A spokesperson from Smittybilt said that the XRC 10 HD winch is currently unavailable and is back onto the development table to correct some issues with the compressor's plumbing. According to the spokesperson, Smittybilt is now part of Procomp and as many as 150 products are being redesigned by engineers in order to make improvements on these product lines. The Smittybilt XRC10HD is one of those products back in re-development. Smittybilt plans to re-release the XRC10HD but there is no definitive release date set, however Smittybilt says that they do plan to do so in the future. So the Smittybilt XRC 10 HD winch is not dead, just delayed.
Product Details: "Smittybilt XRC10HD Winch" by Editor - posted: Tue April 14, 2009 - Rating: 7.50
Last Review Posted by Editor - posted: Thu November 12, 2009 1:47pm
Editor's Note: It was asked if this tire is the Yokohama's Geolander. It is fact NOT the Yokohama Geolander, though it may look like the same tread pattern.
Our long term test of this tire has been great. Wear has been good with aout 20k on a set that has about 50 percent or more of the tread depth left.
Rating: 9
Product Details: "Green Diamond Icelander MT" by Editor - posted: Mon November 19, 2007 - Rating: 5.33
Last Review Posted by Editor - posted: Sat August 9, 2008 12:24pm
I have a bad experience with BF Goodrich, Radial long trial T/A tires; mounted under a Nissan Pathfinder and driving off road: After 3500 km, I have had 4 punctures.
In addition the tires show a lot of visual damage.
In about 9 years time in the UAE, Oman and Qatar I have had in total 6 punctures; earlier 2 punctures from nails AND 4 punctures in the last 3 weeks with a brand new Pathfinder.
We did drive on unpaved roads, but the quality of the tracks was and is very good. I can send you some pictures of the tracks and tires.
I considerer this brand and type of tires as unacceptable and have requested for replacement to a real suitable type of all 5 tires, including to be suitable for off road driving.
But BF Goodrich states that I should not drive on such type of roads an that I have abused the tires.
Can you advise?
Again, I can send you some pictures (i can not send via this internet link) to show my concerns
Thanks in advance and best regards,
Jan Fischer
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Dear Jan Fischer,
To get punctures, you must be running over something that would puncture the tires. The BFG Radial is not an extreme terrain tire and will puncture, just like almost any tire can get punctures. The BFG Radial is a street tire. Not an (exclusive) offroad tire. It has traction capablilities for offroad but it is definitely a street tire. No tire can withstand a nail. So you have to expect the tire to loose the battle against a nail. The question is what punctured the other 4 times. If you never saw what punctured the tire, it could have been anything, a piece of metal, glass, more nails. BF Goodrich should not be expected to guarantee against nail punctures or anything else that is harder and sharper than the tire itself. So my advice would be not to expect any kind of refund or exchange from them, regardless of what you consider unexceptable. You just have to face it, you bought the wrong tire for your terrain.
The BF Goodrich All Terrain in our experience is a great tire. If your set is showing "a lot of visual damage", then it is due to the conditions you are putting the tire through. There is something about the tracks you follow that is damaging the tires. The punctures are to be expected if your tires are showing a lot of visual damage. And if it is true that you have been using these tires for "about 9 years", then part of this could be age. That's a long tire for a tire, regardless of the amount of km's on the tires. Realistically, 6 punctures in 9 years is pretty good. But if you are not happy with them I'd say it's time for a new set of tires. Maybe you should look into a bias ply tire rather than the radials you have, which are just street tires and a street tire is apparently not strong enough to withstand the conditions you are putting your tires through.
I have over 9 years experience with off road driving in the UAE, Oman and Qatar.
The involved BF Goodrich tires are fitted under a brand new Nissan Pathfinder, as ordered at the dealer in Abu Dhabi; I have driven the involved tires for about 3000 km and a lot of damages are present on the tires.
At present the tires are in such a state that it is unsafe to drive the car; the car is since 10 days at the dealer.
The damages have occurred when driving on tarmac roads in the mountains over about max 300 km; the damages must have been / are created by the rocks.
Attached some pictures of the tires and the tracks we did drive.
BF Goodrich tells me that Radial long trial T/A tires are suitable for off road driving but that I have abused the tires when driving off road…..
Note that we had a casual drive through the mountains since my parents (80+) were visiting; so for sure no challenging driving with high speeds and risky situations.
Hope you might be able to advise me more.
Many thanks in advance.
Best regards,
Jan
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Jan,
I did a little research on this tire and I have news for you. This is not an offroad tire. This is a street tire. BFGoodrich makes no claims that this an an offroad tire. If you say BFG claims this is an offroad tire, I'd like to see where you read that. The closest related tire that is specified as offroad is the Rugged Trail T/A, which has a different tread design. Whether that tire would fail (under your conditions) as well, my guess is it probably will. Your tire is specified as a street tire by BFG regardless of the word "Trail" in the name. By all appearances of that tire, it looks like a street tire. I looked over your pictures. Based on your pictures, they are failing to hold together where you are driving and can't handle those conditions you are driving in. In my experience, rock can be very damaging to tires of any make, even if they were designed specifically for offroad. Generally speaking, even those tires that can withstand abuse on rocks can only do so because of very thick tread sometimes over 2 inches thick. Even then the tread can loose chunks of rubber. I know. I have a set of Super Swamper SSR's that have lost large chunks of rubber on the rocks and they are relatively new. But I expected that. Again, Rocks are very tough on tires. Especially crushed, sharp rock like those that make up the mountain trails your driving on (based on your pictures). Whether this same set of tires you have would have failed miserably on the paved roads where it was designed to run, you'll never know. But BFG is not going to honor a claim in this case since you incurred the damage while off the road. Their warranty covers defects in craftsmenship, not damage due to extreme conditions. And yes, rocks are extreme. Your street tire was not designed for rocks, it was designed for paved surfaces.
The only thing I can do is post your experience/review of this tire in our Tire Review section. There is nothing I can do to help you with a claim. All I can do is suggest you do some research for your next set of tires and buy something that will offer more tread and better protection against the rocks you drive on.
Seems some guy doesn't like Bill but that doesn't matter. All reviews are moderated and you're wasting your time bud. Bill's got a nice Jeep regardless if everything is a bolt on or not. Thanks for stopping by though!
Rating: 10
Product Details: "Bill Babnick's 2002 Jeep Wrangler TJ" by Editor - posted: Fri April 20, 2007 - Rating: 9.45
