Are the stock Wrangler tires that come on the TRD OR any good for off road use?

I've been using the stock wranglers, got 37000kms on the truck and have explored so many remote places. Back country vancouver island, oregon coast, sierra nevada, utah, colorado and winter alberta/rockies. Never had an issue. The way I see it, good planning, airing down tires a bit and taking it slow will solve 90% of your offroad challenges.

 

I've gotten a little over 19k miles out of them and they're ready for the trash. They struggled for traction on uphill gravel roads and wet roads, but on road they provided decent mpg. I wouldn't buy another set.

I'm replacing them with 285/70/17 Toyo Open Country AT3's tomorrow.

 

The Tacoma itself is extremely capable in a lot of conditions bone stock. It's only if you're planing far more serious off-road excursions a lift and better suited tires are needed. I was amazed at what my sr5 tacoma stock will do do in situations my 4wd tundra would get stuck in.

 

The stock Wranglers have worse off road traction than most other modern all terrains, but better fuel economy. They can be punctured more easily than some others too.

 

You are asking about a change of tire but not an increase in tire size, I'm assuming you are not talking about a 4wd trail such as the Rubicon/Fordyce or perhaps Deer valley on the lighter side. Post a picture of what you consider a rugged Sierra mountain trail. If you are talking USFS 2 tracks, all I'd really worry about is sidewalls, otherwise stock tires are probably fine.

 

Used mine for 20k miles and never had a puncture or anything. Aired down to 17psi a few times. Tread got very low very quick for me.

 

This guy had stock tires. He was high centered up on just one rock in the road. Had his tires not been stock, he wouldn’t have been spinning and stuck like that. He had carpet and rocks piled up around the tires and they still spun. I was the only truck passing by for hours, and there was no cell service:



Your one statement “When I go out into the hills I go as remote as possible with my wife and dog and no other trucks. Getting stuck isn't an option” was the best answer you told yourself about using stock tires off-road.

 

That was a pure Darwin moment right there.

 

I got 54k out of the stock wranglers. Around 8 thousand of those were on fire service roads and a few hundred on mid range off road trails. Including two trips up to Loch Lomond, which is extremely rocky terrain. Never had an issue, stock tires handled everything just fine.

 

"Honorary Darwin". The full award involves death (sorry, but ...) like the hunter in the mountains who shot straight up and the dead mountain goat fell on him.

 

Delete

 

Re the second spare, are you changing wheels too? If so consider buying a 5th wheel and matching tire. That way you will have a matching offset (vs the steel spare) and a backup if you ruin a wheel and it becomes discontinued.

Folks at discount tire hooked me up with a new but cheapie generic tire for the steel wheel under the bed. I have a matching 6th wheel and tire in the bed.

Or the cheapest solution is a steel spare and tire for the second spare from craigslist or someone on the forum

 

A guy in the mountains where I was working had a bighorn sheep he illegally shot tied into his pack. He fell climbing down with the sheep still tied in and also died… justice sometimes comes swiftly in nature!

 

Thanks for all the input. It seems the stock tires are fine unless there not, and then I would have wished I had spent the money on something better. It's a big jump from buying an extra spare, to 5 nice rims/ tires and an ugly spare. especially since the market is flooded with TRD OR takeoffs in my area. I guess I could just buy 5 good 16" tires and keep my rims, but I have a hard time spending that much money and not going all in for 17" rims.

 

well if those tires fail you, getting out and having a friend, truck, or heli rescue you will cost more… you’ll never get good money selling them but you can probably pickup a set of cheap wheels and put some real beefy tires cheaper and put that set on whenever you’re going to go out. Gives you a bit of the best of both worlds and allows you to still have tires that can’t fail by getting something with extra reinforced walls than you can air down and have more aggressive treads.

Trailer beater set also allows your road days to still be comfortable since it’s 80% of your driving.

 

I just put a deposit down on some Baja Boss 265/75R16's for the stock rims. They should be installed by next weekend. I decided to save the money I would have spent on rims for shocks.
Next up, suspension. I'm thinking Fox elite performance. But, do I get UCA's? And, do I get them from ebay at $1800 or AccuTune for $2300?

 

Maybe alotta people got a bad set of stock wranglers, mine have taken me to some cool places without issue.

 

If I were you I'd do JBA high caster uca's and the Bilstein 6112/5160 combo with that wheel and tire setup. Maybe some icon rxt leafs if it's in the budget. You can always upgrade to 17" wheels and 285's later on if you choose. Hotshot offroad is the best source for those Bilstein's. You can send @memario1214 a message and he'll set you up with what you need and can pre assemble them for you.

https://hotshotoffroad.com/collecti...its/products/6112-5160-0-2-lift-kit-16-tacoma
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bilstein-6112-5160-setups.735728/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/categories/vendors.62/

 

I put a stick through the side of one of the stock tires on my '85 back in the day. 2 ply radial. I would go with an increase of load range, at least load range C. You chose a good size.