Intrepid

Got rid of the worn shredded Mickey Thompsons I had on the tacoma and went back to BFG AT's yesterday. It was pouring rain out here and I did 80 all the way home..oddly enough, I am still alive to tell the tale, no hydroplaning at all. How are you guys driving?!?!

Cargun

I'd also like to hear what tires FredTJ like better than the BFG's... most likely they're all worse road tires. The BFG MT and AT are not hardcore wheeling tires, period. They're tires for people who need a street tire but also need decent traction for those few miles when they're off the road.

jjrgr21

i just tested my cooper s/t's and they are far superior to the bfg a/t in the mud the tread depth is about the same, same amount of noise, maybe a bit more but not bad at all. but i'm very pleased with them in the mud,hands down better than the bfg. in 2wd i was pulling through about a foot of mud, and they would just unload the mud, i tried them on a few rocks without airing down, and they performed better, the lugs have more space between them, now i'm not saying there as good as the MT/R or bfg mud on rocks, but they are better than the bfg a/t IMO, and i've had 2 sets of them, i can't wait to test in snow

4Mogger

Too broad of a range of uses to pick the perfect tire for everyone.
But I am a big fan of BFG's. I have put well over 400K miles on 3 different mildly built Toyota's on nothing but BFG muds and at's. I consistently got 50K miles plus from a set. Siped BFG Muds will do very well in snow/packed snow and even decent on ice but the sipes also allow them to chunk off road in the rocks.
If you need a tougher tire you are no longer looking at all-terrain tires anyway and will be going with a heavy carcass bias ply with crazy massive void treads--INTERCO.
This crowd seems to be alot of DDer type wheelers that do some fairly hardcore wheeling but also hit the highway and go cross country too.
The Nittos are no doubt a better tire at speed--especially since they are speed rated--this also tells me they lack the substance of a good off road tire because a more off road oriented tire will build too much heat at speed to carry a speed rating.
BFG's tend to be expensive I guess--though not really compared to similarly built off road oriented tires. So if you either land on the side of most people that prefer a smoother, quieter, better performing road tire--get a set of Nittos or Revo's or whatever. If you have a trail only rig that sees little to no pavement, don't bother with a radial at all.
But from my experience, the BFG is the best balance of the two worlds.

As for any comment about hydroplaning-- please. A BFG at or mt with decent tread life left will not hydroplane at reasonable speeds-- and certainly not before the highway biased tires discussed here in the last few pages. No way.

X-AWDriver

Sorry,my friend's 4Runner equipped with BFGs w/12k on them hydroplaned consistently 12mph sooner than my Nittos and he could not go over 60mph before they got water under them (this was in a solid rain) while my Nittos stayed planted all they way past 70 before they even got a little shakey so at 60mph (which is a safe and prudent highway speed) the Nittos even have a bigger margin for error than the BFGs.

Look at the tread design and it's easy to see why the Nittos evacuate water a bit better.
Still with BFGs it's the cost which the Nittos were about $50 a tire cheaper with all the extras out the door.

I drive hard on the street and the Nittos which are a softer compound handle hard cornering quite a bit better than the BFGs but at the expense of a little more tire wear but I'd rather drive a better DD tire for 40k miles than a subpar tire on the street for 60k miles. I also hit the trails and the Nittos have been handling some solid rock rubbing and they seem to be holding up quite well after their first year.

4Mogger

I am glad to hear you like the Nittos. They are actually the tire I am considering for my Tundra. I want a decent snow and rain tire with high speed stability and good load rating for towing.
But this is why I have a trail rig-- so that I do not have to compromise for off road performance.

Tron

this is the first summer i have had my Pro Comp All Terrains and i have impressed people with my dry off road abilities(they have had bfg's and others). When it is raining and muddy on the trails they don't work as good, but will srufice if needed.

http://www.procomptires.com/atapps.htm

I have drivin in heavy rain and didn't have any hydroplane problems. On dry roads they handle fine for a 285/75/16.

This will be the first winter with them so can't tell you how they are in snow.

Plus they were buy 3 get one free so the price was right.

FredTJ

Right now, the BFT AT's that came on the 4Runner.
Shortly, after I get the bl, suspension lift, armor, etc., I'll go to MT/R's.

I've run MT/R's for several years on the Jeep (3 set's of 'em) and they probably don't get the on road milage of BFG AT's, but, compared to my current experience with the AT's that came on the 4Runner, the MT/R's have much better "road manners". They're a little louder than AT's but not as loud as the BFG MT's (which I've also run on the Jeep).

As I mentioned before, I jumped into this thread as I read the part about hydroplaning and had just experienced with the 4Runner (running AT's) last week and was really surprised.





Fred

tony_4runner

I had BFG AT's for 60,000 miles and experience Hydroplaning a few times. I agree with the fact that it has no exit for water at the edges. There is no question about it.
The reason why they hydroplane for some and not for others has to do with the width of the tire, weight of the truck, and depth/size of the puddle. You can be doing 80 under heavy rain on the road, but if the road is in good shape and well designed to let water run off (and not stay on the road) then you won't have a problem. My few hydroplaning experiences has been on roads that are slightly sunk at the tire track. This will create a puddle deep enough to cause hydroplaning. In my opinion, to precisely compare the "hydroplaning" capability (or lack of) of a tire by driving the same truck, with the same size tires, and same load on the same road under the same raining conditions.

tony_4runner

In regards to sidewall strength, just wanted to add my .02 from my engineering point of view. Yes, 3 ply is 50% more than 2 ply. And 2 ply is 33% less than 3 ply. It is the same, what changes is what you are comparing to.
In any how, if the plys are constructed the same way and out of the same materials then you can argue that the strength of the sidewall can be compared straight forward by looking at the number of plys. However, we don't know (or at least I don't) the type of construction of the ply or the material. You will need to look at the weave pattern, wire or fiber diameter, ply thickness, materials, and other variables to be able to compare strength.

harpen123

its been said and ill say it again. the almighty dollar. we all are pressed for funds and want to do as much to our rigs as we can. The bfg's are just priced high they do last a while and are a great tire though.

4RunnerBuddha

I had Bridgestone Dueler AT's after my stock Goodyear Wranglers wore out. I got 45k miles out of them, several flats, lots of highway noise, and traction on various surfaces was so-so.

I went with BFG's based on their reputation. I paid more for them, yes, but what sold me was a good friend who had 49k miles on his, and his tires looked brand new! I did a local trail in Lake Arrowhead (it was fairly easy) over the weekend, and if were not for my BFG's, I'm pretty certain I would have gotten stuck. Haven't had the tires hydroplane yet, even in the heavy rains we've had in SoCal lately. Highway noise is much lower, but I can definitely feel the extra weight that the BFG's seem to carry.

No doubt, BFG AT KO will be the only tires I run on a vehicle that will be taken offroad.

FredTJ

While will probably be fine as long as you don't wheel in anything terrain that's sharp (rocks, broken trees, etc.) as the BFG's (AT's and MT's) have notoriously weak sidewalls.
I've seen way to many sidewall punctures in BFG's (and SSR's) out here.




Fred

4RunnerBuddha

Well, I've been a copilot on a few trips here in CA that have gone over sharp rocks, broken trees, etc....All with BFG AT's. No one had any problems that I've seen. In fact, the one guy with Revos has had a flat on EACH of the trips.

I am so far satisfied with my purchase, even with my Runner being 2wd, traction has been great on the trails that I've driven on.

FredTJ

Glad to hear that you haven't had problems with the BFG's.
No one out here, that wheels, really runs them any more because of the
weak sidewalls.
Here's a 2 SSR, 1 BFG trip (MT/R's really rule in this stuff and they're what almost everyone runs here).










I'm the one in the green hat (back to camera) in the last photo.
"Dang ANOTHER #$&)(#$ flat on someone's vehicle".




Fred

SoCalWheeler71

Okay, I've been out of wheeling for about 10 years, recently got a 4Runner so I'm back into it. All I can say is tire technology must have come a long way in the last ten years if BFG sidewalls are considored weak nowadays. I plan on getting a new set of tires pretty soon, and I'm torn between BFG M/T's and Goodyear M/TR's, although I'm leaning towards the BFG's because of my previous experience with both. There has to be reason that the M/TR's are so popular, what is it? IMO the BFG's are one of the higher quality tires, and the Goodyears are mediocre quality, not the worst, but not that great either. What has changed in the last few years? I know BFG makes subtle updates to the tread designs every few years to quiet down the highway noise (hence the new KM's), and I know they are a pretty hard compound (for long wear), but how do these two tires compare in offroad performance, not just on sharp rocks but all around? I read above that the M/TR is really between an AT and a MT, that the compound is softer, and that they are a bit quieter than BFG M/T's, is that about right?

How do the MT/R's balance?

AxleIke

On my millionth set of BFG AT's.

Sidewall strenth has never been an issue. Only time i killed a sidewall i had the pressure too low and pushed the rim through it.

Drug those sidewalls over rocks in UT, CO, and NM. Never had issues.

Never hydroplaned either. Then again, we don't get heavy rain out here.

But as far as rocks go, they've held up great for me. I like them because they ride well on the road, and they are cheap.

Bigblock

It's always a debate around here between swampers and buckshots.No rocks to climb up,just mud.

FredTJ

MT/R's balance just fine.
The quality is at the top.

In every performace metric that one wishes to compare the BFG MT's and the GY MT'Rs the MT/R's win, hands down, except for use as a mud tire.
The MT/R's are not a mud tire.

The MT/R's produce less noise on the road than the MFG MT's.
The MT/R's handle better than MT/R's on wet roads.
The MT/R's have a lot stronger and more puncture resistant sidewall than the BFG MT's.
The BFG MT's simply are no comparision at all on the rocks for the MT/R's.
The MT/R's are simply a world above the BFG MT's rockcrawling.

Hardly anyone that really wheels out here runs the BFG MT's (nor the SSR's) anymore because of the lack of sidewall puncture resistance and the much better traction on the rocks that the MT/R's provide.

You can improve the BFG MT's on road handling, especially on wet roads and there traction on rocks some by sipping the snot out of them.

They still won't hold a coin to the MT/R's especially of you sipe the MT/R's also..





Fred

deserttoy84

75 percent of my friends run bfg A/T and I was just never impressed with them. they dont seem to do any better then the other tires were running on the other vehicles like goodyear mtr's. There wear down quickly on all of their trucks(full size chevy and 2wd tacomas) and end up running em bald all the time and having to replace them way more often then me and my friend that dont run em. they hold up pretty good to abuse but dont get very good traction on or off road IMO. BFG seems to make all there tires out of a softer compound that really does nothing but wear the tire down quicker. I think most people are just buying the brand name on most of the vehicles on the road with them. We even have a jeep wrangler in our "crew" that got bfg krawlers, again very nice tires and the compound there made of is very soft.