New wrangler owner here ,,,, help!!

[HussaR]

Hi guys

Just bought a wrangler rubi... I really need some advice on tires !!! could I please have someones contact number?

Alex

[V]

What questions do you have?

[V]

What Rubicon model do you have? Doors, engine, transmission?

[UKTJ]

41 minutes ago, HussaR said:

Hi guys

Just bought a wrangler rubi... I really need some advice on tires !!! could I please have someones contact number?

Alex

Best to let people know what the question(s) is, then somebody can probably help.

Is it about size?  Want bigger tyres than are currently on your JL.

is it about choosing between All Terrain and Mud Terrain?

Is it about preferred brands?

is it about a good source for tyres?

[UKTJ]

1 minute ago, V said:

What Rubicon model do you have? Doors, engine, transmission?

Profile says 4 door JL.

[HussaR]

Thank you for the quick response guys. I bought a used 2 door 2019 rubicon. It’s the automatic transmission.The owner put 20in rims on , with Cooper Discoverer stt pro 295/65 R20 tyres….I suspect it had a lift done too. 
I want to do some off-roading with the jeep club….but 95% of my driving will be on road motorways….

should I swap the tyres for something like an all terrain tire ? Any recommendations??

I would very much like to get a good MPG… if possible!

 

thanks again!!!!!

 

Edited June 21 by HussaR

[HussaR]

Here’s a pic

[V]

The tyres you have are equivalent to a 35" tyre. The original equipment was 32".

Being a 65 series tyre they are already more suitable for street use, no need to change them until they wear out.

The sidewall size is 7.5" which is the same as the original equipment tyres. If you have a second set of 17" rims with 35x12.50R17 they would have a 9" sidewall which makes a big difference when airing down.

If you can switch on the gear selection display, you can work out what your final drive ratio is 6th (1:1) for a specific mph and rpm.

 

 

https://www.summitracing.com/newsandevents/calcsandtools/gear-ratio-calculator

 

 

[HussaR]

Wow thanks for the detailed response . If I wanted to get better mpg, would I be right in getting a 31 inch tire?

[Raakhee]

38 minutes ago, HussaR said:

Wow thanks for the detailed response . If I wanted to get better mpg, would I be right in getting a 31 inch tire?

The short answer is No. Your Jeep will look like it skipped leg day at the gym.

 

32" is the standard on a Rubicon. I have 32" Mud Terrains and mine is completely stock. 

As to mpg, you never gonna get what you would in a car. I'm around 29mpg. And that's pretty good for my limited use of the Jeep.

Photo of my Jeep below completely stock

Edited June 21 by Raakhee
Spelling

[HussaR]

27 minutes ago, Raakhee said:

The short answer is No. Your Jeep will look like it skipped leg day at the gym.

 

32" is the standard on a Rubicon. I have 32" Mud Terrains and mine is completely stock. 

As to mpg, you never gonna get what you would in a car. I'm around 29mpg. And that's pretty good for my limited use of the Jeep.

Photo of my Jeep below completely stock

Thanks - im guessing you have the petrol 2l wrangler?

[V]

If your Jeep is thirsty now, I reckon whoever upped the tyre size forgot to do the ring and pinion gears.

 

If you want to get back to normal fuel economy for a Rubicon you will need some 17" Rubicon wheels and a new set of BFG KM3 tyres or whatever alternative you prefer. Your Jeep will have a tyre size sticker on it somewhere. On most vehicles it is on the driver's door frame. There is likely to be a range of tyre and wheel sizes that the Jeep was type approved for. The braking system on the Rubicon requires a minimum wheel size of 17". If you cannot get original JL Rubicon wheels, find out what the correct specifications are before purchasing.

 

Contact the seller to see if they still have them. If they do, negotiate the best deal that you can. If you bought from a dealer/trader then seek some consumer advice. Your bill of sale will be important if it does not specifically mention that the 20" wheels are a modification. For the less well informed, this could mean they didn't obtain modified vehicle insurance. It's the only leverage I can think of.

 

What spare wheel and tyre do you have? Is it the same as the four road wheels?

 

Good luck.

[V]

If you want to stay with the 35" tyres you have, then you could change the ring and pinion gears in each axle (at the same time). My guess is that you will need 4.56:1 or 4.88:1 but the 8-speed may make 4.11:1 an option.

 

Knowing what R&P is in your axles now is important before you buy new tyres or wheels. The easiest way is doing a known speed in 1:1 (6th gear) and recording the rpm then putting the data into a calculator. The other way is jacking up both rear wheels and putting the Jeep on axle stands, putting a chalk/paint mark on the propshaft, and a mark on the tyre and counting how many propshaft rotations there are for one tyre rotation.

