Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 is a mud terrain tire which besides being used on ¾ ton pickups and commercial vehicles is the go to choice to enhance the looks of your ride. (These tires are actually made by Maxxis, which is good reputed company). Pro Comp tire provides huge traction and aggressive sidewall lugs of dual design so they are great overall.
Being a tire engineer, in my opinion, the Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 one of the most on road aligned tire that you can get, that’s why the tire so great in the wear department. It’s dry and wet traction is also above average. But the tire is noisy with it’s very wide shoulder grooves from where air enters and hits the tread. Winter performance is also okay, but the tire is not 3pmsf rated.
Tire Sizes Available:
The Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 comes in limited total number of sizes which stay between 15 to 22 inches (wheel diameter).
All sizes get to have the speed rating of Q on them which means they can go up to 99mph, which is okay for a mud-terrain tire.
However, there is not compromise on the load ratings as those go from C to all the way up to F.
Talking about tread depth on this tire, it ranges from 18 to 24 inches where only 1 sizes get to have 24/32″, the where LT 37X13.50R20 is 24, as most of the sizes you’ll see are available in 20/32″, which is still pretty great.
The rarest thing about this tire is that is also comes with tread wear warranty, of 40k miles for all of it’s sizes.
Lastly talking about weight range, the smallest weight tire is less than 50 lbs, while the heaviest tire gets to be under 80 lbs, which is great, considering other premium options which go above 100 lbs, Nitto Trail Grappler (review) being an example.
Tread Features
Although the Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 offers a very similar looking tread compared to other mud terrain tires, there are few things to look out for.
First, let’s move form the shoulders, where the tire offers one of the widest gaps that you’ll find on any mud terrain, and although this improves off road biting, it also compromises on the highway grip.
The wide slanted lugs extend on the sidewalls and change shapes alternatively, where on every other one there is a “X” marking (looks cools though, but it offers a little bite, so does the other block, where siping extend all the way).
On sidewalls, the tire offers lugs which seems like an art work, it looks beautiful and all, I mean, but it’s does not offer too much off road, as you’ll see in the section down below.
But underneath the tire’s are tough as they get to have 3 ply (more about it in durability below).
If we look the central area of the tread.
The Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 offers two main ribs which have notches in them facing each other.
These notches are connected with deep slits which act as sipes (they are also seen on the shoulder ribs).
Together all these make 3 wide circumferential channels which are connected to wider lateral grooves of shoulder ribs.
Mud simply has no chance with this tire.
The tire offers a very unique design where although it’s compound is softer, each block is reinforced with foundations underneath so overall highway stability is not compromised by a lot.
This goes while comparing it with other tires.
For Your Info: The best all rounder M/T tire is BF Goodrich KM3 (review).
Durability
The Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 comes with a very great puncture resistant sidewalls, as they get to be 3 ply.
This basically comes form the the 3 ply polyester casing inside.
This casing is further reinforced with 2 layers of steel belts (they are wide and cover the tread area without going towards the sidewalls).
But these belts are spirally wound with a layer of nylon (just a single ply).
So the sidewalls get further protected.
For you info: The BFG KO2 is even tougher than this tire, which is surprising as it’s an AT, you can check out it’s durability by searching the site.
On Road Performance
On pavements, there are 3 considerations to take in to account.
The first is the grip on both dry and wet tarmacs. And here dry traction is not a big issue for Mud terrain tires, though they lack a lot in wet.
Secondly, the tire’s communication abilities, what’s the steering response like?
And third has to do with handling, which is a major part of traction, as you need minimum slippage on corners.
Let’s talk about both of these one by one.
For Your Info: Our of all Mud tires, the most capable of gripping on dry roads is Toyo Open Country M/T (review)
Steering Response
The Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 although offers a good steering response in dry, same can’t be said about it in wet.
On dry the tire does so much better where other options (premium M/Ts) oversteers, it keeps it at bay.
This is because with less no of cap plies, the tire offers smaller weight which does not pushes forward when you curve.
But with minimal siping, the tire lacks slightly with delayed response, where it jumps in all of sudden and is harder to control.
Grip on dry roads
Grip of the tire is directly proportional to the rubber exposure with the road. The more the rubber meets the road, the better the grip of the tire.
That’s why mud terrain tires don’t do so well in this department compared to less aggressive tires.
But still the Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 computer optimized footprint is very well optimized as it offers a decent tread exposure with highways.
This results in smaller braking distances (which is how grip is measured).
Dry highway Handling
The Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 is not so great in the handling department, the tire although has decent steering response, there is not a lot of rubber over there.
So with wider lateral tread voids a lot of contact get limited.
