Winter Tire Shopping

[bftank]

i vote for the 235 cooper atr's love them on my dually.

for the bfg at's not my fav, but manageable. im with ajm on the locker. if the at's are getting bad you could have them siped at a tire shop to help a little.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Buy a siping knife, do it yourself.

 

[YZEATER]

bfg at's are good in the snow and ice. look at all the biting edges that they have. i had a worn out set with about an 1/8" tread left, they got me thru a pa winter, no problem.

 

[Drey]

I have the oldschool MTRs on my K5 and I loved them last winter, thought about siping them but I dont think Im going to because the gravel will just destroy them if I do.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Only sipe the center tread and only do it a quarter inch or so. Prevents tearing mostly.

 

[DK5]

Thinking I might get these:

Trailcutter M+S. Studdable. Should I go 235's or 31"s? They would be mounted to my nice and narrow factory 15" alloys.

I can get them for $160 ea. plus mounting and balancing.

Edit:
http://www.laramietire.com/line/tp_trailcutter_ms.htm

I may go with the 235 75 R15's because they would be a little narrower. The snow has fallen, so I will probably make this happen this week.

 

[DK5]

Although this one is mighty tempting as well in a 33" or bigger:

http://www.laramietire.com/line/tlt_trailcutter_radial_mt.htm

 

[brian wafer]

trailcutters are nice i sell them , under a diffrent name.but 160 seems expensive. sold a set this week of p245 75 16 for 117,00.would have to check 31,s. if you have a narrow wheel it would be better 235. 235 is the width in mm 31,s are usely 265mm ,you need at least an 8 inch wheel.

 

[DK5]

thanks for your input brian. I'll check to see if the 235's are less expensive. I just don't know if I'm going to be able to handle stepping down from 33's to (29" narrow tires) 235's, but the truck would run a hell of a lot better being that it would be back to factory specs (3.42 gear ratio). I could also then fit it into my garage.. I think that is probably the route I will take (those trailcutter m+s)

 

[shovelbill80]

i could be wrong, but weren't 31's stock? they were in my 85 and they came on the '90 too. i can't imagine anything smaller than these on a stock rim. i have a "new" set of Coopers on here that came with the truck, we'll see how they do this winter. those trailcutter M+S look very similar to these coopers
http://www.coopertire.com/html/products/tires_lighttruck.aspx?page=discoverer_ms

 

[DK5]

From the garage thread:

Bone stock with OE size 235/75/15
====

====

Apparently even that was too big? If you read closely, it says Tire size, tubeless 215/75R-15

If there isn't much of a difference in price, I'll prolly just go with 31's. Calling the shop today.

 

[shovelbill80]

hmm...i need a magnifing glass to read that.....you'd need one to see those tires too. i guess the 31's were the super duper option then .

 

[AJMBLAZER]

31" tires were the largest factory size but at least in the 80's the 235's were the smaller, economical tire size. With 3.08 gears they made for better mpg and the truck not seeming so slow as with 31's...and with deeper gears you instantly got more towing oomph.

Mine came stock with 235's, the 6.2L diesel, and 3.73 gears. Spins 32's just fine and I bet even 33's will be no trouble. Must have had a top speed of 65mph though.

DK5...kinda wondering if that was a misprint? 235's are what I've always seen as the default small size. 215's are tiny...I own Trackers remember...they look small on those.

 

[DK5]

I'm not sure why it says that, it does seem tiny for a blazer. I wanted to look up something official to prove what the factory options were for tires, but I failed. Even if it were true, I don't think I could handle driving it with them. I think the smallest I will go would be 31"s, but I'm not 100% sure yet. Still want the blazer to look good and handle really well this winter, if thats possible.

I found another pic of really small tires, it just looks weird though IMO:

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Forget the small tires...look at all the bolt on gayness.














(Ducks in case that's someone on here's.)

 

[DK5]

Yep, well I've decided I'm going with those 31" trailcutters. I do quite a bit of highway driving, so big tires are out-especially with the conditions we get (and had the last couple of days - they shut the highway down for almost 24hrs!!)

I'll post a report of how they handle up here when I get them put on. Thanks for all the tips and suggestions guys

 

[magik235]

I run BFGoodrich Rugged Trails on my 1971 CJ5, 1994 S10 ZR2 and 2000 XJ. I am satisfied with them. I used to run the Cooper Discovery ATs on the XJ but several years ago when they changed tread patterns my tire guy told me they had tracking problems on some vehichles and the XJ was one of them.