 

[MGomes]

1 hour ago, Raakhee said:

The short answer is No. Your Jeep will look like it skipped leg day at the gym.

 

32" is the standard on a Rubicon. I have 32" Mud Terrains and mine is completely stock. 

As to mpg, you never gonna get what you would in a car. I'm around 29mpg. And that's pretty good for my limited use of the Jeep.

Photo of my Jeep below completely stock

Did not realize Rubicons came with ducks from factory? Isn't that a MOD? LOL

[Raakhee]

11 hours ago, HussaR said:

Thanks - im guessing you have the petrol 2l wrangler?

 

Yes. Mine is a 2022, 2L petrol Turbo

 

Tyre size is :

[HussaR]

Thanks guys - looking forward to meeting you all on the trails! 
Do my current tyres make off-roading unwise?

just wondering if I should swap them out before I come on one of the off road days…

Edited June 22 by HussaR

[UKTJ]

30 minutes ago, HussaR said:

Thanks guys - looking forward to meeting you all on the trails! 
Do my current tyres make off-roading unwise?

just wondering if I should swap them out before I come on one of the off road days…

You have a larger tyre than stock, which will help and STT Pros are a decent tyre for off-road, you’ll be fine.  The reason many tend to run a smaller wheel and bigger tyre is it is better for airing down (reducing tyre pressure) which further improves traction.  But on a typical JOC event my guess is that not that many people air down anyway.

 

JOC events are always very well planned and at venues with a range of levels of challenge in terms of terrain.  You can start off mild and as you get comfortable with driving the Jeep off-road move on to more challenging route.  You will be pleasantly surprised by what you can do in your stockish JL!

[V]

A stock 2-door JL Rubicon today is the same specification that a lot of people modified their TJ's into 20 years ago. If I owned one, the only changes I would make would be:

1. Fitting a soft-top - to get the full Jeep experience
2. Relocating the rear number plate - to stop it breaking off when it hits the ground
3. Fitting a shorty front winch bumper with a winch - the bench seat in front of the radiator is the main off-road handicap

I have only driven one 8-speed JL Rubicon once and it was on a technical obstacle off-road that most stock Rubicon drivers would probably prefer to avoid. It was perfect. It gave me the articulation, traction and gear control when I needed it. It was better than my modified TJ when it was on 32" tyres and 2" lift.

[HussaR]

Guys, thanks again for the help. 

The stock overland tyres - bridgestone dueler H/T - do you use them on your club days? or not recommended? 

[TimC]

46 minutes ago, HussaR said:

Guys, thanks again for the help. 

The stock overland tyres - bridgestone dueler H/T - do you use them on your club days? or not recommended? 

 

The Bridgestones on the stock overland are a 'Highway' tyre so not so good in mud as an MT or an AT. MTs and A/Ts will be noisier and heavier. If you are doing a lot of highway miles then you could run two sets of wheels/tyres. I did on my JKUR for the best part of 90k miles: Cooper STT Pros for off road fun, Radar Renegade AT5s for the highway. MPG noticeably better on the A/Ts even adjusting for the tyre size. Since you have a very nice set of STT Pros I would use them for your off roading and, if you really do most of your mileage on the highway then, by all means , consider the Bridgestone H/Ts as a second set.

It's hard to tell from your pic but it is possible to run 35" tyres on a JL Rubicon without a lift although you are definitely going to get a fair bit of scuffing off road. If you haven't had a lift ( check to see what shocks you have fitted ) then you could probably get away with the stock highway tyre, it wouldn't surprise me if, given you have 20" rims, somebody just fitted the biggest coolest looking wheel tyre combo they could get away with just for the looks. I run a 2.5" lift with 33" M/Ts but for the highway and winter I still swap to my A/Ts which at 31.5" are only slightly larger than stock. I think I can just about get away without it looking totally stupid  . If I were you I wouldn't worry about it too much. As others have suggested, try it out with what you've got first, don't rush into changing anything, have a look at what other people have done, have a chat and take a bit of time over it. You may find out you like it just fine as it is.       

[UKTJ]

Have you had a good look at your front suspension (springs and shocks)?  Can you see if there are any spacers sitting between the top of the spring and the upper ‘bucket’?  Can you see on your shocks the name and model?  You could measure the length of the front spring and front shock at ride height, then compare notes with @Raakhee to see how it compares to her JL Rubicon.  All these things will help work out whether you have any sort of suspension lift.

