Thoughts on new 37" Tires

MAG00

Member
Time for some new tires and was curious to get some feedback. As of right now, I've narrowed it down to a few. I am currently running the Nitto Trail Grapplers and seemed to have had good luck with them, so they are on the lists. My local shop mentioned he like the Mickey Thompson Baja Boss MT. Another shop said they like the Falken Wildpeak MT but have been doing a lot of the Maxxis Raxr MT lately. So I guess I'm trying to decide between these. The Maxxis and Falken seem to be a little lower in price (about $20 to $30 per tire) based upon the quotes I received.
  • Nitto Trail Grappler
  • Mickey Thompson Baja Boss MT
  • Falken Wildpeak MT
  • Maxxis Raxr MT
With that said, how would you rate these? 1st choice, 2nd choice, etc.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Mickey Thompson is made by Cooper and if nothing else, they are made in the USA. They are good tires that are essentially STT Pros and they hook up well on the rocks but they do have a soft compound that tends to chunk and wear out fast. I should also note that Cooper got bought out by Goodyear a couple of years back and if it matters to you, they are pretty woke.

Falken makes a decent tire that tends to offer good wear and a quite ride but they're not exactly known for being a better tire on the trail. Not bad but just not as good as something like the Nittos that you are running now. Also, they're not made in the USA.

I have never run Maxxis but don't really care to being that they're not made in the USA.

I have always been happy with Nittos as they hook up great on the trail, are pretty tough, do well on pavement and they're made in the USA. Well, most of them are anyway. 40's are made in Japan but I'm okay with that.
 

JimLee

Hooked
I run Mikey Thompson's, and I really like them, they hook up well in everything (I haven't run any in deep snow though). But, as Eddie said they are soft, I got about 35k on my last set before they became racing slicks. I probably would have swapped them at around 25k had I not already been planning an axle swap to 8 lug 60s. My previous set were 35s, sitting on a brand new set of 37s now.
 

MAG00

Member
Mickey Thompson is made by Cooper and if nothing else, they are made in the USA. They are good tires that are essentially STT Pros and they hook up well on the rocks but they do have a soft compound that tends to chunk and wear out fast. I should also note that Cooper got bought out by Goodyear a couple of years back and if it matters to you, they are pretty woke.

Falken makes a decent tire that tends to offer good wear and a quite ride but they're not exactly known for being a better tire on the trail. Not bad but just not as good as something like the Nittos that you are running now. Also, they're not made in the USA.

I have never run Maxxis but don't really care to being that they're not made in the USA.

I have always been happy with Nittos as they hook up great on the trail, are pretty tough, do well on pavement and they're made in the USA. Well, most of them are anyway. 40's are made in Japan but I'm okay with that.
I appreciate the feedback.

Mickey Thompson - We have a Cooper Tire plant here in town, so I was aware of the Goodyear buyout. Buying a set could be viewed as supporting local workers/business. But a company having "woke" policies or stances doesn't really sit that well with me. I guess folks could debate this subject, but I don't want to get into all that. LOL

Falken - I had heard good things about the tire and that's why I was looking into them. I have no experience with them though. Not made in the USA...mmmm...with other good options available this may be a swaying factor.

Maxxis - I ran buckshots a long time ago on a '99 Chevy Tahoe and they did very well. And I had heard some decent things about the Razrs and they are cheaper, so that why they were on my list. Not made in the USA...mmmm...with other good options available this may be a swaying factor.

Nitto - I have been running them on my rig for the past 5 years and they have done well. I still have some tread life, but they are starting to show signs of "breakdown". Otherwise, I seem to have always heard good things about them other than being heavy. Made in the USA is a plus.

With all that being said, when you have several good options available a lot of times it comes down to money. However, nowadays the "made in the USA" and "woke" policies figures in to the deciding factors as well. Again, I appreciate the feedback and this may have swayed my decision.
 

Jeeper99

Member
I like the Cooper and Mickey Thompson tires. I was aware of the buyout by GY. Not sure if GY is owned by some foreign holding company. I didn't know GY was "woke". God I hope these corporations learn to stay the hell out of politics from the Budlight thing.

On Nittos, they are a Toyo line. I had a set of Toyos years ago that were made in China.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
I like the Cooper and Mickey Thompson tires. I was aware of the buyout by GY. Not sure if GY is owned by some foreign holding company. I didn't know GY was "woke". God I hope these corporations learn to stay the hell out of politics from the Budlight thing.
 

Jeeper99

Member
Good that someone is calling them out. Best policy IMO, is no political or any other type of "statement" clothing, posters, etc. It keeps the work environment professional and free of BS. But then I don't have to work anymore, so I don't much care.
 
Trail Grapplers 100%! I believe some of the bigger sizes are made in Japan but it might depend on just when they were made. Mine were made in the US but I've seen others the same size that were not. Still wouldn't second guess the quality though.
 

jesse3638

Hooked
Thread resurrection, well kinda.

