35" MT Tire Comparison

[freedom_in_4low]

Thats a nice looking tire. How much weight did they end up taking, and did the shop road force them?

I don't know if they road force balanced them or not. I didn't ask, so I would assume not, unless Discount Tire does that by default or the tech that did it just happened to think "these are 35s, maybe I should just start with roadforce so I don't end up doing it later".

That said, I had it up to 70 this morning and there is a shimmy in the front around 60mph and then it moved to the rear as I drove faster. So I'll be taking it back. They used about 7oz on average, with the worst wheel a little over 9oz, and the best around 4.5. Used a mixture of stick-on and the traditional clamped weights. Seems like a lot but I've never had 35s balanced before.

The ride is noticeably rougher. Right now I'm at 26, and I was running the 32" KO2s at 28, but I can tell by the noises I was hearing that more road imperfections were making it into the tub. I may drop a couple more psi. Back of the envelope math says 17.5 psi in this tire would have equivalent load capacity to 32psi in a 30x9.5, but that seems crazy low.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

update if you're not following my build thread:

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/inside-out-build—2006-lj.42840/page-4#post-901358
Cliffs Notes is I'm 592 miles from the Jeep now, but next week when I get back to our destination city I'm going to bring it to the local Discount Tire and see if they are any better at balancing tires than the one up here. Almost half a pound of weight on 3 out of the 4 tires and the rig was shaking hard enough that the instrument cluster was moving behind the gauge needles.

 

[TheBoogieman]

update if you're not following my build thread:

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/inside-out-build—2006-lj.42840/page-4#post-901358
Cliffs Notes is I'm 592 miles from the Jeep now, but next week when I get back to our destination city I'm going to bring it to the local Discount Tire and see if they are any better at balancing tires than the one up here. Almost half a pound of weight on 3 out of the 4 tires and the rig was shaking hard enough that the instrument cluster was moving behind the gauge needles.

That's a lot of balancing weights to still not be right. I used to get mine Road Force balanced until I found a small shop that takes their time to get them perfect. The Road Force balance cost $150 for 5 tires around here.

 

[williambmac]

update if you're not following my build thread:

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/inside-out-build—2006-lj.42840/page-4#post-901358
Cliffs Notes is I'm 592 miles from the Jeep now, but next week when I get back to our destination city I'm going to bring it to the local Discount Tire and see if they are any better at balancing tires than the one up here. Almost half a pound of weight on 3 out of the 4 tires and the rig was shaking hard enough that the instrument cluster was moving behind the gauge needles.

Thats the problem I had with both Mickey Thompson and Cooper tires. I went through 12-16 tires before I had a set that would take less that 7oz per tire and not pin the RoadForce machine.
The other problem was that they did not like to stay balanced. I could put a 1k miles on them, then respin them on the machine and they would be out a couple of ounces. I would also mark the tire in relation to the valve stem to make sure the tire isn't spinning on the rim.

 

[TheBoogieman]

Thats the problem I had with both Mickey Thompson and Cooper tires. I went through 12-16 tires before I had a set that would take less that 7oz per tire and not pin the RoadForce machine.
The other problem was that they did not like to stay balanced. I could put a 1k miles on them, then respin them on the machine and they would be out a couple of ounces. I would also mark the tire in relation to the valve stem to make sure the tire isn't spinning on the rim.

Mine have 2.5 oz or less on my steel wheels. They've stayed balanced for 3 years now. The guy said he'd never seen steel wheels and 35" tires balance with that small amount of weights. I had a slight wobble and the Road Force machine found a defect in one of my wheels. That's the permanent spare now.

 

[Evan77]

I love my stt pros. Great for the rocks and especially for the mud. Very quiet on the road too.

 

[JMT]

Had GY MTR, then Cooper STT Pro’s, now Maxxis Razr MT’s. Love the Cooper’s and Maxxis. Maxxis are more aggressive and louder than Cooper’s onroad.haven’t had any issues with either of those tires though. The GY MTR’s were noticeably worse on wet roads.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

so I have no idea how the first Discount location missed so bad, but the one I took them to here got them perfect. I had it up to 75mph yesterday and it was completely smooth, other than the characteristic mud tire roar and my oscillating driveline hum anyway.

They still feel like they ride rougher than the KO2s did but it's been a long time and a lot of variables between the MT tires I've experienced so I may just not be used to it.

In about 2007 I had a set of 35" Cooper Discoverer ST on a full size Bronco...it was the only tires I ever had on it and the Skyjacker lift and terrifyingly loose steering made it drive like garbage anyway so there was no way to isolate characteristics to the tire.

In about 2012 I had a set of 33x10.5 KM2's on an LJ, which replaced stock tires at the same time as a 3" Zone lift.

And now in 2021 I have a set of 35" Cooper STT Pro on an LJ that were put on with no other change and was the first back to back comparison I've had with an AT vs MT, and it also came along with a jump in size from 32".