ok off-roarders ,Tires an lava rocks

Have any of u found a tire that makes u less apprehensive when dealing with lava rock cover roads! I run a Fwc on truck an when exploring an come to lava rock roads I get overly concerned! Like on the Mojave desert road or Ajo to Yuma road! I run Ridge grabbers an am happy with them, but get overly concerned about lava! Have any of u found a tire for this situation that your confident with??? Thanks

 

A few years ago I did the Camino del Diablo with BFG ko2’s and had no problems. Buddy had General Grabbers and had no issues. Just look at what the guys out of wellton, az have on their “company vehicles”. Most of the Yuma “company vehicles “ vehicles were running cooper at3 4s when I was there.

 

Yeah, I don't think there's anything special required. We all run on lava fields at Cinders near flagstaff using whatever off-road tired we run for everything else. Air down to avoid getting stuck, avoid tire damage. Air back up to drive home on pavement.

 

But the cinders in flagstaff that I've seen at t2s are like gravel ! I my be wrong, however the ones I worry about are boulders/ Rick size an they have knife sharp points

 

Sounds like you’re looking for something with a thick sidewall. The trade-off with that is when you air down, you don’t increase the tread footprint that much.
We used to get a lot of sidewall punctures and went with a 10 ply sidewall tire for a short while. They did terrible in sand, were heavy, and beat up the driver and vehicle in mild off road stuff.
I’ve gotten more punctures from creosote bushes than rocks in the el cento-wellton-lukeville area.

 

Yeah, I understand. But this kinda sums up my experience:

I run Cooper STT Pro's, which are essentially a mud tire, aired down on various terrain, and they've done really well and been very forgiving. I don't like that they're ridiculously noisy on freeway after only 15k, but aired down they've even performed fairly well in sand. Yes, Cinders is mainly pebbles, but they really grab onto heavy tires. By comparison, the rocks on Smiley Rock eat the sidewalls of lighter tires, and mine have done ok. Anyway, this is the best I can do for recommendation.

 

I ran the Goodyear UltraTerrain AT on my trips to Yuma and out in the desert. Aired down and beat to heck on the Arizona Freedom Trail and not a single cut or chunk. These tires are amazing and wear like iron while gripping like a snow tire on the ice and packed snow. I won't run anything else as long as they keep making them.