I'm going to be in the market for new tires in 6 months or less. Looking to replace my 37x12.50 R17 STT Pros. As noted they're soft and are wearing horribly. Not to mention they were bought by GY a few months after my purchase. I'm looking at Nitto Trail Grapplers and BFG KM3's. I may even go to an AT as I've been logging a lot of highway miles and less dirt. If I decide on that it'll be between the Ridge grapplers and BFG KO2's. I had good luck with the KM2's when I was running 35's and my wife's KO2's in 315's are doing well also. Both are made in the USA and don't seem to be woke like GY. Any info people have is much appreciated.
 

Jsouder53

Hooked
Thread resurrection, well kinda.

I'm going to be in the market for new tires in 6 months or less. Looking to replace my 37x12.50 R17 STT Pros. As noted they're soft and are wearing horribly. Not to mention they were bought by GY a few months after my purchase. I'm looking at Nitto Trail Grapplers and BFG KM3's. I may even go to an AT as I've been logging a lot of highway miles and less dirt. If I decide on that it'll be between the Ridge grapplers and BFG KO2's. I had good luck with the KM2's when I was running 35's and my wife's KO2's in 315's are doing well also. Both are made in the USA and don't seem to be woke like GY. Any info people have is much appreciated.
Didn’t realize the date stamped on the posts until you commented thread resurrection 😂

I have been very disappointed with my KO2s. I have a square tire that has never been able to be balanced well from the start, one was replaced that was worse. Also, they don’t do as well as I’d hope in the snow. I can’t wait to get them replaced with proper snow tires.
 

jesse3638

Hooked
Didn’t realize the date stamped on the posts until you commented thread resurrection 😂

I have been very disappointed with my KO2s. I have a square tire that has never been able to be balanced well from the start, one was replaced that was worse. Also, they don’t do as well as I’d hope in the snow. I can’t wait to get them replaced with proper snow tires.
Fortunately I don't deal with snow very often if ever...haha. Yeah my KM2's had one that took a ton of weight to balance while a couple others took hardly any. I'm kind of leaning towards the KM3's because I got 40k+ out of my KM2's and they all wore very evenly. Still had 25% or more tread left when I replaced them. My cooper's have a little over 20k on them and they're down to 25-30% tread. If I make 30k ill be happy.
 
Thread resurrection, well kinda.

I'm going to be in the market for new tires in 6 months or less. Looking to replace my 37x12.50 R17 STT Pros. As noted they're soft and are wearing horribly. Not to mention they were bought by GY a few months after my purchase. I'm looking at Nitto Trail Grapplers and BFG KM3's. I may even go to an AT as I've been logging a lot of highway miles and less dirt. If I decide on that it'll be between the Ridge grapplers and BFG KO2's. I had good luck with the KM2's when I was running 35's and my wife's KO2's in 315's are doing well also. Both are made in the USA and don't seem to be woke like GY. Any info people have is much appreciated.
Happy with Ridge Grapplers thus far, including on wet streets. The factory K02s did fine (including in snow) except I did not get the mileage out of them that I expected (some tires wore faster than others). Also, the K02s seemed a bit slippery when wet, such as when taking off from around a corner.

Trail Grapplers seem great if you plan to spend most time on the trail or you really need them on the trail. MT tires in general seem to take more dedication from the driver since they are louder on the paved road and will be worse when wet or if there is snow.
 

JT@623

Hooked
I’m running the 37” KO2’s on my JK and the Mickey Thompson 35” Baja boss MT’s on my TJ both work well in the desert.
 

CalSgt

Hooked
Seems like the BFG's run on the smaller side of the spectrum, I've got a few friends that run the KM3's on their Toyotas with no complaints.

I switched from Cooper STT Pro's to Maxxis RAZR AT's last fall, I've been pleased with how quiet they are and how they don't need to be rotated as often. I was a little worried that they wouldn't do as well in the rocks but they seem to hook up just fine and the chunking and damage has been minimal.

I really wanted to get the Nitto Trail or Ridge Grapplers back then and had a hard time finding them for a decent price.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Thread resurrection, well kinda.

I'm going to be in the market for new tires in 6 months or less. Looking to replace my 37x12.50 R17 STT Pros. As noted they're soft and are wearing horribly. Not to mention they were bought by GY a few months after my purchase. I'm looking at Nitto Trail Grapplers and BFG KM3's. I may even go to an AT as I've been logging a lot of highway miles and less dirt. If I decide on that it'll be between the Ridge grapplers and BFG KO2's. I had good luck with the KM2's when I was running 35's and my wife's KO2's in 315's are doing well also. Both are made in the USA and don't seem to be woke like GY. Any info people have is much appreciated.
If you're considering an AT, I'd give the Ridge Grapplers a look. So far, I've been really happy with how they perform both on and off road. They're very quite and seem to be wearing well as well.
 
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