Whats The Life of Super Swampers on a Mj

[littlezeeker]

I was Thinking about buying some super Swampers not sure what kind yet but wondering whats the life time of them it u drive the roads maybe 6000 miles a year? thank you

[Exxon Valdez Jeep]

never had them, but heard bias plys last between ~15k. My cousin had the Trxxus MT radials, IDK the miles but he had them for ~3 years and it was his daily driver (around town).

[btm24]

Are you talking TSL's or boggers?

 

Brandon

[jpnjim]

For a true daily driver, I wouldn't do it.

 

I've daily driven on reg bias TSL's & Boggers.

 

They wear on pavement like human flesh,

so it's just a waste to roll on them every day.

 

Unless you figure the tire pressure right, you'll get strange wear patterns,

and when you need them for the trail, they'll be semi worn at best,

funky-worn at worst.

Either way, less effective.

 

Or even worse than that

instead of just funky wear patterns

you end up with serious scalloping, and cupping,

ruining even the highway ride to & from the trails when you really need them (and killing them, even as 'trail only' tires)

 

Yep, scalloping & cupping can make TSL's even worse than that first day you installed them,

and thought a pack of helicopters was chasing you ;) :doh:

 

 

The other bad thing about TSL's on the street,

Bias TSL's can be loud enough to mask other things wrong with your Jeep.

 

Unless you have awesome ears,

you'll never notice that wheel/axle/transmission bearing noise daily driving on TSL's, until it leaves you stranded somewhere.

 

Personally,

my most enjoyable DD setups have always been having a set of decent Mud Radials (TrXus's, BFG MT's, etc)

that get swapped out for TSL's and/or Boggers for serious trails.

(leaving the mud radials on for quick runs, or short notice trails)

 

Even though it is NOT a good idea to mix Bias & Radials (says so on the sidewall of every tire :smart: ),

just swapping the back 2 tires for Boggers has also worked well for me.

That way I could bring the two other mud radials with me as spares.

 

For a few long rides to trail runs, I brought a pair of Boggers with me in the bed, and swapped them out at the trail head).

 

 

When I stopped using my MJ as a daily driver,

the TSL's went on & stayed on full time.

 

Even after a bunch of trail runs, they were still nice enough to re-sell when it came time to jump up in size.

[jpnjim]

Just realized I never really answered the question (how many miles will they last)

 

My first set of TSL's were used 31x10.5's.

The guy said they went 20k miles on his Bronco II

 

They were evenly worn (not the guy's first set, so he got tire pressure right)

I added 3-4k more miles,

then passed them on to someone else,

They looked about the same to me (almost to the wear bars, evenly worn across the whole tread.

 

 

 

I got a pair of 33x14.00" Boggers next

($175 ea brand new in 1996. :ack: )

 

DD for maybe 8-10k miles(couple years),

till a spool swap made them SCREAM around every corner.

 

They were trail only on the MJ (and later an XJ) after that.

I always watched the street pressure,

they probably have ~12k miles on them now,

guessing 3/4 (evenly) worn, and really really old.

 

 

 

Trail only 33x12.5" TSL's went on the MJ next,

and they still looked new to me with 3-4k miles when I sold them to get Q78's.

 

 

 

Not much mileage on the Q's (& used 37x13.00 Boggers I got for the rear),

since the MJ has been a driveway princess for a while now. :wall:

 

 

I gone through atleast 5 sets of Radial Mud tires during that same time,

if I stuck to TSL's all the time, who knows how many sets that would be :eek:

 

 

If you do daily drive them,

don't overinflate them.

It can smooth out the highway ride, and help gas mileage,

 

but no one wants 10k mile tires with awesomely deep side lugs,

and racing slicks in the center. :dunce: :doh:

 

Also, make sure your suspension/shocks is up to handling the extra tire weight.

 

A scolloped-unusable 10k mile tire also a very sad thing. :(

[Incommando]

In my experience years ago, Swampers (and their predecessors Gumbo Monster Mudders) are like most aggressive mud terrains in that you will probably notice a definite decrease in off-road traction long before the tread is actually worn out. The reason you can find used 50%-75% mudders for sale so often is hard core guys often replace the tires early as performance starts to slip. I put about 12,000 miles on a set of 15/35-15 Monster Mudders before they were basically worn out but that was in the mid 80's. One set of street driven bias Swampers I had didn't last 8,000 miles but I had to rotate them every 1,000 miles or so because the rear spool was eating them up. The spool definitely made a difference. Radials may last longer.

 

Although more pricey, the Pitball Mad Dog mudders are said to be more highway friendly. I have had great experience with the Dakota M/T's from Pep Boys: nearly 40,000 miles with good off-road performance and excellent wet pavement/snow traction for an actual M/T. And much cheaper. They are made by Cooper and I'd bet that similar "house brand" tires also made by Cooper might provide similar wear.