Thornbird Review

[micfly83]

I'm plannin on gettin some new tires soon and I'm leanin toward thornbirds.

I have a 94 4 banger with 31x10.5 BGF A/Ts on there now and I can live with the performance, but I'm not willing to go to 33s yet.

What does everyone think of thornbirds?

I'm plannin on gettin 31x11 and I'm considering 31x12.5, but I'm afraid the 12.5 may look a little funny and affect the performance?

How is the tread life/noise/highway performance/offroad performance/etc?

The 31s on my rig dont look too bad with the 3" lift. Sometimes it looks outta proportion, but I think the really aggressive tread and the wider tires should make up for this and make it look really good.

Any pictures of a 31" thornbird would be good.

Also, hit me with any other recommendations for a nice agressive 31.

[Tacoma750]

I like the jeep man...As far as the tires go, I dont call them THORNTURD for nothing.

[JTucker]

Stuckbirds are about as sad an excuse for a tire as there is. Oh, they look cool.

[LeadFoot]

I'm sure stuckturds would work if you groved the hell out of them. Otherwise, they are useless. I saw one guy on the trail with them, and he might as well have left the tow strap connected. A guy on 31" tsl's open did better than his locked 33" stuckturds did.

[Jays89YJ]

Stay away from Thornbirds. Go with TSL's.

[redline9]

Yeah, thornbirds may *look* vicious but they're harmless...and useless....and HEAVY...

[2pwrlftrs4u]

my .02 ...not a good tire period. on or off the road. if your rig is a DD then i would consider staying away from a bias ply all together. PITA to ballance and still rides rough.... however the LTB's/IROC's are killer for offroad performance... the LTB comes in some odd sizes too. for example a bud of mine runs 34x10.50's with a 4cyl/4:88's front and rear ARB's. they are awsome in rocks, and clean out well in the mud/snow.

[fatkid1082]

Worst tire I ever owned. and I couldn't believe I got all 4 33's for 100 bucks. THey get flat spots after 5 minutes of sitting, way heavy, out of round, most of the time won't balance. Suck on any off road terrain, they are the worst tire ever. TSL radial all the way.

[micfly83]

Holy Crap, it looks like I wont be gettin Thornbirds...

I'd like to get one with a fairly aggressive tread though. The BFG A/Ts look a little :fkcar: . I hit the trail about 2 times a month, so I don't need a great offroad tire, but I do want somethin that will perform well both on the trail and on the highway. I also would like a little more wider 31...maybe 11 or 11.5.

Any Ideas?

Thanks for the quick replies

Here she is:

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/9/web/753000-753999/753987_99_full.jpg

[Road Head]

Just get a MT. The BFG MT and the Goodyear MTR are two popular tires, but there are also many off brands. I would keep my eye out on the for sale forum and pick up a set. A 31" tire is an extremely popular swapping tire, people buy them for a little more meat, and then move on up to 33s pretty quickly, so there are tons of them and they are pretty cheap.

[butch6924]

Pick up a set of cheap radial MT's. They'll hold up better, drive better, and perform better than the Thornbirds. Since you've still got your stock gears (I'm asuming since you asked about performance), I'd definetly stick with a radial tire. They'll be a lot lighter than those Thornbirds.

[fatkid1082]

I love the MTR's. Best tire ever, and they wear great (that's fact, the best tire ever...well, you know).

If you want a great looking tire that looks aggressive and performs well off road and on, try out the TSL radial. I ran them, and so did a lot of people I know and work with (4WDH) and we have all loved them, they work great on road and don't get flat spots, and off road they stick and dig well. :spinhead:

[RatherBeJeeping]

Listen to all the tire hating. Those things rock in V notch dirt.
Course they do suck at the rest...

[jpjeeper2000]

thornbird suck really really bad have heard nothing but bad things from them they wear terriable I have BFG M/T the best tire made to me the wear real good on road and off road they do pretty good too but for off roading I would have to say the LTB super swampers r one of the best

[Jeeperrick]

A couple more thoughts for you. The first being the General Grabber MT.These are great tires, wear descent and work really well both on and off-road. A set of 31's can usually be found for around $115-$120 bucks per tire at a local General Dealer or Sometimes a Sams Club.

Dunlop Radial Mud Rovers are also a descent mud tire plus good on the street, they can be had for around $110 for 31's. Rick

[under_psi]

thornbird is the 2nd best tire that i owned, next to a bogger. they NEVER FLAT SPOTTED, but are slightly lumpy from 0-15 MPH...which is why some folks think that they 'flat spot' let any tire sit in teh cold for long wnough, it will flat spot. i loved mine, and if boggers were not on the market, i would have bought another set of them. i put them through more hell with my open diffs and can not complain about one thing...

go to the wrangler pics section and look at the thread my buddy tweba99 started about his "new wheels and tires" you can see some of the pics of the krap that i have drive n them through....

make your own decision....i would not have responded, but once again, the haters have arrived....

