ok i know this has been beaten to death but once more for me please. i am looking at the tsl radials in 36/12.50/16 or baja claw radials in 315/75/61 for the ctd they will be going on 16x10 M/T Classic II rims. And i was wondering which will be a better tire for this truck being it's my daily driver and off roader, trails and mud(mainly). i have looked at ssr's and irocks but i have narrowed it down to these two tires. thanks

ps. i have come to the conclusion that the 14.50 tsl's are not worht the extra $$$ for me right now

 

Well it's kind of a toss up between the two. They both don't have a whole lot of tread life out of them, or atleast my swampers never did. The Claws might have a little more life out of them, but I've never personally had them so I can't comment.

The 36X12.50X16 Swampers are really skinny, I had them on my first PSD and REALLY wished I would have spent the extra money for the 14.50's. But then again I like wide tires so it might not matter to you!!

I personally like the Swampers just because of the howl going down the road and the way they look. They are one tough looking tire. Plus the tread is a little more spread out and doesn't grab as many rocks as the Claws.



~Nick

 

So far I've gotten 25K out of this set and I'm still at about 80% on the fronts. They'll last pretty well IF you keep the front end aligned and check the air pressure regularly.

They don't like the stock steering set up very well though, I only got 15K or so out of the fronts until I changed over to x-over steering....

 

Cowhand why would having stock steering effect the tires so much to cause 10,000 mi difference at least

 

The stock inverted "Y" set up causes the front tires to toe out when the suspension compresses. Cups or feathers the snot outta the tread and they don't drive very well.

 

ok i see what you're saying thanks

 

I had a set of 33x15.5x16.5 SSR's on my truck, and they were awesome. IMO they are the best off-road tire you can buy. I also had a set of tsl's, but they didn't throw the mud like the ssr's. I think I put about 15k on them, then sold them to a friend. The baja claws are a good tire too, but they do much better rock climbing than in the mud. They are also a directional tire, which I am not a big fan of. You would probably get more miles out of the claws, but I have never ran a set long enough to know how they wear. Another great off-road tire is the Cooper Discoverer STT. I have a couple friends running them and they seem love them.

 

oestreich84, i would love the STT's but they dont make them in a size bigger then 33's for a 16" rim

 

Sure they do. You can get up to a 325/80/16 which is equal to a 37x12.5. The most popular are the 315/75/16's though. We have sold about 10 sets of the 35's, 10 of the 33's and 1 or 2 of the 37's.

 

holy cow i didn't know they made those now i am going to have to look in to those in both sizes whhat are the 35's and 37's going for for a 16" rim thanks

ps. must of been the radial i was looking at

 

any opinions on the cooper STT's and will i clear tyhe 37"s with only my 4.5" lift coils up front i'm not worried about the rear or would i be better off with 35's

 

I don't have any experiance with the Claws. However my friend had 35x13x15's on his bronco and he got maybe 20k outa them. Sure he drove like crud and was cranking the wheel at speed hard this and that. They do seem a bit soft though.

In comparison my father has a set of spare tires on his dodge for the winter, off road. He's running 31x12.5x16 SSR radials on his 99 cummins. They wear really good. He's got about 10k on them and the top lug part is worn off. The top lug is maybe 1/4 - 1/3 of the tread height on there. So to say he'll get 30-40 thousand out of them. He drives conservitavly and this and that. Burn outs, towing, anything like that will wear them down in no time. I also went with the 35 SSR's because they were a bit tamer on the roads. They vibrated less (almost none) noise was there but smooth, and did great off road. They also had siping wich helped in the shallow snow, Ice a lot more. I was going to go with the TSL's however back 6 years ago the TSL radials weren't out. I really like the SSR's for there tread, drivabilty and sidewall lugs as well. If your going to do more street, go with SSR's if your going to do more mud, TSL radials for sure.

I'd opt to go a bit wider than 12.5 if you can afford. You get a lot more rubber on the tire and that will get you a bit more miles outa the tire. It may cost you MPG though. Either way you'll be good. The only draw back to my dad's tires is 35psi was the limit so he's deffinatly loading them up good. he should have went with 33's, but oh well. I'll try and get a picture of his truck with them on there up here soon.

Any other questions just ask

 

I love my ssrs. Best tire I have ever had on my truck.

 

ok ok ok flame away but i just looked at an hours worth of posts and found that the ssr's might be the way to go becasue for the money dant tire they sound like they last the longest with proper care. now does anyone know if i can fit the 37x12.50x16 on my truck with 16X10 M/T classic II's and only the 4.5" lift or will i need spacers (really dont want spacers) thanks

 

You'd have to do some decent trimming to make them suckers fit!!!


~Nick