DiploStrat
Expedition Leader
After a long and expensive series of misadventures, I finally have nice round wheels on my MB 917. To these I mounted a set of General Tire Grabber OA WB, size 385/65x22.5, load range L, and set off from the east coast Overland EXPO. The trip took us from Arizona, to California, Nevada, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Idaho, back to Nevada and finally, after about three months, back to Virginia. As the speedometer on the truck is broken, I have no idea of the actual mileage, but it was serious. Herewith the observations:
-- Balance beautifully, 3 or 6 oz.
-- Quiet and much faster on the highway. (Replacing Continental MPT 81 in 335/80x20.)
-- Terribly stiff on washboard and potholed dirt. These are truck tires, not MPT, and the ride can be harsh. Most of the trip we kept experimenting with lower pressures.
-- Not great in snow or mud. This is driven by a couple of factors; the outer edge is not siped and thus they don't clean. Also, the profile is very square.
-- Wear appears to be low, next to nothing visible on the rear and some visible wear on the left front.
Bottom line, great for good pavement - nice and stable. Need to air down on bad dirt and probably air down even more for mud or sand.
We were given a lot of warnings about low pressure as the rims are said to lack safety beads. Scholars can debate this.
Again, impressions, not a formal review or road test.
-- Balance beautifully, 3 or 6 oz.
-- Quiet and much faster on the highway. (Replacing Continental MPT 81 in 335/80x20.)
-- Terribly stiff on washboard and potholed dirt. These are truck tires, not MPT, and the ride can be harsh. Most of the trip we kept experimenting with lower pressures.
-- Not great in snow or mud. This is driven by a couple of factors; the outer edge is not siped and thus they don't clean. Also, the profile is very square.
-- Wear appears to be low, next to nothing visible on the rear and some visible wear on the left front.
Bottom line, great for good pavement - nice and stable. Need to air down on bad dirt and probably air down even more for mud or sand.
We were given a lot of warnings about low pressure as the rims are said to lack safety beads. Scholars can debate this.
Again, impressions, not a formal review or road test.