Baja Boss A/T's ordered & received

[Bluebaru]

After pricing a wheel and tire package at Tire Rack, I went to Discount Tire to see if they could get me the same wheels, at the same price, as the wheels didn't show on their web site. They made a few calls and as they now OWN Tire Rack, they ordered the wheels through them! And as TR sells all their wheel and tire packages with free mounting, balancing and lug nuts, I got Discount Tire to match the price. They (DT) normally charges extra for mounting and balancing and Lug nuts, even if you buy everything from them!

I ordered the 245/65/17 Mickey Thompson Baja Boss A/T's yesterday afternoon and got a text, less than 24 hours later, that the tires were mounted, balanced and ready for pickup! A surprise, as they said the wheels would take 2-3 days to get.

Only problem now is my car probably won't get here till early July, as I have a week of, 5/23 build date, at least DT said they could keep them there, for a while.

The Mickeys run a little large, in diameter, by design, and the 245/65/17 is 29.8" in diameter compared to the vast majority, in that size, at 29.5" That and the fact that they are a true Hybrid tire and come with 16/32" tread depth, plus the current $100 rebate sold me on them. Rebate seems to be at least an annual event, as last year they had one in June.

I had been considering a number of 245/70/16's, for the taller sidewalls, which is generally a good idea for off road use but with Mickeys rep for off road tires and not offering any in a 16" that will fit the BS, I got the 17's. They are XL load rated and a little heavy at 38-39 lbs but at least they aren't the 44 lbs of the BFG KO2's and should be better at everything than the KO2's and especially in the mud, except the KO2's probably have stronger sidewalls, in this size, as they are a D Load range tire and have a 3 ply sidewall.

DT is trying to sell me on their tire certificates at $33.50 each, to cover refund or replacement, in the event of unrepairable tire puncture or damage. I got these because of Mickeys off road rep, Should I buy the protection? I wouldn't if I had the KO2's but My brother and I did puncture the sidewalls on two SL Load rated Cooper AT3-4S's, on a very rocky and icy section of forest trail in January. Other wise, the Coopers have been great. Keep in mind, it will cost $134, to cover all 4 tires and if one needs to be replaced, it's another $33.50 for protection on the replacement.

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[MJE]

Honestly for $134 if it covers accidental off road damage it sounds like a cheap enough insurance policy. I’m not normally a warranty guy, after all things aren’t likely to break on their own, but cheap enough ones that do cover it seem worthwhile.

 

[Meanderthal]

That cost is getting pretty close to the cost of a tire. Not an easy decision on if it is worth buying the insurance.

 

[Warpious]

I've always done the certs from DT, for some reason nails have a way of finding my tires and in generally unrepairable locations so they've paid for themselves several times over the years.

Also, side note, as someone who works the retail sector, I'd encourage extended warranties more and more nowadays as long as the pricing makes sense as quality control on just about everything electronic has gone to crap.

 

[Escape2Bronco]

The bigger problem in my mind is once you get past 1/2 tread life, you generally have to replace all 4 at once with All wheel/4 wheel drive unless you have a true transfer case and can control when the wheels are actually being driven. Do they say how they handle that?

 

[Bluebaru]

The bigger problem in my mind is once you get past 1/2 tread life, you generally have to replace all 4 at once with All wheel/4 wheel drive unless you have a true transfer case and can control when the wheels are actually being driven. Do they say how they handle that?

An excellent question! As I understood it, (and I need to double check this) they replace the unrepairable tire with a new one, unless the tread depth is 4/32 or less at which point they give you a prorated credit, on 3-4 (?) tires toward the purchase of new tires.

Worst case scenario? With the Mickeys having 16/32 of tread depth, I have a flat at 9-11/32, get a free tire and feel like I need to buy 3 more, as any depth less than 11/32 would make the tire greater than 1% smaller in diameter. Not sure how Ford feels about this but that's what Subaru says. Anyone know about this?

Looks like the protection costs 15% of the cost, of each tire.

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