Zac
05-28-2001, 10:04 AM
Okay, I’ve been asked about the new Interco TrXus Mud Terrain tire many times over the last several weeks. I don’t mind answering any questions, as I’ve always been grateful for other help when I was asking the questions. But to simplify things and to stop repeating myself, below is a summary of numerous questions that have been asked regarding my experiences with them.
Background: I was running GY RT/S "stock street radials" prior to mounting my 31x10.5x15” TrXus MTs. The GYs were great, quiet, and good in wet conditions. I didn't like them in the snow, however. They were definately not an off road tire.
In researching my new tire choises, I had had the oportunity to ride a CJ with SSRs (with about 1000 miles on them), TSLs (older) and a TJ with MTs and ATs (both sets less than 5k miles). I rode the same CJ with the TrXus mounted (brand new).
Based on these trials, I chose the trxus, and have had the Trxus on my ZJ now for almost 2,500 miles. I chose 31x10.5x15s and mounted them on 15x7 AR767 wheels.
Some recent questions from various people:
“HOW QUIET/NOISY ARE THEY?”
They are very quiet, of all four tires mentioned above, they are the quietest on the street. Note, this is not due to the extra insulation in the Grand because I also rode them on a CJ too. Yes, they are louder than my stock GYs, which you couldn't hear at all, but inside the my ZJ with windows up, you can carry on a normal conversation with all passengers. With windows down you can just barely hear the lugs "walking" on the road surface over the wind noise.
“HOW DO THEY HANDLE ON THE STREET?”
They ride very well on the street with no noticeable wandering. I've had them up to 75mph and they are fine. I've tested them in panic stops on wet road surface and they were great. Better than I had expected to be. Note, the trxus is siped on all the lugs, which is a definate benefit on slick surfaces. Interco is marketing the TrXus as their "road" tire. I think they have succeeded!
“HOW DO THEY HANDLE OFF ROAD, IN THE MUD, SNOW, ICE, ROCKS, SAND....?”
“HOW DO THEY HANDLE AIRED DOWN?”
Due to lack of on board air I’ve only taken them down to 15psi so far. I will be planning to go to 12 and 10 psi in the next few weeks. They handled the air down as any off road tire should. The sidewalls are stiff, mind you not like TSLs, but they hold up, there tough.
SAND: Ive had them in soft sand (not bottomless beach sand) but in some nearby sand pits. They are okay, but to tell you the truth so were my GYs. Sand is driver skill not so much tire in my opinion.
MUD: They were great in the mud, after all they are an MT tire. I’ve had them in 8-12” of New Englands finest mud season goo. They walked right through it without even blinking. From what I understand, the TrXus is a direct competitor to the MT & AT market. It is Interco’s attempt in fact to take over this market.
I have no "real" experience with other MTs though. I can relate a story about the shop that I got them from though. Well anyway, it was the height of the New England mud season, and to get to this shop you have to drive through about 50 yards of it’s finest goo. There was an identicle 97 ZJ to mine, except he had the 249 TC. That ZJ had 31" BFGs and I'm pretty sure they were MTs. The lugs were loaded with mud. You couldn't see the treads at all. They had about 10k miles on them. I understood he had a bit of a time getting in with them (recall he has FT4wd). I barely made it in in my GYs. When I left with the the TrXus on my rig, I walked through the mud in 2wd (open rear) and the lugs self cleaned at under 5mph. I was impressed.
SNOW: I’ve had them in deep crustly late season NE snow. 8-15” deep. The type of snow you can almost walk on, but the Jeeps break through. I could start from a dead stop and they go. I was not digging in. Yeah sure, you gotta use the go peddal some, but they floated and the lugs dug in and pushed me along.
ICE: No experience yet
ROCKS: Great. I’ve had them on some fairly steep granite faces, well in excess of 45* and up they went. But mind you they are still fairly new. Maybe that will change with age...
“HOW DO THEY WEAR?”
