Tires

Does your Mitsubishi L300 make a strange noise? Need wheel alignment specs?
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brewskie
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Tires

Post by brewskie »

Good morning.

I'm looking for some advice on new tires. When I bought my van it came with Geolandar ATS. They seemed a good match for what I was using the van for and I used them for 5 years. Two years ago I replaced them with Kelly Safari TRS which are far more aggressive. I took the advice from my mechanic saying that they would be good for me. After 2 years of use I really don't like them, far to aggressive tread for my use and poor mileage. I'm wondering what folks here are using these days. Most of my driving these days consists of mainly around town and highway with some washboard gravel on weekends going camping and canoeing. No real off-road to speak of.

I'm looking at possibly some michelin LTX A/T2 or M/S2 from Costco. They seem to get good reviews. Just wondering if they would suit my needs and if not what else should I be looking at........

Thanks in advance

Rob
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FalcoColumbarius
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Re: Tires

Post by FalcoColumbarius »

Why not go back to the Yoko's? They are a smooth ride on the road and they are quite capable off road. Did you not like them over the five year period that you used them? Although the LT235/75R15s are slightly smaller circumference than the stock tyres, the difference is minimal (something like 15 feet over one hundred kilometres distance difference).

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brewskie
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Re: Tires

Post by brewskie »

Thanks for the reply!

Yes I did like the yokos. They were 235/75r15's. I just thought I'd see if there were better options people here were using. I know the michelins have a good heritage in the XLT lineup.

Thanks again

Rob
Feds
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Re: Tires

Post by Feds »

I am at the end of a set of General Grabber AT2's. I would highly recommend them.

They've been quiet, comfortable, and outstanding in the snow. Good offroad too.

They're an aggressive looking tire with good road manners. Plus, I got a solid 90,000 kms from the set
brewskie
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Re: Tires

Post by brewskie »

Thanks for the reply!

General grabbers hey! I'll have to look into them for sure. I spoke to a dude at Kale Tire yesterday. Besides the yokos he highly recommended the wild countries and even more so the nokian rotiiva.

Any thoughts..........

Much appreciated!

Rob
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Re: Tires

Post by TieMyShoe »

Your old ATS tires were "All terrain" tires, they give you the best of both worlds. This means they are suitable for the highway but durable and grippy enough for off road use, most AT tires are also "snow rated". This means they can be legally used on mountain passes in the winter, look for the snow flake over a mountain symbol. The Kelly tires you have now look to be a mud terrain... very aggressive with off road being the primary use. The LTX MS2 (or HT) is a highway tire or just a your general "All Season". These are great for city use and maintained gravel roads, anything past that and they do not have the durability of tread pattern to get you very far.

You are not going to go wrong if you go with Michelin, Yoko, Toyo. All three are top tier manufactures. If you would like to save a few bucks look at Hankook, Kumho, General. Avoid the china brand tires, the prices look great but the build quality is heavily lacking.

Kal tire is going to push Nokian no matter what because they are exclusive dealer to Nokian. They are a great tires however keep in mind if you damage the tire in the an area that does not have a Kal tire.. you will NOT find a matching tire as nobody else carries them. this also goes for many Costco Michelin tires. Costco has a contract with Michelin to get exclusive tread patterns. So even though other shops carry Michelin, they will not necessarily have the same Michelin you bought from Costco.
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Lapprentis
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Re: Tires

Post by Lapprentis »

There seems to be many Geolandar models-codes...Mine are (Yokohama Geolandar G051 LT235/75R15 H/T-S 104/101Q). Anyway, I do like it and have confidence in Yokohama Brand. I do also have these Michelin on my Pickup truck and Like it too. For me, most driving on pavement, with occasional gravel roads.

Lapprentis :M
punkrawker
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Re: Tires

Post by punkrawker »

save your money, general crappers are the exact same garbage as bfg all terrian for half the price...still a waste of money in my opinion. I was far from impressed with anything from nokian and the same with jokeahamas due to extremely poor tread wear and poor road characteristics. ultimately tires depends on what you are honestly driving as far as on/off road goes. believe it or nor not the almost best all round mud tire is a hankook MT, google it for reviews if you dont believe me. Falken and toyo make some pretty excellent AT tires and goodyear wranglers dont seem to be too bad either. If you are concerned about fuel economy then stay away from any mud tire or heavy At tire. for winter save your pennies and buy a solid winter tire and do not get fooled by all season/terrian BS. winter tires were invented for a reason ans while some At tires do have the snow flake symbol on them I would personally still fork out money for a set of solid winter and a set of solid summer tires. Above all else, guys at tire shops are still trying to sell you a product that they exclusively carry so of course they will talk up that product, its the age old questions about tires and i say the same thing everytime....DO YOUR HOMEWORK AND RESEARCH WHAT OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE FOR YOU!!!!!!
brewskie
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Re: Tires

Post by brewskie »

Good morning.

