FJ Cruisers of Northern California

Its time ... for some new rubber

Hey everyone,

Well its about time to replace my tires, and rims. I'm currently running BFG MT KM2's (285/75r16), and they have been a pretty good all round tire, except in snow. So horrible in snow.

This time around I'm going to upgrade to the Kumho Road Venture MT (305/70r16). It has has great reviews for mud/rocks/snow/rain, looks aggressive, has reasonable tread life, and apparently runs pretty quiet for a MT tire. Its also $50 cheaper than most of the other brands. I like cheaper!

My issue is what rims to get. My TRD rims are 16x7.5 so I know I'm already pushing it with my currently existing 285's, so I'm thinking steelies in the range of 16x12. The other issue is the backspacing I'll need. Right now I'm running 1.25" spridertrax spacers, and have upgraded my UCA to the smaller profile Total Chaos UCA. I have no idea what the stock brake size is. If anyone can anyone give me some pointers, advice, suggestions, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Maximus (Max) on October 2, 2012 at 11:33pm

cheaper than $153 a tire for a 285/70/17 ? lol thats what i paid for my treadwright guard dogs

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Permalink Reply by Mike Oliver on October 3, 2012 at 7:41am

Well no.. thats pretty cheap =D $240 for 305's is probably the cheapest I've seen

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Permalink Reply by Maximus (Max) on October 3, 2012 at 11:46am

but they are retreads! although ive had zero issues with them other than they being somewhat difficult to balance. check them out if you want to www.treadwright.com

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Permalink Reply by Mike Oliver on October 3, 2012 at 11:59am

Oh yea, Treadwrights. There is a big thread about them on the fjcruiserforums.com. I really considered them, but it seems pretty hit or miss for people. Biggest issues people have are manufacturing defects. It seems about 1/10 tires are affected and can range from minor defects being balancing problems, more severe such as holes or just poor workmanship where the new tread is reapplied. Not to mention you have a sidewall that already has around 40000mi on it. Fortunately, I've only read about one complete blowout, due to a side wall failure.

The savings on a retread is great, until you need to get it fixed, then with shipping costs (treadwright is inconsistent with paying shipping on manufacturing issue returns), plus new balancing and alignment, it comes close to the cost of a new tire, but with a lot more headache.

Personally I think I'm going to stick with the non-retread tires for the time being. If I ever get a dedicated crawler I might look into them.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

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Permalink Reply by Maximus (Max) on October 3, 2012 at 12:19pm

No worries to each his own! it was just a good deal and for a college kid on a severe budget I found them to be a solid deal and they have been wonderful so far. I agree with uly check out the toyo mt or even the nitto mt depending on your budget. Good luck finding your tire and i cant wait to see pictures of the new set up when you get them on your rig no matter what you choose.

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Permalink Reply by UlySi on October 3, 2012 at 11:45am

Ok so to start off I recommend toyo mts so far really good to me 16x12 is over kill run a 16x 9 or a 16 x 8 . The 305 70 16 is really a 33 12.5 16 because the section with is 12.5 dosent mean that is where the beads sit. The recommended wheel with is an 8 inch gotta double check but that sounds about right. As far as I know no mt is killer on snow due to the lack of sipes. Sipe the center blocks and road and snow driving will improve but you will chunk out the tires is you ply in rocks.. Any questions shoot me a pm or call me .. If I don't answer call me at work 9163492944 it is a les Schwab ask for Uly