Discount didn't have anything in the 285/75/16 size, at least D rated. I ordered the 285 Nittos, which are $132 (cheaper than the 265s). 3 to 5 days before they get them in, so I'll probably change my mind AGAIN.

At least it will give me some more time to really think about it, as opposed to kind of thinking about it & then having to make a quick decision.

Those of you with the larger tires (larger than the 265/75/16s), have you noticed any problems with the spacing behind the hitch? I put together a pros & cons list last night between the 265 and 285 sizes and realized that mountain bike season is coming. Seeing as how I have a hitch mount carrier, I want to know if the spare butts right up to the hitch, or if there is still enough wiggle room.

As to the cons with going with a 285:

MPG will suffer, minor rubbing, potentially bad news if driving in mud/clay for the wheelwells, decreased power (not sure if it would be noticeable), speedo off a tad (no biggie), spare just fits (what does that mean for the hitch), 1" more of a tire for hydroplaning. Am I missing anything?

The only pros:

1/2" of additional ground clearance, should provide a more solid footprint.

I just called Discount and changed my order to the 265/75/16 Revos in a C rating. The Nittos look like an awesome tire, but I'd bet the Revos are a tad better in the conditions that the Nittos aren't too good in. The extra tread & the slightly better build of the LT should go well with the OME. Of course I have to wait "3-5 days" before they get them in.

can't wait to see how that works out.

i got my truck dirty in the aramagosa valley today...stock tires did remarkable well, but the OME is what really shined. went a couple places that the OEM suspension and ground clearance wouldn't have let me...including a forded stream and a weird alkaline swampy chunk of the 'road'. had to turn around as i got into the rocks, though...POINTY!

really need to get some new shoes...seriously thinking about the wrangler silent armor in the 265/75 (or maybe the 285/70....).

just haven't had the time...

*and i still need underbody armor

What really sucks is researching these things online, only to finally get to a store to see them in person & end up hating them. The Silent Armors have good reviews & look great on paper, but in person they don't seem to hold a candle to the rest. Not sure what I'm trying to say...except that I liked them a lot, at least until I finally saw them.

Have you gone out and looked at any of the tire offerings yet? What size are you running now? (you probably have this posted somewhere)

NVSteve wrote:What really sucks is researching these things online, only to finally get to a store to see them in person & end up hating them. The Silent Armors have good reviews & look great on paper, but in person they don't seem to hold a candle to the rest. Not sure what I'm trying to say...except that I liked them a lot, at least until I finally saw them.

Have you gone out and looked at any of the tire offerings yet? What size are you running now? (you probably have this posted somewhere)

yeah...i can't say the silent armors are my favorites in the looks dept...but if you mount them w/o the white lettering showing they aren't too bad. i didn't think they looked bad, but if i were to rate tires by looks they wouldn't be at the top of the list.

i like 'em for the reviews and the fact that aside from asthetics i have to hear anything negative about them (granted they are kinda new...)

guinnessjim wrote: yeah...i can't say the silent armors are my favorites in the looks dept...but if you mount them w/o the white lettering showing they aren't too bad. i didn't think they looked bad, but if i were to rate tires by looks they wouldn't be at the top of the list.

(This is purely my own subjective opinion)

Sorry, my bad. I'm not talking about looks. I don't care what a tire looks like, as long as it is obvious that it will perform. Side by side with other tires, the Silent Armor just don't have what I would consider a decent enough tread design for off the road. On the road, hell yes. They have good reviews, but very few of those are off the highway reviews. If I wasn't concerned about the off road conditions, I think I'd pick up the armors. If you go with those, I fully expect a nice writeup on them! I'll do the same, with whatever tire I end up with, after I've had a chance to get some good mileage & varying conditions on them.

It's so lame trying to find good owner opinions without some sort of bias. For example, you'd think that God Himself designed the Nitto Terra Grappler. They absolutely love them on one of the FJ Cruiser forums, but Silent Armors aren't even mentioned, but most of their thinking/posts are geared toward off highway travel. Then you go to a Made in USA pickup forum and see posts like "them Nittos ain't good, I only got 2k out of 'em." But lots of positive posts about the Goodyears. It's frustrating as hell. The other common lameness I've found is that a lot of people post their opinions on a tire right after they bought them. I'm not sure about everyone else, but I would fully expect a brand new tire, even one that will end up being crap a few k down the road, to obviously perform better than the worn out tires it's replacing.

It's hard to find someone who has something bad to say about BFG AT-KOs, and they certainly seem to be the most popular tire around. They are absolutely fantastic off road, but I've had bad experiences with their on road performance. What would be really cool, and absolutely ideal, is if they designed some new type of tire that could morph from a Silent Armor on road to a BFG AT off road.

I'm soooo sick of thinking about tires at this point...I just want to get them mounted so I can stop playing these mental games with myself.

