Yokohama Geolandar A/T G018

[W a q a r]

Thinking about swapping out the Kumho AT52s (LT285/70 R17) on my JL for Yokohama Geolandar A/T G018, 121/118S in the same size. Anyone running these on their Jeep? How do they perform? I’m on Fuel beadlock rims.

Dealer recommended going with the LT version instead of Passenger since the P variant has issues on beadlocks. I want something that drives well on the highway but also holds up off-road. Not too happy with the Kumhos, sidewalls feel weak, though highways are okay. 

[Frederic]

Could you clarify what you mean with "sidewalls feel weak"? 

[W a q a r]

Hi @Frederic, I usually air down to 9–10 psi on sand, and with the Kumhos the sidewalls feel very flat. Many times I feel the tires rubbing hard in the sand, and even noticed a rubber burn smell when I stop. 

[Frederic]

2 minutes ago, W a q a r said:

Hi @Frederic, I usually air down to 9–10 psi on sand, and with the Kumhos the sidewalls feel very flat. Many times I feel the tires rubbing hard in the sand, and even noticed a rubber burn smell when I stop. 

Ideally you want the sidewalls to feel quite flat, this means the tire is flexing enough and will provide you a great footprint. 

The burn smell however is indeed strange, maybe this is related to friction of the rim with the beadlock or something. Perhaps others beadlock users can chime in on this one.

@ChrisW@Zed etc...

[ChrisW]

It’s not something I’ve experienced - I’m running 35” BFG K02’s on beadlocks. I usually run 8 PSI, although the K02’s have stiff sidewalls. 
 

If you’ve got a burning smell there must be some sustained friction occurring somewhere. The only places that come to mind are if there’s some sort of tyre rotation on the rim (which would indicate the beadlock rim is not tight enough), or if there’s tyres are flexing enough to contact the car somewhere (eg rubbing against a liner). 
 

One way to test if it’s due to the tyre being overdeflated and the sidewalls flexing too much would be to do a drive with slightly more pressure and see if that changes anything. Maybe the sidewalls of that particular tyre are not suited to running at a low pressure. 
 

The other easy thing to check is the torque of the beadlock bolts. Those do need checking periodically (I usually do it every six weeks or so). It doesn’t need much torque, maybe 20 lbf, but they do loosen slowly over time. 

[Frederic]

stiff sidewalls are probably perfect for rocky terrain (wadi crawling) to avoid puncturing. But on the sand i prefer tires with a slightly softer sidewall so they provide a better footprint on the sand without beadlock style low pressures. 

This is also why even HT tires perform great in the sand, just a bit more difficult for self recovery and need some extra attention when driving nearby barbwires or old trees / rubbish.

 

[W a q a r]

Thanks a lot, I’ll dig into these factors first before spending on new tires. Really appreciate the advice

[Luke K P]

if you are getting a rubber burning smell i would go to mechanics and have it inspected. 

Just from one wheel? or all of them?

the kumho at52s are pretty popular in australia for offroading, if they still have tread i wouldnt swap till i find out what is making that burning rubber smell. they have a pretty good rep for sand/beach usage

[W a q a r]

Thanks @Luke K P, I didn’t notice all wheels, but will get them checked and tested first before I move forward. 

[Zubail]

I have AT52, I'm not driving now on Expedition with AT52 in desert, but when was driving, even with heavy weight of the car and 10-12 psi I've never smelled anything, I have LT285/65R18