(FL) Ebay Blems? Any Experience With Blems In General?
 

Hey ya'll.. I'm needing some new shoes for the the truck. I'm looking for MUD TERRAIN 16's in either a 315/75 or 35/12.50.

I've been looking at the following
TOYO's
ProComps
Bridgestones

The toyo's and procomps are blems from ebay, and the bridgestones are new from TireRack. They're all about $700 + shipping.

I've kind of shy'd away from the following:

Hankook
Cooper
Goodyear
Nitto
Yokahama(sp?)
Mickey Thompson
General
Maxxis
Interco
Mastercraft

Either b/c of bad reputation, poor treadwear, price or availability. Most of these that I've shy'd away from are over a grand shipped anyway... that's too much given the other options.

SO... Has anyone run the blems off ebay? How are they doing? What about the bridgestone MT's? Any experience? Any other recomendations for a 35" MUD TERRAIN with better than average treadwear?

I might still be able to be convinced to run an AT like the Mastercraft Courser CT or Procomp Extreme AT.

Lets hear some discussion!
:pca1:

I have Yokohama Geolanders and they are the best tires I've ever run. They are on my 1/2 ton but I wouldn't have any problem with putting them on a heavier truck. They have been on road, off road, overloaded and generally abused for the last 10,000 miles and the tread still looks new. The only problem I know of is that I think they quit making them maybe?

maxxis bighorns, or buck shots. lots of people getting good tread wear (including myself 30K+ on my lifted halfton)

cooper STTs or STs I'm on 15K and just starting to show tread wear.

a lot of people like the pro comp extreme a/t. a few guys on dodgeforum got really good mileage out of them.

the new mickey tohompson m/ts people are also liking

I've run most of the popular tires on my trucks through the years. The last set I had wa the Toyo's and after them would have never run anything else. Then I ended up with the 19.5 inch wheels though and changed that whole theory.

Blems as in appearance problems, who cares. Blems as in belt disfiguration or sidewall problems, I would say no way. These trucks are testin the limits of these tires to begin with.

absoloutely correct. I like the toyo and the hankook 'cause they are both load range E tires. I know that some of the D's have high weight ratings and all that, but the two extra ply's of an E give me more reassurance.

The blems are SUPPOSED to be appearance only, but the do state that they may take more weight to balance... which makes me scratch my head a lil bit.

For $165/ea, the bridgestones are looking pretty good.... but if they'r only gonna last 15k, vs. a Toyo that may go 40k for $100 extra per tire... it may be worth the extra $$'s.

good luck with whatever you choose, my Yokohamas are rated for 60,000+ miles

a cosmetic blem is when the exterior layre of rubber gets put in the mold there are spots that got missed. my local tire dealer bought a ton of Coopers last time they offered blemmishes to my area.... on 90% of them you couldn't tell there was something wrong. on the others you cauld see half of the raised letters and the rest of them were flat. definately not a safety issue.... the "missing" rubber is what makes it use a little (1/4 to 1/2 oz) to make them balance. also look into making sure they aren't OOR (out of round) it'll balance out but will shake and wiggle going down the road......