| Author | Message | ||
     Michael Slade (Serious_one) New Member Username: Serious_one Post Number: 1 Registered: 04-2003 |
Hey, first official D-web post. Ok, so I'm shooting for some biggies in Moab last week and have an interesting conversation with the National Sales Manager of BFG. He's looking at the CrewCab and asking about my Dunlop Mud Rovers. We start talking about Dunlop and whatever else and I tell him I have a small fleet of RRC's and they all have Dunlop Radial Rover R/T's on them. He asks why I'm not running BFG AT's (I tell them I had a set and hated them, he appreciated the candor). I said I liked the center ridge for highway, with the slightly aggresive edge lugs for the nastier stuff. He had no answer, but raised his eyebrows and gave me that 'interesting...' look on his face. I asked him why it's so hard to find Trac-Edges here in the states. He said "There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to find them in the US". I laughed, and several of the other LR people there did also. When we told him of the relative unavailability of the Trac-Edge in the US he didn't believe us. It took several minutes of conversation to convince him that they are indeed hard to find. We suggested he look into it.... I remember several years ago that there were several Trac-Edge threads on varying lists and BBS's and the concensus was that they weren't worth the bother since the Dunlop Radial Rover R/T was so readily available. A friend in Portland was running a set so I tried a set on my own truck and have been running them on my RR's ever since (about 4 years now). This isn't so much a BFG vs. Dunlop thread (so don't go there please, if you come back with 'I chose Dunlop because BFG sucks' or vice-versa w/out any data or reference points you're a loser), but rather a 'if you could get the Trac-Edges easier would you have considered them over the R/T's' (Ok, so that begs the question of which is better, so what.) Can someone please diagram that last sentence? Just from a marketing standpoint I found it very interesting that the people I would have thought would know about distribution within their own company end up not knowing nearly as much as they thought (typical???). Like I said, this isn't supposed to be a dueling-banjos type of thread, just kind of opening it up for discussion and input. | ||
| Ron Brown (Ron) Senior Member Username: Ron Post Number: 272 Registered: 04-2001 |
My understanding is that BFG no longer makes the trac-edge, the last ones I knew of went to wise-owl in canada. Ron | ||
| Michael Slade (Serious_one) New Member Username: Serious_one Post Number: 2 Registered: 04-2003 |
Wow, really? Seems that the gentelmen I spoke with were convinced that the tire is still in production and widely available in the US. Interesting......VERY innnnnnteresting..... | ||
| Chris Browne (Chris_browne) Member Username: Chris_browne Post Number: 73 Registered: 02-2003 |
http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/bfgapp/catalog/tires/commercialtatraction.jsp this is the nearest replacement for the tracedge with the BFG name....from everything I keep reading I'm leaning towards GY MTR next time | ||
| Perrone Ford (Perroneford) Member Username: Perroneford Post Number: 95 Registered: 02-2003 |
I believe the Trac Edge is still available in the UK. Or at least the magazine ads would have you believe as much. I bought Trac Edges for my RRC and was very happy with them until I really started running the mud. So, when I needed new tires I went with Interco's. I've heard plenty good about the Dunlops so I wouldn't have hesitated to pull the trigger on those. One thing that did impress me was the carcass of the Trac Edge. I was very impressed by how meaty the tires were when I finally replaced them. I haven't seen a Dunlop off the rim for comparison. -P | ||
| Michael Slade (Serious_one) New Member Username: Serious_one Post Number: 3 Registered: 04-2003 |
P- Where in the heck were you able to find them? Thanks -M | ||
| Luis Constantin (Luis512) New Member Username: Luis512 Post Number: 6 Registered: 03-2003 |
The tires are both very good choices. I do really like the BFG. But price usually drives me to the Dunlops over the BFG. All in all, you can't go wrong with either of them, or GY for that matter. On my alloy rims I still run the Michelin XPC, but on my steel rims I run Dunlop Mudrovers. They have always come through. | ||
| Michael Slade (Serious_one) New Member Username: Serious_one Post Number: 4 Registered: 04-2003 |
Ahhhh, Luis! Another MudRover fan! I have a set on the CrewCab and like them a lot. Do you think they're relatively noisy on the freeway? I'm trying to decide if it's lack of insulation in the cab, or general tire noise that's bugging me. Michael | ||
| Peter Sharratt (Gummikuh) Member Username: Gummikuh Post Number: 48 Registered: 02-2003 |
Hi Can`t get them in the UK, don`t make them anymore. I just replaced a set on my discovery with MTR`s, which is about as close as I could get, the trac edges were a great tyre, and for BFG to stop production is madness, every 4x4 tyre dealer here in the UK will back that up, as time and time again it was a best seller, and is a real fit and forget tyre, this will handle pretty much any terrain you throw at it. Pete S | ||
| Luis Constantin (Luis512) New Member Username: Luis512 Post Number: 7 Registered: 03-2003 |
Michael, I actually never noticed a significant increase in their noise. I put them on to go to Cen. Amer. a couple of years ago. But I have noticed as they wear, the they progressively get louder. Don't know if size has anything to do with it, but my Mudrovers are stock 235/70-16. Luis | ||
| Michael Slade (Serious_one) New Member Username: Serious_one Post Number: 5 Registered: 04-2003 |
Ok, it's decided. I'm making a call to my man at BFG and finding out what the deal is. I'm convinced that it would sell if it were more available. I wonder what the decisions were to cease/limit production in the first place (if it really was a best seller as Peter says). My MudRovers are 255/85/16's Luis, maybe that's why I think they are loud. hmmmm.....much to ponder...... Michael | ||
| Leslie N. Bright (Leslie) Senior Member Username: Leslie Post Number: 2080 Registered: 02-2002 |
I have those Commercial-Traction BFGs (the ones that are in Chris' link) on my wife's Disco. They are good tires. They are affordable! (Big deal on my budget!)  They cost much less than other BFGs (MT or AT), or even the Dunlop R/Ts. (I paid under $90 each for 'em, not counting the fact that I actually got 5 for the price of 4.) However, I think the Radial Rover R/Ts that I had on my other Disco are better off-road, though. (But, they were more $$$, although still a good bit less than the BFG MT-km or AT-ko). My understanding is that the Commerical-Traction is BFG's Trac-Edge replacement. Supposedly BFG made lots of Trac-Edges, and were shipping "most" (?, maybe just a lot?) to the UK. Ended up deciding to split the Trac-Edge into two tires, one to be more street-oriented (the regular Commerical tire) and the other more aggressive (the Traction version). The UK is using up the last of the Trac-Edges that are in the pipeline, ie, they're really not being made anymore, but there are some still in UK warehouses. Eventually, they'll be out, and the Traction tire will be the one you get instead. I never had the Trac-Edges, so I can't compare them to the newer Traction tire, but I don't really think that the Traction tire would be better than the Trac-Edge off-road. The Commercial-Traction tire just isn't that aggressive. It's great in the kind of stuff that my wife will ever tackle, and it's fine on the road, and it'll handle what she'll let me do in her Rover... but when I get tires for my Series, I'll get something a bit more off-road oriented. IMHO, FWIW, YMMV, yada yada yada.... -L | ||
| Michael Slade (Serious_one) New Member Username: Serious_one Post Number: 6 Registered: 04-2003 |
Thanks for the yadda. Interesting info on the Trac-Edges. Mucho appreciated-o. M | ||
| EricV (Bender2033) Member Username: Bender2033 Post Number: 168 Registered: 08-2002 |
I got lucky. Oct 2002 I found a set of 245-75/16 Trac-Edges at a Firestone dealer here in VA. Got them for $50 each. Great tires! |
