeley CO
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    Jun 2, 2009
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    2,104
    The tire business is a bit stange. We ran Michelin X's on the family '55 Pontiac and '62 Burb. It wasn't uncommon to recap them 5 times. At least in Europe you can still get them. In the '70's we could get BFG Lifesaver radials, great street tires but they were produced for a few years only before changed the tread design, new version wasn't near as good. Summit Hill Climbers, I still have a few on the camper. POS tires. I've had 2 blow out on the highway, a fun goose egg on the LF.(all were on the LF) A right rear inside tire let loose at 50 MPH. For some reason the dealer isn't stocking them anymore? Read up on sites like Expedition Portal about how much fun it is to change a tire that some rattle wrench jockey has tightened things to about 3X the needed torque. 3 of my vehicles are running Chaparral brand tires, absolutely no problens with them and as you expect, they are not made anymore.
     
  10. May 12, 2015
    jbjeeps

    jbjeeps Member 2022 Sponsor

    The Idaho side...
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    Jun 12, 2010
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    528
    I agree, price is always a consideration. Those Duratracs seem like good tires and they look great on Norcal69's Jeep. But the local dealer wants $1100 mounted and out the door for a set of 4. The BFG's are $800. That $300 pays for almost half the cost of my new spring set.
     
  11. May 12, 2015
    timgr

    timgr We stand on the shoulders of giants. 2022 Sponsor

    Medford Mass USA
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    If you are thinking about value, to me the Firestone Destinations are the clear winner. When I bought tires about a year ago for the J20, the Firestones were the clear winner, balancing price, name brand, country of origin (US or CA) and overall rating.

    This thread got me looking for replacement AT tires for my J10, and the BFGs and Goodyears are now $40/tire more than the comparable 30x9.50-15 Firestones. The BFG is #1 and #8 (KO2 and KO resp.) rated by TireRack customers, but the Firestones are #2 by a narrow margin (Duratracs are #4). All this says to me is that there are not a whole bunch of consumers that are dissatisfied with any of these tires ... so price has to be the #1 issue. And BFGs are not cheap...

    And shipping to me for the Firestones is about $10 less per tire than the other brands, originating from Windsor CT.
     
  12. May 12, 2015
    jbjeeps

    jbjeeps Member 2022 Sponsor

    The Idaho side...
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    I think the Firestones are a good tire. Our son-in-law has had them on a couple of his farm trucks and they've given good service. I probably would have gone with them except that the dealer who I decided to buy from didn't sell them.
     
  13. May 12, 2015
    PeteL

    PeteL If it wasn't for physics, and law enforcement... 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Hills of NH
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    "And BFGs are not cheap..."

    No. But shop around.

    A local one-bay shop gave me four BFGs for $100 less than the Sears "on sale" price.
     
  14. May 12, 2015
    timgr

    timgr We stand on the shoulders of giants. 2022 Sponsor

    Medford Mass USA
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    I'm a regular TireRack customer. I have a local tire shop that I like a lot, and TireRack will ship their tires direct to them for installation. The tires arrive, and the shop calls me to make an appointment for installation. The shop has a fixed price for installation, and I trust them and believe they do good work. And I admire how they run their business.

    A few years ago I asked them if they were interested to compete with TireRack for the sale of the tire, and they said they were happy to install TireRack tires.

    The owner is a Jeeper - he buys wrecked Wranglers as a hobby business and rebuilds them into custom Jeeps.
     
  15. May 13, 2015
    jbjeeps

    jbjeeps Member 2022 Sponsor

    The Idaho side...
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    Sounds like a good deal for all. I've never asked my shop about that. But when I want to clean up and paint some wheels he charges $2 to remove the tire and another $2 to put it back on.
     
  16. May 13, 2015
    givemethewillys

    givemethewillys Been here since sparky ran it. 2022 Sponsor

    New Kent, VA
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    I was reading about the Cooper Discoverer STT and I thought it looked like the perfect tire for our Cjs. It made me think of this thread. Check it out http://expeditionportal.com/exclusive-cooper-discoverer-stt-pro-review/

    I like that it has big lugs, but they are also siped. I've never had a set but it seems like Coopers get pretty good durability and reviews.
     
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