ronniedaniels

Im new to this forum and you guys have been a big help!! Now i need some more advice. My 86 4WD had 31 x10.5 tires. They are noisy mudgrips and are obviously oversized. Im not sure about the rims, but they are wider than stock. I would like to get something a little smaller on the tire size, and not a mudgrip. Maybe a good inexpensive AT tire thats not so noisy on the road. I have 3 questions.
1 what would be a good tire and tread type for light off road use?
2 Does my rim width have a big effect on the heighth of a tire once its mounted?
3. What would be a good oversized tire size to use thats a little smaller.? Keep in mind the rims are wider.

I love this old truck! Will post some pics soon.

Bazooka_cow

is it a 4runner or a pickup? umm i might suggest some BFG All-terrain. a buddy of mine had those on his runner and he really liked them. they never seemed to be to noisy. however, the BFG's are expensive but they do last a long time.

TNRabbit

1. Any good SUV type on/off road tire. I personally like the BFG A/T. What kind do you have now?
2. Rim width won't have much of an effect on the height.
3. That depends directly on exactly what width the rim is. Maybe a 30x10.50? or 30x9.50? What size is your rim?

jjrgr21

cooper s/t better and cheaper than the bfg a/t

bob200587

Ditto, and I like the look better. personally I would get new rims in a 6 or 7 inch width if you aren't going to have more than a 10.50 wide tire.

I would also reccomend keeping 31x10.50s. You will be dissapointed if you get smaller tires.

ronniedaniels

Its a truck. Dont know the rim width, but the tires hang outside the wheel well. Would definitely like to go just a little smaller, but dont want it to look like i am running on doughnuts.

I had some Michelin LTX's on my 99 Tacoma and they did great, on and off road. And the tread still looked new at 60k. I would like something like that, at a fraction of the price. Suggestions?

ronniedaniels

so, cooper s/t in 31 x 10.5? i just dont want a noisy tire.

jjrgr21

well that is it's down, a bit louder than the bfg a/t, but it's not bad at all i'm deaf so it doesn't bother me, but my wife says they are a bit louder, but she doesn't complain bout them, so it can't be that bad. she complains alot.

the s/t comes in31-10.50
http://www.coopertire.com/us/en/Prod...ht+Truck+Tires

bob200587

Noise is relative. My mud terrains aren't loud, but to someone who drives a passenger car all the time they would be.

I just looked at the cooper site, and they offer a 30x9.50R15 tire if you'd rather have that. A rule of thumb is that you want your tire to be at least 4inches wider than the rim. So a 10.50 might be a better bet.

I also noticed that they have the ST and the ST-C. It said that the ST has better winter performance and the ST-C has better off road performance. Judging by where you live. I don't think winter performance would be too important to you. So you might want to go for the ST-C. There was no change in noise between the two. They won't be silent, but nowhere near as noisy as what you have now.

jjrgr21

according to cooper, the s/t has a slightly softer compound than the s/t-c, s/t-c is cut and chip resistant, so slightly harder. if i didn't play in the snow, i would have got the s/t-c.

my s/t's 245/75/16 were $557 mounted w/tax out the door .vs. $780 for the BFG AT

ronniedaniels

I have american prospector a/t's on it now.

i will have a look at the stc's. i will let you guys know the outcome in a few days on what i get. its one of those things that the girlfriend is tired of hearing me talk about. she just wants me to get some tires and shut up about the truck. she just doenst understand how important this is!! LOL

trythis

I would suggest michelins, but you want cheap. My last michelins got over 90,000 miles and are very quiet.

ronniedaniels

does anyone know anything about the dayton timberline AT? how is the best way to compare what the tire company is telling me on price? they seem pretty proud of 31 x10.5 in any brand.

jjrgr21

firestone tire; thats all i know, and not very aggressive, looks like more of a road tire than an A/T.

most local places will match near any price, so get an online price, print it and take it in, that way you get the same price, but with lifetime balance and rotation. thats what i did when i got my cooper's

terryjmatthew

The Dayton Timberline AT is an excellent tire for the price. They have a very quiet tread design, but are still a little aggressive. Treadwear I would rate "good to great" depending on how you maintain them.

I have sold quite a few Timberline A/T's and have never heard any complaints about them.

trythis

Have you been to http://Tirerack.com ? They have thousands of reviews from tire users there. You can select your needs in order of preference and it will show what tires fit. My dad spends hours there, some of the reviews are funny.

MMA_Alex

tirerack is a good place to check out tires. the bfg at's are nice, but are probably more offroadey that what you're looking for. theyre fairly quiet until you hit 75ish mph (on my 32's anyway) then they make a nice hummm. My mom uses bridgestone duelers (i think) that were extremely quiet, and worked well in light offroad (read grass, and dirt), and in heavy snow

Spinnbait

I'm running Pro Comp AT's and they've been great. Fairly quiet and have a tread warranty. I have not been stuck on any of the trails that I use to go yaking, climbing, biking, or camping, but they are not hard trails either. I ran BFG AT's on my '73 Bronco and they were louder, but there could have been other reasons for road noise on that old truck.

SpeedyJ

Sounds like you just want a skinnier stance that will tuck the wheels back under the fenders. Maybe first try getting smaller rims. I have 31" BFG All Terrains on 3.75 backspaced 15x8 Rockcrawlr rims and they fit perfectly under the fenders. They look nice and rasied the stance little too.

However if the noise is too much of an issue with your current tires then new tires would solve that.

ronniedaniels

thank you guys for all you help! im hoping i will be riding home with some new tires this afternoon. i will probably go with the same size(31x10.5) but get a sissy tread to cut down on the noise. i need new rims, but the less i spend on this 86, the more i can save to buy a newer toyo.