I do know if this has been done around here but here go's
pros and cons of narrow tires
PROS
1. high ground pressure
2.being able to fit into and out of tight spots
3.less unspring weight
4.lower leverage on bearings/axles
5.good icey road manners
6.easier tire fittment
CONS
1.high ground pressure
2.less rim protection
3.less body protection
4.hard to find
wide tire
PROS
1.low ground pressure
2.more rim protection
3.more body protection
4.easy to find
CONS
1. low ground pressure
2. high wheel bearing/axle load
3.bad icey road manners
4.harder to fit and clear
I think you need to define wide vs. narrow. If you are talking a 10.50 as narrow and anything over 12.50 as wide, a good person to talk to is Jackrabbit. He runs a set of 33x10.50x15s on his jeep.
I see benefits to both, but if you need to float on top of stuff (like snow) a wide tire is great. Now putting that same tire on the road will cause you to follow the ruts more easily which will strenghten your forearms, but it is a pain if your wife wants to drive your rig.
I think overall rig weight plays a big part of this as well. If it were me, considering the enviroment, I would go with something in the 12.50 or 60 range. American tire has a sweet 60 STT on hand right now too.
Lets do two weights 3,000 and under, and 3,000 and up.
added a poll for ya :yes:
gonna be running 37x13.50 on the truggy eventully 35x12.50-15 now
I have a 12.50 now and it does good at staying on top of the snow in winter if it's aired down. I think my next tire will be 13.50. I think it will be wide enough to float when aired down but will still get through the mud if I air them up.
I am rocking 12.5's now but would like to run 13 or 13.5's. I like the wider tire.
More rubber on the ground is usually a good thing, especially with the soft dirt around here, and the tendency to have hardpack snow that you don't want to dig into. the downside IMO are road manners and fuel economy, as my Jeep sometimes doubles as my daily driver. Now that I'm driving the car to and from work more, and when my situation changes for the better I will be getting a pickup that can be used as a driver/tow rig, I'll go wide on the Jeep fulltime.
Daily driving on ice, go with a narrower tire, 12.50 or less. More pressure + sipes > ice.
I like the 12.50's that I am running. I wish I had a 10inch rim though...
I can't wait to get ahold of some 13.5 or wider tires.
The other question is what is your purpose for the vehcicle?
Trail rides or mud boggs?
If on the trails - what trails are you running?
Add that to the tread pattern and vehicle weight.
Mud Boggs:
Skitzo is fairly light, and I ran 39.5x18 wide boggers. In the mudd boggs that tread didn't float, it is designed to dig - and it did dig well. But I was running against guys with 38x11 boggers - So I had to dig through almost twice the amount of goo that they did = lower time for me.
Now, Skitzo is running 38.5x16 tsl's - which I think will float a bit more than the bogger tread.
However, the 38.5x11 Boggers would be my preferred tire to run for the bogs.
That said, for trail riding, low ground pressure, wider stance and more stability - I'd go wider rather than skinnier on a trail any day. But I am thinking full size rigs so the wider stance of wider tires will help the balance when a lift is also ont he vehicle.
Now what about a Samari? Wouldn't a 33x12.5 in proportional relationship be about the same as a Blazer with 38.5x16 when considering vehicle weight, width, and wheelbase?
All you have to do is look at the big trucks they use up north to drive over the snow and tundra...huge balloon tires that float over the stuff. Also tracks, but they add something else to the equation: tracks stay still when they're on the ground and you just drive over them. Still, the concept is the same: stay on top of the soft stuff and get the traction to move your rig. Digging in to a mud bog at the local mud drags is alright, you know it ends somewhere. Digging in to the muskeg on half the trails out here isn't such a good idea, it could be 6 feet before you hit solid.
From a YJ owner's experience, I can say hands down, narrow all the way. I ran 16x38x15 Swampers for 2 years and 38x11 Boggers for 2 years, the boggers were 20 times better. They clawed through Florida swamp mud more easily, took less engine power to spin, eliminated death wobble that the wide swampers had, and in every other way kicked butt over the swampers, I even stopped breaking D44 axleshafts and Ujoints when I switched. I think Boggers are magical tires...
I think for a small light rig i.e. samurai i would run a narrow tire 10 to 12 inchs, this would be like running a 14 16 inch tire on a full size rig.