Diet Taco... trying to keep things light

A little bit of the decision making process written up here:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diet-taco-trying-to-keep-things-light.409330/#post-11522572

...at least some of which is still valid. I of course do have the necessary UCAs for enough lift to support a larger tire but I keep my lift a bit below 3" so I'm not dealing with CV boot issues so far. And I did the bearing swap anyway as well.

Well KO2 doesn't come in a LT255/85R16 but other good options do. It doesn't seem the 255 is that much more available than the 235. Some tires have 235 and not 255 and other tires have the 255 but not the 235. Pizza cutters seem to just be less available in all sizes!

The biggest issue I have with the 255s is the weight is getting even more extreme. In the S/T MAXX the 235 is 49 lbs while the 255 is 59 lbs! That's a huge difference. I could of course go with a lighter/weaker tire to get the 255 but I think I prefer trading the loss of 0.5" clearance for stronger tires at a more reasonable weight.

Going 33" just seems to start a potential cascade of more modifications. Trimming is usually necessary. A cab mount chop often comes into play. Some people feel they need to re-gear. I think some folks manage to make things work without all that but I'm not up for the fuss at this point.

If push came to shove on there being some perfect tire that wasn't available in the 235 the sensible thing would be to stick to the ~32" size and just go with a slightly wider tire that is more common. The LT265/75R16 is a really common size that fits the bill. For now though fortunately the tires I'm most interested in do have a 235!

 

I can’t remember if the Goodyear Adventure is available in an LT 235/85-16. I was very happy with the traction and treadwear of the OEM Adventures on my 3rd gen; but not the durability after 2 flats with the P-metric version. They weren’t available in a 265/75-16 so I went with the KO2’s. I feel like most public agencies that go off pavement use Goodyear - Duratrac or Wrangler AT/MT-R - so they’re probably tough.

 

I've got them in E rated 235/85/-16. Between myself and a friend who's running them probably about 10-15k miles off road.

 

Are you having the alignments done with the camper fully loaded? In my line of work we deliver heavy stuff to hospitals in small pick-ups. We still have some old rangers, and now use base model Tacomas and Nissans. When the trucks are fully (over) loaded the back ends squat, and the front ends lift. This throws off the lights and makes braking performance poor. It also can wear the tires funny. If there is a big difference between your fully loaded weight (water, supplies, etc.) and the dry weight of the camper when you get it aligned, perhaps that could contribute to wear.

 

That's a good point! In my case though the truck is pretty much always fully loaded and I had both alignments done with the truck at full camping weight missing only about 30 lbs of food/ice and myself in the driver seat. Prior to doing the lift/suspension at around 6000 lbs which added much stiffer leaf springs the truck did ride nose high. Wear wasn't particularly different/awful for that stretch. Post lift/suspension the truck is pretty much back to its stock/unloaded rake when fully loaded with all my gear.

The main thing that will force me to get tires before aging out was the bad Firestone alignment done right after the lift where they made a horrible toe error. Dumb me didn't check wear post alignment until the next rotation so that ripped up two of the five tires horribly! But the other three have worn more than expected as well which is a curiosity but not a fundamental reason I'm getting tires early. If all five had worn like those three I'd be disappointed with their fast wear but they still would like have "aged out" as part of a five tire rotation.

 

My life would be a lot easier if I was this practical! 285s just look so boss

 

LOL! Don't worry, there are other parts of my life at least as impractical as boss looking 285s

 

32s 55lb

 

Thanks @scocar for the pics!

The KO2 and S/T MAXX appear to have very similar construction as far as tread plies and sidewall plies go material wise. That said the S/T MAXX weighs slightly more. One possible reason is according to a post on ExPo where someone talked to some Cooper engineers the KO2 uses three plies of 1000 denier polyester for the sidewalls while the S/T MAXX uses two plies of 1500 denier and one ply of 1000 denier (it is the 1000 denier ply that is at an 8 degree angle to the other two which Cooper claims increases puncture resistance even more).