BTW they wear better than any other tire i have seen. i put ~12K miles on my jeep last year, all of them on the thornbirds, and they barely show wear......

[micfly83]

any other good 31x11.5 tires out there?

[rippin-95-yj]

What size gears are you running? I'm gonna take a guess and say 4.10's. 32x11.50 BFG MT's would be a good decision. Or any other off brand like that. Shouldn't be too big.

[micfly83]

What size gears are you running? I'm gonna take a guess and say 4.10's. 32x11.50 BFG MT's would be a good decision. Or any other off brand like that. Shouldn't be too big.

Yeah I was considerin a 32", but as it is now, I'm havin trouble maintaining 60 with just the 31s. I know jeeps aren't highway bound vehicles, but I'm gonna need to keep the speed up and the gas mileage as I commute between home and college...

Right now I have a 4.0L TB, 62mm spacer, bored out intake manifold, and a cheap high flow intake. Before I go to college I plan to get a good tune up and maybe put an exhaust on. Do you think this would help pull 32s?

[Rufjeep]

BFG M/T or A/T...both great tires that wear & perform well on & off the road. For a DD/ trail rig I am a big fan of the A/T. I've got them on my XJ and am alweays impressed by them.

[Jays89YJ]

It depends on the wheeling you do. Up in NH before I finished my YJ, I went wheeling with other peoples' rigs and the TSL's outperformed any MT tire available. It didn't matter if they were on rocks, in mud, in the water, etc. I bought TSL radials because I didn't want to deal with the tire thump and at that point in time my YJ was a DD. They have a weaker sidewall, but I haven't had any problems with them. They've handled great in all road condtions so far too.

[2pwrlftrs4u]

It depends on the wheeling you do. Up in NH before I finished my YJ, I went wheeling with other peoples' rigs and the TSL's outperformed any MT tire available. It didn't matter if they were on rocks, in mud, in the water, etc. I bought TSL radials because I didn't want to deal with the tire thump and at that point in time my YJ was a DD. They have a weaker sidewall, but I haven't had any problems with them. They've handled great in all road condtions so far too.


are you still in kuwait... i was in iraq all of 2003, home 2004, and in afghanistan for all of 2005.

[thomud]

You may wantto look into the Trxus MT's. They seem to great both on and off road. Just my .02

[flashfoto]

I have BFG A/T KO's on both of my YJ's. I used this chart to make an unbiased decision on the first set & was so happy with them, I bought the second set for the other YJ. When I go 8.8, I will upgrade to a set of 33's, just like them. They are quiet & perform very good offroad. I would say, unless you are a hardcore rock crawler, they would serve you very well.

Be sure you read the customer report's, too.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=ORAT

Flash

[jeepincj78]

If you are already having trouble going 60mph with 31's, don't expect to do any better with 32"s. There is no substitue for gearing. If you want better performance out of your Jeep, I highly recomend regearing to the proper ratio to regain yoour factory ratio. You could either go with 3.73 or 4.10 which would work great with the 32's.

Frank :flamejump

[zman]

If you are already having trouble going 60mph with 31's, don't expect to do any better with 32"s. There is no substitue for gearing. If you want better performance out of your Jeep, I highly recomend regearing to the proper ratio to regain yoour factory ratio. You could either go with 3.73 or 4.10 which would work great with the 32's.


If your talking about McFly, you need to do more research, as your recomendation will make things worse. He has a 2.5L, which comes stock with 4:10 gears. The only way to regear a 4 banger with stock axels is 4.88's.

zman

[micfly83]

If you are already having trouble going 60mph with 31's, don't expect to do any better with 32"s. There is no substitue for gearing. If you want better performance out of your Jeep, I highly recomend regearing to the proper ratio to regain yoour factory ratio. You could either go with 3.73 or 4.10 which would work great with the 32's.

Frank :flamejump

Yeah you probably thought I had the typical 4.0L with the 3.07. Regearing to 3.73 will make things worse and I already have 4.10. I don't plan to regear this puppy though. I was thinkin maybe an exhaust and 32s, but I think I'm just gonna let her be.

[ToughYJ]

I submit the pro comp Xterrains for your choice. Its an excellent all around tire. its tough as nails, looks fairly aggressive, works well on pretty much any terrain with the noteablke exception of thick clay like mud. they are radials and directional so they are smooth and relatively quite on the street, and they wear great. I have 10,000 plus miles on mine right now and they still have more than 50% of their tread on em. The sidewalls are also very tough. I should have torn holes in them several times now, but didnt even scuff the rubber. and if ya catch em during procomps buy three get one free sale, its a great deal. I got all 4 of my 35x12.50s from Summit racing during their sale for 600 bucks shipped to my door.

Smaller versions will obviously be cheaper

[Jays89YJ]

are you still in kuwait... i was in iraq all of 2003, home 2004, and in afghanistan for all of 2005.
Yes. I'm departing the project in August and returning to school. :rockz:

:beerchug: