JLU Wrangler tire options

MCompact

MCompact

Joined
Jul 21, 2002
Messages
7,998
Location
KY
I’ve mentioned before that my Jeep dealer gave me a set of new Rubicon take-off wheels- which will replace the OEM 20” mall crawler wheels on my wife’s Sahara. I’ve narrowed my tire choices to the following:
BFG All-Terrain T/A KO3
Falken WildPeak A/T4W
Pirelli Scorpion XTM AT
Any personal experience with any of the three? I lean towards the Pirelli as I’ve read some good reviews but I’m not tied to a particular brand. Thanks for any and all advice!
 
BFG's all day long for Jeeps.... on the 2nd set of them on my wife's Gladiator Rubicon (35") and I run them on my old CJ7. They have a long history and have been improved over the many years. They go just about anywhere, are quiet!! and will last 40-50k miles+.

I have the Cooper R&T on the Grand Cherokee and they are an amazing tire as well - so between the 2 just go by price and you will be happy.

The Perelli is probably a good tire but I have no experience with that particular model. I won't consider Falkens for anything but that's just me.
 
MCompact said:
I’ve mentioned before that my Jeep dealer gave me a set of new Rubicon take-off wheels- which will replace the OEM 20” mall crawler wheels on my wife’s Sahara. I’ve narrowed my tire choices to the following:
BFG All-Terrain T/A KO3
Falken WildPeak A/T4W
Pirelli Scorpion XTM AT
Any personal experience with any of the three? I lean towards the Pirelli as I’ve read some good reviews but I’m not tied to a particular brand. Thanks for any and all advice!
Click to expand...
What rating is that KO3 - they tried to sell me F … think you can get D … I ordered KO2’s to stick with C …
 
I have had so many wrangler tires since 2012. never tried a Pirelli because I offroad but have used KO2 and Ko3, and Falken at3w (similar to the at34) and have run plenty of Toyo at2'a and AT3's and my current favorite is Mickey Thompson baja boss at's check them out before getting any other tire..I like them so much I have bought 3 sets in the last 2 years..and my next set will be the same.
 
I love Toyos/Nittos. Get the lightest one you can in your size. My 35" Nitto Recons weigh about the same the stock 33" BFGs on a Rubicon. Heavy tires kill drivability. No need for LT tires on a Wrangler. Never had an issue on rocks or off road with punctures either.
 
@MCompact - good options.

BFG is good out west, dry and hardpack/rocky trails. Last a long time, reasonably quiet, and everyone knows they are mediocre on wet pavement. I won’t run them here because of wet braking. They are also heavy.

The pirellis look very interesting. The brand seems to be known as a “half life tire,” where the back half of tread wear is loud, tricky to balance, and suffers in the wet stuff. what is the max pressure in your size? In the 265 65 R18 the max psi is 36, which is scary low. Why is it so low? Placard spec is 35, so it meets the oem requirement, but it’s either a Tirerack typo or something that in my mind is substandard.

Wildpeak. Gonna be hard to beat that one. As long as you keep them rotated they seem to be the cats meow for vehicles that do both pavement and play.

I’ll add the Nokian outpost nAT as a potential contender here as well, in line with your picks. There aren’t as many reviews out there on this one, but they are made in Tennessee and seem to be a good if not great all-rounder. I think @Astro14 is using them now. I’d be worried of getting a dud, reviews seem hit or miss with balancing and noise, either perfect, or “we gave up and got something else.”

Nitto terragrappler g3, Toyo open country AT3, Yokohama G018 also in play here. Nitto and Toyo both known for strikingly good balancing, comfortable ride, at least decent wet, though may have somewhat soft sidewalls in P-metric sizes.
 
I’ve got about 6,000 miles on the Nokian nAT on the Tundra. Stock size is 275/55R20. I installed 275/60R20 Nokian nAT.

I’ve done a few road trips, driven around town, and I like them. The previous tires were Michelin LTX in 275/55R20. A very different tire noted for long wear and quiet ride. I have had the nAT in a wide variety of conditions but no off road. Nokian built these for off road, with large voids, aggressive tread, and puncture-resistant sidewalls.