 

But my gut feel would be that @TimC is right and a previous owner added big wheels and tyres without suspension changes, looking for the cool factor rather than off-road performance improvement.  But I may be wrong, my wife says that is the case a lot of the time

[HussaR]

44 minutes ago, TimC said:

 

The Bridgestones on the stock overland are a 'Highway' tyre so not so good in mud as an MT or an AT. MTs and A/Ts will be noisier and heavier. If you are doing a lot of highway miles then you could run two sets of wheels/tyres. I did on my JKUR for the best part of 90k miles: Cooper STT Pros for off road fun, Radar Renegade AT5s for the highway. MPG noticeably better on the A/Ts even adjusting for the tyre size. Since you have a very nice set of STT Pros I would use them for your off roading and, if you really do most of your mileage on the highway then, by all means , consider the Bridgestone H/Ts as a second set.

It's hard to tell from your pic but it is possible to run 35" tyres on a JL Rubicon without a lift although you are definitely going to get a fair bit of scuffing off road. If you haven't had a lift ( check to see what shocks you have fitted ) then you could probably get away with the stock highway tyre, it wouldn't surprise me if, given you have 20" rims, somebody just fitted the biggest coolest looking wheel tyre combo they could get away with just for the looks. I run a 2.5" lift with 33" M/Ts but for the highway and winter I still swap to my A/Ts which at 31.5" are only slightly larger than stock. I think I can just about get away without it looking totally stupid  . If I were you I wouldn't worry about it too much. As others have suggested, try it out with what you've got first, don't rush into changing anything, have a look at what other people have done, have a chat and take a bit of time over it. You may find out you like it just fine as it is.       

Thanks so much - do your H/Ts get better mpg than the A/T - I assume they probably would?

[TimC]

44 minutes ago, HussaR said:

Thanks so much - do your H/Ts get better mpg than the A/T - I assume they probably would?

 
I haven’t had Bridgestone H/Ts on my JKU, the original stock tyres were Goodyear Silentarmour which were more of an A/T. However the difference in mpg between the 33” MTs and the 31.5” Radar A/Ts  I have now is noticeable. About 19-20 mpg on the MTs  about 22-23 on the A/Ts. However, that’s not necessarily a fair comparison since they are different sizes and weights and also I spend much more time off road on the MTs and much more time motorway cruising on the A/Ts. I now have BFG KM3s on 285/75R17 and they are even worse, I’m sure it’s the weight. Seriously though, if you are concerned about mpg then don’t get too hung up on tyres. If you have a Jeep Wrangler you are going to have to live with low mpg, drive the Wrangler for fun and the sheer hell of it. When you want to put your sensible head on get a sensible car, I got a 1.0L Renegade.

[digger]

There are a number of good tyre brands that are good for both off road and on the road.  BFgs are popular but they are an expensive option . I've had 3 sets, 2 MTS and 1 AT, all of which were on a car when I bought it. Personally I don't believe they are worth the considerable extra cost. Your difficulty is that the tyre reviews in my opinion are biased in one way or another, a bit like road tests etc. Talk to folk at our meets and see what they have and ask why. You will get a variety of responses from best price onward! Some other  popular ones are  Cooper Discoverer, Falken Wildpeak ,Toyos, Grabbers etc. I have found little difference off road but considerable difference on road both in terms of noise and road manners especially in the wet. My personal preference is Maxxis . I'm on my 3rd set of Maxxis MTs!  I don't seem to have any problems getting places off road but one of my needs is quiet on the highway. These are gr8, certainly quieter than the BFGs, Grabbers and Coopers that I've had before!  .  Guess what,  most reviews say they are noisy!!!!

[V]

One thing that the EU did of use for motorists was the tyre labelling scheme. Unfortunately, there is a minimum production volume threshold that makes reporting compulsory and a lot of the 'modified' Jeep sizes fall into the low volume production exemption. The stock sizes don't for a lot of manufacturers so you can use them to compare between similar highway tyres. Some all terrains are produced in sufficient quantities to require the EU tyre labelling but I doubt any of the mud terrains will even the BFG KM3 mud terrain currently fitted as standard to all

 

Check your tyre pressures when cold, first thing in the morning before starting the Jeep and inflate them to the recommended pressure before driving anywhere. In most cases, some experimentation is required to find the correct tyre pressure for bigger tyres. I've gone up 8" on diameter for the tyres on my Jeep so the individual load rating for the tyre is much greater. As a consequence, using BFG's acceptable working pressure range chart for my tyres with the weight of my vehicle (measured on a public weighbridge) there is quite a large range of acceptable pressures that I can use for street use. Some are better for comfort, some for breaking, some for steering and some for fuel economy. Any one pressure ideal for one aspect is a compromise for some other factor

 

Your 20" tyres will not be far off the original 17" tyre specification because the sidewall sizes are the same.