NVSteve wrote:How well do they handle in heavy water/rain? I'm lucky to be alive after some VERY bad experiences with BFG ....

Do tell? Details like est miles on tires and conditions you experience appreciated.

Fofiddy wrote:Hey Kyson how are they in the ice?
Steve, ever consider getting a dedicated set of winters? This winter we have been getting nothing but ice, I'm seriously considering a set of ice tires.
I've always done the opposite myself always always the black walls. I think the OWL makes it look a little bigger, I'm running 31.7" and they actually look a little runty and I haven't even ordered the OME setup yet.

If I actually lived in a real house, with a real garage, then I would definitely have a set of winter tires. But, since the place we own is only a townhouse with a 1 car garage (we bought it because we don't plan on living here forever & I knew there had to be a housing slump in the future-townhomes move a lot faster out here), I just don't have the room for the tires.

My 265's look small with the OME, but it's about the same look I've had with all my other 4x4's of the past. The only difference being that those vehicles had solid axles & needed the room for the wheels to articulate. There's plenty of room for a taller tire. I just wish they made something like a 275/75/16. I think it would fit perfectly on the Pathie. I think I'm leaning toward the 285's...at least right now. I'll probably change my mind again next week.

Kyson wrote: I'll be watching for your posts if you decide to go this route as I now see you have the OME kit, and Nitto 285s are what I would be moving up to after I have the lift done to ours.

That's why I've been pushing Carl every chance I get to give up some details on driving experiences since he has the 285s as well. Blink & the others have the OME with 17" wheels & applicable tire size increase. But, I don't believe anyone here has the OME with 16" wheels and 285s. That non-existant person would have the answers to all of our questions.

Reading all of the tire reviews out there is an excercise in futility. Most of them are very positive, regardless of the tire, but then there are the idiotic posts from real winners. I think I'm leaning more toward the Yokohama at this point, but I guess I'll need to go see them in person to get a better feel for them. Once I decide on the tire, I'll just go to Discount Tire and have them mount one of the 285s so I can see how it fits in the front.

blink32 wrote: Do tell? Details like est miles on tires and conditions you experience appreciated.

Let's see, my first set of BFGs was on a 76 full size Jimmy. They were replacements for Big O branded tires, can't remember the model name, but I believe they were on the verge of being mud terrains. I drove out to Florida one year in the Jimmy & had one of the tires blow up (tread separated and dented part of the wheel well). On the way back, another blew up. That's when I had the BFGs installed, at some scary tire store in Nashville. Those tires lasted about 28k before they were pretty much shot. The problem I've found with the BFG ATs is that when they wear down, there really isn't much the tire can do anymore. I think it mostly has to do with the tread pattern. Anyway, I slid halfway out into an intersection in really wet weather, more towards the 28k mark on the tires. I don't drive like a madman by any means, especially in town. I just happened to hit the right conditions at the right time, in the wrong place. The intersection I slid across was a freeway offramp in the middle of downtown Reno. Fortunately it was super early in the morning and nobody was driving through at the same time.

I had another set on a '92 (I think) Isuzu Trooper. Those worked out okay, but when I was about 1/2 way through the treads, it pretty much lost the ability to do everything it could before. I think I had about 20k on them when I sold the vehicle and bought a Durango. I immediately bought another set of BFG ATs from Costco, mostly because they had a buy 3, get 1 free offer. Again, once the tread was worn a few 1,000 miles, I started having problems. The only rain we seem to get here is in the form of summer thunderstorms, some of which seem like Noah's 2nd coming. My office is located below the typical spaghetti bowl of any city-the place where you have a ton of elevated overpasses and multiple roads all converging. When I leave the office, I make a number of big, looping curves before I'm on the actual freeway I need. More times than I can even remember, I have slid in really wet conditions while driving the curves. And I'm fully aware of driving too fast for the given conditions, which is why I always slow down in such situations. No matter, I have still slid. One of the sections goes from a 1 lane loop that merges into 3 faster lanes, which then curves into another 6 lanes. I only have one vivid memory of one the times I slid, and that was when I went from the single lane curve into the 3 lanes. There was a tiny amount of standing water at the merge, but it was enough to make me slide across all 3 lanes & almost into the concrete barrier before my tires gripped again. That scared the crap out of me so bad that I drove to Discount Tire the next day and bought new tires (the Pathfinders). I think I had maybe 1/4-1/2 of the original tread left. We've had tons of similar conditions since then, and I have not had any problems with water.

That probably doesn't answer anything you were looking for. It was more of a windbag description than anything.

Naw it answers it. I was just wondering what your experiences were since I run the same tires. I haven't had any slipping/traction issues like that so far but I have experienced some hydro planing but I admit I was going wayyy to fast for the situations and they were deep pools of water on the highway. I think I'm around 5k miles on them so far so time will tell.

