Mud tires with best onroad manners

So the wifey is wanting to move to a mud tire because she doesn’t think the ko2’s look aggressive enough. Which mud tire do you think has the best snow and rain ability?

 

“What apple tastes most like an orange?”

That being said, I’ve had many in my past. I liked the nitto trail grappler and bfg km3 the best. Toyo also does well.

 

I’ve driven mud tires most of my life and the simple answer is, mud tires don’t perform well on snow and rain. But i just had to ask lol

 

The problem is that most mud tires are lousy in snow and rain.

There's a handful that seem to be marketed specifically towards having good road manners. I have researched this quite a bit.

Some of the tires that looked good to me were:

-Yokohama Geolander M/T
-Dick Cepek Extreme County
-Milestar Patagonia M/T (budget option)
-Pro-Comp Xtreme M/T (expensive as hell)

The Yokohamas seem to be purpose built for weekend warriors. They're supposed to be reasonably quiet, and handle well on the highway.

The Dick Cepeks I just like. And, a buddy from Tacomaworld ran a set and seemed pretty happy with them.

The Milestars are confusing. They're significantly less expensive than any other comparable tire. The only negative review I seem to read about is the treadwear. Some people even comment about how quiet they are. I think they might be my next set of tires.

The Pro-Comps look great, and claim to be good road tires as well. But, they're sooo expensive!

Also, @Ajmogen is running some Coopers on a Tacoma, and he seems to like them. I'm not sure how they are in snow and rain, though. I can't recall if it's the STT MAX or STT PRO. Hopefully he'll chime in.

These are just some of the tires I've looked into. There might be other good options as well.

 

I don’t know how they do in snow, but they are good in the rain.

 

I have the STT MAXX on my third gen and really like them. Haven't had them in the snow yet, but they do fine in the rain, are pretty quiet but still look and perform like an MT. I had Yokohama Geolanders on it before and really liked them. Prolly one of my favorite tires ever. They're expensive but in my opinion worth it.

 

My 2019 trd ORP nitto ridge grapplers looked a little too aggressive to me for everyday driving ,but happily surprised at how quiet they are on the road vs. the trail grappler which was awful on my pro. My 2 cents. Good in rain,just don’t know about snow yet.

 

ST Maxx here. Good all around, snow, mud, sand, rock, pavement. Heavy tho

 

I have ran Nitto Mud Grapplers on a plow truck & loved them.

The thing about mud tires for daily use is the rocks that get caught in the big tread gaps of them. Then when you get to speed they fly @ your rockers. I have 2 doors on my F-250 that have huge spots from rocks! Be careful.

 

Check out the STT Pro's. They did pretty well on my Dodge Ram in the rain and snow and they look really aggressive.

 

Mine do well in the rain don’t know about snow

 

3 of 3 of our vehicles currently have the Duratracs. They do great in the snow. 2 plow trucks & our T4R all love them.

 

I’ve been thinking of the Duratracs. Wonder what I could get out of the k02’s with 7k on them.

 

What about an in between all terrain and mud terrain. RT or hybrid tires have a more aggressive look but function more like an all terrain.

 

Anyone here, ever SIPE their mud tires, to help with wet, and snow traction. I always have, and dug it. Always do it on my "all-terains"

 

I’m thinking maybe try the duratracks. I’ve ran the cooper stt before and liked them. I guess I’ll have to take her tire shopping and let her pick them out so that I can say she made the choice this time. Lol
She also says the ko2’s are horrible in the rain. She drives like she’s in a lambo tho.

 

I've heard mixed reviews, with some saying they're terrible in the rain and others saying they're fine. I think it has something to do with driving habits, or maybe some people put them on vehicles with the alignment out of spec.

I've put almost 25K miles on mine since January in all kinds of weather, and have had no issues. I slow down in the rain and snow. I even had a situation where I came into a curve way too fast in the rain, and they held on. I just don't see anything wrong with them.

I highly doubt that any dedicated mud tires are going to perform better.

Duratracs are a popular choice, but hardly more aggressive looking. They're supposed to be a bit better in snow and mud than KO2's. Not sure about rain.

Let us know what you end up with

 

I will agree with you assessment of them. I’ve driven her t4r in the rain and don’t notice anything abnormal with how they perform. I have to wonder if it’s just her trying to justify moving to a new set of tires with such few miles on these. She wasn’t thrilled with the nonaggressive look of the ko2’s for the start but I’ve tried explaining that a true mud tire will most likely perform worse than these. In fact, she wanted mud tires from the get-go and I talked her in to these. I dunno, she may just be stuck with what she has. I can think of a ton of other things to drop $1200 on, like a new bow lol

 

Tire manufacturers are trying their best to make aggressive looking mud tires that perform well in daily driving situations. It seems like there's always a compromise.

Hopefully someone will nail it eventually

 

I have KO2s as well and think they kick ass in the rain. No issues at all. I also like how they are fairly quiet on pavement.

Soon snow will fall (or that's the hope). I can comment on how well they do then. But so far, I love the aggressiveness of the KO2s performance wise and looks wise.

 

As somebody who's spent 15 years in the tire industry, it comes down to several different factors. I've driven on 85% of the available M/T's available, and about the same on A/T's. If you're looking for a true M/T, here's my recommendations:

1. Toyo Open Country M/T: Be prepared to pony up the money, but several people swear by them. Even wear, long life, relatively quiet, and average wet traction.

2. Yokohama Geolandar M/T: The new tread design is flat out awesome! I currently have them on my daily ('11 Jeep Grand Cherokee) and they're fantastic when it comes to daily driving. Great on road manners, low road noise, above average wet traction, great traction both on and off road, and less cost than the Toyo with a similar tread design. There's not a lot of significant data for longevity yet.

3. Falken Wildpeak M/T: The most cost effective of the 3 options thus far. Quiet for an M/T, good on road manners, above average wet traction, good on and off road manners. Again, not a lot of significant data for longevity.

4. BFG KM3: I personally have been a BFG guy for quite a while. I've had the original KM and the KM2, as well as the KO & KO2 (another thread for another time), but haven't driven or owned the KM3's. They look to continue to increase traction, but again not a lot of long term data outside of the press releases.

For what it's worth, I've got the Yokohama Geolandar M/T on my Jeep, and the General Grabber X3 (not included on this list due to the softer rubber compound, but smooth, quiet, and above average wet traction). I also didn't include the Goodyear Duratrac (even though I'm a big fan of the tire), the Nitto Ridge Grappler, or the Toyo Open Country RT due to that they're in more of a hybrid class (more aggressive than their A/T counterparts, but less aggressive than the M/T)

Hopefully this helps, or further muddies the water for the decisions. Best of luck!

 

Great post!

Do you have any experience with the Milestar Patagonia MT?

The reviews seem too good to be true, for the price. I can live with reduced tread life, as I only intend to run mud tires in the summer.

 

Nice report, thanks.
What are your thoughts on the Nitto Mud Grapplers?
Thanks,
Ryan

 

If you want one of the loudest tires on the market, definitely get some Nitto mud grapplers. Their driving manors are also poor.

 

Like another motor running; loud! I loved the abilities of them though.

 

Yes this is a wealth of info and much appreciated.

 

You could not pay me to run Toyo MTs. They are junk.

 

The Nitto terra grabblers are great, look more aggressive than the BFG but no real road noise, great in rain but no clue to snow. They came on my Runner and pretty sure I’ll stick with them next go round.

 

The terra grapplers SUCK in the snow & mud. They just pack with material. They do not self clean with throttle! My buddy liked them & plowed with 2 sets. After half way through the second pair he hated them so much he sold them & got Duratracs (yes, even my friends have them). He loves them & hasn't looked back.
I beg you. Ask around, they pack with snow & mud & you just slide. Very unsafe!

 

I have no experience with the terra grapplers. Good to know your experience though because you sure do see a lot of them around. I will steer clear of them!