For any vehicle, a new pair of shoes is a new lease on life. A new set of wheels and tires not only changes the look of the vehicle, but it also gets you back in the dirt and enjoying what you love.

If you have been following out $5K Budget Build, you have seen us install new Bilstein shocks and Optima battery, as well as discuss how we had to change out the rear axle for a Chevy 14-bolt. This time, we’re giving our 1992 Chevrolet K1500 a new lease on life with a set of Ion Alloy wheels and Amp Tires.

Between The Tread

We reached out to Joe Podlovits of The Wheel Group to find out more about the wheels and tires we put on our K1500. We went with a 17×8.5 Ion 134 in a gunmetal and matte black beadlock wrapped in a 35×12.5R17 Amp Terrain Attack M/T tire.

“Function is the primary goal of the tire, but we knew we had to make it look outright aggressive with a major cool factor,” he said. “We even found the perfect way to incorporate the ‘A’ from our Amp logo on the sidewall tread, making it a functional part of the tire.”

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Today tires in some builds are added to increase the style of the truck and these tires are just that. “The aggressive tread design removes mud, dirt, snow, and debris for superior off-road traction and better on-road control,” Podlovits explained. “The unique shoulder design features a staggered tread block along with our ‘A’ logo in the lug design this provides dynamic biting edges that maintain the grip through the most extreme conditions, even when airing down.”

“Our advanced compound helps prevent against chips and cuts,” Podlovits continued. “The three-ply sidewall was designed to bolster the tire’s ability in all conditions while keeping punctures to a minimum.”

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The Terrain Attack M/T is one of the very few mud terrain tires that wears the “snowflake” or tri-peak symbol. This indicates it is suitable for Canada and the northern US during severe snow conditions. The tire is also warrantied against defects in workmanship and materials.

“The tire is very sure-footed on-road and keeps the driver in complete control,” Podlovits said. “The tire has larger voids than that of our all-terrain tires, so you will notice a difference in the noise level. Of course, the Terrain Attack M/T is most comfortable in the mud, snow, and dirt. That said, it has excellent road manners that make it a reliable tire.”

Even though we would be doing our own testing, we wanted to see how the manufacturer tested the tire. “We tested through a wide variety of methods,” Podlovits explained. “We did our own factory testing, independent lab testing, and even third-party validation to prove that we meet and exceed the industry’s highest standards. Our favorite type of testing was all the rigorous field testing.”

The Amp tires’ popularity has exploded in the past two years. Amp is thrilled that consumers have come to trust their product in such a short time. “We’ve been approached by a number of high-profile drivers and professional athletes with interest in collaborating with Amp Tires,” Podlovits said. “We’ve even entered into a partnership with Cycle Trader/Rock River Yamaha Racing for the complete 2018 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Season.”

On-Road Performance

We have put plenty of miles on these tires since we put them on our Silverado. The majority of them, like most trucks out there, have been on pavement. We expect mud terrains to do well in the dirt, but they also need to do well on asphalt, where they’ll spend most of their time.

The Terrain Attack M/Ts had no issues when driving on the pavement. We drove them in both dry and wet conditions and could not tell a difference despite the weather outside. The tires maintained traction and did not leave us second guessing.

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Rain or shine, the tires maintained traction on the road.

As expected with a mud-terrain tire, there was a noticeable humming noise at speed on both city streets and the highway. It wasn’t something that made us turn the radio louder, but we knew that we were riding on mud terrains.

Overall, the tires hit all the marks for an off-road worthy tire on the pavement. We were excited to test them in the dirt to see how they would attack any terrain.

Off-Road Performance

As with any tire we test out, getting it in the dirt is our favorite part. We headed to Barstow, California to test out the tire in the desert. Granted we were not going to be driving it on the race course, there was still plenty of different types of terrain to test the mud-terrain on.

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We took the Terrain Attack M/T through rocks, hard pack, and sand. In each terrain type, the tire showed itself to be a trustworthy unit. We had traction through it all.

The ride down the road and through some washboard roads was no different than on the street. We did not air down the tire and left it at 35 psi for the duration of the tests.

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Even on the rocks, the Terrain Attack M/Ts had plenty of bite. The aggressive tread played heavily into maintaining grip on loose rocks. The sand is one area where we can usually tell if a tire will sink or swim. Despite their relatively high air pressure, the tires pushed through, to our amazement. We did not have to drive any differently than when we did in the sand.

Final Verdict

We were very surprised with the way that the Amp Terrain Attack M/T performed both on and off-road. The tire handled everything we threw at it, and we look forward to more time in the dirt with it.

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Despite the road noise, the Terrain Attack M/T has worn and performed well in various off-road spots. The tire has plenty of bite to help maintain grip in a multitude of situations.

We would recommend the Amp Terrain Attack M/T to someone who daily drives their vehicle, but spends time in the dirt as well. For more information on Amp Tires and Ion Alloy Wheels, be sure to visit their websites.