Mud-Terrain Tires | Info & Tests

Mud Terrain (M/T) tires are the most aggressive off road tires. They have enhanced off road capability compared to all terrain tires and are not just built for mud.

Cooper STT Pro (best rated mud tire for wet traction)

But they are called Mud Tires because, mud is the toughest terrains of all and other tires can not handle it too well. In other words they don’t provide enough traction there.

The reason being that all terrain tires have smaller lugs and less wider grooves between those lugs, whereas the mud terrain tires provides greater tread void ratio.

Mud tire with deeper and wider grooves, is better able to evacuate thick slimy mud out of it’s channels.

These tires also offer a stronger sidewalls where they include a 3 ply polyester casing almost exclusively (wrapped with steel belts and nylon). So with these tires you are going to get the most protective sidewalls.

So, why not use Mud tires then… what’s the need of all terrain tire? Well, we need A/T tires because mud terrain tires don’t perform good on roads.

They have a softer compound which provides off road comfort by making the rubber absorb the bumps, but that rubber on road wears faster. Where for example an AT tire gives you 60k, a MT tire would provide only half of that.

Furthermore, mud terrain tires have a poor traction performance on wet roads. They don’t carry too many sipes which aid in water clearance. That’s why these tires tend to slip more compared to others. Also because of less siping, they also don’t meet the sever snow traction standards and are not rated with 3 peak mountain snowflake rated.

Mud terrain tires are also very loud on roads, so they are not comfortable as well, as with wider grooves more air is trapped between the grooves and hits the walls which produces tread noise.

But all of this is a compromise they have to make in order to provide the best possible traction off road, may it be rocks, sand, dirt, gravel or of course mud.

They have strong rim locks which underflow pressure don’t separate from the tire’s bead. Mud tires actually have sidewall biters, and under low pressure they provide the extra traction needed.

Meanwhile their bulkier lugs itself become biters as they flex due to the tire’s softer compound and bite on to the surface with their bigger mouth.

So overall, mud terrain tire is for someone who spends most of the time off road, as they would get the most benefit out of it.