Kaegi wrote:my next tire will probably be the 10.50 x 16 directional. it is made by STA and sold by Wallace Wade and maybe a few others. great price and go faster with 38 inch height. I had some many years ago and never took them in snow and ice for were quiet on highway and excellent offroad in the the mountains. I liked them much better than the Michelin XLs 11.00s I had.
Hey Kaegi, have you ever run the 11.00 XZL's? If so, I would be interested in what you thought of them compared to the XL's?
I have the Power Kings on my truck which is the similar style as the Super lug and I love them as far a ride and traction, although I am not getting into snow anymore here in NC. They have held up well. To me there is no reason other than the OEM look to go with the NDT's. They are not a pavement friendly tire and are much stiffer and like ice on hot, wet asphalt. There are pictures of Vietnam era trucks in country with the Super Lug style tread, so you can run them and still be authentic looking.
Now if authentic look is not an issue and you are looking for a good ride, traction, and to look cool, then the Geolander style is the way I would go. We are using as of late the Goodyear Dura Trac Wrangler in a LT315/78R16 at the shop. A very nice looking tire for sure. There are some good pictures of these mounted on the Budd wheel on the shops Facebook page:
A little extra info in addition to David's comment about our tire choice change; Yokohama no longer offers a tire choice of the correct size. This is what prompted our change over to Good Year. Since we made the change, I like these much better than the Yokohama's simply because of their non-directional tread option. If considerable driving is on highway, non-directional is way better; it allows for much better rotation options which will increase tire life significantly. If you will be doing lots or mostly off road driving, Good Year also offers a much more aggressive directional tread design that may suit you better; best of both worlds.
Kaegi wrote:my next tire will probably be the 10.50 x 16 directional. it is made by STA and sold by Wallace Wade and maybe a few others. great price and go faster with 38 inch height. I had some many years ago and never took them in snow and ice for were quiet on highway and excellent offroad in the the mountains. I liked them much better than the Michelin XLs 11.00s I had.
Hey Kaegi, have you ever run the 11.00 XZL's? If so, I would be interested in what you thought of them compared to the XL's?
Clark
nope never had any XZLs. wouldn't mind trying some. but one thing I like about bias ply is the side wall is about 3 times thicker than the Michelin. in sharp rocky terrain like we have here in the mountains that's a plus. I have seen radial sidewall slit open on other trucks before. Not Michelin but radials are all the same. thin
if you can find Michelin XML they are radial tires with incredible sidewall. supposedly they'll stop a .45 but since it cost me $1600 after shipping for a set of 4 i won't be testing that
Isaac
Fairbanks, AK
Civilian WM300 on DC3 tires
'52 M37 on 11x16 Michelin
'52 M37 on Apple R-1 tractor tires Photo Gallery
First of, thanks to the whole crew for all of the suggestions and advice! It's much easier to spend the $ for tires if you have a feel for what to expect!!!
Thought I'd post the results of my tire swap. I decided to go with STA Super Lugs, new flaps, and new tubes. I also had the wheels blasted and powder coated.
As far as the tubes and flaps go, they are a different design than the original stuff, but seem to work OK. The tubes supplied were radial tubes and are a bit lighter weight than the old Goodyear tubes. The flaps are much lighter weight and thinner construction. Neither presented problems when I mounted the tires. Both were Coker Tire products.
So far I'm quite happy with the tires. My truck no longer feels like it has solid rubber tires! The ride is greatly improved and the steering is MUCH lighter than it was with the NDT Goodyears. I've been able to run higher tire pressures without the truck skipping all over on washboard surfaces. The circumference of the Super Lugs is ~3" greater than the NDT's (uninflated). The tires are still very new, but they do exhibit a bit more squirm than the NDT's when cornering. It's no big deal, but they audibly protest when pushed, it's actually pretty funny. Compared to my buddies STA NDT's the steering and ride are very similar.
Long and short is, if you're driving your truck regularly on old rubber like I was, consider some new stuff. It makes the whole experience much more pleasant and I suspect safer.
I'll update this post as the tires wear and I try them in different conditions.
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