Mostly Street/Occasional Offroad & Sand Options

Still learning about trucks, personally, and I wanted some opinions/suggestions on wheels and tires. I'm looking for something that's smooth on the roads and will prevent digging myself into the sand. I stated "Occasional Offroad & Sand" in the title, and by "occasional" I mean once a week at the most. I know it's nearly impossible to get the best of both roads, but if there's a good street tire that handles well in sand or an off-road tire that's smooth and quiet on the road, then voice it to me please. I do pass through some mildly rocky (compared to the photos I've seen here) trails every now and then too.

As for wheels, I assume that heavier wheels will bury in the sand more? Or it doesn't even make enough of a difference?

Been wanting to max out my tire width to 275s, too.

Thanks all in advance!

Note: 2012 TRD Sport 4x4 Access Cab stock suspension

 

The driver is mostly resonsible for digging into the sand.
My current 4x4 has only had 2 sets of tires the stock Dungflops & BFG KM2s and I have never dug myself into the sand. Air your tires down. The Dungflops I aired down to 20 to 25 psi and the KM2s I air down to 18 front & 15 rear.
I've had guys tell me I shouldn't be where I was in my 2wd PreTaco (on street tires) without 4wd when out cutting firewood, but have never gotten stuck.
As for the best compromise get an AT tire.

 

Thanks, I feel a lot more comfortable about the stock Dunlops for now lol. 20 - 25 psi is good enough then. I kept reading 18 at the highest.

 

Get a AT tire. They'll wear good on the street and do good in the sand when aired down. Smooth and wide works best in the sand. You want to float on top. 99% of people stuck in the sand just aren't aired down. 10-15 psi will get you almost everywhere in the sand. The one problem with a AT tire is when it rains and the dirt turns to mud and they clog. Every tire has their pro's and cons and none is made for everything, I don't care what the fancy ad says.

 

Sweet, thanks guys for the quick responses. I don't mind the dry mud since they'll just flake off while driving.

 

Quite a few people like the Hankook Dynapro ATM for street and soft sand use. Forum member David K uses them down in Baja a lot.

 

I have had an excellent experience with my Goodyear Wrangler M+S tires (non Duratrac), I bought them because I got a deal for $700 mounted, balanced and installed, i was somewhat dubious when I bought them but they have so far lasted 50,000 plus miles, I have had them off-road, in mud and gone sand-running with them. The side walls are rather stiff and it seemed that airing down was not something this tire was really designed to do but I did 25psi for sand and 15 psi for moderate to difficult off-roading and have been happy with the tires performance. It's a fairly hard-compound tire which I think is why it has lasted so long on the roads.

 

Thanks for the suggestions and specific models!

 

Firestone Destination A/T is another good option to look at.

Liked them when I ran them.

 

Totally forgot to update this.

I took the ultimate test this past Sunday and rode on Polihale (ultra fine sanded beach). Flattened my Dunlops to roughly 18 PSI (tires were hot) and didn't do too bad reaching an open spot.


I kept eyeing a small hill which I planned to climb to get to an exit. When we finally called it a day, I champed it up the hill and failed lol. Dug out a ton of sand from the tires and placed a couple of blocks of wood in front each tire, gave it a go and basically turned those blocks of wood into fossils well beneath the sand. The sand was almost covering half the wheels, the mudflaps were bending, and my OEM "skid plate" was well into the sand. My gf took this pic after I freed a bunch of sand.


Laughed, then asked my old friend that was next to us if he could pull me out with his Tundra. He asked what PSI I was running and told him, "About 15-18." He replied, "Try 5, or 10." *Mental Note* We bled a bunch of more air out and he pulled me out of the sand. Laughed some more, then looped around and took a flatter exit out.

After that, I REALLY am opting on getting some Nitto Dune Grapplers in 285/70 17s on my stock Sport wheels for beach days and get a comfortable setup for DDing. AND talk the other half into Bilstein's up front so I don't bottom out like that either...but, only dreaming..

 

Check out the BFG Rugged Terrain. Great tire. Someone on TW said they were really good in sand. Don't know about that yet, but I know they are good on the street. Fat and smooth.

 

Polihale??

 

Yup

 

Aka, Barking Sands. Rented a shitty Impreza while we were there last. Next time, I ferry my Tacoma over so I can explore the interior of the island.