To get Mickey Thompson Baja Boss A/T in 35x12.5r18 or 305/70r18?

Hi all!

I finally narrowed down my long running search for new tires and am going with the Mickey Thompson Baja Boss A/T. I know this is super OCD / Nitpickey, but I am having a hard time deciding on which of the two sizes (35x12.5r18 or 305/70r18) of 35" for this tire I should go with.

I know the 35x12.5r18 in this tire was intended for use on half-ton trucks like ours and come in a D load rating which is nice. In my head, the pros are this tire would provide a better ride and be slightly lighter, but maybe not as durable or great for towing heavy.

On the 305/70r18 side of things, I REALLY love the dimensions of this tire (35.3"x12.2") as compared to the 35x12.5r18 which runs (34.6"x12.8"). I know we are splitting hairs here, but I really want as little wheel poke as possible and it feels like the 35x12.5 size would be noticeably wider. I am running +18 offset wheels and have a BMC so I feel like the slightly taller and skinnier version (305/70r18) would look better and give me less wheel poke out of the wells.

I also do maybe 75% highway driving and 25% slow driving through some rough Texas ranch roads, so I wont be abusing them by any means, but I do go over the occasional cactus patch or mesquite brush (really try to avoid these guys lol). And occasionally I will tow a wakeboard boat short distances within 20ish miles. I definitely don't want my tires to be a limitation for any of this which is what leads me to want to go with the load range E vs the D.

I know I am splitting hairs here, but would appreciate any feedback / advice on which you would go with for my use case?

Thank you so much!

 

my vote =the taller, thinner tire. I have run wider tires on many 4wds and am now running 285/75-18 vs 35x1250-18. The 285s handle better, easier to fit, were lighter and still are as tall or taller than any 35x1250s. In normal driving I see snappier performance and better MPG due to less weight and the thinner contact patch. And in my case, perfect fitment with no dirt being thrown down he side of the truck from high poke.

Plenty love 35x1250s but for me the metric LT versions like 285/75 and 305/70s are the better choice.

 

Awesome, thank you so much for the input and that’s the direction I am leaning as well. I’ll let you know what I end up doing!

 

I opted for the 285/75-18 as well. 34.8” tall. 11.4” wide.