Quality, Price and Shipping time were the main factors. With a budget of around $850 tire choices were quickly narrowed to a few choices. Research was conducted through searching forums and online magazine sites such as JP Magazine. There was also only a week to purchase the tires to be received in time for the annual event.
After a few days of searching, my owner narrowed the choices down to BF Goodrich Mud Terrain KM2, Pro Comp Mud Terrain and Dick Cepek Mud Terrain Crusher.
Quadratec, Summit Racing, TirePackage.com, 4wdhardware, Tirerack.com, Ebay.com are just a few of the websites researched. It was quickly discovered that the BFG's were on back order until mid November. This would not work as the Fall Crawl was scheduled for the first weekend in November.
Pro Comp's were seriously looked at in terms of quality and price mainly through TirePackage.com and 4wdhardware.com. It was discovered that Tirepackage is affiliated with 4wdhardware.com. Research revealed that while prices were competitive for the Pro Comp Tires, shipping times and customer service were poor.
After some high recommendations to visit Tirerack.com, the choice came down to Dick Cepek Crusher. The purchase which came in just right below the budget was completed late Wednesday night on October 27th, 2010. The tires were quickly shipped and delivered on Monday, November 1st, 2010 by UPS.
Let me just say, these tires 100% proved themselves and impressed several fellow Jeepers at the annual Fall Crawl event held at Harlan, KY. With the weather that included rain, sleet, and snow the trails mostly consisted of pure mud that in some places became soupy and thus, very slick.
For those who have been to the Black Mountain Off Roading Park (Harlan County Campground) know that trail 45 one of the main trails can become a challenge when muddy. There was never once any challenge out of these tires. And the trails the group took including trail 15, 18, 20, 22, Lower Rock Garden and Rail Bed, the Dick Cepek Crusher grabbed the attention of others in the park.
Besides the plethora of mud in the park, the tires grabbed a hold of the rocks like a hand wraps around a rock giving great traction even in the slickest of situations. The trails this tire was taken on ranged from class II to class IV trails.
What was a challenge to several in the group of 10-15 rigs daily, the Dick Cepek Crusher proved themselves worthy. These tires cleaned themselves out very impressively. The first day of off roading the tires were at 15 PSI. On the second day they were taken down to 11 PSI and remained at this the remainder of the weekend.
They are truly an awesome tire. If you are looking for a tire that will prove it's worthy of performing on the trails this one definitely should be considered.
