I was going over the records for Chopper and the previous owner bought the wheel and tire package in mid-2016 which was only 3.5 years ago but it seems that in that time he logged a little over 40k miles. The Nitto Ridge Grapplers still looked ok but I wanted to give a different tire a try since I needed a new tire for the spare ATX Series AX201 wheels I bought to replace the OEM one on the car already.
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| ATX Series AX201 - 18x9 0-offset matte bronze |
I decided to go with a fresh set of BF Goodrich K02 tires in LT285/65R18. This was the same specs as the Ridge Grapplers coming off the wheels but they are actually about 0.5" shorter (32.5" vs 33") and weigh a bit less. Since the TPMS sensors on the wheels were also over 6 years old now, I figured a new set of those was worth slapping on at the same time.
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| New TPMS sensors |
I went over to SJF Performance to get it all mounted of course. One side of the tires had the white lettering whereas the other side was all black. I kind of like the white lettering look on off-road vehicles so I had SJF put that side facing out.
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| SJF putting on the new sensors |
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| Tire mounting time |
I had to clean off the protective blue coating they put on there to actually make them white and they sure look the part now.
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| Mounted and balanced. |
We had to make some minor adjustments to the tire carrier I installed yesterday, moving it towards the vehicle about an inch, to get the tire closer to the body. Also, the way these spokes lined up, I had to put the camera a bit offset in order to make the camera slip into the opening between the spokes. It's now slightly off-center but shouldn't impact parking too much.
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| New spare wheel and tire mounted up |
Obviously all the tires were replaced with K02s and I think it looks really proper on Chopper. I was semi-annoyed I forgot my "real" camera but these will have to do for now.
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| Chopper with the new rubber |
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| Chopper with the new rubber |
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| Chopper with the new rubber |
I set the pressure to 35psi which seems to be the recommended street pressure on the forums for these tires. My first impression is that these are pretty awesome. They're actually quiet on the road and felt compliant to uneven surfaces. I also felt that they were easy to control. The new TPMS sensors kicked in and got detected by the ECU within just a few miles of driving. I'll reserve my final judgement on this setup for a long term review later but for now I'm definitely happy with this purchase. It should do pretty well on snow and be a good all around, all year tire setup. The new suspension and tire package has really helped a lot in the handling department. It still drives like a Jeep but with better street manners. I'd definitely recommend this combination for anyone now going the "serious business" route.
Maintenance Update:
Mileage: 68,976
- 5 new BFG K02 LT285/65R16 tires
- 5 new TPMS sensors
