Nexen Tire Test

Originally Published in Issue 27 of 4Low Magazine

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Social Media Stars: Nexen Tire Test

I have been pretty brand loyal for over ten years. Its not often that I’ve had the chance to test drive tires in an off-road environment, but just a few weeks ago I was invited to join Nexen Tire Company on a social media run that included non-off road auto enthusiasts, podcasters and an automotive trade magazine writer. Nexen’s goal was to have us all drive a variety of jeeps (JK’s, an LJ, and a TJ) on a few trails in the Big Bear and Cougar Buttes area of California.

All of the jeeps were equipped with the Nexen MTX tire, sizes included 35’s and 37’s. The MTX is an aggressive tire designed with rock crawling in mind. It comes in 35 sizes from 15” rim to 22” rim.

Sidewall construction of the MTX is rated from a 6 ply all the way to a 12 ply

Driving characteristics were surprising for such an aggressive tire design, not too loud, not at all squirrely on the pavement, responsive in the turns, and gripped the rocks as well as any tire I’ve driven on.

Sidewall construction was aggressive in nature, segmented block tread pattern helps reduce road noise. Siped tread for better wet and snow traction.

I’ve never been one to worry about what a tire is rated for as far as a mileage rating, I want a tire that’s going to perform when I need the most out of it, which is off pavement. I can say that the vehicles we drove were part of a Jeep rental fleet, meaning that those that drove the Jeeps before us didn’t care about anything but driving off road. With that said, at least one set of tires had been on one of the jeeps for more than a year, and the tires still looked to be at about 80% tread left. That’s a good indicator for me.

At lower tire pressures the contact patch of the tire widened nicely, giving a great footprint for the rocks and sand. Once we aired up to highway pressures the tires were much quieter than many other brands I have driven on. Those of you that like to converse with your passengers will be happy to do so without having to yell. Driving the Jeeps down steep grades while trying to keep up with the Drift drivers that were ahead of us, showed me that the MTX worked very well and behaved nicely on the pavement.

All in all, I’d have to suggest that anyone looking for a good off-road tire, that can be street driven as a daily driver, should consider the Nexen MTX, maybe even a top tier contender in the market.