How do you choose the right tires for your Jeep or Ram? Start by going out and understanding the tires currently on your vehicle. Make note of the current tires: Which company manufactured them? What do numbers like 275 / 65 R 18 mean? Do they say all-terrain, off-road, or snow? (Call our Service team if you’re looking for quick answers on a rainy/snowy/cold day here in Western Missouri.)

Your next step is to decide what you want to do with your Jeep or Ram. Are you doing heavy off-roading in your Trail Rated Jeep? Will you need the best all-terrain truck tires for your Ram? Should you prepare for our Lee’s Summit snowfalls with a set of snow tires?

We’ve got some advice for shoppers outside of Kansas City who are thinking about the best tires for their vehicles. Let’s check it out!

Choosing the Best All Terrain Truck Tires

Selecting the best tires for a Ram 1500 is a complex task, as you must prepare for a variety of driving conditions and surfaces. You may find yourself hauling 1,400 pounds of bricks on a gravel road, towing over 8,000 pounds on rain-slicked blacktop, handling some light trail work to get to a job site, navigating Kansas City after a light snow, or just cruising down the highway on a perfect spring day in Lee’s Summit.

An appropriate all-terrain tire may be the perfect solution for your Ram. Their name gives their flexibility away, but there’s no denying just how adaptable these tires are.

All-terrain tires grant you many of the benefits of a true off-road tire, while not adding a rough ride or unending tire howl to your commute.

If your 4×4 Ram will spend more than half of its time in light-duty off-road situations, you should consider a set of all-terrain tires the next time you’re shopping for tires around Lee’s Summit.

Preparing For Adventure with the Best Off-Road Tires

Jeep owners looking to maximize their adventuring capabilities must research and select the best set of off-road tires for their budget. Off-road tires are heavy-duty and capable of handling a variety of challenging driving situations. These tires will have:

• Aggressive tread design
• Significant tread depth
• Reinforced sidewalls
• Large gaps between treads

Some off-road tires are designed to be run with lower pressure in demanding off-road situations, so ensure you’re choosing the right type of tire if you’re that extreme in your overlanding. You may need to purchase a set of wheels with a bead lock to help ensure your successful off-roading adventures.

The best off-road tires for your truck or Jeep will offer tremendous capability while being livable in your day-to-day driving. You may choose to avoid the compromises in ride quality and road noise that come with off-road tires by keeping a second set of wheels with your off-road tires mounted and ready to go on when adventure calls!

Defeating Old Man Winter with the Best Snow Tires for Trucks

Snow tires are the best way to arrive safely in the snowy months – especially when paired with a 4×4 or AWD system in your vehicle. Winter tires aren’t just an extra expense so you can tell people you have the right tread pattern for winter; they’re different from all-season and summer tires in a very important way.

Winter tires are made of a softer compound that is mixed with the steel weave in a different way. This combination makes the tires more resistant to freezing, which helps them keep traction well after other tires have hardened and begun to grip the road.

The softer compound in winter tires will wear out more quickly than your standard tires, but the good news is you’ll likely only have the winter set on for a portion of the year.

We don’t get as much snow in the Lee’s Summit area as, say, a ski village in Colorado, but it certainly gets cold enough in the Midwest to consider having a set of winter tires on your vehicle when the temperatures drop. (They are called winter tires, after all, and not snow tires.)

Equipping the Best Tires for Mudding in a Jeep Wrangler

What do Jeep enthusiasts who want to take their Wranglers out mudding look for in the tires they swap on for their wildest mud pit weekends? What type of tires fill their dreams? They’re looking for tires that are specifically designed to handle the most demanding off-road situations and are likely considering mud tires that readily sacrifice on-road comfort and noise for the most extreme off-road capability.

These mudding tires are designed to maximize traction and durability and feature:

• An aggressive tread pattern and depth to help in the most challenging terrains
• The ability to self-clear accumulated debris through specially designed stone and mud ejectors
• Some mud tires are equipped with sidewall lugs and treads to add even more terrain-grabbing capability
• Up to 12-ply sidewalls which allow for lower pressure operation and offer enhanced durability
• A tread compound that is engineered to increase chip, cut, and puncture resistance to the maximum level

Modern mud tires have been updated to help with concerns of sub-par on-road handling, as well as the dreaded highway howl known by off-roaders near Kansas City, but you will still likely want to only use them off-road to maximize their serviceable life.

Visiting Your Tire Shop in Lee’s Summit

The best tires for your Ram or Jeep will fit your budget, driving situations, performance requirements, and capability desires. (We’ve also seen people buy truck tires based on an awesome tread pattern!)

When you’re ready with questions about tires, or to set a time to get some new rubber under your vehicle, contact the Service Team at McCarthy Jeep RAM Chrysler Dodge in Lee’s Summit.

You can call Service at (816) 434-0829 or take advantage of our Online Service Scheduling tool.

We look forward to the opportunity to keep your vehicle safe on the roads around Lee’s Summit!