Yes, I Want It All

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CCI

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In a tire, that is.

Going on an Toyota FJ Cruiser, primarily highway and around town, but when it's time to go off road they need to do the job.

Safety is #1, which includes stability at 80 mph+ and puncture resistance in rocky terrain.
Quiet is #2, I don't want to listen to the howl at highway speeds.
Tread life is a distant #3, if it does the job I'm not that concerned about tread life.
Cost is #4, if they work I don't mind paying a premium. That includes up-front price and fuel economy.

Been thinking about the Michelin A/T. Any other thoughts?
 
80mph+ in a brick shaped SUV... HMMM

But really, that's a tall order. For the price the Hankook dyna pro ATM on my Nissan do pretty well. They make some noise on the highway, not sure you're going to get away from that. They've been great in the snow and the mild dirt trails I've driven on. But I don't do any tougher off roading. Something like a duratrac tire would be better suited for that.

For puncture resistance I had goodyear wrangler adventure with kevlar. They did well in all conditions, except rain. For whatever reason they didn't like rain. But snow and mud not an issue.
 
ditto. you can't have it all. But if you're just taking a street SUV onto the 1% of trail use, you probably aren't going to be able to take full advantage of what a full blown M/T has anyway. No Hardcore offroad tire is going to be safe at highway speeds, especially 80, especially in the rain, or snow.

Michelin A/T will be fine on gravel. It will be fine on the HWY. It will be useless for rock crawling and you'll destroy it. It's not much different from the LTX, which is a widely LOVED tire here.

m
 
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I’ve had good luck with BFG All Terrains. Very tough tire, my dad has a set on his FJ Cruiser and it gets beaten off road regularly. I’ve also got a set on my Jeep.

But the Cooper Discoverer AT3 is also a good tire. Last summer I had a set put on my grandpa’s Chevy Trailblazer and drove it to Utah, it’s actually really quiet.
 
I had the same requirements and went Cooper ST Maxx about 3 years ago. They have been great, very durable in sharp rocks and overall good at everything. The only drawback is that it is heavy and stiff, but I had 6 punctures in my last tires so I wasn't going to compromise with a light duty tire.
 
I wouldn't trade my Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revos (both 1 and 2) for anything, and they're plenty stable enough for 80 MPH (the Revo 2s on the Ram, not the Revo 1s on the front axle of my F-450, it won't make it past 75).
 
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IMO the michelin AT tires are not nearly as well liked as their highway designs.

I'd go non-michelin for AT tire.

not in any particular order
Cooper AT/3, BFG KO2, toyo open country at2, General Grabber AT2, kumho Road Venture AT51, hankook dynapro ATM
Goodyear duratrac, goodyear adventure AT, bridgestone revo II
ETC.
 
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Isn't the Michelin Defender LTX MS what you want? It's a mostly highway looking tire but is rated for the mucky stuff.
 
Originally Posted By: HemiHawk
80mph+ in a brick shaped SUV... HMMM

But really, that's a tall order. For the price the Hankook dyna pro ATM on my Nissan do pretty well. They make some noise on the highway, not sure you're going to get away from that. They've been great in the snow and the mild dirt trails I've driven on. But I don't do any tougher off roading. Something like a duratrac tire would be better suited for that.

For puncture resistance I had goodyear wrangler adventure with kevlar. They did well in all conditions, except rain. For whatever reason they didn't like rain. But snow and mud not an issue.


Goodyear DuraTrac. They'll look good too if you're into the sort of thing.

Always liked these. Toyota picked up the ball that Jeep dropped IMO. She works with a lady that has a white 6 speed. Vinyl floor, BFG AT's, hill decent, rear locker, roof basket etc. The dealer keeps calling her wanting her to trade up (their words) to a Rav4.
 
Requirements 1 and 2 pretty much preclude the use of a knobby A/T tire. I'd just go with Michelin Defender LTX, or the Kumho Crugen HT51 if you're on more of a budget (very similar tire). The Sumitomo Encounter HT also looks nice at the low end of the range.

If you have to have an A/T tire for looks or actual use way off the road, the Yoko Geolandar G015 might be the best compromise for noise and highway stability.
 
I didnt have very good luck with BFG KO2's on my F250. I only got about 30k miles of them and two alligment shops (one didnt even sell tires) partially faulted the tires for the death wobble I was experiencing. "Run out" and "out of round" were the terms they used.
I was really disapointed because I had some lt285/65-18 BFG original KO's on a 2002 GMC K1500 and could'nt wear them out.
 
Thanks all for the responses.

I've got the Michelin LTX/MS2 on there now. They are really good on the highway, can't beat the quiet or the fuel economy, unremarkable in snow and ice, useless in mud of course, and I'm always holding my breath a little in the rocks.

I have used the Hankooks, I know some people like them, that's fine for them, for me, the sidewalls are nowhere near strong enough, the tire brings too much road noise for nowhere near enough benefit.

I understand and believe that the "99% on road, get a road tire" also works for the majority of people. From what I see, most 4WD vehicles these days rarely leave the pavement. I have no problem with that, I understand it, and if you're driving down the highway for a picnic in a campsite, that's great.

Doesn't work for me, that is why I am asking. If this tire doesn't work under severe conditions, reliable on the highway at all speeds, and get in and out of miles of rocks and mud, then it is analogous to a free flight from New York to Paris in First Class, great food, good movie, enjoyable traveling companion, great flight in every regard, except we crashed on final approach.

This isn't recreational use, it's simply not acceptable for anything to go wrong with the vehicle on the way in or out.

The Michelins still have about 5/32" on them, they might make good road trip tires if the new ones cost too much in fuel economy. I could probably live with a 3 mpg loss, that would be under $150 on a 5,000 mile trip, any worse than that, I might change them out.

So far, the Goodyear Adventurer with the Kevlar and the Cooper that has been mentioned here seem to be the best for what I'm looking for. Not sure how I'd decide between them, probably whichever one is quieter.
 
I'd skip on the Michelin. Seems like reviews on them for the A/T's were not that great. Short life etc.

I was thinking of a second set of rims, that way you switch between the two, but it sounds like you need new tires. Never know what you are doing at any given time? on road, off road?

Make sure you have the same tire on your spare, and that it's a full sized spare too.

I suspect anything good off road is going to be annoying on road. And more sketchy at 80mph, if anything goes wrong, although I doubt that it's that big of a deal.
 
I'm thinking the same way. It doesn't take that long to swap them out if they are already mounted and balanced. I can put up with a little noise and rolling resistance for the off-road benefit, and then just put the Michelins back on for longer road trips.

I'm not worried at all about instability, the steering and suspension have been tweaked a little, it doesn't suffer from the bad behavior ordinarily associated with FJs, and while I understand the concern that some have expressed about safety, I'm a professionally trained driver, and 80 mph in this vehicle will be the least dangerous thing I do that day anyhow.

So any thoughts between the Goodyear and the Cooper?
 
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