Post COVID--notice how many 4x4 tires are no longer available?

[rocklaurence]

I'm always dreaming of my next FSJ build and recently I've found that many of the off road big tires are no longer available. Pit Bull tires are sold out/ back order only! We need a Presidential Executive Order to get Asia to step up and send some tires! Asia-you say? Yes. Thailand, Malaysia and China are making many/most of the recreational tires now-a-days. Lets put a petition together!

[will e]

BF Goodrich are made by the French.. they probably just gave up.

[Stuka]

There is a natural rubber shortage world wide due to both higher demand, and fewer rubber trees (Many have been replaced by more profitable plants like sugar and palm oil)

The tires that take the most rubber get the least amount made. Regular passenger tires are still pretty easy to get as you can make 6-8 passenger tires for every one 37" tire. 15 years ago, 35's were about as big as anybody would go. Now everybody (seemingly) wants 37-40" tires. So lots of demand for a tire that requires more resources.

[rocklaurence]

I know that recycling tires is expensive. To separate the steel cords from the carcass etc is demanding but I would think that if Rubber resources are scarce that there'd be a greater demand for the recycled tires. IDK. Interco's tire sizes are very reduced--maybe for slow sales? As mentioned-anything over a 35/37 is limited. I really like the TSL SXII in the 40/42 inch flavor but just over the last 12 months they have dried up.

[Comet]

Yeah, I’ve been waiting for a set of 37” BFG Krawlers for my LJ for awhile now.

[rocklaurence]

Regarding this narrative, I still havent seen Interco or PitBull tires recover. Most of the offroad tire companies are making Good radial mud tires in the 33-40" sizes. However, they are not the extreme TSLs or PitBulls of yesteryear. Even the Ultimate Adventure vehicles are all running the Trip Sponsored tires [Patagonia] or Radial Mud Terrains. Even the MT Baja Pros are hardly ever seen. What's going on?

[Stuka]

Ultimate Adventure has been running sponsored tires for at least 15 years now. When the BFG KM2 came out, they fully sponsored and put tires on every bodies rigs.

But modern radial MTs are better than old bias ply tires in pretty much every single way. They have grippier rubber, they are WAY better on the street, they conform to the terrain better when aired down, and any good tire has a 3 ply sidewall that will hold up to the same levels of abuse.

I know a few people that run Baja Pros. But only when offroad. The rubber is so soft, you only get 5-10k miles out of them before they have to be replaced. And a few others that did run them, but hated them anytime they were not off road. They are really bad on the street. Where as a Baja Boss MT or Krawler is way better onroad, and great offroad. Oh, and the really high weight of the Baja Pro makes it an axle killer.

So I think bias ply tires are just finally going away because they just arent as good as modern radials.

[rocklaurence]

You gotta Love the Looks and performance of the TSL SX2

[tgreese]

... So I think bias ply tires are just finally going away because they just arent as good as modern radials.

Seems reasonable that the production gap due to the pandemic created an obsolescence barrier for many products. Same for car parts ... stuff that was available in 2020 won't be coming back because the market shrank (by force or otherwise) and the product became less profitable and/or competitive.

Wonder if you can map that onto these missing tires. Somebody out there in the tire production business has probably done that.

[rocklaurence]

... So I think bias ply tires are just finally going away because they just arent as good as modern radials.

Seems reasonable that the production gap due to the pandemic created an obsolescence barrier for many products. Same for car parts ... stuff that was available in 2020 won't be coming back because the market shrank (by force or otherwise) and the product became less profitable and/or competitive.

I didn't think of that. Exactly like you mentioned, there may not be a demand for those items after COVID shrank the market. A good example: how the newer Radial 40" tires are round and balanced compared to the poor build quality of the big bias ply tires. My 38" Boggers were out-of-round and shook the vehicle too violently to go over 50 mph. TSL and Pitbull have never invested in increasing the quality of their signature tires

[Stuka]

My local tire shop actually refuses to put TSL's (and similar large bias ply tires) on their balancing machines. I did talk them into bubble balancing TSLs.

And of course, every time they sat for more than a day or two, they would flat spot and vibrate like crazy until they warmed up. Where they would still vibrate, but not as bad.

The new big radials drive fantastic. You can easily run them on a daily driver and not notice you have 40" tires while cruising at 80 on the freeway.

[rocklaurence]

Big tires and 80 mph--YES YES. When I was driving on the Boggers it reminded me of the starship Enterprise and how the ship would shake at Warp Speed 8 or above

[Harry Dawg]

I haven't really noticed that overall tire availability has gone down.

It more or less seems like the industry is consolidating brands and product offerings.

Back in the day there was plenty of brands & sizes to choose from. Gumbo Mudders where my favorite, but you can't get them any more. It's just Interco and their brands like Super Swamper and Boggers.

And in general, your limited to a few brands - BFG, Cooper, Patagonia, Mickey T's for aggressive off-road tires. Maybe Atturo.

At least at the shop I worked at (Discount Tire). I left in Dec. of 2020 only about 6 months into COVID, so maybe I didn't see the full effect.

[Stuka]

There is also Falken, Good Year (Though they still have trash sidewalls), Maxxis, General Tire, and Yokohama as some of the big brands.

[SJTD]

I run 315/75/16's on my Dodge. Not terribly big but even those were hard to find after the covid. Had to wait several months until any brand was available.

Re the mounting, the previous set I had I had to mount and take back for balancing since the shop wouldn't put them on the stock wheels anymore. This set I got in the mail and haven't bothered balancing. Seem fine at 80+.

[sonoraed]

At SEMA this year, made a quick run thru the tire section and can report China and big tires were well represented

[SJTD]

Well represented at a show is one thing. Being available is quite another.

[Stuka]

Well represented at a show is one thing. Being available is quite another.

Oh, the chinese tires are all available. Most of the big box store style tire shops sell them. They are cheap and available. And typically not great quality. Thin side walls, they don't wear well, and often loud. You will also see them use older tire molds from other brands. Like the chinese companies bought the old molds from companies like BFG and Cooper.

[rocklaurence]

A lot of tires have moved to Thailand and Milasia. Milasia is making a Nasty tire that is similar to the TSL Bogger.

[Gambler]

Tell ya hwat...I got 4 Courser MTS for Sundog (79 Cherokee WT, 4" lift, pt QT with rear locker) this summer. 33x12.50r15 off Amazon for 893 to my door. I paid an old school shop to mount and balance them on my 10" wide steel D windows I've been running forever...they balanced easily. These tires are GREAT. They ride sweet, nice flat contact patch, no vibes, wearing evenly so far. I was concerned about cold weather hardness, but zero issue, and the grip is amazing. I don't even shift into 4wd for powder, they gnaw right through it and eject without any packing. A set of Coopers or BFGS wouldve been around 1200-1300, and there's no way I could see justifying that. Granted, I dont drive it as a daily, but the Coursers at least seem like a great deal to me.