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Which are the quietest off-road tires offered on Rubicon?

18K views 22 replies 19 participants last post by  Grayrat  
#1 ·
Looking at the standard offerings on a 2021 Rubicon JL 2Dr. There are 3 standard tires offerings:

1. BSW Off-road Tires

2. BSW M/T Tires

3. OWL Off road tires

All are LT285/70R17C size. Which are the quietest on-road tires?

I’m thinking about some customization to make a Rubicon quieter for on-road use. Tires, Floor insulation, headliners, etc. I think there are better tire choices also than what is offered as far as noise, that still have an aggressive tread pattern. Thinking General Grabber A/TX and Cooper Discoverer A/T3 XLT.
 
#10 ·
Not a Rubi but my Willys has the Firestone Destination MT/2's with a very aggressive tread pattern and they are significantly quieter on paved roads and highways than my Goodyear Wrangler MTs. Very surprised by that.

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That is My observation too comparing my 2020 JL Willys with Destinations compared to my 2 former JK Willys' with BFG T/As. Destination tires are quiet.

However, starting at 25,000 miles, even with regular rotations, the Destinations became so noisy and transmitted tire tread vibration so horribly that I shed the Firestones for Michelin Defenders LTX M&S at 32,000 miles.

I don't rock crawl but I do drive a lot on state highway and muddy & dry oil field and ranch roads. The Mich Defenders perform quite well for those easy demands. And are car-quiet on the highway. That's my DD tires. When the urge to take a serious off road jaunt occurs it will be a planned vacation and I will just reinstall the mounted Destinations on the Jeep and tolerate the ride for a while.

In my opinion the only way to solve off-road MT tire noise is don't use them. They all develop noise, vibration and become uncomfortable for highway driving.
 
#3 ·
Aggressive tires make noise. The more aggressive the louder they are. If you want a quiet tire you’ll want something like a car tire. But that kinda defeats the purpose of a 4x4. If you never intend on going Offroad that’s alright I guess.


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#4 ·
Aggressive tires make noise. The more aggressive the louder they are. If you want a quiet tire you’ll want something like a car tire. But that kinda defeats the purpose of a 4x4. If you never intend on going Offroad that’s alright I guess.


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True, in general, but there are large differences in the noise of off-road tires. A tire like the General Grabber A/TX has a special layer to absorb road noise. Ultimately it's a compromise between sound and off-road capability.
 
#6 ·
Both the BSW Off-road tires and the OWL Off road tires are BFG K02s. No difference other than white letters on the latter. I have K02s on both my Wrangler and 4Runner, and I think they're very quiet for all-terrain tires.

The size on both vehicles is 265/70-17C. Don't know how the noise level on mine would compare to the larger 285/70-17 size.

My 4Runner came new with Bridgestone highway tread tires. One of the first things I did with the 4Runner was to replace the OEM tires with the BFG K02 tires. There was only a slight (almost imperceptible) difference in noise between them and the OEM tires. Handling seemed to be about the same. For what it's worth, I run Bridgestone Blizzak tires on the 4Runner in the winter, and the K02s are way quieter than those (and the Blizzaks are quiet for winter tires).
 
#7 ·
I've also got BFG K02s on my 2016 JK.

What I'm thinking about is getting a new 2021 JL Rubicon, and switching out the BFG K02s with General Grabber A/TXs which are supposed to be specially designed for less noise. I'd like to hear about somebody who's tried those General Grabber Tires and had K0s and see what difference they made.
 
#8 ·
My buddy just visited and had brand new 285/70/17 KO2 on his 4 door Willys with 2 and 1/2 inch AEV lift. I have 35 inch Milestar Patagonia MTs on my 4 door JKUR and 3.5 inch AEV lift. FWIW the Milestars ride a smoothly and quietly even in the larger size (both rigs have stock wheels). We each drove both rigs right after the other and he was shocked.
 
#12 ·
The softest ride was 32 cold but a hard freeze always caused pressure to drop very low and tripped a low pressure lights that would not extinguish until I inflated them to 37 which extinguished the light. And then I could release pressure back to 32. I soon got tired of that game.

The sweet spot on mine was 35. I even tried 37 and even 39 but whatever pressure i used the cupping and wear was visibly taking place around 25k, even with rotation which i did with every oil change . And of course gas mileage would decrease at lower psi and get better at higher psi. It was very common to start the day with 35 psi and within 30 minutes of highway travel the pressure was 37 or 38 on cool days.
 
#13 ·
If you are looking for a quite comfortable tire that offer great dry/wet performance, good in snow and occasional off roading you may want to look at these: TerrainContact A/T - 225/60R17 99H | Continental
They are relatively new to the A/T tire scene.
 
#14 ·
Looking at the standard offerings on a 2021 Rubicon JL 2Dr. There are 3 standard tires offerings:

1. BSW Off-road Tires

2. BSW M/T Tires

3. OWL Off road tires

All are LT285/70R17C size. Which are the quietest on-road tires?
THE BFG KO2 AT are very quiet. I had the 285/70R17 KO2s on my last Jeep and was amazed at how quiet they were. I'm now on my second set of KO2 ATs.
 
#23 ·
I have BFG K02's in 315's with a 2" lift, and they sound exactly the same as the stock BFG 285's, which are almost as quiet as a regular street tire. The reason being is they are 6 ply tires, in a metric version of the 35" E load 10 ply tires which are noticably louder and heavier. My main reason for going with the 315's was the C rated softer riding tires. They are smoother in the dirt/rocks than the harder tires, and air down nicely. They are almost 35" vs 32" and 12+"wide vs. 10" wide, and of course I had to get wider wheels with a little less offset (still boggles me how they determine offset where minus is sticks out more, and + is inset.) I have been given a Gladiator loaner from the dealer for service and mod work and the Falken Wildpeak tires on their loaner vehicle is super quiet as well. Another thing to consider is the weight of the spare, if you have a tailgate spare with the stock mounts. Remember, you are buying 5 tires, not 4 and they all have to fit. These Jeeps are expensive hobbies, might have been better off as a drug addict. I've been waiting for my ADD Stealth fighter bumpers for 6 weeks, and it's like going through Heroin withdrawls.