I have some seriously bad traction issues on some crappy tires I put on my Sentra a few years ago. Some of those 40ish dollars each type tires. But at the time the vehicle was used for very short commutes, less than 2 miles, at low speeds so it didn't really matter.

Few more thoughts on the BFGs....

The tread compound struck me as very soft when new, I wonder if it hardens up over 2-3 years.

Also the tread patern certainly doesn't appear optimized for hydroplaning, it just looks like it's designed to grip the ground and not pump water. I've had no problems at all with them new, but I could see when they're half gone it could start to be a problem.

If the above two issues only crop up after 20K miles, I'd consider that fine. My background is from the sports car world where a new set of "summer" performance tires at the start of the rainy season every year was kinda the norm

I've updated my choices to include specs for all tires, for both the 265 and 285 sizes. The prices I have listed are all for the 285 choice. Looks like the Geolanders are bigger than the BFG A/Ts, which might be more of a problem if I decide on 285s. The Nitto are smaller, but are they small enough to not rub?

If you were talking about the 265s, I used to get a tiny amount of rub when I first got my Toyo's... Dunno if that would be the case since you already have the OME...

Blink's tires are around 32.7 or 32.8 for their overall diameter and If I remember he still had a little rubbing

Ever check out the Cooper SSTs? They're pretty

Fofiddy wrote:If you were talking about the 265s, I used to get a tiny amount of rub when I first got my Toyo's... Dunno if that would be the case since you already have the OME...

The 265/75/16s are the stock tire on the SE-OR, and I've never had any rubbing. I was under the impression that the SE, LE & SE-OR all shared the identical body, which made me conclude that since they work on mine, they'll work on any of the models. I can't imagine what would be different, unless the SE-OR wheels have a different offset. Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I'm inclined to believe it's the wheels that allows no rubbing on the OR model with 265s. Anyone have any thoughts on that? If that's the case, I might be more fortunate going to 285s. I never even compared the different wheels, but from what others have mentioned here, it sounds like the OR definitely has unique wheels not used on the other models? Hmmm, that's giving me some hope...

I just checked. The wheels I have are unique to the SE-OR:



The entry above the full sized spare, for the 265/60/18s, is pretty vague.
I also noticed that the running boards are not standard on the SE-OR anymore. Glad to see someone at Nissan using their brain.

We have the 265s on the stock 16X7" SE wheel from 2006 and they have never rubbed under any situation. The LE wheel was the only one I am aware of with different specs as it was 1/2" wider in addition to being a 17" (speaking of 2005/2006/2007 specifically).

Kyson wrote:We have the 265s on the stock 16X7" SE wheel from 2006 and they have never rubbed under any situation. The LE wheel was the only one I am aware of with different specs as it was 1/2" wider in addition to being a 17" (speaking of 2005/2006/2007 specifically).

Well, that burst my bubble. I was hoping I could convince myself the wheels would help with the 285s. Oh well, I'll still probably have them mount it anyway just so I can see if/how much it rubs.

Kyson wrote:We have the 265s on the stock 16X7" SE wheel from 2006 and they have never rubbed under any situation. The LE wheel was the only one I am aware of with different specs as it was 1/2" wider in addition to being a 17" (speaking of 2005/2006/2007 specifically).

I take it your tires are the LT? I don't see any mention of P-rated tires on Nitto's site. Assuming they are LT, what PSI have you been using, how's the ride (harsh/soft) been, etc?

It's now down to the Revo or Terra Grappler. I was just going through some of my photos and discovered the Bridgestone tires I had previously were the non-Revo versions, so I'm game to give the Revo a try. The Revo would be the 265s, either in P or LT. If I decide on 285s, it would be the Nitto as they are the smallest, which should help with rubbing issues.

I'm still holding out to see if anyone will post any off highway experiences with the 33" tires. I know I'll have to pick up a portable air compressor if I go with LTs, because I really don't want my teeth to rattle out from some of the horrible washboard roads I hit.

I've had a slow leak in one of the tires for the past few months. No biggie, I just had to hit the air every 2-3 weeks. Stopped at Lowe's yesterday & noticed the low pressure warning light, so drove to the nearest station to fill with air. Since I'm so used to it, I didn't think to physically check the tire before I drove to the gas station, but it was at about 14PSI. Started to fill it up, only to hear a loud hiss. Pulled out the spare & am headed to Discount sometime today (hopefully) for new tires. I still don't know what size or brand, so it should be fun.

well NVS....one of us was going to have to go first w/ the stocks 16s. i'll be very interested to see what you end up w/.

looked at some wrangler silent armors the other day...side by side w/ the nittos. the terra graplers looked cooler, but the GYs are pbby a better all around tire.

still debating w/ 265/75 or 285/70...please post some pics of what ever you decide.

GL w/ you choice