How to choose off-road tires: AT or MT?
It just so happened that from the very first day of my four-wheel drive life I drove on mud tires. Youthful maximalism did not allow me to start with half measures and immediately chose tires with the proud Mud Terrain index .
Having dashed quite a few kilometers over the years, I have never regretted my choice, although everyone around me was constantly convincing me that the MT is a complete misunderstanding, since all the same we mostly drive on asphalt, and only the last “several kilometers off-road ". So, the “traveler” has enough All Terrian class tires for his eyes , and you can either put chains on the mud or drive on the winch. |
But there was an opportunity to check on yourself. The set of my BFGoodrich KM2 wheels has been erased to indecent, and I myself am 9000 km from the house in the coastal city of Vladivostok.
There is only one plan - to quickly get to Moscow almost without moving off the asphalt. Here it’s really a pity to “wash” large tread blocks simply on asphalt and I decided: “why not try ?!”
In the end, even if the experiment is not the most successful, it will still be a practical experience, which is much more valuable than any other theoretical opinion.
No sooner said than done I read mastercraft courser cxt reviews and I buy Mastercraft tire, which seemed pretty to me . This is a fairly well-known tire manufacturer belonging to the Cooper Tires concern (let me remind you that this is happening in Vladivostok, and there is a slightly different tire assortment, different from our usual one).
The figure seemed interesting to me and at the same time not as “evil” as on my BFGoodrich KM2 - it can be seen from all that there should be obvious fuel savings from changing tires, and also, as a bonus, acoustic comfort will improve.
To save on fuel even more, then instead of my size 255/85 R16 (in terms of inch size 33.1 ″ ) I put 265/75 R16 (inch size 31.6 ″ ).
My old tires are in such a condition that they don’t even take them for free in tire fitting - I also had to pay for their disposal. As you can see, the tread “gnawed” the Kolyma rock, as well as one or two cargo patches in each of the wheels.
There is only one plan - to quickly get to Moscow almost without moving off the asphalt. Here it’s really a pity to “wash” large tread blocks simply on asphalt and I decided: “why not try ?!”
In the end, even if the experiment is not the most successful, it will still be a practical experience, which is much more valuable than any other theoretical opinion.
No sooner said than done I read mastercraft courser cxt reviews and I buy Mastercraft tire, which seemed pretty to me . This is a fairly well-known tire manufacturer belonging to the Cooper Tires concern (let me remind you that this is happening in Vladivostok, and there is a slightly different tire assortment, different from our usual one).
The figure seemed interesting to me and at the same time not as “evil” as on my BFGoodrich KM2 - it can be seen from all that there should be obvious fuel savings from changing tires, and also, as a bonus, acoustic comfort will improve.
To save on fuel even more, then instead of my size 255/85 R16 (in terms of inch size 33.1 ″ ) I put 265/75 R16 (inch size 31.6 ″ ).
My old tires are in such a condition that they don’t even take them for free in tire fitting - I also had to pay for their disposal. As you can see, the tread “gnawed” the Kolyma rock, as well as one or two cargo patches in each of the wheels.
Well, now from the prelude to the conclusions. Immediately after installing the new tires, it seemed to me that the car was completely silent, but the comparison is not entirely correct. The fact is that BFGoodrich KM2 has the ability to wear the tread unevenly, but as though “through a checker”, that is, the more the tire is worn, the more “thin” the tread. Not only did I notice this, and the previous, so-called “classical”, model KM1 suffered from this .
But if you recall the sensations from the new BFGoodrich KM2, then the difference in noise is not great at all. This is not surprising, since Goodrich is considered one of the quietest MT tires in the class , as well as the most wear-resistant.
Measurements of profitability were also not in favor of AT tires. Fuel consumption naturally fell, by my measurements, by about a liter and a half, but to a greater extent this result should be attributed to a significant decrease in wheel dimension (wheel diameter decreased from 840 to 804 mm)
Fuel consumption measurements were carried out by the following calculation: pouring fuel “to the edge” at a gas station and at a subsequent refueling similarly, divided the number of liters of diesel that fit by the number of kilometers traveled by the GPS navigator (this way I removed the odometer error from the calculations).
At the same time, the “passability” of the car has deteriorated significantly. The fact that earlier it was possible to drive on the Goodrich without hesitation, on the ateshki requires jewelry handling with all-wheel drive.
Thus, we can say that the old truth has been confirmed - the most correct AT buses are the BFGoodrich KM2 !!! They do not pretend to laurels of "evil" MTshek, but they also win "by head" against any All Terrian .
Based on the experience gained, I can now confidently say that AT tires are more suitable for crossovers, KM2 are suitable for most, and those who need really serious tires need to look at extreme off-road tires.
But if you recall the sensations from the new BFGoodrich KM2, then the difference in noise is not great at all. This is not surprising, since Goodrich is considered one of the quietest MT tires in the class , as well as the most wear-resistant.
Measurements of profitability were also not in favor of AT tires. Fuel consumption naturally fell, by my measurements, by about a liter and a half, but to a greater extent this result should be attributed to a significant decrease in wheel dimension (wheel diameter decreased from 840 to 804 mm)
Fuel consumption measurements were carried out by the following calculation: pouring fuel “to the edge” at a gas station and at a subsequent refueling similarly, divided the number of liters of diesel that fit by the number of kilometers traveled by the GPS navigator (this way I removed the odometer error from the calculations).
At the same time, the “passability” of the car has deteriorated significantly. The fact that earlier it was possible to drive on the Goodrich without hesitation, on the ateshki requires jewelry handling with all-wheel drive.
Thus, we can say that the old truth has been confirmed - the most correct AT buses are the BFGoodrich KM2 !!! They do not pretend to laurels of "evil" MTshek, but they also win "by head" against any All Terrian .
Based on the experience gained, I can now confidently say that AT tires are more suitable for crossovers, KM2 are suitable for most, and those who need really serious tires need to look at extreme off-road tires.