Maxing Out Off-Road Ability on 19" Wheels (yep, tires again)

A few months later now and I've got my set up complete, for now at least. Thought I'd circle back and close the loop since everyone likes photos and it's the courteous thing to do given the advice I received here.

I ended up going with a set of the Coopers on my 19" wheels. I just ran them through some dirt/mud trails in Idyllwild with a crew of friends including a D90, an RRC, and some D2's. It was my first time taking the truck out so I treaded lightly for the most part. I'm continually amazed at what a well sorted D2 can do...

The only bummer about the Coopers thus far is really more about the sidewall size and not the tire specifically. I felt like I was pretty limited on how much I could air down given the 55 sidewall. Otherwise, I look forward to putting them through their paces going forward.

First, 20" dailies on Goodyear Wrangler Kevlar AT's 255/50/20.
Second, I replaced my donut spare with a 19" stocker wrapped in a stock Continental 255/55/19. It fits just
fine fully inflated. Not sure there's any room to go any bigger though without deflating.
Lastly, the Cooper Zeon's on 19" stockers, 255/55/19.

Images continued...

So do you take your 19's off after you come home from the trail? I hardly notice any noise difference with my Nitto All-Terrains that stay on the car full-time. I could see removing Mud-Terrains because of the noise and handling.

Yes, my 20's are all scratched up, I guess it would look a lot worse if they were painted black.

I would never air down a 55 series tire off road. The risks far outweigh the reward.

jpjp said:

So do you take your 19's off after you come home from the trail? I hardly notice any noise difference with my Nitto All-Terrains that stay on the car full-time. I could see removing Mud-Terrains because of the noise and handling.

Yes, my 20's are all scratched up, I guess it would look a lot worse if they were painted black.

Click to expand...

I haven't yet but yes, I will be swapping back to the 20" soon. Scratching up the black wheels and trying to get more sidewall were what led me down this dual wheel set up path. It's a bit tedious and feels a little lame at this point given that I only got to 55's, so really it's only about sparing the black wheels. I haven't really noticed any noise difference between the two setups noise/comfort wise. PO put these Goodyears on and once they are toast, I'll go to something more aggressive for daily use as well.

ryanjl said:

I would never air down a 55 series tire off road. The risks far outweigh the reward.

Click to expand...

I didn't go far, 30 in the front and 35 in the rear.

If you ever plan on towing or using the receiver, i'd find that red plastic plug for the hole in the bumper. If you cram mud up in that its a huge pain to clean out and get the pin to properly latch again.

Looks good on the tire choices. Very practical and you avoided all the issues with messing with suspension.

Brizzity said:

A few months later now and I've got my set up complete, for now at least. Thought I'd circle back and close the loop since everyone likes photos and it's the courteous thing to do given the advice I received here.

I ended up going with a set of the Coopers on my 19" wheels. I just ran them through some dirt/mud trails in Idyllwild with a crew of friends including a D90, an RRC, and some D2's. It was my first time taking the truck out so I treaded lightly for the most part. I'm continually amazed at what a well sorted D2 can do...

The only bummer about the Coopers thus far is really more about the sidewall size and not the tire specifically. I felt like I was pretty limited on how much I could air down given the 55 sidewall. Otherwise, I look forward to putting them through their paces going forward.

First, 20" dailies on Goodyear Wrangler Kevlar AT's 255/50/20.
Second, I replaced my donut spare with a 19" stocker wrapped in a stock Continental 255/55/19. It fits just
fine fully inflated. Not sure there's any room to go any bigger though without deflating.
Lastly, the Cooper Zeon's on 19" stockers, 255/55/19.

Click to expand...

Thanks for circling back with the update in spite of the not-so-warm welcome you got at the beginning of the thread, for whatever reason. Looks great, and glad you got to take it out with some other LRs.

Brizzity said:

I haven't yet but yes, I will be swapping back to the 20" soon. Scratching up the black wheels and trying to get more sidewall were what led me down this dual wheel set up path. It's a bit tedious and feels a little lame at this point given that I only got to 55's, so really it's only about sparing the black wheels. I haven't really noticed any noise difference between the two setups noise/comfort wise. PO put these Goodyears on and once they are toast, I'll go to something more aggressive for daily use as well.

Click to expand...

I've had my Zeons since early October and about 5,000 miles. Just drove around 3 hours on the highway last night. They are making a little more noise, but still not bad. There is enough sound deadening in the LR4 to make it negligible, especially if you listen to music (like me).

Reviving the death ... Anyone with solid experience running 255/65R19 A/T on their LR4?
1 - Rods or not?
2 - Suspension tricked with IDTool?
3 - Any rubbing at all in every scenario not just the mall?

Thanks as usual