I just got back from doing 310~ trail miles through Nevada, Utah and Arizona on my way to the Grand Canyon. I chose to upgrade to tall skinnies since I heard there was significantly less rubbing than 285’s and I can report back, that indeed they do rub significantly less than I was expecting. I removed my front sway bar so I have a bit more travel in my front under flex. It rubs at the very top of the fender liner under maximum articulation rock crawling, but nowhere else, an it’s EXTREMELY minor. A little melt mod and I’m in business. I LOVE these.
The stock Hankooks struggled on more serious trails especially in loose dirt and rock. They just didn’t have grab, and despite only having about 5,500 miles on them, after 2 long weekends of overlanding, I decided I needed new shoes. They just cut extremely easily. I did 180 miles in Anza Borrego, they did okay, but I did a 270~ mile run in KOFA and they were COOKED. They were all kinds of cut up and chipped. The fear of popping a tire out there was too great for me because the sidewall had so many cuts in it I for sure thought I wouldn’t even make it out of KOFA. Now the reason I landed on the Kumho’s, is because these tires are BRAND new to the market. 7 months or so if I recall correctly, so I wanted to try something new that no one else had. I watched their press release and they’re supposed to be the competitors to the Nitto RidgeGrapplers, and they came in at a significantly lower cost too.
I can’t even begin to describe the night and day difference these tires made. Up some extremely steep inclines and declines I didn’t even need to throw it into 4WD. The grip was just THAT good. I aired down to 14PSI cold and while running it, I was getting up to 16-17~ PSI and it was a comfortable and smooth ride. This truck really comes alive with better performing tires off-road. I did some pretty crazy technical crawling this weekend, some DEEP sand and lots of washes and rock gardens as well. Performed perfectly in every scenario. ZERO complaints. Minor drone around 35-50~ but anything up above that the wind noise completely drowns them out. Excellent tire, 10/10 so far I love them.