Tires play an important role in the performance and over all look of your 4×4 truck. They are one of the most important after market accessories one purchases for their rig. Off road tires come in many different sizes, shapes and styles, so choosing the right one can be a bit overwhelming if you don’t know exactly what you are looking for. In order to narrow down your choices you will need to know what type of terrain you will be driving on and how often. Tires fall into basically three categories; tires that are designed specifically for the road such as All Season Tires, tires made for the rugged off road terrain such as Extreme Terrain Tires, and those that offer a little bit of both worlds such as All Terrain Tires. So the question is whether you will be driving exclusively on the highway, hitting the extreme trails, or doing highway driving with a little bit of weekend off-roading. Here is a general buyers guide for a variety of off road tires depending on your situation.
If you plan on staying on the pavement you would do best to stick with All Season Tires. Three brands that have great consumer ratings are the Michelin LTX M/S2, the Goodyear Fortera Triple Tred, and the General Grabber HTS. If you plan on doing some light off road trekking you should consider All Terrain Tires such as the BF Goodrich All Terrain TA KO Truck/SUV Tire.
If you want to drive your 4×4 over the tough stuff you will need to look into aggressive tires such as Extreme Terrain Tires. Which one you choose will depend on the type of rugged terrain you plan on conquering. For mud, or sand aggressive mud tires will do the trick. Consider the Super Swamper TSL Bogger, it has great reviews. If you find yourself on the rocky terrain take a look at the Goodyear Wrangler MTR Truck/SUV Tire. It is one of the best money can buy, not to mention it has won numerous Rock Crawling competitions. If you are stuck in the frozen tundra and have a lot of snow and ice to drive over you should look at the Michelin X-Ice Xi2 or the less expensive General Altimax Arctic Tire.
Besides choosing a tire brand you will need to consider the size you want your tire to be. The first thing you will want to do is contact the manufacturer of your truck to find our what capacity and limitations it has. The bigger the tire the better the clearance and generally you will see a better performance off road however super-sizing your tires means a lot of additional customization such as lift kits, tougher suspension, fender flares, and re-gearing your lifted 4×4 truck. So you will want to think carefully before deciding to upgrade in size.
Finally, when looking at off road tires do not opt for cheap imitations. Choose a tire that offers quality and long life expectancy. It is better to stick with the manufactures that carry strong customer and performance reviews. Two of the off road market leaders are Pirelli and BF Goodrich. Of course there are many other great high quality options out there.