Goodyear MT/R's for BFG Mud Terrain's

Haven't had first hand experience with the Goodyears, but have the BFG's. Love 'em. Daily driver here also, and have about 50K on 'em so far, and still plenty of tread left. From what I've read, the MT/R's are great, too. But a little softer, and might wear quicker on the road.

Dave

which ever one you pick make sure to rotate them every 3K miles so they dont chop up.. you will get a longer life out of them

Put BFG mud terrains on my CJ, goes anywhere, now if my detroit would come in it will go anywhere plus.

This is probably a stupid question, but I've got to ask. I just got a TJ with MT/R's. I'm guessing that you need to swap the tires from side to side when rotating them in order to get better tread life. In the old days I rotated tires with the right front to the left rear, and so on, and the spare was also rotated, but on newer cars with radial tires I've been told not to do that and to keep the tires on the same side they were on and just swap the front and rear. What's the proper rotatoin for the MT/R's?

Thanks.

Check your owners manual.

Both my CJ7 and my Cherokee's owners manuals say to rotate 4 tires, just go front to back, no crossing.

To rotate in the spare, it goes on the right rear (main wear tire) right rear to right front and right front back to spare. The left still always goes back to front.

Mike

Lee wrote:

Hi Carl,

Both good tires. GY MT/R will be a bit more quiet on the daily drive. BFG MT will pull a bit better in the mud. GY MT/R is said to have a better grip on slick rock. BFG MT can be siped to improve grip.

I've got BFG MT. Work great for me on daily drive and forest trails.

Gonna boost an inch or two to fit those tires? For more clearance in front, use tin snips to cut the leading part of the front fenders and flares in a straight line flush with the bottom of the head lights:

If you need fender clearance in back, remove and discard the liners under the rear flares and snip away the sheet metal below the pinch seam, especially lower rear section:

Carl Saiyed wrote:

Hi Lee,

Most tire specialists will recommend same side rotation for radials. With my current set of MTs I chose instead to do a five tire cross rotation like this:

SPARE->RR RR->RF RF->LR LR->LF LF->SPARE

I rotate religiously every 5000 km and I have had zero issues with uneven wear.

Steve

Lee wrote:

Thanks for all the help. I am gonna go with the BFG's. I plan on getting a rocky-road outfitters 2" lift kit. 1.5" shackles with 1/2" block for the rear, 2" coil spacers for the front.

Will this give me enough clearance?

Thanks,

Carl

I just bought some slightly used BFG MTs (33x12.5) and they're awesome on the road (all I've used them for.. until this weekend gets here!) -- not nearly as loud as the ProComp MTs I had. Much smoother ride too.

Eric

Funny -- I read a national article in the local newspaper, from two mechanics, that rotating the tires is pretty useless. That the only reason shops do it is to make more money. They said they'd never pay to rotate the tires unless you got the service for free and were there for something else. Said it really didn't make much of a difference at all.

I don't know how true that is, but it sorta makes sense. If you rotate them, they have to "get used to" they're new spot on the vehicle and will wear quickly for a few miles to settle in. Do that enough times, and those little "wear-in" sessions would add up.

I'm not a tire expert -- just my thoughts on it.

Eric

Either tire has proven itself and works very well. I have the MTRs but the bfg's are respected and long tested. KH

BFG's Mud Terrain is better in mud than Goodyear's MT/R is but the MT/R has a MUCH stronger sidewall so it resists sidewall cuts (like from rock crawling) MUCH better than BFG's MT does. The MT/R is also a much better rock crawler and along with BFG's uber-expensive Krawler tire, have pretty much taken over the toughest rock crawling trails.

BFG's MT gets better wear, afterall, BFG's AT and MT probably get about the best wear of any offroad tire brand.

I got 55K miles on my 33" BFG MTs before swapping them for 35" MT/Rs and can vouch for the added sidewall toughness of the MT/R over the MT. I used to cut my BFG MTs on a regular basis and have only sliced open one MT/R since the swap.

If you're a rock crawler, go with the MT/R. If you're a mudder, go with the MT.

Jerry

P.S. On rotating radial tires, it has been ok to swap them from side-to-side for probably at least 20 years now. The first generation of radial tires had manufacturing defects that made them come apart or wear unevenly when swapped from side to side but improved manufacturing processes combined with manufacturing equipment specifically designed for radial tire manufacturing has cured the problem.

A 5-way swap is ideal if you bought all five tires at the same time.

I got the following 5-way swap recommendation from a few manufacturer's recommendations including BFG and Goodyear many years ago and have had excellent results from it. I try to rotate my tires every 5K miles.

LF to LR RF to RR LR to spare Spare to RF RR to LF.

Rotating tires will, generally speaking, often double their life and in all cases will extend it significantly.

Jerry

I was just listening to one of those car shows the other day, they said when radials first came out they had to stay on same side when rotating, but not anymore, switch away.