Goodyear MT/R's Goods and Bads

[1Bad4Runner]

I am looking for a set of tires and nothing coming in the sizes I want, I am looking for a 37" with a 15" rim and most of them are 14.5" wide, I would like 12.5" wide and the MT/R is 12.5" wide.

What do you guys think of these tires? I know they look good, but are they any good? If they are no good then I will have to go for a 35" BFG or something.

[Hyena]

Good on the road, rocks, dirt, and snow.  I think they suck in the mud.  I like them a lot.

[whiteman]

Good on the road, rocks, dirt, and snow. I think they suck in the mud. I like them a lot.

What he said -  And yes they suck in mud.

I thought you were buying Toyo's a couple weeks ago?

[1Bad4Runner]

The Toyo's are still in mind, I'm just seeing what else is out there. The Toyo's are actually cheaper than the MT/R's, I just think I'm gonna have to go with the 35" ones I think 14.5" wide is to much, is this true?

[Duffil]

I love my MT/Rs.  They work very well on anything except mud, and they wear pretty good, as well.  I have at least 20,000 on mine and there is still maybe, 1/4 of tread left.

[BLACKDOG]

Good on the road, rocks, dirt, and snow.  I think they suck in the mud.  I like them a lot.

  I didn't think they were too bad in mud, definitely not the greatest though.  Even at near bald, they were still a decent tire, I' definitely recomend them

[blackdiamond]

I love my MT/Rs.  They work very well on anything except mud, and they wear pretty good, as well.  I have at least 20,000 on mine and there is still maybe, 1/4 of tread left.

Just for comparison, my dad just got 60,000+ on his 32 BFG Mud KMs on his full size Blazer.

[1Bad4Runner]

The BFG M/T's are the cheapest tire I can find and they only come in a 35" with a 15" rim, they just aren't as aggressive looking as I would like.

I know the MT/R's are fairly agressive looking but I hear a lot of bad things about them in mud, since I like where there is a lot of it.

I will probobly end up buying a set of 35x13.5x15 Toyo Open Country M/T's because they look agressive and I hear they are a good all around tire, I just wanted to make sure I am making the right decision.

Does anyone think I am crazy for going with the Toyo's?

[IronClad]

get the toyos..  MT/R's suck in anything wet.  dry rocks are their place and thats it.  if you are gonna be in alot of mud  then you dont want mt/rs   the toyos are more of a mud tire and would suit you alot better plus they have LOTS of siping on them for good wet traction

[1Bad4Runner]

Thanks IronClad, I am also thinking the same thing, I just want to make sure that I will be puting my money on the right tires. Now, to pick the size, 35" or 37" 

[IronClad]

get the 37s..  its not THAT big of a difference..  tires really run small anyway..  almost all tires that say 37 on the side are really about a 35-36" tall tires.. case in point  MT/R's  my 37s are about a 35" tall tire.. and the 35's are almost 33s !

[Hyena]

swampers are about the only brand that are true to the size.  my 37 in MTR's measure 35.5 inches with 20 pounds of air.  And they only have a couple hundred miles on them if that.  My buddies brand new 37 inch Iroks measure 36.5 inches with about 20 pounds of air in them.

[1Bad4Runner]

I was reading the Toyo site and it says that the 35" is 34.8" I think, same with the 37"... 36.8"

I really don't think I wan to go down a size though... what thoughts do you guys have of a 14.5" wide tire, my father says they are to wide, but I don't think its to bad. Would they be any better/worse in the snow, mud, and icey situations?

Man there is to much thought put into this 

[IronClad]

wide = more flotation   skinny tires are for when you know there is a bottom to somthing..  the 14.5" wide tires are not to wide..   to me  they would be better.

[1Bad4Runner]

Alright, I will have to take your advice then... shouldn't hurt to try something new.

[Hyena]

The truck on the left has 37x14.5/15 Iroks on 15x10's.  The 2 trucks on the right have 37x12.5/15 MTR's on 15x8's.
I can get better pictures of the truck on the left but it won't be for a couple days if you can wait.

[1Bad4Runner]

Thanks Hyena, those Irok's look like balloons! I love the look of the MT/R, but if they are only OK for mud and not very good on slippery rocks then they proboly aren't the tire for me, throw some pictures up though, I'd love to see em' 

[Hyena]

They work pretty damn good for me on wet rocks.  I made it through little sluice with about 20% tread left on my 35 in MTR's.  It was pretty damn wet.  The iroks are balloon tires.  He is thinking he should have gotten the skinnier ones now.

[toybuilt]

All I know is that I work at Les Schwab and I've put the Toyo MTs on a few of my budies toys and the work awesome. One of my friends hads MT/Rs on before that and he said he'll never go back becuase the Toyos are so much better in every condition

[BigMike]

Strange, I wonder if the rock type has anything to do with it...

Most of my MTR experiences come from wheeling with Marlin and wheeling his truck.

We used to run 35" BFGs and they were just OK. We lost many a side wall on the BFGs.

Then Marlin went to a 35" SSX Swamper and THEY KICKED BUT. This was during the good days of Panamint, and the Swampers were twice the tire on wet rocks as the BFGs were. Stuff we had to winch up with the BFGs, now we could make it without winching with the Swampers. The only problem is that the Swampers were hard to balance, noisy as heck on the highway, and were really really heavy.

Then Marlin won a set of 35x15x12.50s at a raffel and he held on to them for a while until the Swampers wore out.

Once we switched to the MTRs, wow. They worked better then the Swampers in every condition that we put them in. (ps. Marlin and I HATE playing in the mud, so throw that equation right out the window with this comparison) I don't remember if Marlin got a chance to take the MTRs through Panamint before the tree huggers closed it down, but they do VERY well in Wet conditions, Dry conditions, sandy conditions, and tree rutted conditions.

I have seen his MTRs go right into the side of a dry, jagged rock at the Hammers (known for its sharp rocks) and the sidewall just took it. I have seen them slip off of tree roots and fallen logs and land right up against the sidewall, and they just take it. I have seem 1/2" chunks removed from the sidewalls of two of his MTRs, and they are still holding air today because I now am running his old 35" MTRs on my truck.

And as for my experience with the 35" MTRs, I Love them. They work very well for me in all conditions except snow, and for the fact that I prefer to run no more then 5psi and I have lost 3 beads because of that (I need some bead locks badly.)

My experiences with them in the snow is less then satisfactory. I just can't get the 35" MTRs to do well in the snow. I don't know what the problem is with them. Then I swapped on Marlin's 37" MTRs that he is running now, and I just did a snow run, and WOW, Night and Day difference. They are bead locked, so I was running like 3psi and they were UNSTOPABLE.

My next tires will for sure be 37x15x12.50 MTRs. I just wish they offered a 13.50" wide version, I would be all over it.

Marlin's 37x15x12.50 measure 36.5" tall, and my half-worn 35x15x12.50 measure 33.25" tall, pathetic.

Go 37" or go home

[IronClad]

weird that you blew beads.. you running 15x10s?  ive never blew a bead on my mt/rs  even with the cores pulled.

When it came to snow i noticed that  it was off or on.. it all depends on the snow for the mt/rs to hook up.   ive ran everything from  pepboys futura enforcer MT's to boggers in the snow.. best tires so far that ive seen in the snow were iroks and boggers ( that whole lateral traction bs is just that)  last snow trip i went on with my mtrs  i was either  going and having to bang it to stay on top or i was burried.  and this is at 4-5 psi.

I wasnt able to go alot of places i wanted to because i couldnt get them to hook up.. this year i think its going to be different as im gonna be running 38.5x16 bajaclaws on the back and 38x12.5 tsls on the front. .  we'll see how this combo does but i think its gonna hook up awesome.. i already have my buddies worried on how they are gonna keep up with me  and they ONLY wheel snow.

[BigMike]

I run 15x8" wheels and I have blown the beads of my 35x15x12.50 MTRs three times the past three trips.

The last time out with them, I only aired down to 8psi and they stayed on, but I was pretty nervous.

I for sure will be getting beadlocks once I go 37s

[IronClad]

real weird  then.. must have just been cuz my rims are reverse shell.  when i was popping beads to switch rims i bent the cherry picker i was using before the bead popped !


ohyeah and for the mud thang...  these are what mt/rs look like after  just driving through some red clay... slow driving

oh and why i dont want to run mt/rs in snow anymore   got stuck to much in places i shouldnt have hehe


should have made it up the hill...

[BigMike]

Thats pretty sweet man. Is that a late model 1st gen grill on a 2nd gen truck? I've ALWAYS hated the square headlight 1st gens, but that combination with the boxy 2nd gen body looks REALLY good!!

[IronClad]

yup it is    i always loved the 1st gen grilles  so i figured hey... why not eh ?

[1Bad4Runner]

BigMike, thanks for the long reply... Its funny, because I like the tire and they seem to work out great in everything except what I need them for. As for the SSR's, I wish they balanced well and lasted a little longer because I would rather go with them, but my truck is a daily driver and I need it to be fairly smooth.
The main reason I want the MT/R's is for there cut resistant side walls.
Looking at IronClad's pictures there, they really don't look like the tire for me because we have plenty of clay and mud... unlike you guys. I see that a lot of your trails are faily dry and very very rocky. We don't have that kind of stuff around here, just a lot of granit and shale.

Ironclad, as for the Bajaclaws, they are an amazing tire, I have 38.5x16x15 bias ply on my buggy and they stick to anything and are pretty much unstoppable. only drawback on them is that they cut so easily, but I have never blew one before. Snow driving in unbelievable, except we only had them out a a few feet of snow.

Yea, I'm with BigMike there, your grill looks sweet.. I was gonna do the same be put a set of first gen style fenders on my truck, but as I can see it looks damn good without them. 

I think my tire selection is getting small, which is good considering that I should be buying a set in the next week or two.
MT/R is no good in snow and also not so good in mud... definite no no for me.
SSR is great with everything that you throw at it, but not very balanceable and wears fast... also a no no for me since its a daily driver.
BFG is to weak and the rubber compoud is to hard so they slip to much and they don't come in a 37" unless you get a 17" rim... thats no good because I can't afford another set of rims.
Iroks are to balloonie for me, but seem to work well... do they wear fast or slow?
Swampers are to rough, and I want a quiet ride.

Someone help me! I'm going insane

P.S. You guys are a great help, the pictures really tell a lot and I'm hoping to end up with a great overall tire at the end of this  

[IronClad]

the big trick with swampers  is to run an aluminum wheel.. steelies are bent  straight out of the box..   Few buddies of mine have ran 40" boggers on 15x12 aluminum inkie wheels   NO balancing   and 12psi on the street .. they tracked straight.. no vibes or wobbles...    there is alot of folklore to alot of tires.


btw  my pics are from northern california    hehe

[1Bad4Runner]

IronClad, I would like to run aluminum rims, but they are just to expencive. I was just thinking of buying some steel rims and balancing them. I also have a set of beadlock steel rims on my buggy that I want to steal and put on the Yota, but then I couldn't drive that

Also, I knew you lived down there somewhere... nobody with good wheeling lives in Canada

Oh well, maybe someday I will go on a road trip down to Fresno or something since my Aunt lives in Sacramento  

[whiteman]

I just took some mesuremenrts of my friends 37/14.5-15 Toyo m/ts and on a 15x12 steel wheel.  With the weight of the truck they mesured out at 36" tall, tread width is 12" across the lugs and the lugs on the sidewall's buldge out to just about 14 1/4".   They seem to do alright in the mud, but when we air this honky down you can float almost anything thicker than water.      Ok maybe not, but you get the point.   
                     

[Hyena]

My buddy with the green toy says his Iroks are awsome.  They are bias and even on the street they aren't loud.  I have heard of them wearing kinda fast but i have no experience.  He would have gotten the 37x12.5/15 radials but they are close to $300 a tire.
If you go here you can buy 3 tires and get the 4th one free.  Free shipping too, but it only applies to the 48 connected states.

http://www.4wheelonline.com/Products.aspx?CategoryId=1868&ProductId=7819