Kelly TSR Tire review

I've put some road and trail time on the LT285/75R16 kelly TSR radial tires. Load range "E". On the road, they are quiet for an aggressive all-terrain. Some road noise, but nothing like a mud terrain. Even quieter than some performance car tires on cement expressways. Ride very well too. I also liek how the rim is recessed into the bead away from obstacles.

Off-road at Uwharrie, they had excellent traction on the hard pack clay and rocks. I was driving behind an open-diff Wrangler with 33's and he spun just about every obstacle. In 4-Hi, going over berms and other obstacles I never had a tire spin. The traction control and tires kept me going with no effort. In the rocks, I was in 4-low and they clawed over and thru without a complaint there too. The sidewall cleats probably added some protection and grip on some boulders too. Hit only one little mud patch and got thru without any squirming.

The bad is that on "Dutch John", even with 33's I was hitting my skids and crossmembers on some boulder obstacles. I did not have UCP and every crunch gave me the shudders. I hope my transfer case is ok, as it sure is loud in 4-low in anything other than 1st gear on the auto trans. 2nd gear low range was real whiney. Maybe with 4:1 it doesn't like going over a few mph?

Anyways, back to the tires. they held up great with no chips on the tread blocks and sidewalls held up good too. I was worried since they are only 2-ply. So far, I like them a lot as street/trail tire for daily use. My mpg's are running around 16 with mixed city/hwy use but it is still too early to tell.

What tire were you on before and what was the mileage on them? The Duratracs I have would squirm in hard corners, over graded pavement or metal bridges like a ribbed motorcycle tire until I had about 10,000 miles on them, I wonder how these do in the same conditions? Glad to hear the tires are working for ya!

I had multi-mile Wild Country XRT III when I bought the H3 and only drove on them for a few days before replacing them. They were too mall crawler.

I hvae not had any problems on pavement with these

Wonder what these would be like in thick / soupy mud?

Look like they would be half decent in the snow with all the siping as well - are the sipes deep into the rubber or just surface?

Pretty sure sites are deep. Probably do ok in some mud, but for serious mud I'd want Swampers

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After about 11,000 miles I am down to 16/32" (1/2") tread depth from new spec 18/32" (9/16"). If that continues in a linear wear pattern, I should be down to 8/32" (1/4") @ 50K.

autumn walker said:

Look like they would be half decent in the snow with all the siping as well - are the sipes deep into the rubber or just surface?

Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking! I have been looking for an aggressive A/T that would work well in the snow... I will have to take these tires into consideration in the next 2 months or so when I go to replace my BFG A/T's!

The siping helps a lot. These have more lug void space than the Hankook Dynapro MT in same size and Cooper ST/maxx. The TSR has about the same lug void space as the BFG MT/KM2. They evacuate water very well. We have had heavy rains and near flash flooding on roads in town here. I purposefully went into the deep water at the sides of the road and was making massive water waves to thje point I had to stop since I could not see and never felt tugged into the curb.