Are Nittos or BFG really than much better than cooper to justify price?

jorgelrod

Hooked
I'm looking at making my budget for new tires as mine are about 60% worn. I really love the new BFG KM3s as well as the Nitto Ridge Grapplers. While looking at the tires on the Discount Tire website I found the Nittos and BFGs in 35x12.5X17 around the $323 mark while the Cooper STT Pro in 315/70/17 is at the $259 mark. That is a difference of $64 bucks a tire. I'm starting to think the Coopers are a very good tire (I've run the previous STT in the past) and probably what I might end up with but still would like to know what would make the other ones so much more expensive.

Any thoughts welcome...
 

WJCO

Meme King
The Nitto Ridge Grappler seems more like an ALL TERRAIN tire to me, whereas the others you mentioned area MUD tire. That may affect your decision.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Having run Nitto, BFG and Coopers, what I can tell you is that they're ALL good tires. BFG tends to have the longest tread life but weaker sidewalls but that's about it.
 

longarmwj

New member
I've run BFG KM2s, Goodyear Wrangler MT/R Kevlar, and now Cooper STT Pros.

The BFGs were goodm the Goodyears absolutely SUCKED, and I LOVE my STT Pros. The BFGs or Coopers would both be good tires and you can't go wrong with either one
 

Nespoli1

New member
I have the MTR now and am in the market for tires. Moving up to 37s and crazy these are the 2 tires I narrowed it down to. Between rims and tires going with the STT Pro and the savings pays for the spare rim and tire. What do you think??!


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deadguy

New member
I had a set of km2s that lasted what felt like an eternity. I actually sold them when I got my stt pros. Never had a problem with bfg. They do run small though. That being said, after I got my Cooper's I'm never looking back. Great tire

sent from a guy with a Jeep
 

Clearskies

Caught the Bug
For years I ran BFG KO2, loved them. As Eddie already said they wear very well. Next I got a set of STT Pro's and I was disappointed, while they gripped very well, I had problems with the sidewall. I ripped out two on a rock and had a puncture of a third sidewall. I sold my Coopers and got Nitto Trail Grapplers and those are what I will continue to use. After I switched to the Nitto's I clipped a rock very similar to the one that tore out my Cooper's and had no problem. What would have happened if I had be running Nitto's the first time I ripped the sidewall out ??? I don't know but my personal feeling is I'm happier with the Nitto's.
 

jorgelrod

Hooked
The Nitto Ridge Grappler seems more like an ALL TERRAIN tire to me, whereas the others you mentioned area MUD tire. That may affect your decision.

Yeah, I know, but after seeing Mel Wade run them at the JKX in Alaska, I doubt they will fail me here in Florida.

Having run Nitto, BFG and Coopers, what I can tell you is that they're ALL good tires. BFG tends to have the longest tread life but weaker sidewalls but that's about it.

Yeah, that's kinda what I figured, as much as I love the look of the new BFGs $64 x5 goes a long way to help with the cost of the wheels.

I had a set of km2s that lasted what felt like an eternity. I actually sold them when I got my stt pros. Never had a problem with bfg. They do run small though. That being said, after I got my Cooper's I'm never looking back. Great tire

The original STT were amazing, loud as fuck, but a great tire. I'm finding it hard to go with the KM3s or the RGs
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
I'm sure I don't wheel as hard some but I've been running Cooper STT Pros for well over 2 years now on Moby, Rubicat and now on JET Li. During this time, I've only had one tire fail on me and that was because I purposefully pushed my tire into a bush on a very narrow shelf road and as I would come to find, with a big sharp branch hidden inside. Prior to running Coopers, I had been running Nitto Trail Grapplers and I had multiple failures with them. The only tire I've never had a problem with is a 37x13.50 Toyo MT but really, we're talking about tires - a rubber thing that gets filled with air and that we take over sharp and pointy things. If anything, the only thing that I really hated about Trail Grapplers was the strong radial pull they have to the driver side.

 

Arrcherr

Caught the Bug
I ran both the ko2's and nitto ridge grapplers on my 12 . The ko2's wore like iron I think I had close to 70k plus miles on em when I finally changed to the ridge grapplers. I thought the grapplers we're better than the ko2 in mud, snow, and rain. I've got STT pros on my 17 now and I absolutely love them. If I had to choose between the three tires, the Cooper's would definitely be my choice. Their performance on rocks, mud, snow, and rain has been outstanding. They're very quiet for an mt. I don't really hear any hum at all when the windows are up and when they're down it's easy to ignore.
 

Bear_JT

Hooked
My experience has been similar to the others who have shared. BFG wears really well but does run smaller, Nitto Trail Grapplers have a strong radial pull and for me didn’t perform as well in loose dirt as I expected. Now the STT Pros are really amazing tires. They excelled at everything I tackled and the cost savings was a big plus.


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Overland_stormtrooper

Caught the Bug
Not having run nitto's or the bfg I cant give you a answer to those but going to the coopers from toyo mt's I can say there is a difference the stt are much quiter on the road .. now granted I've only had em for a few days but after roaming about Big Bend on them and having just about 1800 miles so far on em I have no complaints this far ..

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wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
What made the Goodyear’s suck in your opinion if you don’t mind me asking

I know you asked longarmwj but from my experience running Goodyear MT/R with Kevlar, I could never get them balanced, they tracked funny on the highway, they were way too rubbery when aired down and on the rocks - made them way too unpredictable, didn't hook up worth anything and to top it off, had very weak sidewalls. Back before the Trail Grappler came out, I got to do endurance testing with Nitto and of all the tires we tested, the MT/R's were the first to fail.

Great looking tire that I really wanted to like but ultimately, they turned out to be the worst tire I had ever run. Which is sad because I loved their old MTR's and still love Duratracs.
 

QuicksilverJK

Caught the Bug
What made the Goodyear’s suck in your opinion if you don’t mind me asking


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Piggy backing on what Eddie said. I sold the goodyears years ago and had constant complaints on road noise and inconsistent/ rapid wear. They also were a bitch to get balanced if they where bigger than 33".
I am extremely happy with my STT pros in a 37x13.50 they balanced out nicely, they aren't overly noisy, and I have abused the hell out of them with no punctures yet (fingers crossed)


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Jeeper62

New member
As Toyo owns Nitto, I’m a bit a partial- I’d do the Nitto. I ran Cooper a long time ago- no complaints but prefer Toyo- then Nitto.

Surprised about the above post. Buddy has Kevlar Goodyears. They are not noisy and seem great. 🤷🏻*♂️


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QuicksilverJK

Caught the Bug
As Toyo owns Nitto, I’m a bit a partial- I’d do the Nitto. I ran Cooper a long time ago- no complaints but prefer Toyo- then Nitto.

Surprised about the above post. Buddy has Kevlar Goodyears. They are not noisy and seem great. 🤷🏻*♂️


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This was the MT/R of 14 years ago so things could be considerably different now. [emoji482]


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TheGrendel

Active Member
Had Goodyear MTRs on my JKR. They were awful. Wouldn’t stay balanced. Tracked horribly on the highway.

Currently, running Yoko Geolander MT G003. While I haven’t had a chance to really push them off-road, they have been pretty awesome on the road. They do run small.
 
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