CRP
Member
Mickey Thompson Baja A/T. I would like to start this off with saying I LOVE these tires, and the exact size that I am talking about are 35x12.5 R17. BUT…. There is definitely a give & take.
I will say that these tires are great in the rain. I have tried all sorts of tires in the 35” range, and these tires are the best that I have had in the rain. They are also great in the snow! You would think that hearing that, what could possibly be the down side?!
The down side is these tires are the WORST tires I have ever had to balance! My regular mechanic that I have used for 10 years could NOT get them balanced. It was like driving a truck with the worst shaking problem that you could even imagine.
To be honest, they were not RFB to begin with. Not sure why they wouldn’t road force Balance a tire that size to begin with. Long story short.. I brought them back, and they said that they rebalanced the tires and if that didn’t work then they would have to look at different avenues for my acceptance. What ever that means..
Anyways… I ended up bring the truck to my local FIRESTONE/BRIDGESTONE garage (they are right down the street from my work) just to see what they may say about the balancing issue ( I definitely wanted them road force balanced). They were great! They got them balanced. Long story short, my original mechanic didn’t do a the RFB on my tire installation and didn’t get a true balance on my tires. I will say, even after this, the tires don’t drive as smooth as when I had FALKEN WT/3’s ion the truck. The FALKENS were not great in the rain. I also tried NITTO RIDGE GRAPPLERS, TOYO OPEN COUNTRY TRAIL GRAPPLER T/A’s.. they were both HORRIBLE in the rain and snow!!!
Bottom line, would I buy these tires again? No… too difficult to balance, and the speed rating is too low. They are also very heavy. I am actually looking forward to seeing how the new KO3 pans out.
So bottom line, if you can get these tires balanced correctly, they are GREAT tires! That being said, it is just a very hit or miss tire from my experience. I heard the new FALKEN AT4W’s have the balancing dots. That will make it easier to balance, but the weight is very high, so we shall see.
Just my experience and opinion. If you need any photos, let me know.
I will say that these tires are great in the rain. I have tried all sorts of tires in the 35” range, and these tires are the best that I have had in the rain. They are also great in the snow! You would think that hearing that, what could possibly be the down side?!
The down side is these tires are the WORST tires I have ever had to balance! My regular mechanic that I have used for 10 years could NOT get them balanced. It was like driving a truck with the worst shaking problem that you could even imagine.
To be honest, they were not RFB to begin with. Not sure why they wouldn’t road force Balance a tire that size to begin with. Long story short.. I brought them back, and they said that they rebalanced the tires and if that didn’t work then they would have to look at different avenues for my acceptance. What ever that means..
Anyways… I ended up bring the truck to my local FIRESTONE/BRIDGESTONE garage (they are right down the street from my work) just to see what they may say about the balancing issue ( I definitely wanted them road force balanced). They were great! They got them balanced. Long story short, my original mechanic didn’t do a the RFB on my tire installation and didn’t get a true balance on my tires. I will say, even after this, the tires don’t drive as smooth as when I had FALKEN WT/3’s ion the truck. The FALKENS were not great in the rain. I also tried NITTO RIDGE GRAPPLERS, TOYO OPEN COUNTRY TRAIL GRAPPLER T/A’s.. they were both HORRIBLE in the rain and snow!!!
Bottom line, would I buy these tires again? No… too difficult to balance, and the speed rating is too low. They are also very heavy. I am actually looking forward to seeing how the new KO3 pans out.
So bottom line, if you can get these tires balanced correctly, they are GREAT tires! That being said, it is just a very hit or miss tire from my experience. I heard the new FALKEN AT4W’s have the balancing dots. That will make it easier to balance, but the weight is very high, so we shall see.
Just my experience and opinion. If you need any photos, let me know.