Interco's Super Swamper SSR's

By James Hasler

 

After Andrew installed his gearless locker into the back of his TJ, he thought he could conquer any obstacle...and he pretty much did. But his 31x10.5 BFG All-Terrains were not aggressive enough for his tastes. He wanted to get a second set of tires that would be strictly for off-road use, yet still be able to get him the 100 miles or so to the trail head without shaking his Jeep to pieces. The solution? An aggressive radial tire.

There are many good tires that fit this description but Andrew chose 33x12.5 Super Swamper SSR as they have the reputation for being extremely sticky on the rocks. They were mounted on black American Racing AR-767's. Here's a shot of the tread pattern. Notice the siped inner tread blocks and Interco's famous TSL outer lugs.

The first things we noticed, however, are that these things are HUGE and HEAVY!!! Andrew had a 4" suspension lift and stock bumpstops and the old 31's were lost in the cavernous TJ wheelwells. The 33" SSR's, however, actually measure 33" high. We flexed up his TJ and got some pretty serious rubbing on his fender flares. Since he drives this Jeep daily, he did not want to put extended flares on for fear that they would look REALLY bad with his 31" tires on the stock wheels.

So, a Performance Accessories 1" body lift came first followed by dropping the bumpstops 1". With this setup, the tires rub only when at max articulation and then it is only minor.

Unfortunately, the first day we were going to go fourwheeling with the Swampers is the day his gearless locker proceeded to grenade. The fourwheeling that insued on the following trips, however, is a testament to the traction that the SSR's have.

In every case where Andrew used to need his rear locker in order to tackle a particular obstacle, he could now tackle the same obstacle with open diffs. I can only imagine the insane traction that would be possible with a locked vehicle and SSR's.

Here's a picture of the Swamper'd TJ on top of Bronco Hill in Los Coyotes.

As a side note, I can also imagine the very extreme possibility of driveline breakage with so much traction and such a heavy tire. Locked up Dana 35's and 33" and up SSR's are probably not a good idea.

So, the Swamper SSR's are one heck of a tire off-road and they make very little noise (for a mud tire) on the road. They aren't the cheapest tire around and they probably won't last as long as some others since they are so soft, but if you're looking for traction from a radial tire, these are the ones for you.