When the tire corners, most of the tire’s weight emphasis is on the shoulders, so here the Xtreme MT2 with smaller shoulders can not offer a greater lateral traction values
But this lateral traction component is only weaker on smooth pavements as off roads they are epic, especially when you air down the tire.
Wet Performance:
On wet highways, there are 3 main key areas to consider.
- Wet Grip (measured with stopping distances).
- Handling (measured by calculating g forces on corners).
- Hydroplaning (by calculating float speeds).
Float speed is the maximum speed a tire can achieve over standing water.
Let’s talk all these factors.
Wet Traction
Wet traction includes both the grip and handling, so discussing those under one topic.
And when it comes to wet roads, siping has a lot of role to play, that’s why there are companies which offer aftermarket sipes on the tread to improve traction (folks mostly get it done on M/Ts).
The Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 offers sipes on all blocks which are full depth, meaning even with wear the sipes wont go away.
These sipes are also very thick and have a slightly interlocking design, and as they are numerous in the middle the tire gets to have ample grip.
But handling just like seen in the dry, is limited here as well as the grooves get to be very wide.
Hydroplaning
The Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 has no issues in the hydroplaning department, as here with wider channels the water gets to escape effortlessly.
Moreover, as the tread blocks are softer (than your average MT), they provide better pressure for the water to gush out.
Overall in both straight and curved aqua tests, this tire does great.
Snow Performance
Winter performance has very vigorous terrain challenges, besides deep snow, there’s on road snow and of course there is ice.
Now the Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 is although not 3 peak mountain snowflake rated, the tire does pretty great when it comes to deep snow.
For Your Info: The 3pmsfs is often mistaken other performance factors like lateral traction and grip on snow, where it just show the acceleration capability. It tells that it’s acceleration is 25% better than then average all season tire.
So in terms of braking and handling with wider tread voids, the tire is able to handle thicker snow which goes above 2 feet.
None of the MT tires I know have 3 Peak symbol, if you think there is let me know, but I think there should be an option for adding studs on all MTs, as they don’t do so well there.
Tread Wear:
The Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 is one of the best tires that you can get if you are looking for MT with a great mileage.
The tire does everything right here, it has dual compound where on top the ribs are optimized to wear evenly.
The weight of the tire is also very little compared to others, and so with that less rolling resistance is generated.
Moreover, the tire offers very deep lugs going up to whopping 24 inches, so it’s going to take a while to rub it off.
For Your Info: Almost all MT tires don’t offer any warranty, but with Pro Comp Xtreme MT2, you get 40k miles.
Ride Quality
The Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 being an extreme MT has to compromise a little in the ridge quality, talking about pavement and highways.
But if you compare it with others, its not too bad.
Now, having said that, let’s discuss it’s noise and comfort.
Comfort and Noise
A comfortable tire is one which is able to absorb imperfections of the road. So it depends on the tire’s structure.
Now the good thing about Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 is that, its very spongy, meaning bumps get easily absorbed in it’s tread.
Furthermore, as the tire offers very deep tread, if provides a thicker layer between you and the road, so bumps get a larger area to get diminished off.
For sound, the tire although offers variable pitches, its not so great, as it’s wide shoulder gaps allow a lot of noise to come in and hit the walls.
The rule is the balder the tire gets, the more noise it makes.
For Your Info: Best tire for tread noise in M/Ts is Falken Wildpeak M/T (review).
Off Road Traction:
Off road there are many terrains to consider.
Lets talk them all.
Rock Traction
The massive lugs of Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 in the middle provide ample biters, as each block has full depth notches and sipes and they contract and expand chewing on to the rocky surface.
Same goes for the tire’s staggered shoulders which offer very good amount of lateral traction, especially when you air them down.
The sidewall lugs are although not so big, they still offer good crawling abilities.
Overall, compared to other options, the tire lacks slightly, but only with it’s sidewalls.
For Your Info: Best tire for rocks is Cooper STT Pro (review), in the M/T category of course.
Muddy Terrain Performance
Mud requires efficient self cleaning, and that’s not a problem for a MT. So let me keep this short.
The Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 does pretty great with it’s staggered shoulders. And as it offers one of the widest gaps that you’ll find considering any other MTs, it’s traction here is above average.
Sand Traction
On sand, besides having good driving skills, you need a light tire, which would not dig and rather would focus on moving forward.
Luckily the Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 is all that, it’s light weight so no problem there on slopes.
It’s staggered shoulders are not too sharp so the tire does not dig in too much (weight contributes here as well).
And the tire has a lot of tread print to offer when aired down.
Lastly
Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 is a great pick in the mud terrain category. The tire does great with mud, as it offers ones of the widest tread voids that you’ll find (compared to other mud tires).
The tire also does great with deep snow despite not having 3pmsfr symbol.
And its on road traction is also okay, in both wet and dry conditions, but where it shines the most is the tread wear department.
