Off Road Tire Test - Monster Mash

The Contenders

The ground hawg is a old standby that gets a bad rap. However-and we can hardly believe we are typing this-they were amazingly flexible, and excellent in the loose rockclimb. We doubt we'll see rockcrawlers going to the hawgs, but if they are on your radar, don't dismiss them. They could use some center lug trimming, but otherwise we were surprised at their performance. The ground hawgs showed up just as we were wrapping up the test, so we scrambled to get them on the truggy but the bystanders were expecting it to be a waste of time. As we headed to the rock pile, folks were mumbling that the recovery tractor should be close by and ready to go, but the hawgs just wrapped their way around the rocks and pulled the buggy up and over the pile.

We had every intention of testing a set of 53-inch michelin xzl tires, and though they are getting harder to purchase directly from michelin, there are some deals available on military surplus variants or slightly used xzls. We have friends who purchased four tires for under $500 off the internet, and we know usa6x6 sells them both in new or slightly used condition. However, they are a radial tire with one steel sidewall ply and four steel tread plies, and each tire can support 14,540 pounds when filled to 110 psi. These tires are made for massive loads such as hauling missiles. Unfortunately they have such a thick sidewall that we struggled unsuccessfully for an hour attempting to mount one. In the end we would bet these tires would hardly flex, and they are definitely heavy, but if big and cheap are your goals, these are definitely the winner.

The mickey thompson baja claw is one of the few contenders in the test not coming from interco, but it held up great against the swamper family. The claws received some snide remarks from the peanut gallery when first bolted onto the test rig, but quashed when they hit the trail. The traction was impressive in the rocks and makes them a very close second to the iroks. The loose rockclimb wasn't a problem with the claws, but the dirtclimb had these digging into the loose dirt. What it lacks in tread and sidewall flex it makes up with multiple lugs. And some sworn swamper fans were quickly giving the claws respect. In the mud the claws were middle of the road, and though they would not match the irok or ltb for distance in the slop, they could still back out once they were in too deep.

We assume that interco was being asked for a bigger version of their smaller, but tough, ltb bias-ply. So lo and behold, here is the 47-inch "bigger ltb" (it's actually printed on the side). We personally felt they were the best-looking tire in the test. They are big, the lugs are massive yet in perfect scale to the diameter, and they just look tough. Ne small issue with the ltbs, and that is that they are made in china, which might be an issue with some buyers. We found they had good traction in the rocks, especially the sidewall tread, which is helpful when the tires roll under. The traction in big rock is on par with the iroks, while in loose rock the traction is better than iroks. In the mud, they cleaned well, plus the vehicle was able to back out once stopped, where the irok was stopped and couldn't back up.