OK, I'll throw this into the mix to further confuse the issue.
Recently, I was on the hunt for some 35's (I also have 17" rims) and had a very limited budget. I thought I wanted BFG KM2's. Yeah, almost $1,800 out the door...I just couldn't swing it. So I began to hunt around and found a tire I liked, the price was right and I couldn't find any bad reviews on so I found a set I thought I'd try. In my searching, I evaluated as much as I could with my limited experience of MT's and weight was one of the factors I took into account. I also looked at on road wet traction since this is my DD and here in FL, we see more than our share of rain.
My previous tires were Nitto's (295/70/17) and they are 71 pounds per tire (not inclusive of the weight of the wheel itself) and is an E-load rated tire.
My current tires are - follow along - made by Dunlop for Goodyear and are sold under their own name (I've confirmed this with Goodyear Corporate) - they are Fierce Attitude MT's. Those tires are 63 pounds each (again, not including the wheel) for a 35/12.5/17. While I only have about 1K miles on them, I'm thoroughly impressed.
Eight pounds per tire difference CAN be felt while driving. My MPG's went up slightly [~1 MPG], noise went down a little on road and the Jeep feels like it has more "pep". Off road, they worked great in soft sand and some light mud (was really looking for some deeper stuff but it's been dry around here lately) and holding traction going up hills. The tires are D-load rated.
The only negative-ish thing I could find about these tires is they have a 2-ply sidewall and some say they are weak. I'll find out eventually but I'm not big into rock crawling - I'm more of a trail riding/hill climbing, etc. with a little mud thrown in kind of guy. Of course, there's always the un-seen obstacles buried in the mud that can take out a tire, but again we'll see how these hold up over the long run.
Also, they fit on the stock carrier and will slightly rest on the bumper. I'll eventually get a rear bumper with tire carrier (need a hi-lift jack too), but if the stock carrier held my 94 pound Nitto set up for over 6K on and off road miles, it'll certainly hold my 86 pound current set up.
So...My $0.02 is, if you are on a tight budget and want a really good tire, give them a try.
Here they are on the Jeep -