Unless you've been living under a rock your whole life, you've heard of Mickey Thompson tires. What is new, however, are the Mickey Thompson MTZs. They've been out for about a year now in goofy-big rim sizes with 15.5-inch tread widths. Recently, normal sizes have become available.
We managed to get a set of the MTZs in the new 33x12.5R15 size and mounted them on a set of new 15x10 Mickey Thompson Classic Locks. Like many 12.5-inch wide tires, the suggested rim size is from 8.5 to 11.5 inches. Normally, we'd mount them up on an 8-inch rim and call it good, but for a change we listened to the manufacturer and put them on an "approved" rim.
How They Work
We took the tires and put them on our '94 YJ for many miles of testing. After getting the pressure dialed in for our test Jeep (15 psi front and rear) we drove them on-road for about 800 miles before wheeling them. The tires started off quieter than most mud tires we've tested, but by the 200-mile mark, they were comparable to most of the other popular radial mud tires we've run in this size.
We then took them out in the mud, and that is where these tires shine. With less wheel speed than we considered normal, the shoulders and sidewall lugs were able to stay clean and keep us moving forward. The center of the tread cleans out much like any other mud tire. That is, bring the wheel speed up and it'll clean out.
It was similar in the sand. Whether it was dry or wet, the shoulder lugs and sidewall lugs shed sand like it was Teflon coated at any wheel speed. In the deeper wet sand, again we'd have to kick up the wheel speed to keep the center lugs cleaned out.
In the rocks, we aired them down to 8 psi. We didn't get much of a sidewall bulge out of them - then again, with 15 psi being the street pressure, we didn't really expect to. They gripped fine in the rocks, but we should have aired them down further. For a heavier rig, we expect this won't be a problem. Also, with a three-ply sidewall, and full six-ply tread (even on our C-load range test tires), we don't think that sharp rocks will pose much of a problem for these MTZs.
On-road we got the chance to test them in some monsoon-like conditions and found that they stop as well as most of the other new mud tires. With the siping on the tread of the tire, we expect them to stop well until the sipes are worn through. We did have problems with hydroplaning, but we attribute that partly to the light weight of our soft top, four-cylinder powered YJ and partly to the fact that with standing water on the highway from 1 to 3 inches deep, most any tire will hydroplane.
Bottom Line
In the mud, these tires are awesome. With very little wheel speed, they will clean out and keep you going. For sand, it's much the same deal, but they will start digging in the deep, loose stuff if you don't pay attention. On-road, they are a bit on the noisy side, but the only way to hear them on the highway is to turn the radio off and stick your head out the window. Otherwise, they can be heard around town from 20 to 40 mph but the sound isn't overpowering.