Let's talk about Interco SSR's...

[colbystephens]

So I run the TSL SSR's (38" tall, 15"wide on 16" wheels, 10" wide)- and I really like them. I previously had a set of 35" Goodyear MTR's, and in Oregon clay they just don't self clean well enough as the tread spacing is fairly limited (they did however do great in Arizona rocks...).

I chose the SSR's because my truck sees significant road time to and from the trail (i.e. Oregon to Arizona or CA or ...., etc) and I didn't want to hurt my fuel economy too much with a bias ply (or wear out a bias ply tire on the way to the trail!).

So I want to talk about tire pressure in this tire. I was slightly skeptical of the sidewalls on these tires because they only have 2 plys - however, I'm thinking they must be really tough/beefy plys because at 10lbs, they hardly bulge (if at all). I would guess my truck weighs close to the weight of a stock Blazer. They definitely get TONS more traction at 10lbs than at the 35-45 I run them on the street, tho.

At 35-45lbs I'm definitely riding only on the center set of lugs, at 10lbs I'm finally riding on all the lugs, nearly from shoulder to shoulder. (I can tell by where dust collects on the tread). I haven't been out on any real 4x4 trails since I got these tires (YET!), so I haven't needed to go lower than 10lbs.

In your experience, what's the optimum trail pressure for these tires. If I were to guess, I think I'm going to have to air down to about 6 PSI to really get major traction with them. At about 10lbs, my MTRs were REALLY squishy...

 

[rob h]

i have 37 12.5 ssrs and run em at 30 on the road and air down to 15 for the trail, a friend has 40 mtrs he runs 35 for the road and 15 for the trail..he thinks they work great, they squat a lil but he has a little jeep with d60s..

 

[MTBLAZER89]

I am not sure what my K5 weighs. Pretty much stock weight plus the 1 tons and tires.

I have been running 24 rear 26 front for years in these tires and they wear good and even. I know what you are saying about the sidewall stiffness. Mine have gotten softer the more I air them down.

I have ran as low as 10 front and 8 rear on the trail. I even drove about 15 miles on the pavement this way. (squishy) The 2 ply sidewall does worry me a little with airing down too much

I dont run beadlocks so I usually stick with 10-12 in the wet muddy conditions just because when you blow a bead it makes it harder to re-seat it. I'll go to 10 front and 8 rear when its dry out and they seem to do well.

My vote is for 6-10 with no beadlocks the tires do well.

On road 26F and 24R with as wide and flat a footprint these tires have you have to be careful not to overinflate. I have 10000 miles on mine this way and they are still 60% tread worn evenly.

 

[454k30]

I have the SSR's as well. I've trail run them at 15 and 12 psi. The pressure does need to be in that 10-12 range to get them to flex well even on my truck. I run them at 35 on the road and that seems nice enough. I can attest to the strength of the sidewalls though having drug them through socal for two years. Those rocks are sharp and have really put their mark on the tires, including the sidewalls. I have no leaks and no exposed cord. Also the road life has been impressive and these things have held up great for a pseudo mud terrain tire. The 16 inch tire is a load range E carcass and has a very stiff sidwall. Like MT said the seem to have softened up a little after quite a number of aired down off-road trips.

 

[colbystephens]

cool. thanks for the insight!

 

[AJMBLAZER]

How new are the tires? Tires sorta break in after a while.

 

[colbystephens]

new> maybe 1500-2000 on them

 

[obijuan]

ive got 37s in the 16 wheel and i run them at 25 pounds for street, no chopping or irregular wear either. ive had them for a long time and they dont really show much tread wear. they havent seen the rocks so i never aired them down.