I would expect that due to the softer rubber in the TrXus, that they will wear faster than a BFG. But, all in all, in my experience with driving softer rubber tires on other vehicles, that is a main part to the traction benefit. That's why the swampers generally do so well on rock and other slick surfaces. The TrXus should be no different. I expect to get 30,000 miles from these tires. I believe they are rated 40,000. It is important to note that tire wear is in caused by poor driving habits, but mostly by off-roading in abrasive surfaces. The harder you use them, the less wear you will get.
“HOW MUCH DO THEY COST?”
I paid $104 a tire from a local shop* for 31x10.5x15s (this is a new size not yet listed by Interco.) The TrXus were about $25-30 cheaper than an SSR of similar size.
* http://www.elias4wdcenter.com/
“HOW DO THE TRXUS COMPARE TO OTHER MTs/ATs?”
Again I have no real world experience with other MTs or ATs. But there is a thread on the wrangler forum about MTs vs. ATs. Scroll down the thread and read the comments about the trxus...those are my tires they are talking about. (jeepndd runs BFG ATs on a TJ with a trac-loc in the rear; campingdad runs 31” SSRs. And both of them are die hard advocates of their own tires.) http://forums.jeepsunlimited.com/ubb/Forum23/HTML/005165.html
“HOW DOES THE TRXUS COMPARE TO OTHER SWAMPERS?”
The sidewall/tread rating on the TrXus is a 2x2 ply "rating" My 31” trXus’s sidewall and tread is rated the exact same as a 31” SSR. To me the TrXus is essentially an SSR with siping on all the lugs, as oppossed to only the inner band of lugs. However, the TrXus is not a true tsl as the SSR is. Instead it's lug pattern appears to be modified, perhaps to handle road surfaces better.
“HOW BIG ARE THEY?”
As most owners of swampers know, Interco is famous for oversize tires. That is to say that a 32” tsl actually measures about 33”. The same cannot be said of my 31” trXus. They are slightly undersized. My 31s” measure out, if I recall correctly, at 30.8s” at a street pressure of 30psi.
CONCLUSION:
I was originally going to mount a 31x10.5 SSR on my 15x7 AR767s. Then Interco came out with the TrXus in my chosen size. It was a no-brainer for me, given the fact that my ZJ is my daily driver too. I am very happy with them so far. As an added benefit, not only are they a serious off road tire, but they look real serious too.
As stated I will be more than happy to answer questions. I really like these tires. They seem like a perfect fit for a ZJ.
Zac
Background: I was running GY RT/S "stock street radials" prior to mounting my 31x10.5x15” TrXus MTs. The GYs were great, quiet, and good in wet conditions. I didn't like them in the snow, however. They were definately not an off road tire.
In researching my new tire choises, I had had the oportunity to ride a CJ with SSRs (with about 1000 miles on them), TSLs (older) and a TJ with MTs and ATs (both sets less than 5k miles). I rode the same CJ with the TrXus mounted (brand new).
Based on these trials, I chose the trxus, and have had the Trxus on my ZJ now for almost 2,500 miles. I chose 31x10.5x15s and mounted them on 15x7 AR767 wheels.
Some recent questions from various people:
“HOW QUIET/NOISY ARE THEY?”
They are very quiet, of all four tires mentioned above, they are the quietest on the street. Note, this is not due to the extra insulation in the Grand because I also rode them on a CJ too. Yes, they are louder than my stock GYs, which you couldn't hear at all, but inside the my ZJ with windows up, you can carry on a normal conversation with all passengers. With windows down you can just barely hear the lugs "walking" on the road surface over the wind noise.
“HOW DO THEY HANDLE ON THE STREET?”
They ride very well on the street with no noticeable wandering. I've had them up to 75mph and they are fine. I've tested them in panic stops on wet road surface and they were great. Better than I had expected to be. Note, the trxus is siped on all the lugs, which is a definate benefit on slick surfaces. Interco is marketing the TrXus as their "road" tire. I think they have succeeded!
“HOW DO THEY HANDLE OFF ROAD, IN THE MUD, SNOW, ICE, ROCKS, SAND....?”
“HOW DO THEY HANDLE AIRED DOWN?”
Due to lack of on board air I’ve only taken them down to 15psi so far. I will be planning to go to 12 and 10 psi in the next few weeks. They handled the air down as any off road tire should. The sidewalls are stiff, mind you not like TSLs, but they hold up, there tough.
