Mud Tire Shootout Sixth Place: Pit Bull Rocker LT Radial

by FAITH DUMONT February 07, 2011

In the world of highly specialized extreme traction tires, Pit Bull is a force to reckon with. With an asymmetrical tread pattern and widely spaced lugs, the Rocker screams "aggressive." One look at the sidewall will reveal an attention to detail that no other tire can match. As one of our support crew put it, "It's almost as if a tattoo artist was employed to fill up any unused spaces on the design before the molds were built." The compound is the softest of the group, with a Shore A reading of just 58. This softness allows each of the square-edged tread lugs to flex and deform around obstacles to find traction. It also supplies the tire with a vague pavement ride when compared to some of the others in our test. Flexibility comes from excessive tread depth and extra void spacing between lugs. Some lugs feature stepped side elements that are said to improve lateral stability and traction in soft terrain, but we didn't notice it if they did. Our testing proved that the Rocker works awesomely in all types of mud we encountered, including the slippery, off-camber rutted trail that so many others struggled with. Our Jeep crested the toughest sections with ease-sans lockers. However, like the Super Swamper TrXus, the Rocker returned less-than-satisfactory road noise during pavement testing and required significant steering input to keep pointed in the intended direction of travel. Balance-ability was the Rocker's biggest weakness. They were the most challenging to balance, with the most unbalanced of the four we mounted requiring over 12.75 ounces of lead to achieve balance. (The best of the four took almost nine ounces.) Despite the Rockers' harsh on-road ride and vague steering feel, they did manage to net us some great compliments from onlookers.