D.Wiggs

Optimus is officially a snow BEAST! Yesterday, I finally got under Optimus and let the air out of the rear tires down to 25psi each. I have the fronts at about 45. I could air them down even more if I wanted to because of their massive load capacity. We got between 3 and 4" of snow last night and it was sleeting a little during the day. I decided to hit some untouched side roads and well as the worst I could find to see what Opti could do.

Well, let me tell you! These tires and this rig performed better than I could have ever hoped. I easily could have gone anywhere I wanted to in 2WD with some slight throttle modulation and corrective steering, but when 4WD was engaged, the traction was incredible. I could take off as quickly on the street as I wanted to and the systems corrections were predictable and easy to control.

Stopping was also impressive wit the good bite the fronts get because of the weight over them. I was very impressed.

I was on I-270 going to Home Depot and we hit a section that hadn't been plowed and two cars in the left lane infront of me, lost total control almost simultaneously and went into 360° spins crashing into the median. Optimus went through it as if there was dry asphalt underneath and had no problems.

I cannot say enough about how well this truck performed. I cannot wait to get my 295s on with even better tread!

Z06-LITE

What air pressure do you run in normal dry conditions? American Force told me about 50 in the rears and 55 in the front. That seemed a little soft to me. Currently I have 75 in the fronts and 65 in the rears. I have Hankook 255/70R 22.5 with the Alcoas like you have.

CTDPower11

I dont know about ya'll, but I love it when D. Wiggs is happy!!!

D.Wiggs

Thanks CTD.

I will run these air pressures from now on. There is no reason to run them any higher. The marginal MPG increase to me is not worth the massively reduced tire contact patch. I could easily air down another 15 in the front and 5-10 in the rear.

Bigduallywheels

Well tell customers to run 40-45 psi ..How dose your truck ride with 75psi in the front?

tristan21

Maybe they already have but I would love to see the aftermarket put a few serious mud tires on your 22.5's. I probably just missed a post but all the ones ive seen have been lacking what I was looking for.

Im glad Opimus does it in the snow, cause I was dissapointed in the off-highway performance even with the Toyo AT's. Try like going up a lightly snow covered decent grade once. It wont cut the mustard, let me say MINE wont. Yours is a dually though too so in my situation you would have faired better probably. I guess my soon to be purchased next set of tires will be mudders for sure.

And I got stuck at the man made lake near Roswell, NM on sand that was fairly hard packed. Just too heavy im sure.

Oh yeah tryin to pull my trailer out of the back yard of my rental house In light mud goin barley uphill. They had to get the Big wrecker out to pull me out, thanks AAA.

Either im just exspecting too much or im harder on mine than I thought I was supposed to be.

"Gotta b da shoes"

Z06-LITE

Thanks D Wiggs and the dually stop. I will lower the air pressure tomorrow. The truck seems a little loose in the front with 75 psi and the rear seems to "pogo" over small bumps with 65 psi in the rear. Have you known of any incidents of the bead coming off the rim with those lower air pressures? Thanks for all your help, George.

darrenb

...you mean to say your truck has come back from thuren? where's the pics man?

darren

D.Wiggs

My truck was not, norwill it ever be at Thuren because he is in CA and I am in OH or PA. However, he is shipping everything to me to be done here and Lambo Ohio. It is not done, believe me, when it is you will not miss that post!

D.Wiggs

I think you are just over-pressured. The truck is great at 45 front and 25 rear. What a difference it makes too. Not only is yoru contact patch increased MASSIVELY, but the ride quality improves greatly as well.

I have not heard of popping the beads; you would have to air down to virtually nothing. The way I look at it is, I read the max inflation pressure (120) and then the max load (like 6000 or something) and then go down proportionally based on what my actual weight on the tires is. Even at 25 in the rear, in unladen form it still looks like the rear tires are hanging on the walla nd have no weight in the front where as the front tires have the same buldge the factory ones did.

D.Wiggs

I would love to see that as well. There are two problems. The only "serious" mud tires are just too big for my truck. The smallest I know of is about a 44" tire; most are over 46" and I just don't want that kind of lift on my truck. However, the 295/75s I will bu running or essentially 42x12s have 1" of full tread and a good design. they are design for on/off road service so I expect them to work even better than my Sumitomos which do quite well and clear very nicely.

darrenb

oh my bad wiggs...i thoguht you mentioned in another thread that you wouldn't have your truck back till the end of the month....i guess i just assumed it ws at thruren's...lord knows you could have sent it there if you really wanted too...lucky guy!

anyhow, i was really leaning towards the sumitomos! glad to hear they are a pretty good all around tire. what did you say the mileage on those tires would be about? other than the tires, i'm still undecided on the wheels. the more and more i keep hunting, the more and more confused i get. it will most likely be from dima or diesel wheels...they have realy nice stuff and also offer the black chrome treatment...do you know of any other brands i might want to look into...on top of that still deciding if to lift or not..that's why i'm excited to see how yours turns out!

take care,
darren

D.Wiggs

No problem. I could have snet it but I would much rather spend that $7,000 on the truck rather than shipping it back and forth (assuming I could even do it that cheaply). I really like the Alcoas and I would do some sort of machined version of them. I am currently getting a little over 16.5 MPG for the first 6000 miles of my truck and that envolves driving to and from school during the week; driving to and from Pittsburgh a lot, and about 1000 miles towing about 8,000 pounds. I am super super pleased with them. You won't regret it. Just air the fronts to 45 and the rears to 25 and you can go anywhere, anytime of year!

And yes, I wasn't supposed to have it back for some time, but I had to get it for this weekend with the bad weather that I knew was coming.

darrenb

thanks for the mpg's, but i meant tire life in mileage sorry...i dunno how to explain myself at times...

D.Wiggs

No problem. They are good for AT LEAST 200,000 miles. You will most likely get more than that depending on use.