SAND: Ive had them in soft sand (not bottomless beach sand) but in some nearby sand pits. They are okay, but to tell you the truth so were my GYs. Sand is driver skill not so much tire in my opinion.
MUD: They were great in the mud, after all they are an MT tire. I’ve had them in 8-12” of New Englands finest mud season goo. They walked right through it without even blinking. From what I understand, the TrXus is a direct competitor to the MT & AT market. It is Interco’s attempt in fact to take over this market.
I have no "real" experience with other MTs though. I can relate a story about the shop that I got them from though. Well anyway, it was the height of the New England mud season, and to get to this shop you have to drive through about 50 yards of it’s finest goo. There was an identicle 97 ZJ to mine, except he had the 249 TC. That ZJ had 31" BFGs and I'm pretty sure they were MTs. The lugs were loaded with mud. You couldn't see the treads at all. They had about 10k miles on them. I understood he had a bit of a time getting in with them (recall he has FT4wd). I barely made it in in my GYs. When I left with the the TrXus on my rig, I walked through the mud in 2wd (open rear) and the lugs self cleaned at under 5mph. I was impressed.
SNOW: I’ve had them in deep crustly late season NE snow. 8-15” deep. The type of snow you can almost walk on, but the Jeeps break through. I could start from a dead stop and they go. I was not digging in. Yeah sure, you gotta use the go peddal some, but they floated and the lugs dug in and pushed me along.
ICE: No experience yet
ROCKS: Great. I’ve had them on some fairly steep granite faces, well in excess of 45* and up they went. But mind you they are still fairly new. Maybe that will change with age...
“HOW DO THEY WEAR?”
I would expect that due to the softer rubber in the TrXus, that they will wear faster than a BFG. But, all in all, in my experience with driving softer rubber tires on other vehicles, that is a main part to the traction benefit. That's why the swampers generally do so well on rock and other slick surfaces. The TrXus should be no different. I expect to get 30,000 miles from these tires. I believe they are rated 40,000. It is important to note that tire wear is in caused by poor driving habits, but mostly by off-roading in abrasive surfaces. The harder you use them, the less wear you will get.
“HOW MUCH DO THEY COST?”
I paid $104 a tire from a local shop* for 31x10.5x15s (this is a new size not yet listed by Interco.) The TrXus were about $25-30 cheaper than an SSR of similar size.
* http://www.elias4wdcenter.com/
“HOW DO THE TRXUS COMPARE TO OTHER MTs/ATs?”
Again I have no real world experience with other MTs or ATs. But there is a thread on the wrangler forum about MTs vs. ATs. Scroll down the thread and read the comments about the trxus...those are my tires they are talking about. (jeepndd runs BFG ATs on a TJ with a trac-loc in the rear; campingdad runs 31” SSRs. And both of them are die hard advocates of their own tires.) http://forums.jeepsunlimited.com/ubb/Forum23/HTML/005165.html
“HOW DOES THE TRXUS COMPARE TO OTHER SWAMPERS?”
The sidewall/tread rating on the TrXus is a 2x2 ply "rating" My 31” trXus’s sidewall and tread is rated the exact same as a 31” SSR. To me the TrXus is essentially an SSR with siping on all the lugs, as oppossed to only the inner band of lugs. However, the TrXus is not a true tsl as the SSR is. Instead it's lug pattern appears to be modified, perhaps to handle road surfaces better.
“HOW BIG ARE THEY?”
As most owners of swampers know, Interco is famous for oversize tires. That is to say that a 32” tsl actually measures about 33”. The same cannot be said of my 31” trXus. They are slightly undersized. My 31s” measure out, if I recall correctly, at 30.8s” at a street pressure of 30psi.
CONCLUSION:
I was originally going to mount a 31x10.5 SSR on my 15x7 AR767s. Then Interco came out with the TrXus in my chosen size. It was a no-brainer for me, given the fact that my ZJ is my daily driver too. I am very happy with them so far. As an added benefit, not only are they a serious off road tire, but they look real serious too.
As stated I will be more than happy to answer questions. I really like these tires. They seem like a perfect fit for a ZJ.
Zac