The 4x4 tire survey has been running for a few months now (early 2007) and is intended to give an idea about tire brand popularity and performance.
With a total of 129 valid responses the survey gives a good indication of real life tire usage and performance.
Here are the results:
Participants in the survey come from all over the world. Most are from the US, Iceland, Canada and Australia.
Here are the countries with more than one pariticipant.
United States 62 Iceland 25 Canada 12 Australia 4 Denmark 2 France 2 Jamaica 2 Norway 2 South Africa 2 United Kingdom 2
There are obviously a large number of tire types on the market for off-road usage.
BFGoodrich tires seem to be the most popular with Gumbo Mudder, Ground Hawg and Super Swamper following closely.
BFG All-Terrain 14 BFG Mud-Terrain 10 Gumbo Mudder 10 Ground Hawg 8 Interco Super Swamper 7 Dick Cepec 6 Goodyear MTR 6 Buckshot Mudder 5 Bridgestone Duller AT 4 Wild Country RVT 3 AT-405 3 Interco Trxus 3 Interco TSL 3 Pro Comp XTerrain 3 Toyo Open Country M/T 3 Maxxis Buckshot Mudder 2 Cooper STT 2 Parnelli Jones 2 Toyo Open Country A/T 2
Radial tires seem to be the most popular for off-roading with close to 90% of all tires.
Radial 88 Diagonal 14 Other/Not sure 20
As can be expected most tires are in the smaller sizes.
45+ 2 41-44 10 38-40 26 34-37 41 30-33 48
Most popular rim height is still 15 inches although the 16 inch rim is getting more popular on newer vehicles.
18+ 5 17 6 16.5 12 16 25 15 76
Using a beadlock and siping the tires is obviously getting quite popular.
Beadlock, Siped 4 Spikes 6 Siped 17 Beadlock 18
Most 4x4s weigh in at around two tons (4000-5000 lbs).
0-3000 lbs (0-1400 kg) 12 3000-4000 lbs (1400-1800 kg) 33 4000-5000 lbs (1800-2200 kg) 38 5000-6600 lbs (2200-3000 kg) 25 6600+ lbs (3000+ kg) 13
Looking at individual tire results gives us a better idea about the performance of each type.
To give a more statistically accurate results I list only the tires that had three or more entries and in general only list problems and best made for points where more than one thing is mentioned.
Here they are in order of popularity:
Best made for: Highway, Little sidewall damage, Low noise, Slippery, Good mileage, Snow, Stays on rim
Problems: Snow, Mud
Mileage: 40.000-50.000 miles (60.000-75.000km)
Reader comments:
Pros include load carrying capacity (295/75-16), allround, mileage, noiselevel
Well, one cant have it all, mud is not to challenge with these..
A very good tire, good at almost everything (except deep mud and possibly snow/ice). Was especially impressive on the rough rocks of North Africa and in the sands of the Sahara.
Longevity. Quiet on road. Price. Better performance when aired down to 12-15 psi (but what tire isn't?). Balance is not too difficult to accomplish.
Poor on wet snow and ice. Need abundant throttle application (spinning)
Good for 80% highway and most bush work. Good handling. Stiff side walls.
Some balancing issues.
Haven't gotten stuck yet. works well when braking on wet roads. Great mileage and wear. Firm highway feel.
Spins easily on wet pavement.
Great tire, I'm on my eight or ninth set on about 4 diff trucks. Love this tire
None really, Not a bogger but gets me where I need to go and back. 30,000 miles and tires are at 65-70%
Used at pressures down to 2 psi, sides did become leaky. Considerable rolling resistance at low pressures and low temperatures.
Excellent tire in every condition. Great all year tire.
Best made for: Mud, Snow, Good mileage, Highway, Air down, Little sidewall damage
Problems: Slippery, Sand, Rocks, Noise, Highway
Mileage: 30.000-40.000 miles (45.000-60.000km)
Reader comments:
Not a bad dual purpose tire. Good mileage. With lockers you can overlook the less sticky compound.
Good in mudding and snowdrift busting
I've had no problems with the BF Goodrich Mud Terrain tire. It has good manners on the road, wears well on the highway, does well in mud and on rocks and sand. Its not the best at these but its good all around tire.
Top 10 product of all times for several magazines.
Great offroad, with good onroad driving characteristics. No problems in the rocky mountains, or sandstones of Moab. With frequent rotations with my spare tire (5 tires), I got over 50,000 miles
Best made for: Snow, Mud, Air down, Sand, Stays on rim
Problems: Noise, Slippery
Mileage: 30.000-40.000 miles (45.000-60.000km)
Reader comments:
The Gumbo Mudders are good radials. They have good traction in soft conditions. They also handle well on the highway, they are stable and balance well. They seem to last for many miles on the highway. However, I have not been diligent in keeping track of actual mileage.
They are noisy on the highway. There's not much sipping so there's not much there to grab the road when there is snow and ice over asphalt.
The best tires iv ever owned! ! ! good for all around....I don't like groundhawgs...directional...u cant back out...
