Effect of tires on ride?

[Dave Rosenthal]

I'm interested in the Grenadier and took the two-hour drive to my nearest dealer to do a test drive. Unfortunately they didn't have the Trialmaster with KO2s available to drive and so I ended up driving the Fieldmaster model with the more road-oriented tires (Bridgestone Dueler?). I thought the ride quality in terms of both noise on road and harshness over broken pavement was quite good, but it left me wondering if that would still be the case with the KO2 tire that I would want to run. Does anyone have experience either owning or test driving both tires? If so, how would you describe the difference in noise and ride quality?

 

[Stu_Barnes]

I've a loaner from @Rusnak INEOS Grenadier, had it for a week now and it is a base station wagon with the Duelers. My Grenadier is a trialmaster with winch. The Duelers are a little more quiet on road, this vehicle feels a little nimbler and the steering slightly less heavy and the suspension slightly softer, barely..

Now how much of that is due to this vehicle having 1K on the clock and mine being at 8K and having being a trialmaster with winch spec springs is anyones guess.

 

[Asnes]

I would imagine that tire pressure would be more important than the tire itself. When I got my truck with KO2s they were inflated to over 40psi in the front and 46 in the rear I think which was too much for an unladen vehicle.

Reduced to 36 all around and that softened things up. BFG and others have load charts you can go by. Good to weigh out on a cat scale to see what weights you are actually at on each axle.

 

[holdmybeer]

I switched from the stock KO2 tires to Falken 255/80R17. Those are 33”, so taller and narrower than stock. Works for my driving conditions here: wet, wet snow, and occasional long highway days, and when in the dirt I’m not crawling rock ledges so wider tires are mostly disadvanteous for me. YMMV.

And as a bonus, steering and noise and ride quality are definitely improved with the pizza cutters. I usually run 39 lbs all around with a few hundred pounds of payload. YMMV.

 

[Pete Brown]

Snow tires and tires with more aggressive tread will be noisier, not getting around that. My KO2s are noisy but it’s not a big deal.

Ride is definitely affected by load and tire pressures must be right for the load to optimize the ride.

This is covered in the manual as shown below.

I would imagine that tire pressure would be more important than the tire itself. When I got my truck with KO2s they were inflated to over 40psi in the front and 46 in the rear I think which was too much for an unladen vehicle.

Reduced to 36 all around and that softened things up. BFG and others have load charts you can go by. Good to weigh out on a cat scale to see what weights you are actually at on each axle.

 

[Tom109]

I have the ‘Stones on my SW and really like them. I drove a loaner with BFG’s for a week, same 36psi as mine, and did t really notice any handling differences.

The ‘Stones are not a beefy tire, and not much of a sidewall, so I will replace them with MT’s before the Summer trips.