TreadWright MTG Ultra-Grip Tires

Like most 4wd owners, I’m always on the lookout for different products to try out on my rigs. My 1996 FZJ80 Toyota Land Cruisers is my summertime expedition rig and my wintertime daily driver, so many things I run on the truck are a compromise between offroad performance and daily driver use.

TreadWright contacted me in early 2009 regarding their retread tires, and after some research, I decided to install a set of their newest LT 285/75R16 MTG D-range Ultra Grip tires. The tires arrived in early February, perfect for Wisconsin winter testing. This set was molded on a BFG-AT carcass and the tread pattern is nearly identical to a Goodyear MTR…the only difference is the Ultra Grip walnut shell additive…the tires have an interesting tan-speckled look to the tread blocks. And the best part? $106 apiece! (I’d go thru the process of describing their company and the manufacturing process, but their website does an excellent job of that – check there for current pricing too!)

My local tire shop (Fox Tire) is pretty used to the strange things I bring in, so when I arrived to get these installed, they were not surprised. What I didn’t know is Tim used to do retreads as well, so they were quite familiar with this type of product. Tim checked them over very carefully and was impressed with the quality. We pulled my chunked up old tires and got these all mounted and balanced. One tire took 4oz of weight to balance, the rest took between 1.75 and 2 ounces.

Initial impression: Ride was no different than the all-terrains I had on before. Noise was notably higher tho, partly because of the AT to MT switch, but also because the tread blocks on the MTG TreadWrights were all the same size, so there is no ‘harmonic’ change. In typical Wisconsin fashion, winter was far from over, so I got to experience quite a bit of snow, slush and ice driving. Zero complaints…braking was excellent, no slip at stop signs on the side roads, and the truck went where I pointed it.

Unfortunately, I only got in one ‘light’ winter ride. Even with the tires at their street pressure of 45psi, they dug thru 12″ of snow easily. They found traction where others in the group were having constant problems.

I’d like to say mileage is important, but 6000#ish truck with the aftermarket bumpers, sliders, rack, and other accessories is a wind resistance nightmare. However, despite all of this, summertime mileage on the highway is right about 15mpg. Again, impressive.

Rocks were the final test, and the Cruise Moab event in Moab Utah was the testing grounds. This time I aired down to 18psi, and hit the rocks. Again, everywhere I pointed the tires, they went…they hooked up as well as anything else on the trails and never left me wishing for more traction. More impressive, they didn’t chunk the tread at all (a problem I had with my previous set).

The result? I’m a big fan…great price, great tire, good for the environment…now they just need to get some 315 sizes!


TreadWright Inc
PO Box 763
Edgemont, SD 57735
877-439-0759
info@treadwright.com
www.treadwright.com

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7 thoughts on “TreadWright MTG Ultra-Grip Tires

  1. Pingback: Tread Right - Page 5

  2. Don Sharp

    I dunno about that. You take a blown tire into Discount and (if you spent $20 a piece for certificates) you get a brand new one … NO QUESTIONS ASKED. I love the price of these but my ’40 is destined to be a daily driver despite all the mods. Not sure I wanna deal with the headache if I get a piece of rebar through the sidewall … Personal actual story. Drove on the flat tire ’till I could get to a friend’s house so we could get my spare. (It was a Scout II and I took it out to make room for two other couples) Anyhow, I took what was left of the tire (threads and a good bead) to Discount just to see what they could do expecting to buy a new tire … they looked at my certificates as I told them the truth about the tire’s demise and told me to take a seat while they put a new tire on … can’t beat that man!

    In the size I want, Goodyear’s tire is over twice as much though. Could afford to replace it once anyway … what to do?

  3. steve p

    the shipping costs negate the good prices. May as well buy name brand non-retreads at the same price and get any warranty issues taken care of right away.

  4. mr jits

    Picking up a set of the wardens with kedge grip for use as winter tires. I’ll update on how well they do going over the mountains this winter.

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