NVSteve wrote:I'm soooo sick of thinking about tires at this point...I just want to get them mounted so I can stop playing these mental games with myself.

Have you looked at these tires for offroad use in a 215/85r16 or 235/85R16 size;

http://www.treadwright.com/CustomContent42.aspx

Talking with Joel, he says that they will be building a bunch of the 215/85r16 GD's in a couple of weeks.
.

Greybrick wrote:Have you looked at these tires for offroad use in a 215/85r16 or 235/85R16 size; http://www.treadwright.com/CustomContent42.aspx

Apologies for butting in where I have no dog in the hunt. But, wouldn't that skinny size be just a bit lame on the PF? I understand the importance of maintaining OE circumference, but . . . 215x?? Granted, with an 85R, you'd have a lot more compressable tire height for O/R purposes, but the truck would look like it was rollin' on bicycle wheels, for cryin' out loud.

Greybrick wrote: Have you looked at these tires for offroad use in a 215/85r16 or 235/85R16 size;

http://www.treadwright.com/CustomContent42.aspx

Talking with Joel, he says that they will be building a bunch of the 215/85r16 GD's in a couple of weeks.
.

Those are certainly unique. Way too skinny for me, but I may have to pass this along to those I know who run winter tires (on smaller vehicles w/smaller sized tires).

Here's a video of a fellow who made a mistake in his choice of tire size for offroad work imo...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHnmct1-jcs

Greybrick wrote:Here's a video of a fellow who made a mistake in his choice of tire size for offroad work imo...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHnmct1-jcs

Nothing to do with tire size. More like brain size What's even more amazing is the amount of stupidity out there in Youtube land showing similar clips. Fun to watch, but it always makes me wonder what makes people do what they do.

NVSteve wrote:Sorry, my bad. I'm not talking about looks. I don't care what a tire looks like, as long as it is obvious that it will perform. Side by side with other tires, the Silent Armor just don't have what I would consider a decent enough tread design for off the road. On the road, hell yes. They have good reviews, but very few of those are off the highway reviews. If I wasn't concerned about the off road conditions, I think I'd pick up the armors. If you go with those, I fully expect a nice writeup on them! I'll do the same, with whatever tire I end up with, after I've had a chance to get some good mileage & varying conditions on them...(edit gj)...I'm soooo sick of thinking about tires at this point...I just want to get them mounted so I can stop playing these mental games with myself.

yeah i kinda figured that...and i also kinda loaded my statement. i have the same concern re: the wrangler SA off road....can't really find anyone saying nething about it, positive or negative. you do get the people who have had the tires for about a week and rave about them, but not too much substance. i know there are off road racers w/ them, but they also seem to be sponsored by goodyear, so who knows.

my previous experience w/ goodyear 'AT' tires were the stock ones that came on my 1997 F-150 OR-pkg...and those just weren't good.

i'm just going to have to see what deal i can get and just go w/ the best monetary decision....i second the wanting to be done w/ this.

Discount called me Wednesday to tell me my Nittos were in. It was pretty tempting not to just bolt down there and have them installed, but I had my mind made up on the Revos. They called today for the Revos, so I went down and had them installed. When I ordered the Nittos, I was there in person and told him I needed 5 tires. When I looked at the receipt a couple days later for their phone number (so I could order the Revos), I noticed he only ordered 4. When I called and ordered the Revos, I explicity told the dorkus that I needed 5 tires, 3 different times during our conversation. Of course, when I showed up today, they only had 4.

I think the 4 Nittos in the 285/75/16 came out to about $680, including their free replacement deal. The 4 Revos I got came out to about mid $900, also including their free replacement deal.

When I drove back to the office, I noticed my tire pressure light went out since I no longer had the spare mounted. But, a minute later, the light came back on. The rest of the afternoon, all I thought about was that the dingbats somehow dorked up my pressure monitors. I stopped at a gas station on the way home to check the tires. 1 was at 42, 1 was at 30, 1 was at 17, and the last was at 35. One of my valve stem caps was missing, although I have 30 spares in a plastic bag as part of my tool kit, so no biggie. I filled them all up to 42 PSI & will re-check them again tomorrow. The hard part will be to remind myself to get an alignment done next week.

I'll see if I can get some time tomorrow to take a few photos & post them. Jim, I'm not sure if you've checked out the Revos side by side with the Armors, but you should do so. The Revos have larger lugs, a great tread pattern, and from what I can tell, more siping. The C rated ones I got were certainly worth it for the additional tread depth. I'm not sure if that means they will last any longer than a P rated tire, but they look good now. I just really hope they don't wear as horribly as my last set of Bridgestones. I can definitely feel the difference in weight, but my stock tires were worn between 4/32 and 8/32, and they were light to begin with.

PS-they had my PF up in the air for almost an hour. When I went out to hop in it, I noticed the rear was jacked up substantially. Those OME springs certainly have some spunk.

Didn't have much time today, but here are a couple: