Continental MPT 80 Tires

The choice of a particular tire is obviously very important in the

look and function of a vehicle. The style of tread, and also the

size, greatly impact how the truck will handle on a daily basis.

The first decision I made was the approximate size I wanted to go

with. I had generally settled on about a 40" tall tire. Since my

truck is driven daily, finding a radial tire in this size was critical

for the longevity of the tires. I also wanted a very aggressive

tread to handle the most severe off-raod conditions the truck

will see. Finding a tire with all these requirements was not easy.

Initially, I was leaning towards a Michelin military tire, such as

their XZL or XL models. These tires became very difficult to find

due to their great demand from the Operation Iraqi Freedom War.

These tires are very popular on medium duty tactical vehicles in

all branches of the military. My next turn was to Continental

tires. This company is based in Germany and produces a line of

tires which are OEM tires for the Mecedes Unimog. These tires

seemed to be the perfect match for my needs. Continental offers

two similar tread types. The MPT 80 and MPT 81. MPT stands for

"multi-purpose tire." The tire I went with is the more aggressive

tread, the MPT 80. The size is a 12.5R20 which is equivalent to a

335/80R20. Continental rates this tire at 40.7" tall and a tread

width of about 10.5". The maximum load rating is 4410 lbs. per tire.

This means I will be running much less than the maximum of 51 psi ....

probably around 30 psi. After picking the tires up, all five fit nicely

in the bed of the truck, but with little extra space.

Weld EVO Rengade XT Wheels

The wheels I chose were made by Weld Racing. There were

several critical requirements necessary for the choice of wheels.

The most important was the load rating of the wheel. The

strongest aluminum wheels are made by forging the aluminum as

opposed to casting. When forging a wheel, the single piece of

aluminum is heated, but not melted, and then pressed under tons of

pressure to form the desired shape. Whereas, casting involves

melting the aluminum to a liquid state and then pouring it into a

mold to get the desired shape. The forging process creates a much

stronger wheel in the end, due to the fact that the properties of

the aluminum are not as disturbed as in the casting process. The

other requirements for the wheels were obviously the proper size,

width, backspacing and bolt pattern. Again, with all these

prerequisites, there were not many choices in finding the right

wheel.



Here is the wheel after having the tire mounted to it. The model of

wheel I chose was the Weld EVO Renegade XT. The size is 20" x 10"

with a 4.5" backspacing. One thing many people have trouble with

is deciding what type of balancing method to use. These wheels do

not even have an appropriately sized lip to use clamp on weights,

like most wheels have. I have used tape weights in the past and

have had good luck with them. The tape weights are applied with

double-sided tape to the inside, wide surface of the rim. A good

way to keep the weights from falling off, due to dirt and water,

is to apply some clear, silicone caulk. I put caulk around all the

edges and basically covered the entire surface to fill all the

creases between each weight. Without the caulk, the double-sided

tape would wear away from the elements and the weights would

fall off.