Tires for Nitinat

[Gdawg]

My first trip to Nitnat, I flatted twice on the P rated stock tires my Silverado came with. I was exactly half way along the dirt road on the way in. Hitched back with some loggers who in turn got a flat in their crew-truck. After I finally got my vehicle back to Youbou, I confessed my ignorance of tires to the guy at Daly's (the garage in Youbou) and told him to sell me a new set which would get me to the lake. Hankook LTs, no flats since but I always carry two spares now just in case.

10 years later and my wife still mocks me for the lack of real man skills and poor preparation I demonstrated that day and is still pissed because we missed the wind.

[nanmoo]

Ha! Nice one!

[SmallWaveSteve]

I have had good luck with the https://www.kaltire.com/ on keating ... http://www.nokiantires.com/summer-tires ... otiiva-at/ I think I read on here that Nanmoo's family was in the tire business. If that is the case then I defer to him as our expert. I've found that four wheel drifts on logging roads with marginal tires & loaded vehicles leads to flats. https://www.kaltire.com/tires/specials/nokian-2/

They really are great, they'll also price match. (I had them come within 30 bucks of one of the big online outfits out of the states for a set of 4 Yokohama Geolandars), which they don't regularly stock, and had them in store within a couple of days.

That being said I've picked up a nail every year for the last 5 years within a week of canada day weekend :/

[nanmoo]

I use Nokian Rotivas on my work truck (along with many others in the resource sector), it's a more practical tire then a BFG All Terrain in terms of pavement driving, bullet proof on gravel, but they don't last very long. IMHO there are better options if you are footing the bill, but it's probably the best logging road tire.

[Teabag]

After lots of unproductive "20 minutes there" "1 hour there" "45 min there" etc... of reading online tire reviews, and comparing 3-4 top list together.

I say "unproductive" because I didnt take notes all these times except for the last morning before going to buy new ones. Although I purchased them already, I might re spend another / a final 5-6+ hours with bunch of papers, and really analyse them all in depth, comparing them one by one etc...

Why? In case of somebody else is tired of they tires, but is not to sure on which ones to get and doesnt feel like spending time on researching the net.

So far, what seemed the best best for SUV/LT tires are these 2:
(All terrain tires, mainly highway but good for summer Nitinaht).

1: Michelin LTX AT2 - Exact same rating as Nokian Rotiva, except a little better on roll resistance, meaning better mileage for a tank of gas and also better tread life, very long tread life actually. They were also rated better braking on ice than the Nokian Rotiva but they dont have the flake, so these claims do not seem very legit. Too legit, too legit to quit.

2: Nokian Rotiva - They were only on one list that compare them with common North American tires, and were high enough. Near the end I had a quick look at "European tires review". They seem good enough to rank # 2 in that small research. And what JL/Tony/Steeve said.

Hopefully Ill push myself into spending the time to do a final / over paranoiac / analysing rating after rating... 5/6+ hours of headaches/fair comparison.

If you spend 10-15 minutes comparing lists you will soon realize that there are soo many tires out there, the european tires as well, that it take lots of time to come up to a conclusion for an overall rating. (some of them rate super high on 2 list, but medium on a third list, and super low on the 4th list, etc...) Also some of them seem like the rating are maybe "modified" or "not real" to accommodate a tire brand...

Or some tires only have 3-4 reviews when they are rated # 3 on the list... Which doesnt give much weight compare to the # 8 tire which has 102 review for example.

Anyway, Michelin LTX AT 2 seemed definitively like the best bet.
(either super high or quite high on 2 list (top 5-6), high on another list (Top 10) and the lowest was ~ top 15-20, but all had tons of review on them, and for the top 20 list the top 6-7 of that list only had 2-6 reviews for each tires)

Will post results later if I do that tire list. Based on more "Top Tire lists" this time, including the one from consumer report.org as well as other legit paying consumer report if I find other ones.

[nanmoo]

I've been using Maaxis 771 A/T the last few seasons on my personal truck without a single issue. Longer wearing than the Rotiva, better on the highway than more aggressive treads and they've gotten me to San Carlos and back twice with no issues.

[JL]

Here is another: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... +T%2FA+KO2 What are you driving Ian http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/w ... rrain.html

[KUS]

Yawn...e-rated whatever tire, no problem

http://m.shutterstock.com/images/3345464

No flats

[winddude]

I've been using Maaxis 771 A/T the last few seasons on my personal truck without a single issue. Longer wearing than the Rotiva, better on the highway than more aggressive treads and they've gotten me to San Carlos and back twice with no issues.

Sounds like more big tire propaganda from Moo. There's only 1 way to roll...

[nanmoo]

BFG All Terrains are a fan favourite for sure, they look cool but they're over the top for what you need and will kill your pavement mileage.

[ozy]

I've used the Rotivas now for 12 years on my vans and yeah they don't last as long as other tires but they are fully rated winter tires and I don't even take them off in the summer and they still last me three years. I had the Michelin LTX and BFGOODRICH before and was not impressed.

[rvanderbyl]

Got the Michelin LTX Tires for our one ton Campervan over 6 years ago. Tires were awesome and only one flat on Nitnat road after a lot of trips out there. Sadly it was the one time Sharon drove out there without me...haha. But it was only a slow leak so at least she made it into camp. Just bought the BFG KO2 tires last fall before heading to the Baja cause the Michelins looked pretty chewed up after all the hours on the logging roads but still had well obver 65% tread after over 35k and all that abuse. When I went to replace the Michelins the KO2s were recommended over the Michelins for the type of use they would likely see.

[nanmoo]

After going through 3 sets of Rotivas in 2 years (with 3 flats) in my work truck I'm now trying some generic Kal tire Wild Country's. Rotivas are great for winter but too soft for summer gravel, especially if you are towing. The last set was down to 30% in the rear when i flatted one two weeks ago, they were new in Oct with under 10,000km. Given the island doesn't get winter I'd say you are unnecessarily spending money. Personally I'd go for more of a winter compromise, harder, blockier with less siping but longer lasting.

[downwind dave]

if you are thinking of the BFG kos check out the general grabber at2, its very similar but substantially cheaper, i've run them on my taco the last 2 summers with no issues.

[AC]

Hankook 10 ply AT
Never had a flat yet .
Even pulled a railroad spike out
And it hey still hold air
Guaranteed to out last BF
two times longer