A/T tyre recomendations - Continental or BFG?

If anyone has personal experience of the following two tyres, I'd love to hear your opinions.   I need to replace the tyres on our Discovery 3, and the only options I've got are the following:

Continental Cross Contact ATR in 255/60 R18 for S/2,500

BFG T/A KO2 in 265/60 R18 for S/3,300

We've now had two structural failures in a little over 2 years on the Disco, first time with Dunlop Grandtrek A/Ts and this time with Maxxis AT771 A/Ts.  Tyres are never run low on air, I suspect a combination of the weight of the Disco (2.5 tons) plus the terrible roads are loading the tyres more than normal.   The Continental has a slight higher load rating than the Maxxis, and the BFG a bit more still.  All my old mates with Landies in the UK used to swear by the BFGs, however they are 30% more than the Continentals.

Opinions please?

Look at Cooper Discoverer AT3. They come in 10 ply LT load ranges, have great traction, and last a long time. I have a set of 265/70/17 on my Bronco.

Thanks Javelin, but we can't get them here - my only options are the Continental, or the BFG (or random Chinese rubbish)

I have run the BFG in the past and highly recommend them.  Great in all weather and can take some abuse. 

Cheers, it's the ability to stand up to abuse I'm really interested in.  All the Continentals I've had previously have been good tyres but I'd worry about their ability to stand up to Peruvian roads, especially on the 2.5 ton Landy.

I’ve had quite a few sets of BFG, AT and MT. They are a great tire (or even tyre). 

I’ve abused them rock crawling, even airing them down to 10-12 psi without beadlock wheels. I have 32” MTs on my Jeep, love ‘em

Can you get Falkens? I replaced a set of BFG ATs with Falken Wildpeak A/T and was very happy with the switch. Outstanding traction and ride. The Falkens are also available in several load ratings up to 2700# per tire which should help with the load.

If not, go with the BFGs. They are pretty good tires though I preffered the Falkens. 

BFG is the old tried and true bullet proof tire. They are $$ though.

I have used them with good luck in the past, on Goodyear Duratrac's now. 

I have the BFG's on my wrangler.  I am very happy with them.

Cheers gents, I reckon the most likely option is raiding the piggy bank for the BFGs, once the supplier confirms availability (he only has 2 in the warehouse currently)

Falkens aren't available either, the complete list in 255/60 or 265/60 R18 is:

Dunlop Grandtrek (nope, failed previously)

Maxxis (nope, failed)

Nexen (no thanks)

Comforser (no thanks)

Yokohama (road tyre)

Michelin (road tyre)

BFG

Continental

Mickey Thompson (Mega $$$$)

I've got the Conti's on my rig. They are good for moderate off-roading. no issues with them on a jeep badge trail in big bend and off-roading in mexico. I don't know on the longevity of the tires though off-roading in them day to day. I know my BFG's have always been up to the task. I only went with the Conti's because this truck is 90% asphalt truck and the conti's are better on road noise.  The Truck is a 2011 nissan Xterra for the record. 

Ok, thanks for the info on the Contis.  Here the use is 90% "on road", but the roads are pothole-ridden, and often with a coating of light mud/gravel, plus occasional trips out into the sticks where you could encounter anything.

In reply to paul_s0 :

Mickey Thompson is owned by Cooper. If the supplier can get MT's they should be able to get Coopers. Nexen are South Korean and are actually pretty decent in the passenger car world. BFG's are very good.

I had BFG’s on my Durango (similar weight) for years. Got over 40k miles on each set of 5. 2 of the cast offs are still on my utility trailer 10 years later. 

I strayed on on my last purchase to get a more aggressive mud tire. Big mistake. I’m going back to the BFG’ as soon as I can afford it. The BFG’s were almost as good in the mud as the Goodyear’s I got and a zillion times better at EVERYTHING else. 

BFGs cost money because they are worth it.  

I put All Terrains on anything I care about.

The KO is the industry standard, for a streetable AT that's capable off road and livable on road.

I used to sell Cooper's and never had any luck with them, most of them are a mid grade type tire at best. If the KOs are in the budget go there.

Toyo Open Country AT II is made in that size.  I had them on my Jeep Grand Cherokee and was happy with them.  Quiet, durable and capable.  I’d recommend them. 

Great, looks like there are only 2 BFGs in that size in the country currently.  So that only leaves me the Conti Cross Contact ATR option.  I'll wait a couple of hours more but I reckon I have no choice...

Scratch that I've found some more, but at over S/1,000 each   Assuming my normal supplier still has his two, that would make the options:

Continental CrossContact ATR S/2440 ($740)

BFG T/A KO2 S/3800 ($1150)

The question is are the BFGs worth paying over 50% more than the Contis?

The BFGs are a true off road tire, the Conti looks like a good compromise as a road tire that will do OK off road.

Looks?  Go BFG

Serious off-roading?  Go BFG

Daily driver comfort?  Conti

Most offroading I ever do is maybe a gravel road but I like the look of the BFGs so thats what I run.  Yes I am paying for the image and that is just fine.

Just thought I ought to update this.  We got the Contis in the end as regardless of cost we couldn't get 4 BFGs in a sensible timeframe.  16 months later they're doing ok, quite happy with them.  The only observation is that the tread is getting cut up horribly, worst on the fronts.  I've rotated once and the tyres now on the back cleaned up.  I can only assume that it's a relatively soft tread, and the damaged/rocky nature of the roads here is shredding them.  I'll rotate them again soon.  The ECSs on my Mazda aren't suffering anything like that, however they're a lot more lightly loaded than the front of the Discovery!

In reply to paul_s0 :

Also look at the general grabber atx but they might not make them in a useable size for the lr3/4 

paul_s0 said:

Cheers gents, I reckon the most likely option is raiding the piggy bank for the BFGs, once the supplier confirms availability (he only has 2 in the warehouse currently)

Falkens aren't available either, the complete list in 255/60 or 265/60 R18 is:

Dunlop Grandtrek (nope, failed previously)

Maxxis (nope, failed)

Nexen (no thanks)

Comforser (no thanks)

Yokohama (road tyre)

Michelin (road tyre)

BFG

Continental

Mickey Thompson (Mega $$$$)

Maybe there's a reason, but why didn't you just change to a slightly different size with more tire selection? Go slightly wider, slightly narrower, slightly taller, etc....

Continental came out with a new TerrainContact A/T.  I snagged a set for my truck a couple years ago and I'm insanely giddy with them.  They were aimed at being very good A/Ts but not as aggressive.  They nailed it.  They focus on wet, snow, and light off-road and that's exactly what I used them for.  The upside is that they are wearing perfectly.  Even on my old-school twin I-beam 4x4, there is zero cupping and no uneven wear.  No cuts from off-roading.  They were marketed for 4wd CUVs, SUVs, and soccer-mom 4x4/awd vehicle who can benefit from A/T but 95% of their use is commuting on pavement.  That might not fit your use, but perfect for me.

And they're QUIET.  Seriously silent.  They are quieter than the H/Ts on the van.  Super happy.  I was worried because the only sizes in the correct diameter were 265mm width and I was hoping for pizza cutters.  They did have a 215/85, but only in E-range which probably would have been a terrible choice for a compact pickup.

They look great, ride great, sound like nothing, and wearing like iron.  They did take a large amount of weight to balance, but once balanced they have been ideal.

General Grabber AT2 33x12.50 r 15

Great tires.  I have run BFG mud terrain,  Dunlop  mud tires  and these. My bailiwick is sandy and snowy.  These are the best of the ones that I have tried