Wandering JK with General Grabber AT2
 

At 22k miles the BFG Mud Terrains on my 2016 Rubicon were both terribly noisy (despite religious rotations) and they were cracking at the bottom of all the lugs. Figuring I'd up the size just a bit, I chose 285x70-16 which are mounted on the stock rims. Prior to doing this I checked the rim specs on the new JL and it seems the rim width is the same as my JK but with larger tires. The General Grabber AT2 are about 1.64" taller and 1.18" wider than my stock tires, all clearances are fine. JK has stock suspension without any mods.

Highway driving with these tires finds them pulling me all over the road, left and right. It's not bump steer or the centerline groove, it's every road, every condition. I tried raising the pressure, that didn't help but it did ride much worse. Today I checked the toe in with a ruler and makeshift bars attached to the wheels and it appears to be close to factory spec.

Any idea how to address this other than a different set of tires? The Grabbers are great tires in both mud and snow, I'd hate to give them up but I will if I can't fix the issue. Perhaps it's not the tires, but I don't recall this occurring with the OEM tires. Thanks for any and all help!

It may be that u need to decrease the pressure. The oem tire were a load range C tire and the new ones will be D or E most likely. What pressure are you running. You may need to drop down to 30-ish lbs for an E rated tire otherwise you are driving around on the center of the tread.

That size grabber does indeed look like an "E" rated tire.....really stiff sidewall. I'd agree with the lowering pressure comment as a start.

Thanks, sorry it took me so long to get back but my email notifications are not working from this site. I did do as you suggested, raised to 45 and lowered to 35 and nothing helped. If I go much lower the tire light will go on. Any way to get around that thing? Additionally, I had a tire shop check the front end alignment against my makeshift method and it still comes out exactly where it should be.

A lot of programmers, and even the Bluetooth apps, can adjust that TPMS alert threshold lower. 35 is still high IMO. Some tires just tend to have these issues. I can't speak to that specific tire, but the E rating is def not going to help matters at all. Do you have the alignment specs that you can post up? "just where it should be" doesn't mean it's correct. For example, if you don't have any caster correction there is nothing they can do about caster. Are you on a stock suspension? Even stock vehicles can have a tendency to pull from time to time.

Thanks, I believe you have answered my TPMS issue. I looked up the factory specs and although VIA a rough method, my measurements put toe in right on the factory settings. Unfortunately, Mavis Tire didn't give me the printout and I forgot to ask, so the other settings I cannot answer to except they said it was right on. Vehicle is 100% stock except the tires are a bit larger. I did not experience any issue with the BF Goodrich Mud Terrains. My son put these exact tires but one size up on his 2002 Dodge Cummins 3500 and had problems with them. Ultimately he put some Chinese brand on it and dumped the Grabbers at a huge loss. They could not be balanced correctly and wandered, just like mine.

I forgot, there is one stock item I changed out and that's the steering damper/stabilizer. On the off chance the stock unit was bad, I purchased and installed the Bilstein unit.

The bilstein is known to give the steering a push to one side. The General's on the other hand, I've had friends with good experiences with them- generic all terrain tire.

Yup, remove SS and test. You should never use a gas charged SS....they have too much force trying to constantly expand which will lead to a wander. You want a SS with equal resistance expanding and compressing. You'll be fine to drive without the SS on there, so don't worry about removing it to test if there is a difference.

OK I'll try removing one end and driving, it won't happen immediately as the weather here has been wet, mud and snow. There was zero difference in handling between the stock unit and the Bilstein, that was a waste of money. I am going to try the tire pressure thing, down to 30, but waiting on the snow to stop. Have to deliver stuff to the church for kids and to the food cupboard so can't be messing with the needy kids Merry Christmas :ya: