Well, it finally rained here in San Antonio, so I hit the trail and covered my truck with more mud than I have ever in my entire life. However, I did notice that when I finally through the remainder of mud off of my tires, there were chunks of tire (relatively small) missing from my tread in the rear. I have BFG ATs. Is this normal? I would think so as spinning the tires would probably create lots of friction. Is this dangerous?

Forgive me if I am proving myself as a n00b.

 

Have these tires been siped. That can cause small pieces to come off.

I think the BFG's have a 99 mph speed rating (or something like that) so unless you were spinning those really fast...

How many miles on the tires?

 

Thanks for the reply. I have no idea if they've been siped. If they have, they had to have come that way from the factory as I haven't had it done.

I was thinking more along the lines of friction due to small rocks in the soil/mud...is this possible or am I looking in the wrong direction?

 

My BFG ATs have some small chunks missing, and some large chunks (mainly from rocks), I haven't experienced it with mud.
I don't mind though, makes 'em look like they are used for what they were made for..

 

You have very, very, very easily spin your tires to 99mph in the mud...think about it, you are hitting 6k rpm (that's what my 3.slow revs to, at least) with no resistance, that tire could easily be spinning that fast, you can't even see the freaking things with a decent spin going, that's pretty fast....

 

Los Gatos, i don't want to start something, but how do you figure you can spin your tires to 99mph? most of the time you don't leave 1st or 2nd gear when your mudding.

 

Well I'm glad that I'm not the only one who has this problem and it's not a safety threat.

I pulled out several trucks this weekend. Everyone was getting stuck--I don't know if I got lucky or if my 4Runner was superior, but it was incredibly fun and made me proud to have a Toyota 4Runner that is capable of holding its own.

On a side note, what components should I check for damage now that the sun's out and I have my truck all cleaned up? Obviously CVs, but what else?

 

I have an auto, it definitely doesn't stay in 1st or 2nd gear all by itself.