Back in March I had to unexpectedly change out all four of my tires on my Av. I had the stock Goodyear rubber with 33K miles on them and was well on my way to getting 40K to 45K worth of life.
I was in a pinch for a number of reasons so I "settled" on Les Schwab Wild Country TXR tires 265/70R17. Those that have seen them have liked the appearance and asked a lot of questions. Well almost a year and 15K miles later I felt I had enough feedback to share.
Overall I'm happy with the tire and the performance in all conditions. Unlike the stock Goodyears that attempt to be good at everything the TXR is biased more for traction and off-road use.
The first thing that pepole notice is the tire appears oversized and in a way it is. Although it is the recommended stock size of 265/70R17 the construction makes the sidewalls stiffer than the stock Goodyears, and there is A LOT more tread. The result is a 32" O.D. that fills the wheel wells nicely without any rubbing issues and without serious impact to the odometer, geometry, or gearing. For those with calculators that also equals about .2" to .3" additional ground clearance.
I had the tires siped - I've become a believer on that after I got my ex-'s tires siped on her T-Bird.
CITY & HIGHWAY: No doubt about it, more noise than the stock Goodyears but they do not drone or whine. Despite the size of the lugs and the depth of the tread the amount of squirm is diminished.
DIRT ROAD: They are great. The added tread bites in and provides great traction and stability in turns.
OFF-ROAD SAND: Solid performance on the beach. Better than the stock rubber but certainly not as good as dedicated off-road tires. The compound is just the right amount of soft to flex (with the siping) while not shedding chunks of rubber. The tread does not compact with sand.
OFF-ROAD MUD: Much better than the stock rubber. Down right a blast in the mucky stuff and a blast to watch it fly. These tires really shine in the mud.
OFF-ROAD ROCK: Haven't done any rock crawling with them over the time. I would venture to say better than stock but certainly not better than industry leading BFG's.
TRACTION RAIN: Despite being siped actually I think it is diminshed a bit over the stock rubber, but not serious. I would say get them siped if you got them as I would guess wet weather performance would be worse without siping. The area where they don't shine is on starting out from a stop, fair amount of spin. They don't tend to hydroplane at all and do well at highway cruising on wet pavement. I'm sure the weight and balance of the Av help in those areas.
TRACTION SNOW: These tires blow away the stock rubber. Plain and simple. I was amazed at how they shined over the passes and today on my own street. I went right up the hill in 2WD. To put things in perspective my neighbor has a 4WD Ford F-350 with stock rubber and chained it up! Starting off, feel for the road and stopping were all solid. Of course a lot of this also has to do with HOW you drive.
HANDLING, EMERGENCIES AND CORNERING: When they were newer there was a decreased ability to handle tight turns (like on ramps). As the tread has worn down a bit this has improved. I generally don't have a lot of emergencies or reasons to do panic stops but the braking performance is solid.
TREAD WEAR: Well this is an area I am a bit concerned. I don't think I'll get 45K out of these, probably closer to 30K to 35K looking at the tread. Plenty of rubber left but they are wearing faster than the stock tires.
COST: $625 siped for all four was down right reasonable. This also inccludes free rotation and balancing for the life of the tire. Also one other thing I learned, if you have your OEM tires on any vehicle - Les Schwab will rotate them for FREE. Pretty clever actually as it ropes you in to thinking of them first. They will also sipe your OEM tires if you have enough tread on them.
OTHER FEATURES: There are pinned for studs out of the box so you could set them up as traction tires if you wanted. Because of this they receive the somewhat bizzare "Q" speed rating of 93 MPH (for those with heavy feet). I'm not a proponent of moving 6,000 pounds of Mexican iron at 100 MPH though.
FINAL THOUGHTS: No regrets with my purchase decision at the end of the day. I REALLY wanted to go with BFG 285/70R17 but I'm not dissapointed with the tires. If you want to go with a stock tire but also want to have a better look (even the stock 17" rubber on the Av can look a bit skinny) this is a great choice to do that. It is also a solid choice if you're in an area that gets snow and/or you do moderate off-roading (more than dirt roads but not Lions Back). If you're looking for an around town or highway cruising replacement tire I would not recoemmend this as a choice. I think the loss of side stability and the increase in noise will be dissapointing, as well as the tread life.
I tried to research on who makes the tires for Les Schwab and/or if they are available under a different brand name. I did find reference to a Kelly-Springfield Wild Country TXR but could not find specs or photos. To the best of my knowledge Les Schwab is a west and PNW company only.
