Steep/Wet Road Advice?

[pjtoledo]

back to the original reason for this post: what do local shops recommend?

 

[Saddle Tramp]

How about I can break them loose just coming around a corner.

I never had that problem with them even on oily on ramps.

 

[sgtsandman]

Old tires can get hard and lose traction ability on wet roads. I had a set like that on one of my CRVs. Tread was still good but traction sucked on wet roads. I guess the rubber hardened up.

 

[adsm08]

I never had that problem with them even on oily on ramps.

There are two corners on my way home from work, I break the the inner tire of the turn loose pretty much every day, wet dry or otherwise. All I have in the back is a Torsen LSD unit.

 

[8thTon]

Tire Rack will want to sell you new tires, so if you ask that's the answer you'll get.

A Supercab is heavy for 3.73's. Before you spend much money, buy some MAFS cleaner clean the MAFS. It uses this signal to determine shift points on the automatic, and if the thing is confused and shifting abruptly or inappropriately it may be causing you to lose traction.

As for braking, make sure your rear drums are working properly and adjusted. If not it puts all the brake force up front and you will have much more problems braking in the wet - I dealt with that.

 

[Saddle Tramp]

There are two corners on my way home from work, I break the the inner tire of the turn loose pretty much every day, wet dry or otherwise. All I have in the back is a Torsen LSD unit.

Wow! Crazy. I've never had that problem. What tires did you buy to replace them with?

 

[adsm08]

Wow! Crazy. I've never had that problem. What tires did you buy to replace them with?

Nothing yet. The truck gets driven two days a week most weeks, they aren't badly dry rotten and still have a good bit of tread, so for now I live with it and drive carefully in corners.

My preference would be some BFG All-Terrains, but due to price concerns General Grabbers and TreadWright's All-Terrain tire are also on the table (Well, the TreadWright would be if they'd ever come off back-order). The issue is that the tires on my B2 which gets driven more are in bad shape from dry rot, and I can't seem to get the speedometer calibrated correctly with just gear changes. The math of it says that the last thing I can do is change tire size, so to buy 8 BFG AT KO2s in a 31x10.50x15 is like $1400.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

Nobody ever likes my suggestion of welding the spider gears together...

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So I ran a 2000 extended cab 2wd Ranger for a number of years in all sorts of crazy weather and stuff. Factory all seasons were absolute trash. Had a set of Firestones, I believe that pattern was modified and became the Destination pattern. Garbage. Had a set of Remington tires and they were great, but I think the company is gone. Had a set of Sport King AT tires and they were great, but I think that company may be gone too. Weight was helpful, I think I ended up keeping 200# in it when traction was needed. Ended up swapping to a limited slip and only ran it like that a short time before being young and dumb slid it off the road. Driver error, nothing to do with the vehicle.

My F-150 is 4x4, but had an open rear with generic tires, which sucked. Replaced those with Nexen AT tires which were worse despite having decent looking tread. If it rained, I had to use 4x4, even with about 200# in the bed. They lasted about 8k before being gone. Put a locker in the rear (lockright lunchbox locker), and put Mastercraft Courser C/T tires on. Got 30-40k out of the first set and it would go wherever I pointed it, but when it got really slick out the locker wanted to push me straight so I had to use 4x4 more than planned. I’m on my second set of C/T tires.

My green Ranger had nearly new Hankook AT tires when I got it and they sucked. Dry pavement was somewhat ok, rain or snow and it was useless. Open rear end and even having 4x4 was little help. Replaced them with Mastercraft Courser CXT (they replaced the C/T pattern). Now that truck will go anywhere.

My choptop Bronco II got Gound Hawg knock-offs when I first put it together and they were great. Replaced with BF Goodrich and have mixed feelings, they worked ok but I intend to replace with Mastercraft MXT at this point. It also has a packed limited slip in the rear.

My red 92 Ranger has limited slip and had Kenda mud tires. So far I have been grudgingly surprised with performance.

My parents ran Destinations on their Explorer with meh results. They got replaced with Mastercraft Courser AXT which were an improvement. Their Ranger also got AXT tires and they have been quite happy with them.

I typically run more aggressive tires because my trucks often end up off of paved surfaces. In your situation I think a good AT tire would likely suit your needs. FYI, Mastercraft is Cooper’s off brand with old tread patterns and such.

 

[Rick W]

Hmmmm. I guess I’m going to have to rethink my whole “R&B* tires“ for my two projects if I’m going to play here.

(*round and black)

 

[Eddo Rogue]

My ranger is the least tractable rain vehicle I have ever owed. Of all the vehicles I have driven in the rain, the rangers all seemed quick to break loose and hydroplane when its raining. Tires can help, but still something about them makes them terrible rain vehicles. This is only water on concrete roads, all other conditions and terrains are no problem.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I thought the '97 was just odd and handled bad, turns out it's just been bad tires for a year... got it with some iffy tires that were imbalanced pretty bad or bent wheel or something (a ditch was involved, why it was $450), found another set of Ranger wheels on craigslist, rode better but they were older, if you took a sharp corner on dry pavement above 30mph it would slide the rear end out and sometimes the front without any squealing. On wet pavement the inside rear tire lit up really easy without any axle wrap. These new to me Hankook Optima's are working out pretty well and I think I gained a mpg, now if I rod on it around a corner the tires at least squeal and I get some axle wrap so I know there is some power being put to the ground...

 

[Curious Hound]

Nobody ever likes my suggestion of welding the spider gears together...

That guarantees that at least one wheel is going to break loose in wet corners. With enough speed, both wheels break loose and you get to do donuts.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Mmmmm....donuts.

 

[8thTon]

Mmmmm....donuts.

It's self correcting - if the driver does enough donuts suddenly you don't need to add weight and you have traction!