Sooo, just ruled out BFG's on t'other thread - I'll put General grabbers in the same basket for now.
Mostly drive road, so let's get back to crossover M&S rated tyres for fuel economy (however, I'd like some grip in mud and snow - M&S ratings don't always guarantee this).
Had Bridgestone Duellers H/T's on my old truck - bloody scary in the wet. Seemed not too bad in mud and snow. Got 40k + per set and fuel economy OK.
Got Goodyear Wrangler HP's on my current truck - fine in the wet, not really had much mud and no snow yet to test. 28k and not much left on them and don't think the fuel economy is anything to write home about.
So - moon on a stick. Decent wear, acceptable (never going to be outstanding) fuel economy and acceptable performance on mud, snow & ice.
Do they exist?
Get the BFGs. They're fun! (And honestly last forever, too)
I don't want fun 🙂
My wife's Freelander is on its 3rd set of Michelins (was Synchrone, now Latitude). They cover 50k a set and grip even when down to the wear markers. Not cheap at +£200 each, but they work out pretty good value and more importantly, safe.
See, in all seriousness, the BFGs actually tick all your boxes. They last well, have reasonable economy for that reason and because hard compound = lower (comparably) rolling resistance, are excellent in mud or skippy conditions, and are only a bit less grippy than car tyres in wet or icy conditions. But you're not driving a racing car, it's a truck, and in my experience, and loss of grip has been in an 'oh hello, we slid a bit there, I'll slow down a bit' way, rather than a 'argh, we're all going to die a fiery death worlds spinning round and round' kind of way. They are great and appropriate [i]4x4 truck[/i] tyres. And they look nice too, which never does any harm.
I've fitted bfg's this year to my navara couldn't be happier with em...
Toyo Open Country.. whichever tread fits your needs best.
Run the H/T's on our 1 tonne truck and I wouldn't buy anything else.
M&S rated across the range
Much quieter than the BFG's that were on it when we bought it.. undoubtedly less mud traction than the bfg's though but maybe the halfway house A/T would be a best of both worlds tyre.
I've just put a set of Yokohama Geolander ATs on my ranger for the winter.
They are a multiseason rather than winter tyre, but are much much better in the snow and ice than the Brisgestone Duellers they have replaced. I paid £90 a corner from a local independent place.
Only had then on a couple of weeks, but I'm happy with them so far.
I've got an XC90 4x4. After trawling the forums for the best All season tyre, went for the General Grabber UHP. Nice deep tread, wearing well, no dip in economy, and good year round grip.
Why did you rule them out?
Had BFG AT's on my old disco for general duties and they performed well, although if I was buying now I think it would be Grabber AT2's, not used them but they seem to be well rated by users.
As v8ninety said, the bfg's are great. Alternative would be the new general grabber (not the at2) great all round. Not quite as aggressive looking, but great performer.
If youre using the truck mainly on the road, I assume it gets used for towing duties, etc. - Make sure you check the load rating of whatever you fit as you may want a higher rating than those that fitted to a typical 'soft roader'.
why not AT2's?
I've got Cooper AT3s on my Freelander, which seem a reasonable all-rounder. Any H/T tyre will be heavily compromised off road compared to AT. If you will be mud-plugging then M/T will be your best bet for that, but clearly less than desirable for mainly road-based use.
Horses for courses etc. A/T tyres exist to fill the gap between road-biased H/T and off-road biased M/T - in your position, I'd be looking for a set of them.
Just got a set of Avon Rangers, for our 4x4 seems pretty good so far, pretty cheap as well about 125quid each. Might be worth having a look, seem to have got me out of a few muddy fields recently.
Got General Grabbers on my truck for the winter and they're fine.
Lost a couple MPG but thats all, although I have a sneaky suspicion that the wife has been driving it and she has a rather heavier right foot than mine. 😉
The general grabber at2 has been discontinued.
Got General grabbers UHP on the back of the XC90 and they're fine, the front is still running Nokian WR which refuse to die.... must have done 25-30K on them now.
I've been running Avon Ranger TSE for the last few years and they are pretty good. Much better grip and wear than the Bridgestone Duellers I was running before.
I also managed to get them for a really good price which helps.
http://www.avon-tyres.co.uk/4x4
Cooper ATR. Good value, good grip, good lifespan...
Which BFG's are you talking about? Got AT's on the hybrid and they're good tyres, a little noisy if that bothers you. Can't comment on wear as they've only done a few hundred miles.
Can recommend Pirelli Scorpion AT's, on my second set of those on the disco and they're a really good all-round tyre. Obviously limited performance offroad, but they're a road-biased AT compared to the BFG's.
Currently I've got General Grabber UHP's on a Freelander 2. I've done over 30k and the fronts will need changing shortly, rears good for a while. Will replace with the same as I've had no problems with them. Looked on event tyres and they have the same ratings for fuel economy, braking performance and noise as the Good Year Wranglers which were on before.
Coopers (ATR) on my Disco 1.
Wearing well, good grip.
Mostly road work.
The Cooper ATRs are superseded by the AT3s here in Oz. Might be the case back in Blighty also?
General grabber AT2s,on my discoveries,both times,grip when needed on road,snow n mud stick like the prevebial to a blanket.
Good overall wear, n life span ,not too noisey on road.
The new general grabbers are everything you need (not AT2s, which I think are discontinued)...
I think they are now called Grabber AT (less the 2) - if so, these. Lowest (worst) rating for fuel economy/rolling resistance and next to worst for wet grip. No thanks.
[url= http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?dsco=110&Cookie=froogle&details=Ordern&typ=R-201491&ranzahl=4&nichtweiter=1&pk_campaign=froogle ]Grabber AT[/url]
Just had goodyear wrangler HP all round on my L200.. they seem (so far) very good.
You can still get AT2's - they've just re-released them to compete with BFG's AT's. (The AT2's are a bit more aggresssive than the BFG's AT) The road biased version of the Grabber is the AT.(a bit less aggressive that the BFG's AT)
SATs!
Depends on your 4x4,
I used to run a L200 and the Geolanders were awesome but on my fathers jeep they are utter tosh.
Just get the BFG's..., you'll be able to do that 'glance over your shoulder' thing at em, every time you walk away . 😀
I have BFG AT's on my camper, they are M&S rated and the rubber is very soft to prod, much softer than the mud terrains on my old pickup. Do they have different compounds of AT available? They seem to tick all the boxes as stated earlier.
FACT. I bought them second hand off that freelander that was on Top Gear with Ben Collins teaching the injured servicemen off road racing /FACT
Wet acceleration on the mud terrains in an empty pick up was an extraordinary experience, these AT's are a completely different tyre on wet roads.
plus, they look HARD.
best tyresive had out of
duelers, bf at, general at2, bf MT etc
Is the Kumho kl71, very good grip, surprisingly quiet on road
much better traction in wet than any bfg I've used - porb a softer compound Id guess
