Help Me Decide... Ridge Grapplers or Wildpeaks??

Its all metal, all cuts the same

 

Two inch lift, sliders and an aluminum skid plate. Softopper on the back.

 

$0.02: I have 75 Ridge Grapplers on stock O/R rims... As soon as I mounted them noticed major increase in vibration, visible also at the stick. Had installer rebalance within ~ 1k = negligible improvement. Then paid $200 ish for a different independent to redo alignment and who actually had a Road Force Balancing machine = much improved but still noticeable. 2nd shop said 1 of 4 wheels was way out. and minor changes to alignment.

That was ~12-15k ago: I'm pretty good with rotations about every 5k... Still noticeable vibration. There is some noise... but not bad at all. If stock GY's were a 3 on a scale of 1-10: these would be a 6. Totally tolerable, did a few long distance highway trips no sweat. I can tell they are getting a LITTLE louder now above 50mph. I do notice the weight, but this is not a race car. The speedometer dial is spot on now, the digital is 1-2 mph high now. MPG is down ~ 1-2 MPG I'd estimate, but hard to say about gas quality now vs then, and how I drive etc. Last gripe: Wet traction as the roads just start getting wet or after the rain is not great. About the same as the older cars I used to drive or my old 1st Gen.... Hit the gas on a turn and it will spin until TC kicks in. Manageable and noticeable, but acceptable for what I'd say is a real AT tire (Vs stock GYs that are more SUV ish)

Positive side: They look awesome. Been on some dirt, grass, rocks, construction site, hit plenty of curbs and pot holes etc... no problems. Way more confident these will survive vs stock. Only got to drive thru ~ 1" of snow twice.... Way better than the stock GYs, but they were pretty beat so hard to compare. I commented on wet above.... in REAL hard rain, they are fine... big puddles, no problems, super cold = same. Panic braking was ok, hard to say better or worse.... (Panic braking on wet would be a nail biter I think).

Am I salty I dropped ~ $1.2 k on these? No. Would I buy them again? Probably not... glad I tried, I'll run them another 30-40k for sure. NOW, half my gripes may be related to going up from 70's to 75's IDK or from the OEM (SUV tires) to real A/T.... Probably a combination of the two.... I debated long about the "Upgrade" before pulling the trigger. Now that the RONA has passed I'll be doing a lot more driving and probably try something else next time; either back to 70's or pizza cutters.

 

Wife has 265/75/16 BFG KO2 on a stock Sport on my old off-road wheels (25 mm offset) with zero issues. 265/70/17 has identical exterior dimensions, so unless the 5 mm less poke is the issue, they should be fine.

 

Damn!

Man, those 35s look like lil bitches compared to the 40s ha.