I Want A Jeep

Do you know how much of the expected performance of your beloved Jeep actually depends, not on the engine or transmission capabilities, but on the tires, plain and simple as this. I always hear people talk about the off the ground clearance or angles at which their SUV can go up the muddy and slippery hills, but often times forgetting that unless one got a set of tires with well developed grousers, they won’t make it past first several meters. On the other hand I see a couple of lifted Wranglers in my neighborhood, with huge Paris-Dakar type of tires, whose owners never go off the road, but pay extra cash for extra fuel consumption, while always remaining on the asphalt.

H/T tires

So thinking of a new set of tires for your Jeep, first you need to consider where you are going to use your SUV? If you will only be toting your kids around to school and soccer practice, then there is there is no need to get high performance off-road tires, as they will be noisy and will increase the fuel consumption. On the other hand, if you often go off-road and this is why you have a Jeep, the H/T (highway terrain) tires will not do the job, and you will need to invest in a M/T (mud terrain) set with developed aggressive type tread.

So first you need to decide on the type of tires: there are three of them and namely:

H/T – (highway/terrain) designed to be used predominantly on the highways (80% highways; 20% undemanding off-road)

A/T – (all terrain) the most universal tires for SUVs (50% highways; 50% off-road)

M/T – (mud/terrain) purely off-road high performance tires (20% mud; 80 %off-road).

That’s all, not to forget, that A/T or M/T tires do not replace the winter set, in fact just like with regular cars, you are supposed to have both summer and winter sets.

The other considerations are to take into account:

Rim size – as different Jeep models have different rim sizes, or the one that the previous user used may differ from the one originally installed by the manufacturer.

A/T tires

Speed rating – typically printed on the tire:

P, Q, R, S – the most common types, designed for speeds in between 150-180 km/h.

T, H, V – for fancy and fast SUVs, supporting speeds from 180 to 240 km/h.

Longevity of the tires, indicating the amount of miles the tires will last. Obviously that the mud/terrain tires will not last long on the asphalt surfaces, and the same is true for highway tires in the conditions of serious off-road.

And lastly the price, which also needs to be taken into consideration. Chances are that you will be able to find a good deal at discount sales in your local stores, however nowadays, more and more popular and inexpensive, becomes the method of ordering SUV tires online. More on the best deals on Jeep tires and comparison of brands in the upcoming posts.

M/T tires

Jeep has continued to amaze its followers with newer and newer changes in the model line. In all honesty I don’t know what to think about the latest Grand Cherokee styling. The first generation was ground breaking for its time, though I really did not like the spare tire eating up the space in the cargo section. The second generation Grand is steal appealing to me the most, for the looks, and you can find one now days for fairly cheap. The third Cherokee with its rather angular lines, did not win my heart, but was still rather acceptable, and now the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee leaves me with amazement.

Let’s put it plain and simple, it doesn’t resemble the heritage of the Cherokee or Wagoner, it looks as if it had been drawn from a scratch. The rear view can be mistaken for a BMW X5 and the overall silhouette looks very much like an Audi Q7. It is quite obvious that jeep wants to build a gap between its trusted off-roaders like the Wrangler and the luxury class Commander and the new Grand Cherokee, while still having small size SUV’s like compass or Cherokee. And now with upcoming introduction of the supercharged Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 it becomes obvious that Jeep want to rival the entire Range Rover Sport family.

An in deed it perfectly fits the new era of high performance SUVs for Jeep, with its 465 hp and 465 lb-ft. of torque. In deed the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 is clearly the most powerful Jeep ever made. Jeep claims that it will be capable of going to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds with the top speed limited to 155 mph.

The power train that produces all this is an all-new 6.4-liter HEMI V8, further development of the 6.1-liter. Jeep claims that its engineers put a lot of effort making 90% of the engine’s peak torque enclosed between 2,800 and 6,000 rpm.

Jeep is concerned about the fuel consumption, so a valve exhaust system cuts out four cylinders, which helps increase fuel economy by 13% on the highway. It also comes equipped with a large gas tank, and the SRT8 should be able to cover a 450 mile range.