best aspects for a punture resistant tire

[Kiel]

Over the last 3 trips I have gotten 4 flats. Most of my travel is on decent dirt roads and old mine trails. Mainly easier roads with speeds up to 70 mph. I have ruined 2 tires in the last month that granted are getting older, but I couldn't get them to hold air with over 6-10 plugs in the center of the tread. I have been mixing and matching tires of the same size to get buy as apparently I can't get them to last. Whats the general opinion on getting a beefy tire to handle what I do? Certain plys? Carcass type? The size is 31x10.50 on a jeep cherokee, carrying a decent amount of weight.

 

[bryson]

What kind of air pressure do you run? I would imagine there is a "sweet spot" for each rig - Too much air, and the tire punctures on the rocks instead of flexing over them. Too little air and it handles poorly and loses beads...

Are your flats mostly rock punctures in the tread?

You may want a D or E rated tire for more plys (more puncture resistant?) and weight capacity, but I don't know if they are easy (or possible at all) to find in a 15" rim size...

Maybe find some 16" wheels, and run a set of 265 or 285/75r16. Both those sizes are easy to find in the higher load ranges.

 

[Kiel]

I run them at 15 psi

 

[Greg]

What brand & model tires are you running? I've had no problems cutting tires to the point of destroying them. My last rig was the 8,000 pound FZJ80 and it bombed down many rocky, dirt roads without problem. I was running BFG KM2's and kept the tire pressure between 12-18 PSI, depending on the terrain. Less pressure for more rocks.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Maxxis Bighorns. Probably a hundred thousand miles off-road with no failures... I've had a few nails but all have been replaceable. I'm on my 5th set, admittedly they don't get the best life out of them 30k tops, I'm more like 25k and selling them with some life left. Now this is on light vehicles, not sure how they would fair on a heavier rig but one of my old sets is on an FJ80 I had for a bit and they held up great. Other than that, carry a speedy seal kit. We used an entire plug cord set on our UCEII trip, one participant went through 4 tires, by the end each had several plugs in them. Oddly enough they were the same tires that took him to South America with zero problems... age perhaps?



Now knocking on wood

 

[Kiel]

The first punctures were bfg all terrains. One was fixed one was too torn. This weekend I took another small puncture that took one plug to fix. On the way out I had my one new wrangler rts or something all terrain I had laying around, but was a brand new tire last month took a rock or something dead center on the road back from death canyon. I had 9 plugs in it, and couldn't get it too seal and could see the belts. Before the last 4 trips I had a couple good years with no problems

 

[XJEEPER]

Maxxis Bighorns. Probably a hundred thousand miles off-road with no failures... I've had a few nails but all have been replaceable. I'm on my 5th set, admittedly they don't get the best life out of them 30k tops, I'm more like 25k and selling them with some life left. Now this is on light vehicles, not sure how they would fair on a heavier rig but one of my old sets is on an FJ80 I had for a bit and they held up great. Other than that, carry a speedy seal kit. We used an entire plug cord set on our UCEII trip, one participant went through 4 tires, by the end each had several plugs in them. Oddly enough they were the same tires that took him to South America with zero problems... age perhaps?



Now knocking on wood

I'll 2nd Kurt, I'm on my 2nd set of Bighorns on my XJ with no flats. I've had them siped in the center and the first set had 40k on them when I sold them (still had another 6-8K miles left on them). I run 285/75/16s on TJ Moab wheels (16x8) and usually run 15 psi offroad.

http://www.maxxis.com/AutomobileLight-Truck/Light-Truck-SUV/MT-762-Bighorn.aspx

 

[Kiel]

I was told today the best tire for me is one with a replacement warranty

 

[Greg]

I was told today the best tire for me is one with a replacement warranty

That and a good spare...