BFG Rugged Terrain vs All Terrain?

[Duster]

Since my tire guy can't get me 4 more General AT2 tires at the moment he has offered up a good deal on a leftover set of TA/KO and a good deal on the Rugged Terrain... the new tire not to be confused with the Rugged Trail.

I have mauled this over and I just cannot decide. Both deals are really good and pricing isn't really going to be a deciding factor.

Both are good looking tires in different ways so looks aren't really a deciding factor either. Although I do kind of lean toward the TA/KO since the tread pattern is similar to the AT2 tires I have been running. Not sure that is really fair though.

The Rugged Terrain is I believe a standard load P rated tire. The TA/KO is I believe D rated. I do work my Liberty every day, and I do haul a good bit of weight every day. I have been running P's. But maybe I should be running something a little heavier, IDK. Then I think about that I bet the TA/KO tires weigh a good bit more per tire and probably have a stiff ride adding to a ride that already feels heavy and doesn't have a plush ride.

Are any of you guys running either of these 2 tires? I don't know which to choose.

I do get off road and use 4x4 daily while working too. Both look like they have OK tread for my use, without singing like a mud tire going down the road. I am on the pavement a lot too, which is why I don't run a mud tire. Lot of noise and usually they don't wear too good when it's 90 degrees out.

Help :help:

 

[HoosierJeeper]

I've been wheeling with P rated tires for a years and haven't had an issue with punctures. I almost went with D or E last time but I just didn't want the extra weight. I'd see what the difference in weight is.

Although if you haul stuff and off road daily then I think load range D would be ok, if not optimal. The ATs have a way better tread design. Now I'd vote for the AT.

 

[M38 Bob]

Either one's better than the Gens you're taking off.

TA/KO is just about the best all around tire available, just pricy.

 

[benherr]

M38 Bob

Obviously you don't like Generals. As I was thinking of getting a set of AT2's, I would be interested in why you don't like them.

 

[Duster]

I have no complaints at all with the General AT2. I would get another set of AT2 or a set of the ATX.

My issue is that I do my business with locally owned tire shops. Owners and employees are members of my community. These shops are unable to get me 4 of the AT2 or ATX and it's been ongoing. That being said one of them is a primary General dealer, who has the new ATX advertising set up already and sample tires delivered, etc.

My theory is General has focused their AT production on getting out the most popular sizes of the ATX. So they haven't started producing my size ATX yet, and meanwhile the AT2 stock has ran out already in the smaller pipelines of distribution.

I don't want to take my business elsewhere and I'm getting tired of waiting around. So I have had BFG, Hankook, Cooper, and some others I can't think of suggested to me instead.

I've used several different brands in other applications in the past. But the Liberty has taught me that I better ask other Liberty owners because I have gotten some really pitiful treadwear out of several different sets of tires along the way. I switched to General from Liberty owner advice and got way more mileage from them than anything else I have put on it so far.

 

[tommudd]

Look closely at the Coopers, have some great tires

 

[Cardhu]

AT KO2's on my truck are great. They are heavy and offer about 80% of the traction of my duratracs when i had them on the jeep in snow and such.

Way quieter than the duratracs. But they are heavy and they don't make C's.

The rugged terrain are mostly for show on the sidewall with a highway tread. P rated are less than ideal but lots seem to run them on their pavement princess half tons.

Have you considered Firestone Destination AT?

 

[HoosierJeeper]

I love my Hankook DynaPro ATMs on my KJ.

 

[ltd02]

Have you considered Firestone Destination AT?

Not sure I'd recommend these for the KJ. I've been running a set on my Ranger for about 5 years now. Maybe 40k on them. Always been good in mild stuff (dirt, gravel and lighter snow) and dry pave but they seem pretty slickery in the plain old rain. Pretty easy to break them free on my light ass truck.

 

[kejobe]

Not sure I'd recommend these for the KJ. I've been running a set on my Ranger for about 5 years now. Maybe 40k on them. Always been good in mild stuff (dirt, gravel and lighter snow) and dry pave but they seem pretty slickery in the plain old rain. Pretty easy to break them free on my light ass truck.

I had them on the '01 Ram 1500 I had. could plow a foot of snow in 2wd. No weight in the back either.

 

[ltd02]

I had them on the '01 Ram 1500 I had. could plow a foot of snow in 2wd. No weight in the back either.

1500 is Probably still way heavier than my 4wd Ranger. Never did use them in that much snow but they did fine in about 4-6". I just have trouble in the rain, even light rain. Ranger is slightly tweaked but not a hot rod.

