Who makes the lightest street tires in 35'?
What is a good mostly street tire and some off road?

 

You want a greater contact patch. Knobby tires ride like sh*t in comparisons to ATs that are really focused on highway ride. AT KO / KO2, Goodyear silent armor or newer all terrain adventure, even bfg rugged terrain T/A, etc will ride much better than Toyo ATs (far less contact). If the tires typically give a good amount of wear (50k miles+), that tire is not going to wear like a "knobby" tire. You'll notice that Duratracs have a great contact patch down the center, but knobbier, more spaced tread towards the outside. They ride better than a lot of other tires, but I see the 40k mile replacement mark being mentioned. I bet they ride great, but in comparison to some of the other ATs I've listed (the duratrac is a commercial AT, so there is a different focus in that tire, although that fact is not a con what-so-ever).

If i'm wrong, someone please correct me. This just seems to be what I've gathered from reading about tires & comparing them.


Here's a decent start: Link

That's a comparison of all the ATs (non-commercial). See what you think. A lot of them are not available in 35s.

 

Check out the Cooper Zeon LTZ's, it's good tire for what you're wanting....I ran them for 2yrs and had no issues....they grip well, good on wet surfaces, good in snow, great on dry surface and good for light to medium off-roading.

"The Cooper Zeon LTZ was developed as a hybrid between a sport truck tire and an all-terrain tire" -coopertires.com

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company - Cooper Zeon LTZ?

 

I am nearing 80K miles on a 285/75 Duratracs. Didn't expect to do that well. Noisier than the OEM shoes but not outrageous.

 

I liked the Duratracs, lasted about 60k miles with minimal care other than watching pressures. They do not self-clean well, but are a very versatile tire. Currently have Kelly TSR which shares the same carcass but more open tread. It is a better tire IMO, cleans out better and better snow traction but a hair less traction in heavy rain and standing water. Check out this tire comparison for an eye opener on the BFG T/A and Cooper AT3.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road | Expedition Portal

 

Thanks for the info. I needed to know that about the Duratracs. When you say a hair less traction, you actually notice slippage/hydroplaning?

How was city driving? Can you feel all the cracks/stones in the road or is it a really smooth ride as if you're in a car?

Thank you for that link.

I'm iffy on a few things. First, are the people that drove the jeep deaf or are the tiny versions of the Toyo AT2s simply different than their 35" old brothers? I've never had a tire that loud. I've have people comment that they could hear me coming down the road from the opposite end. Whoever thinks they are smooth needs to have their head evaluated. Worst AT & overall tire I've had in terms of road noise, smoothness (that terms is inappropriate, honestly) & mud/wet traction performance. They break well, but they weigh a ton, which is not mentioned. I sense an oversight by the writers/testers. Toyos have a lot of rolling resistance.

As for the T/A KO in wet conditions failing, that might be true for the newer ones (past 2009?). I never had corner issues at 70mph in "heavy" rain (heavy for those not used to rain on the gulf coast), albeit not at 90 degrees, but I still never broke away, even hitting a puddle at that speed.

I can't speak for the other tires, but I question the staff's ability to drive in the rain considering the testing location was Arizona. Snow/ice is one thing, but rain is another & if you're not from an area with really wet conditions, you'll freak out (I've seen this in Colorado & had to laugh). Maybe that's a harsh judgement call on my part, but it's a review, so I'll question it due to the testing location itself.


Oh yeah, no decibel meter info? They claim that this test is not subjective. Noise & volume interpretation differs from person to person. Unless you use an instrument, it's about as subjective as it gets. What bull****.


I am curious about the cooper Discoverer AT3, though. I wonder how they stack up for highway/wet conditions vs the Zeon LTZs.

 

Some notes on the Duratracs, for the first 10-12k miles the tread squirms in fast sweepers, the Kelly's do not squirm in the same corner. I think the orientation of the Duratrac treadblocks act like rain grooves to channel water where the Kelly's do not channel water out of the contact patch as well. But, I am talking about standing water and heavy downpours that have you looking for Noah. The Duratracs have poor traction wheeling in loose dirt and do not grab/dig. The Duratracs love to trap pea gravel in the tread to throw up all the time. The Kelly's tread blocks are more open and trap bigger gravel rocks, but how often do you drive a road or trail with 1/2-3/4" rocks? Pea gravel is all over the asphalt roadways. The Duratracs were a little louder when new, but still good. The Duratracs have good snow performance with all the siping, but I feel the Kelly's had better grip until you were on black ice and then you needed to be under 5-7 mph or so to corner, climb inclines. I "think" that the Duratracs felt the pavement irregularities more, but I never really paid attention to that.

 

Comparison:
Cooper Zeon LTZ Cooper Tire & Rubber Company - Cooper Zeon LTZ?

Cooper AT3 Cooper Tire & Rubber Company - Discoverer A/T3?


The Cooper AT3 has a better all-around rating vs. the Zeon's

The Zeon LTZ is a more aggressive tread and luggier tire.They do get noisy at about 50% treadwear. I've had no issues with snow or mud. My buddy has the AT3's and they appear to wear down much faster than my Zeons' did; they his AT3's also did a poor job of getting him out of mud (he ended up bottoming out the truck and I had to go pull him out with the Zeon's on my truck)

I hope this helps and good luck with your tire searching!

 

Thanks man!

That's interesting that the AT3s failed in the mud. Cooper claims the offroad capability is better vs the zeons. The AT3 "looks" like a better tire.

Keep in mind, according to Cooper, the Zeons are only in 31s (265) for the stock wheel size. You'll have to go to a 17 or 18 for a 32.5/33 & 20s for a 34". The AT3s cover 31/33/35 for stock sizes. Just something to mention before anyone has their heart set on one tire or the other.

Not sure I'm in the same boat as everyone else. I usually do research ahead of time (unless a new tire comes out) so I can just replace & go instead of spending time figuring it out when I need them. I'll have "new" firestone destination LE 2s on the H3 when I get it this week (you can actually see the mold "hair" or whatever they are, so the tire has basically no use). No reason to get rid of them, but they are a highway tire, so this thread will help me get an AT when the time comes.

 

Absolutely love these... Great in mud, snow, gravel, dirt, pavement & even pretty good on ice...