Thanks very much for all the replies. Pulled the trigger on nokian rotiiva a few weeks ago. The dude at Kaltire didn't push me on them, just said they were another option. I've owned Nokians in the past on other vehicles and liked them. The rotiiva have a great load rating as well seeing as I really load the deli up with my family of 4 and canoe/camping gear. I've done a few weekend trips with them and so far I really like how they drive on both pavement and crappy gravel roads.

Thanks again
dr_airtime
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Tires

Post by dr_airtime »

Hey - 6 year L300 owner here upgrading in 2 weeks to an L400 fresh from Japan so I'll get new tires. Though I would continue tire questions on the L300 thread.

What is everyone's thoughts on the Yokohama Geolander A/T-S for a BC April-to-November AT Summer Tire? 95% of my driving will be on-road. Off-road typically only well maintained logging roads. The tread here looks less "burly/grippy" that something like a BFG AT or General Grabber AT which I've had before on my L300.

I know Falco has had the geolander's on his L300 for eons and really likes them. I wouldn't get the G015 version of the Geolander which I understand are weighted more towards off road and snow and thus may have a softer rubber compound that wears more.

I've got a great set of M&S tires from my L300 with snowflake that definitely lean towards the snow sides of things, so I'm not concerned about snow performance with my summer tires as they'll be in storage.

Thanks!
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north54
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Tires

Post by north54 »

I've run the A/T-S for 3 years on my L300. 90% road but have ventured into some slippery snowy highway sections and I have no complaints with them. Definitely would purchase again.
TRUSTY RUSTY
sealica
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Tires

Post by sealica »

I went with "Nexen" brand AT in the 235/75R15. Cheapest AT tire I could find ... I think it was $500 for 4 tires.

I don't have tons of tire experience, but I feel they're just as good as the hypey BFG et al.
dr_airtime
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Tires

Post by dr_airtime »

Well - going with the Yokohama Geloandar G015s which are a bit more oriented to mud and snow than the A/T-S's, but the A/T-S's are pretty hard to find in 15 inch.

I think most people using Geolanars are on the G015s so I'll give them a shot.

My Winter M&S's defintely have a more snow friendly tread (lots of snow clearing room) to I'll still use the G015's for summer only even though reviews like this suggest they work great in the snow.

http://crankshaftculture.com/2017/12/01 ... ain-tires/

If it snows you should always have your Deli, L300 or L400, in 4WD since rear wheel drive in slippery conditions is an accident waiting to happen. Just ask my friend who downshifted in the snow to "slow down" while in RWD in my L300 and put us into a 360 near Merritt!
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feetforbrains
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Tires

Post by feetforbrains »

Almost fitted with Geolanders, but opted for the BF Goodrich ALL-TERRAIN T/A® KO2 30X9.50R15/C 104S RWL and couldn't be happier. IMO you want the "ALL" not "MUD." They fit the stock rims and don't require a lift while giving the van a bit more clearance. Bonus, they are bombproof winter tires.
andrewbowerman1992
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Tires

Post by andrewbowerman1992 »

Yo
Andrew here is Seattle I went with a very different choice, the new Falken Wildpeak at3 LT design. size 30 9.5 15

The reason I went with this tire:
Has the deepest at at tread on the market. (Only Cooper tires seem to have lugs that are as deep as Falken.)
55,000 mile warranty
3d Sipping for winter traction
lower cost ($120 a tire)
asethetic reasons (sidewall lugs that look badass)
thought this review was sort of helpful http://www.offroadxtreme.com/engine-tec ... re-review/

With Falken you have 2 choices for a 15" alloy Delica rim. 30x9.5 or 235/75. They change the rubber and tread depth between the models. 30x9.5 is deeper tread but strangely has a lower load limit rating even though its classified as an LT tire (light truck,which means towing thus heavier casing and not soft riding typically). The 235/75 has more silica in the rubber which make it grip even more on the road and the tread depth is taken down a fraction but can take a heavier load. I went with the LT because of the deeper tread depth, load rating seemed to match how I was going to load the car.

I was worried they would be loud being an LT tire and was very surprised that the tires were quieter then my michelins that I took off. Made a big improvement to making the cabin quieter. Sidewall feels great compared to my old tires, the car turns much more sharply rather then this under-inflated feeling I got from my michelins.

Haven't used them off road yet, but in the constantly wet streets in Seattle they are great and have awesome traction.
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