In the world of off-road tires, Inerco's Swampers and related styles are the acknowledged kings. But a road-friendly design that still works in dirt is often desired by a large part of our wheeling world, and Interco has that covered as well.
Enter Trxus. The mild-mannered offering comes in two forms: an MT (mud terrain) introduced in early 2002 and the newest offering, an AT (all terrain). The list of virtues is formidable but the two that top the list are roadability and roadability. But just because we rave about the on-road quietness of these mud tires doesn't mean that the designers intended them for exclusive on-road use.
Like always we had to find out just exactly how capable they are for ourselves. Before even tightening the lugs on the wheels we knew that the tires had a lot going for them, like puncture-resistant 6 to 10 plies (depending on tire size), meaty spread-out lugs made from a chip-and-cut-resistant compound, and very noticeable traction-grabbing sipes.
To officially test both on-road and off-road aptitude we threw on a set of 35x12.50x15s, pounded the pavement to Colorado's 21 Road, ran the trail, and then drove home. The overall test required that the tires endure dirt, shale-like rocks, some mud, rubbley loose hillclimbs, and the all-too-common black asphalt without melting to the rocks or throwing the Cherokee into a flat spin on the freeway. The Trxus proved to be an impressive all-around tire.