So far the S/T MAXX looks like a very impressive tire. Not that the KO2 or KO has ever really failed me either!

 

Having never driven in Death Valley...is a Maximum Traction tire better or an Agressive All Terrain or a lesser All Terrain?

 

Never been there either, but I've been looking at a lot of Australian sites lately, and everyone there runs all-terrain tires. Mud tires are more or less unheard of.

 

Honestly you don’t need crazy amounts of traction in DV as there is zero mud and actually not much sand that you cross with a vehicle. I think any A/T out there will give you all the traction you are likely to need. Given you can run into ice crossing some of the passes in the winter and most M/T are pretty horrible at ice the preference probably is to an A/T. Airing down will of course improve the traction of any type of tire as well.

The thing I primarily care about is sidewall strength and this is mostly because I air down and distances are really long out in DV. I’ve never had a flat since running KOs and KO2s (and now of course I’ve jinxed myself, look for a changing a flat post in the future).

I consider P tires pretty much a no go for any lengthy off road travel out there. For LT tires some have stronger sidewalls than others and now you trade weight and potentially ride comfort by going to the stronger ones. But really any LT is going to be “good enough” though you mind end up changing a tire with the lighter weight ones if you do a lot of driving out there or get unlucky. Naturally reducing your speed will greatly reduce the chances of a flat too!

 

I’m another vote for the Maxxx. I know it’s starting to sound “bandwagon”ish, but they really are a great tire. Wieghty for sure but the heavier construction has allowed me to go down to 18 psi regularly with minimal sidewall deflection. I’ve been impressed with the performance on wet roads as well and been in moderate mud with success.
My maiden voyage on these tires was the Mojave trail with @Crom and crew that you missed BTW.

 

Those Coopers look pretty badass.

 

I might even say they are...



(This moment of insanity sponsored by @scocar's "build" thread).

 

I'd buy the Cooper ST/Maxx again without considering others. My tire dealer said he was very impressed with a demonstration of practical sidewall deformity at various inflations. This wheel is approximately 80lb, and is the maxx weight i can lift on and off of my spare tire mount. On the highway I drive 55-60 @ 2K rpm.

 

I wish I had more to say about offroad performance. I've seen pretty much zero since the kiddo came and all the other major life drama. It's been a DD commuter and crap hauler.

The weight certainly affects acceleration and braking.

They are noisier than I thought they might be based on many many comments I've read on TW.

At 32 psi on pavement they seem quite happy and are wearing well with one exception: I had a bad stretch where my oil change and 5-tire rotation stretched from 5k to about 9k. The Coopers did not like that at all. The shoulders on the front began showing it, and I started to get some scalloping. But I'll chalk this up to my 4k neglect on rotation. My guess is this one was the driver side, I can't remember.



I've since thought of getting another set of Michelin LTX AT2s on another set of wheels as DD tires, and holding these in reserve for when offroading trips are a more frequent prospect. It's a perfect excuse to purchase a wall-mounted tire rack, which is a rare type of storage rack I do not yet own. It would be a nice addition to my collection.

But for your dedicated uses in DV, I'd think they would be perfect, especially as you point out more routine lengthy aired-down driving and sharp rocks everywhere.

 

BTW, check out https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/hypoxic-chronology.342497/#post-9109761 for some serious testament of the E rated LTX AT2's imrepessive capabilities. I had the P version on my 1st gen, and was thoroughly impressed pushing them harder offroad than perhaps I should have all over Utah. When I was tire shopping for the 2nd gen, E-rated AT2s were at the top of my list for me needs, especially after seeing hypoxic's adventures. It was a toss up between those and the Coopers, and I thought what they heck, I'll give the Coopers a go.

 

Nope. I've got practically brand new rubber on the Gini/Oxcart.

 

My tires aren't light either. Load range E. I was just talking with my buddy who has the same tires and we verified over 10k dirt miles, most of those in DV with our tires and no issues.