Very little rolling resistance at very low pressures (down to 2psi). Very round and did not need balancing.
Some noise
Best made for: Mud, Air down, Snow
Problems: Noise, Sidewall damage
Mileage: 30.000-40.000 miles (45.000-60.000km)
Reader comments:
Best made for: Mud, Air down, Rocks, Snow, Stays on rim
Problems: Highway, Noise, Mileage
Mileage: 10.000-20.000 miles (15.000-30.000km)
Reader comments:
This is the best tire ever. It is built proff. Its side wall on the tire is just un real. This tire on the street sucks. It is a off road tire only.
Best made for: Snow, Air down, Low noise
Problems: Highway, Mileage, Sidewall damage
Mileage: 20.000-30.000 miles (30.000-45.000km)
Reader comments:
I found the Dick Cepek tires to be excellent in the snow. They were also relatively quiet for 44s good flotation in deep snow. Cleans out well - not good in mud
Best made for: Little sidewall damage, Mud, Rocks, Stays on rim, Air down, Sand
Problems: Noise, Mileage, Highway
Mileage: 20.000-30.000 miles (30.000-45.000km)
Reader comments:
Great all around tire for vehicles used off road, but also good on highway
They look good with the big sidewall grabbers, and they throw the mud
Traction on ice is not so good but you can get by if you take your time
Very good to drive on. got a very good traction. Very quiet got a car that is not very soundproof and hardly hear any tire sound.
Not good to inflate sidewalls to thick. Wont inflate until on very low Psi.
Goodyear MT/R's are good for Rock Crawling the West and Southwest part of the USA. The aggressive thread pattern allows for good grip on sharp rocks and slippery sand.
They are a bit load at highway speed. They wear down easily and the large lugs seem to tear off easily when used on vehicles with Detroit Lockers. Expensive!
Best made for: Mud
Problems: Noise
Mileage: 30.000-40.000 miles (45.000-60.000km)
Reader comments:
Best made for: Low noise, Good mileage, Highway, Air down, Little sidewall damage, Sand
Problems: Snow, Mud, Slippery, Sand, Falls of rim, Air down
Mileage: 30.000-40.000 miles (45.000-60.000km)
Reader comments:
Great on road unless its wet
I think its the best A/T on and off road I don't have to change it to M/T for off roading and to H/T for highway, its a very good tire as long as I don't want to go in deep mud
A good tire for a rig that see's a lot of on road miles. Works respectably on dry trails and some dry rocks. They are just a small step up from all season radials.
Very Very slippery no traction when pulling away from junctions!
Its a little bit slippery in deep snow and deep mud when you want to change direction very fast, they make under steering on front wheels and you lose the track when you drive fast
This tire is not cool off road. In mud and snow it is not good. On wet rocks, trails, etc they are not up to par. I think that they should last a long time too.
Best made for: Mud, Snow
Problems: Noise, Sand, Slippery
Mileage: 30.000-40.000 miles (45.000-60.000km)
Reader comments:
Great all around tire. good for highway, offroad, or just for show! low cost!
Best made for: Highway, Low noise, Slippery, Snow, Stays on rim, Air down
Problems:
Mileage: 30.000-40.000 miles (45.000-60.000km)
Reader comments:
Best made for: Low noise, Snow, Stays on rim
Problems: Sidewall damage
Mileage:
Reader comments:
This tire kicks ass on the deep snow. It works well at 1 to 2 1/2 pounds. They are the widest tire at 21"
Best made for: Mud, Snow, Air down, Rocks
Problems: Slippery, Highway
Mileage: 10.000-20.000 miles (15.000-30.000km)
Reader comments:
Great traction through mud and snow
Sidewall is stupidly exposed pops easily
Very aggressive rules the worst mud, in the soft snow it is great
I have the narrow 34 x9.5's and on my loaded out 94 trooper they work extremely well on everything but pavement (noise wear etc)
Amazing offroad tire
On the ice there is NO traction what so ever, highway ride is poor to say the least
Best made for: Air down, Mud, Rocks, Stays on rim
Problems:
Mileage: 20.000-30.000 miles (30.000-45.000km)
Reader comments:
Not really noisy, a pleasant surprise. Wearing evenly. Dig a little to much. Hard to balance. Poor on ice! Very capable in rocks as well as sand. Soft compound conforms to uneven surface well. We ran 2 sets. 1 on a strictly woods rig w/ spools in both axles and 5psi in the tires. They have been very good compared to the swampers most of the club run. The second is on an f250 tow rig. Fairly quiet and smooth at 80 mph and an empty truck Directional i.e. ( your spare happens to face the wrong direction you need ) soft compound also allows nails to slide right in . A little unstable on highway towing a 10000 lb camper at 70 mph
Best made for: Good mileage, Mud, Highway, Little sidewall damage, Low noise, Rocks
Problems:
Mileage: 20.000-30.000 miles (30.000-45.000km)
Reader comments:
Super aggressive, last forever. Quiet on highway, strong sidewall, attractive price, lots of sizes, and they just go anywhere. I love these tires so much
Thanks to all that took their time to take part in this survey.