Here are my initial impressions.
  • The nATs are a bit louder. Not objectionable, but they are an AT tread vs. a highway tread. I do hear them on the highway, where I heard nothing from the Michelins.
  • The nAT ride a bit softer. This might be from the sidewall height. The nAT have an extra sidewall ply over the Michelins, so, you would think that they would be stiffer, but they’re not.
  • The nAT handle snow quite well. Yes, I know where I live, but here’s the truck three days after I parked it in a blizzard in Newark. I grew up in snow country, I know snow. The Michelins handled snow surprisingly well, and both tires are extensively siped for icy/mix conditions. The Nokian did great in the blizzard.
  • There is no difference in MPG. I thought that there might be a decrease from the more aggressive tread, but I can’t see any. The truck gets lousy MPG anyway, so perhaps the difference is masked by that.
  • There is a slight loss in steering precision vs. the Michelins. To be expected with an AT vs. a highway tire. It’s not big, but it’s there. I don’t think this is a Nokian problem, but an AT vs. HIghway tire issue.
My recommendation - I would buy them again. For an AT tire, they are smooth, relatively quiet and handle a variety of conditions well.

I like ‘em.

IMG_5715.webp
 
HoosierJeeper said:
I love Toyos/Nittos. Get the lightest one you can in your size. My 35" Nitto Recons weigh about the same the stock 33" BFGs on a Rubicon. Heavy tires kill drivability. No need for LT tires on a Wrangler. Never had an issue on rocks or off road with punctures either.
Click to expand...
totally depends on the size of tires :) have not seen non LT's in bigger tires. My 37's load D are super smooth on the highway and drive great. I currently run two sets depending on what I am doing. 37x12.5-17 and 255/85-17 both LT 37's being D load and pizza cutters E load.
IMG_0976.webp
 
Hopefully it's an automatic because our manual Sahara has terribly tall 3.45 gears and going to larger tires would make it bog down even worse when taking off from a stop. I've heard it's a non-issue with the 8 speed auto.
 
QwikKota said:
Hopefully it's an automatic because our manual Sahara has terribly tall 3.45 gears and going to larger tires would make it bog down even worse when taking off from a stop. I've heard it's a non-issue with the 8 speed auto.
Click to expand...
Since my 35s are only 52 pounds, I still see 8th gear on the highway and can chirp the tires from a stop. Get about 17-19MPG average. A regear would be nice but still drives fine.
meep said:
@MCompact - good options.

BFG is good out west, dry and hardpack/rocky trails. Last a long time, reasonably quiet, and everyone knows they are mediocre on wet pavement. I won’t run them here because of wet braking. They are also heavy.

The pirellis look very interesting. The brand seems to be known as a “half life tire,” where the back half of tread wear is loud, tricky to balance, and suffers in the wet stuff. what is the max pressure in your size? In the 265 65 R18 the max psi is 36, which is scary low. Why is it so low? Placard spec is 35, so it meets the oem requirement, but it’s either a Tirerack typo or something that in my mind is substandard.

Wildpeak. Gonna be hard to beat that one. As long as you keep them rotated they seem to be the cats meow for vehicles that do both pavement and play.

I’ll add the Nokian outpost nAT as a potential contender here as well, in line with your picks. There aren’t as many reviews out there on this one, but they are made in Tennessee and seem to be a good if not great all-rounder. I think @Astro14 is using them now. I’d be worried of getting a dud, reviews seem hit or miss with balancing and noise, either perfect, or “we gave up and got something else.”

Nitto terragrappler g3, Toyo open country AT3, Yokohama G018 also in play here. Nitto and Toyo both known for strikingly good balancing, comfortable ride, at least decent wet, though may have somewhat soft sidewalls in P-metric sizes.
Click to expand...
I have the Nokians on my LR3 and love them.
 
even with my 37's I see 7th and 8th and get good mpg if I keep it under 75. I have 4.10's tho. I initially thought I would be re-gearing but the 8speed auto is so much nicer than the old 5speed I had in my JK's. this is the last 1000 mile mpg average (I reset my b trip for oil changes)

IMG_0964.webp
 
QwikKota said:
As mentioned, the automatic makes a big difference.
Click to expand...
It does, having 2 overdrive gears with the granny low first is awesome.
jadmt said:
even with my 37's I see 7th and 8th and get good mpg if I keep it under 75. I have 4.10's tho. I initially thought I would be re-gearing but the 8speed auto is so much nicer than the old 5speed I had in my JK's. this is the last 1000 mile mpg average (I reset my b trip for oil changes)

View attachment 337322
Click to expand...
Nice. 3.6?
 
AZjeff said:
I kinda recall the OPs Jeep is wife's daily driver. Bet 35s or 37s and lift aren't happening.🫣
Click to expand...
That’s true; we have a Wrangler because not only do we like them (we had our 1999 TJ for 21 years) but we need a vehicle that can traverse a washed out driveway and pull fallen trees out of the road. I also hope to clear a couple of roads that my father allowed to become overgrown. The Rubicon wheels and appropriate rubber will improve the capabilities that I need.
 
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