I was in a pinch for a number of reasons so I "settled" on Les Schwab Wild Country TXR tires 265/70R17. Those that have seen them have liked the appearance and asked a lot of questions. Well almost a year and 15K miles later I felt I had enough feedback to share.
Overall I'm happy with the tire and the performance in all conditions. Unlike the stock Goodyears that attempt to be good at everything the TXR is biased more for traction and off-road use.
The first thing that pepole notice is the tire appears oversized and in a way it is. Although it is the recommended stock size of 265/70R17 the construction makes the sidewalls stiffer than the stock Goodyears, and there is A LOT more tread. The result is a 32" O.D. that fills the wheel wells nicely without any rubbing issues and without serious impact to the odometer, geometry, or gearing. For those with calculators that also equals about .2" to .3" additional ground clearance.
I had the tires siped - I've become a believer on that after I got my ex-'s tires siped on her T-Bird.
CITY & HIGHWAY: No doubt about it, more noise than the stock Goodyears but they do not drone or whine. Despite the size of the lugs and the depth of the tread the amount of squirm is diminished.
DIRT ROAD: They are great. The added tread bites in and provides great traction and stability in turns.
OFF-ROAD SAND: Solid performance on the beach. Better than the stock rubber but certainly not as good as dedicated off-road tires. The compound is just the right amount of soft to flex (with the siping) while not shedding chunks of rubber. The tread does not compact with sand.
OFF-ROAD MUD: Much better than the stock rubber. Down right a blast in the mucky stuff and a blast to watch it fly. These tires really shine in the mud.
OFF-ROAD ROCK: Haven't done any rock crawling with them over the time. I would venture to say better than stock but certainly not better than industry leading BFG's.
TRACTION RAIN: Despite being siped actually I think it is diminshed a bit over the stock rubber, but not serious. I would say get them siped if you got them as I would guess wet weather performance would be worse without siping. The area where they don't shine is on starting out from a stop, fair amount of spin. They don't tend to hydroplane at all and do well at highway cruising on wet pavement. I'm sure the weight and balance of the Av help in those areas.
TRACTION SNOW: These tires blow away the stock rubber. Plain and simple. I was amazed at how they shined over the passes and today on my own street. I went right up the hill in 2WD. To put things in perspective my neighbor has a 4WD Ford F-350 with stock rubber and chained it up! Starting off, feel for the road and stopping were all solid. Of course a lot of this also has to do with HOW you drive.
HANDLING, EMERGENCIES AND CORNERING: When they were newer there was a decreased ability to handle tight turns (like on ramps). As the tread has worn down a bit this has improved. I generally don't have a lot of emergencies or reasons to do panic stops but the braking performance is solid.
TREAD WEAR: Well this is an area I am a bit concerned. I don't think I'll get 45K out of these, probably closer to 30K to 35K looking at the tread. Plenty of rubber left but they are wearing faster than the stock tires.
COST: $625 siped for all four was down right reasonable. This also inccludes free rotation and balancing for the life of the tire. Also one other thing I learned, if you have your OEM tires on any vehicle - Les Schwab will rotate them for FREE. Pretty clever actually as it ropes you in to thinking of them first. They will also sipe your OEM tires if you have enough tread on them.
OTHER FEATURES: There are pinned for studs out of the box so you could set them up as traction tires if you wanted. Because of this they receive the somewhat bizzare "Q" speed rating of 93 MPH (for those with heavy feet). I'm not a proponent of moving 6,000 pounds of Mexican iron at 100 MPH though.
FINAL THOUGHTS: No regrets with my purchase decision at the end of the day. I REALLY wanted to go with BFG 285/70R17 but I'm not dissapointed with the tires. If you want to go with a stock tire but also want to have a better look (even the stock 17" rubber on the Av can look a bit skinny) this is a great choice to do that. It is also a solid choice if you're in an area that gets snow and/or you do moderate off-roading (more than dirt roads but not Lions Back). If you're looking for an around town or highway cruising replacement tire I would not recoemmend this as a choice. I think the loss of side stability and the increase in noise will be dissapointing, as well as the tread life.
I tried to research on who makes the tires for Les Schwab and/or if they are available under a different brand name. I did find reference to a Kelly-Springfield Wild Country TXR but could not find specs or photos. To the best of my knowledge Les Schwab is a west and PNW company only.