Mickey Thompson Baja M/T Tire Testing For The Long Haul

All of us who drive a pickup truck understand the value of using the right set of tires. I’m not talking solely about tread design and load ratings, I’m talking about tires that will last — hopefully — 50,000 or 60,000 miles. And when looking for an OE-application tire that fits your needs, that is not hard to do. But what if you are looking for something bigger than OE? Misty Lang of Haines City, Florida has a truck that definitely needs tires that are “larger.” In fact, her truck utilizes 8 inches of lift, 22-inch wheels, and big ole rubber hoops.

Mickey Thompson Baja M/T

So, when Mickey Thompson Tires asked if we could find a lifted truck with 22-inch wheels to test the 38-inch Baja Boss tires, we felt her truck would be the perfect test vehicle. “One of our big initiatives is to build awareness that Mickey Thompson offers several popular sizes for 22- and 24-inch rim diameters in the Baja Boss A/T and Baja Boss M/T product lines,” Says Ben Anderson, Senior Product Manager, Light Truck at Mickey Thompson Tires. “A lot of folks know us solely as an off-road/old-school brand and we want to change that.”

This truck is not a dedicated off-road machine, nor is it a mall crawler. While it does mainly see time as a highway truck, occasionally, it ventures past the asphalt and onto some soft ground. Remember, we’re talking central Florida and everything is a sand-covered floating mass. There is not very much solid ground. To test these tires we would be utilizing them in conditions that are vastly different than someone living in Arizona or New Mexico. You get off the main road in central Florida, and the sand sucks you in. That means this area is perfect to test the Baja Boss on this truck.

Oversized tires typically have a few traits that some might see as a detriment. One is wear, tires of this size have a reputation of not lasting as long as tires of a smaller size. Also, the tread design found on a mud tread tire typically leads to an abundance of road noise. However, the design of the Baja Boss will hopefully alleviate those concerns.

In the soft, sandy ground of Florida, the Sidebiters and asymmetrical tread design will definitely help keep the truck moving when off-road.

According to the Mickey Thompson website, the Baja Boss comes in two tread designs, an A/T and an M/T. The Baja Boss A/T delivers premium on-road handling, performance, and tread wear while offering great traction in mud and snow thanks to its asymmetric tread design, silica-reinforced compound, and Sidebiters. Sidebiters are a tread design that extends over the sidewall of the tire. These are there to protect the sidewall from damage by rocks, branches, twigs, curbs, etc., aid flotation and traction when in soft terrain, and increase gripping tread in off-road applications. The Baja Boss A/T features a 50,000-mile treadwear warranty and is Mickey Thompson’s most innovative hybrid A/T tire to date. It offers aggressive looks, low noise, long-lasting tread, and a smooth ride.

While the A/T is a great tire, those who want a tread design that is a little more aggressive can choose the Mickey Thompson Baja M/T. The Baja Boss M/T is Mickey Thompson’s premium mud terrain tire that also features an asymmetrical tread pattern that is optimized for reduced road noise and to deliver excellent off-road traction and on-road handling. Once again, extreme Sidebiters extend over the edge of the sidewall to aid off-road traction and sidewall protection. Finally, Powerply three-ply sidewall construction is puncture resistant, and the silica-reinforced tire compound is great for on-road tread wear, wet performance, and durability. In fact, the Baja Boss, M/T was the winner of the 2023 King of the Hammers Every Man challenge. That is saying something.

Mickey Thompson Baja M/T

With just shy of 22/32 of tread depth, I have high hopes about the milage capability of these tires. That is a lot of tread to scrub off.

Misty decided the Baja Boss M/T would be the better option over the A/T for her lifted 2014 Ram, so a set of 38/12.50-22 tires were ordered. Mounting was easy as she took the tires to Patton Tire and Auto in Lake Wales, Florida, and watched someone else do it. It’s nice to stand back and watch someone else work once in a while. With the tires mounted, she also had a frontend alignment done because if we’re going to test these tires over the long haul, we need to limit the variables working against them. Also, why would anyone put new tires on their truck and not get it aligned?

Anyway, the tires are mounted and our test starts with her truck having 99,216 miles on the odometer. I wanted Misty to drive the truck a couple hundred miles before I got her opinion of the new tires as it makes no sense to get an opinion about something you have no experience with.

So, after a few weeks, I reached out to get her thoughts about the new tires. “The first thing I noticed was how much better they ride than the tires I removed,” she says. “The noise from the old tires was almost annoying on longer trips and the steering wheel doesn’t shake anymore.”

It sounds like the Mickey Thompson Baja M/T tires are off to a great start, but will they hold up over time? I’ll check back in from time to time and give you guys updates about how the tires are holding up as she racks up the miles. Check back for those updates.

If you are interested in a tire for your OE fitment, we did some long-term testing of the Mickey Thompson Baja Legend EXP and you can see the results here.

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Randy Bolig

Randy Bolig has been working on cars and has been involved in the hobby ever since he bought his first car when he was only 14 years old. His passion for performance got him noticed by many locals, and he began helping them modify their vehicles.
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