Opinions on tire weight (37s)...

Majik

Majik

Member
A little different line of questioning:
About to purchase my 37s. While deciding on which tire, I compared specs on a bunch and noted drastically different weights. Obviously influenced by # of plys, load rating, etc. Here's an example:

MTR Kevlar 37x12.5x17: 73 lbs
Mickey Thompson MTZ: 84 lbs
Toyo Open Ctry MT: 94 lbs.

I've personally run the MTR and the Toyos in the past. Looking at this from an overall driving standpoint, 21lbs of extra rotating mass per wheel is a crap load!! Brakes, ball joints, acceleration, etc all affected. The jeep is the lightest vehicle with the smallest engine ive ever put 37s on. Considering that, my questions to the crowd are:
1. Does anyone regret running the toyos (or any 90+ lb tire) on a vehicle with limited power to really spin them a bit when you need to jab the gas a little?
2. Has anyone here had two different sets of 37s (say, MTRs and then Toyos) on their rig where you can speak from personal experience on how the 20 lb tire weight difference felt when you changed tires?
3. Is the Jeep heavy enough to flex an E-load rated tire well when aired down? (If, like with the Toyos, E rated is the only option in a 37)

I loved my Toyos in the past... and I'm trying to upgrade everything on the Jeep to reliably run 37s pretty hard... I'm just curious if anyone else has paused to recheck their tire choice due to the weight issue? 20 lbs extra spinning (or 80 lbs when locked) is a lot of extra mass.

If the answer is simply "the extra weight, loss of power, loss of braking, etc is offset by a massive durability increase..." then I can respect that. :). Just thinking out loud here...
 
Now I'm not one of the pros on here but one thing I've always seen asked was what are the gears you will be running.

Sent from my PC36100 using WAYALIFE mobile app
 
To be fair, the Toyo is a Range E 13.50 wide tire, not a D that is only 12.50 like the others and that is part of the reason why it is heavier. And, not that it matters but, the 37x13.50R17 only weighs 92 lbs., not 94 lbs. like the 37x14.50/R15. Having said that, I have personally run all 3 tires on a JK and can tell you that the extra weight made no difference to me at all. Hell, I used to run a Toyo 40x15.50 that with Spyderloc wheels weighed close to 200 lbs. a piece and even with super heavy ProRoc 60's, people still couldn't keep up with me. As far flexing the sidewalls of a Range E tire goes, all you need to do is air down more. The best part is, you'll have sidewalls that are near about bullet proof.

Of the 3 tires, I can tell you that the MTR's with Kevlar are tire that I really wanted to like but, found them to be the worst tire I have ever run. They were hard to balance, had poor road manners due to their directional like tread design, were rubbery and unpredictable on the rocks and worst of all, had sidewalls that just loved to fail. By contrast, I have found the Toyo MT's to be one of the best all around tires I have ever run and to this day, have never had one suffer sidewall failure.
 
Thanks a bunch, Eddie. So I take it that the right gearing helped in maintaining driveability? (Overcoming the extra rotating mass)
 
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