Tire Advice

[gkettman]

I have a 1999 Cherokee. I live in New England and we can get heavy snow in winter. For that reason I like a fairly aggressive tire. I rarely go off road and never anything more significant than a rutted dirt road. I drive longer distances (50-250 miles) on the highway fairly frequently, say once a week on average.

Right now I have B F Goodrich Radial Long Trail T/A's. I suspect they're heavily cupped because they're extremely noisy. They've always given fairly poor gas mileage.

I'd like a tire that's a bit better on the highway but without giving up too much on the snow capabilities. The comfort I get from being able to drive my Jeep in any snowfall is considerable. Something a bit better on gas mileage would also be nice. I prefer "cheaper" tires. I've never been able to run a tire (yes, I rotate and check air pressure regularly) to it's life expectancy, so paying for "premium" tires that will run 80,000 miles doesn't really add up to me since my "actual mileage will vary". :-)

Any suggestions? I'll probably go out, later this week, and talk to some of the tire dealers but they often seem to have their own agenda. That's not bad, just good business, but I'm hoping for some good advice.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[dave92cherokee]

For your situation I'd get another set of wheels for your jeep and mount studded tires on them for the winter time for use on snow and ice and another set of tires that's regular passenger tires for use during summer time when snow is not an issue. Doing that will help your gas mileage out during the summer months incredibly and when it starts getting cold and snowing then pull the jeep in the garage and change over to the studded tires. I'm running Maxxis Buckshot Mudders 31x10.50 15 which have spots already available for studs to be inserted and handle extremely well in mud and wet conditions so would handle just as well in snow, the others that are a good tire are Firestone Destination M/T's which are an aggresive mud tire and are ready for studs to be installed. But for me if I lived where it snows heavily during the winter I'd go to the local junk yard and get a set of wheels from them for my car or even order some online that can be found anywhere cheaply and mount a set of tires on the specifically for the winter only then regular passenger tires for summer time that way you'd be set during the summer good gas mileage and during winter a little less gas mileage but no worries about grip.

[AlohaBra]

I like Goodyears myself.
I have used these...
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....er+SilentArmor

Used these, aired down in the last Jeep Jamboree at Big Bear California.

Here is a Tire Rack link:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey....jsp?type=ORAT

[bmwgolfguy]

I agree with Dave92's advice. I have been doing that for years with my former dd 325xi.

You can also check out web sites at The Tire Rack or Discout Tire. I have ordered wheels and tires from ttr more than once. They are very knowledgable and fairly competitive price wise. And you can have them dropped shipped anywhere you want if you don't do the work yourself.

Good luck!

[jadek]

I also drive in lots of snow, and really love our Toro Open Country tires. We used to have Goodyear Wranglers, and hated the way they slipped in ice (and rain, and snow, and mud...). The Toros are excellent in all the road conditions we have encountered over two years of driving through Michigan weather. We don't go off-road, so I can't comment on their performance there. Gas mileage increased slightly with the Toros while the road noise is not much different than with the Goodyears. They were a few bucks cheaper than the Wranglers, and look nice, too. Hope this helps!