Ye Ol' Cherokee

Okay so I have a 98 XJ sport 4.0 4x4 100% Stock

When I bought it, the guy had a matching set of tires on it. Good tires too... Michelin MTX M/S I believe. They were off of another jeep.

The rear two are in perfect condition tread wise. You can see MINOR cracking (I guess their old, but I've had tires WAY worse last for years. The front ones are nearly bald though, so I want to replace them.

I have to replace a U Joint, Tie rod end, and sway bar links, then I plan to do front tires & alignment at the same time. (Hopefully this will fix my exhausting death wobble).

Anyway, I plan on ordering the tires soon. I do not off road, ever. I use the Jeep as a DD, and will use it in rain/snow, etc.

My brother works at a dealership and he said he can get me tires for 40 a piece (probably a brand like Sumic or an equivalent). I am hesitant to go with them, but the price is wild. I have Hankook optimo on my Explorer and Lexus, and they used to be on my TBird, and I have always had a decent experience with them. These are the ones I was thinking about getting for the front (And leaving the Michelins in the back for now)

http://www.carid.com/hankook-tires/o...24-401840.html


What do you guys think about this tire? You can't beat the price for Hankooks, but will I regret it? Are these gonna be the quality of the $40 sumics? or are they a good deal?

I really want to just buy two new tires to exactly match the back, but they are way out of my price range (Way too many other things to tend to on this awesome money abyss).

Turbo X_J

Move the rear tires to the front axle, install the new cheap tires on the rear.

landude

I can't speak to those but I can on the Firestone Destination AT. I just put on my second set Got 85K out of the first set (Yeah No ****). Could have gone another two months if we weren't going into winter at the time..... All easy driving....
just for reference..

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....t&autoModClar=

red4dr

have you ever looked into www.treadwright.com? they have some great deals, and have never heard anything bad about them.

may pop

I have had terrific good results with Firestone Destination LEs.Street tire and quiet. Over 60K and still useable. I will be replacing with the same this summer. 105 each at Tire Rack.

Ron

sycoglitch

I've had my destinations ATs for 3 yrs now and Im happy with em.served me well with minor offroading. They are tough. One had a gouge in the sidewall for awhile and never leaked air. 3 ply go figure. Im going for something for aggressive next tire but for a DD they served great

XJRed96

i love the hankooks optimos put them on a lot of customer cars. but you may want to look at the hankook dynapros. in my opinion they are a better suv tire. very comparable to the optimos in wear and ride quality but a better tread design for SUVs. i would avoid the $40 tires you will just disappoint your self. , putting crappy tires on the back will cause you to compromise traction in 2wd. cause way to much over-steer on acceleration while turning and ultimately create a safety issue. the optimos are great tires though no personal complaints with them. and be careful with michelins, the tread last forever but when they get old the tread becomes rock hard (which reduces the wear) but totally kills the traction.

sycoglitch

I wanted the dynapro atm but no one had them around me so i went to the destinations. And yes, the xj is light enough as it is. A good set of tires will help big time

jon71203

can you put firestone destination AT 30s on a stock 97 XJ?

sycoglitch

Yea. May rub fenders lightly if you have 16" rims.

jon71203

Not sure of the rim size right off hand, but they're stock rims as well

sycoglitch

I only say that cause i had icons with 235/70/16 and they rubbed lightly on full lock. Others may say you'll be fine.

Turbo X_J

Might want to re-think your opinion, tires with the most tread go on the rear. FYI: Over steer happens when the rear tires reach the limit of adhesion.

XJRed96

why would i rethink my opinion you just reconfirmed what i said. crappy tires shouldn't be put on the rear, even if they are new if they are $40 tires they are crappy tires, doesn't matter how much tread is on them.

jedijeb

I put the generic Goodyear Wrangler Radials on my 85 last summer just because it was a project then, they were about $85 each. Most people I know get about 40K miles on them, but since I drive less than 10k per year they will last me long enough. But the only come in one size for 15" and 16" so you would probably need to get all four if you went that route.

As for what goes on the front, I was always told you need the best on the front because the fronts get the most force placed on them because they are steering the vehicle and you don't want the front losing traction while you are going around a curve. A lot easier to recover from the rear losing traction than the front.