 

[Duster]

Cooper... that's one I have always liked. Kinda how I got to doing business at my preferred shop. I tend to keep some vehicles a long time, and every one of them has had Cooper tires on it at some point. Even my Jeep has a used one on it now that I picked up as a replacement for the one I destroyed. But there is a little "game" going on here right now with Cooper. Same thing with Kelly, Goodyear, Yokohama and Firestone. Basically some of the local shops got bought out by bigger places. And they have kind of put the jam on some of the small independent places. Some of this will pass in time, but I will have new tires before then. Chain politics.

Hankook tires is another. Had a local place here selling them before anyone knew who they were. He may have another line in there now that will be the next one like that, IDK. I like the Dynapro ATM. Only thing that made me look the other way is I already had Dynapro... not ATM... don't remember, HT HP AS... can't remember. They were no issues and wore down smooth. But they wore slick pretty fast like 25k or 30k or something like that. Better life than the Goodyears but not much.

I've had like 3 sets of the sucky goodyears, a set of Dynapro whatever, and set of Sailun Terramax. All wore down even smooth until bald. All those got me to 143k. Actually the no-name Sailun was a better tire and lasted longer than the other 4 sets. The Grabber AT2 have lasted longer than any of those and were at least half tread still. I just had bad luck.

Looks like the ATM has a treadwear warranty. They would probably get better life than what I had.

 

[M38 Bob]

M38 Bob

Obviously you don't like Generals. As I was thinking of getting a set of AT2's, I would be interested in why you don't like them.

I attempted to sell them as a main line A/T through my shop a few years back. Had a high rate of sidewall punctures in any off road usage, and nonexistent company support. On the highway it's a great tire for winter traction and mileage.

 

[Duster]

Money spent. I went with the BFG All Terrain.

I would have went back with General again if it hadn't turned into an ordeal. I think I also would have been satisfied if I had made another choice. I think the Falken, Hankook, and Cooper all terrain types would have served fine as well. And the new BFG Rugged Terrain tires would have probably been OK too. I just didn't see any small sipes in the tread blocks. We don't get a ton of winter weather. But when we do it is always stupid slick. It either starts out as freezing rain or ice and then snow on top. Or its a wet snow that packs really hard. This is a mountainous area too. So, not saying my bumper is ever pushing snow. But this is not flat land and it's never a dry powder snow.

Anyways, in the end I got to thinking... all I really wanted was what I had, and the BFG KO's were the closest. And that this would probably be my last chance to get KO's. And I was debating trying something a little more heavy duty than P rated but didn't really want to get into E-rated.

After all is said and done, I will be able to compare the two in time. I just hope I don't destroy one early on and find that I can't even get another. And I am a little leary on the weight aspect. I won't really find out how much more these weigh until tomorrow.

 

[Duster]

Picked up the BFG TA/KO's today. Decided to wait for install so I can get alignment done too. Works out cause it gives me an actual chance to comb over them first and get info I wouldn't have.

Tread depth is the same. Tread pattern is a little more different than you can gather without them being right side by side as I am looking at them now. Thats about all the explaination I can offer. The rest will have to be tried and tested.

If I had to guess, dirt traction is going to be about the same wet or dry. The BFG edges look like they may provide more side bite on off camber. General looks to have more siping for winter use. And possibly the tread difference may channel water on the pavement a little better. But all guessing.

There are no stud holes already in the BFG either. I think I will like that as those ended up with tiny shard gravel pebbles in them since I don't have studs in the general and am not likely to stud tires.

General is a little better looking tire to me turned blackwall. BFG is better looking turned white letter. That's about it on looks. I probably shouldn't comment at all on looks though because I'm not a young guy and not in the majority. I'm not much on the more current looks of say the KO2 with the shoulder sidewall stuff. And I still dig a white letter which is also out of style. My tire guy likes to mess with me. Says only old guys like white letters. I'm 43 and he is older than me, and so he likes to rib me when he can.

Weight is the major difference I found. Since picked up and didn't mount I got to weigh them. I may cry a little there. They weigh 45.6 Lbs a piece. I am trying to keep that in perspective though as they are LT and load range D and none of the Generals I would have gotten would have been. So for now I am telling myself it is worth the weight to try them. A standard AT2 in the same size has a claimed weight of 35.4 so 10 lbs more each. I believe if General offered the same rating in the size the weight would be about the same. Like I say obviously significantly more tire with these and hopefully that is worth it. I don't think I will mind unless there is an ugly change in gas mileage.

Looking forward to getting them on and getting the alignment done. Not too worried on the sizing. I think I have more concern on the width than the diameter. There isn't a ton of clearance on the inner sidewall area in front. Since the width is divided inside and outside though, I think no problem.

 

[benherr]

Looking forward to your continued comparison between the two tires.
Thanks.

 

[Duster]

Well, I got them installed and only drove home on them, checked the clearances and all that stuff.

Initial opinion from one drive like most people would do to check out their buddy's new tires, I think I like them slightly better so far on the pavement.

So far I have not noticed the extra weight at all. I came from 235/70 AT2's as well. So not even an apples to apples there. I never felt or weighed those though, just rolled in and had them put on. General claims 31.2 Lbs vs 45.6 lbs. So either 14.4 lbs x 4 more weight rolling mass is not as noticeable as I would have thought, or I haven't done anything to notice, or General is maybe fibbing a little on weight. I don't know. But when I hook up and load my trailer we will know if I just haven't done anything to feel it yet.

Ride on crappy pavement actually seems better instead of worse too, which I didn't expect. I will have to drive more though, and get on some dirt roads too. But so far so good.

Road noise... well as similar as the tread is... the BFG's have some road noise. They have a little growl at side road speeds and a bit of singing at highway speeds. But nothing that bothers me personally. It's nothing bad at all. Just a little more noise. My kid hasn't rode in the Jeep in a while and she said she couldn't tell the difference. My wife will be a better test dummy for that. When I drive her somewhere in it, she is the type that would say something about it where as I wouldn't be bothered.

Clearance wise... I have new stock height suspension all around. These fit great. I totally do not at all see the pinch weld thing nor the front air dam thing on the 2007 with fresh legs. The closest point I can find is actually the front of the front fender wells when turning. But I still don't think it will touch, even while wheeling. I think it may be as close as it's going to get pretty much.

HOWEVER... I do totally take back the statement of the closest point. It's actually one that I think nobody ever notices. It seems to be the UPPER BALL JOINTS. Like between the sidewall of the tire and the balljoint.

So I will say... if you like to play in the mud on purpose... don't run 245/70. Not unless you want to drag junk between your sidewall and the boots on your upper ball joints. If there's some sticky mud and some rocks in it, you're gonna trash the boots. Bye Bye ball joints on the regular. You should really just run the 225/75 instead. You'd be hard pressed to find the difference in height. If you play in the mud on purpose and want anything more than 225/75 on, you should get a lift kit and probably a different wheel offset. Mine has the factory steels. I'm telling you, it's tight in there. I really am amazed my boots survived 235/70. I guess its only because I don't go play any on purpose.

 

[Duster]

They got monsoon tested today, lol. Didn't even have to wash the blue of the white letters on this set.

I might could see some of the hydroplaning complaints that are floating around now. Mine didn't like full on hydroplane. But they are new and these aren't as wide as what a lot of people run either. And I could feel a little skimming that I did not feel with my AT2 even at 35000 miles. Like half tread. Makes no sense logical sense to me, but I felt what I felt.

Wet pavement traction is fine. I didn't spin, slide or slip. I almost had a wreck today that would have been my fault if they hadn't stopped on a dime. The AT2 were the same as well. I have heard people say both suck in the rain on pavement as far as traction but I haven't found that to be the case.

I got to go down a long pea gravel road in the course of work today too. I just kind of gritted teeth before I hit the pavement again. I figured the tread would be all full and it would sound like tap shoes. But no complaints there so far at full tread.

I will get into some more interesting stuff at work next week I'm sure.

 

[benherr]

Duster
Sorry that I'm an idiot, but I just wanted to make sure I know exactly what tire you are running.
Bf Goodrich TA/KO ( 2 or the original ?). And what size ? 245/70/16 ?

Thanks. Sorry if I missed that.

 

[Duster]

Duster
Sorry that I'm an idiot, but I just wanted to make sure I know exactly what tire you are running.
Bf Goodrich TA/KO ( 2 or the original ?). And what size ? 245/70/16 ?

Thanks. Sorry if I missed that.

No no... I don't mind to clarify.

TA/KO originals... the new look of the 2 hasn't grown on me yet.

245/70/16 size.
Stock steel wheels
2007 Sport

I have NEW shocks and struts with NEW springs and there has been enough time that they are settled as well. If you have saggy front springs still these will probably rub somewhere.