Showerthought: Why does everyone keep calling mud terrains 'all terrains'?

Honestly, I was out on a trail near Moab last month and this guy in a truck bragged about his 'all terrain' tires while he was spinning out in 6 inches of goo. If tires don't have big lugs and an aggressive tread pattern, they're not mud terrains. It matters because I counted 8 people in one day mixing them up, and it drives me crazy. Has anyone else noticed this at trailheads?

3 comments

3 Comments

lucasw821mo ago

People get way too worked up about tire names. It's just marketing, not the Bible. Most folks buy what looks tough enough for their driveway. If they never actually hit mud, how would they even know the difference? Let them call them whatever, it doesn't hurt anything.

rosebarnes1mo ago

Hear me out though - if you're calling them all terrains when they're clearly mud terrains, you're giving bad info to newbies who might buy the wrong tire and get stuck in a bad spot. It's a safety thing, not just marketing.

sandraflores19d ago

My buddy thought he was buying mud terrains because the tread looked chunky in the store and the guy working there called them "all terrain mudders" or some weird made up name. First time he took them out on a rainy trail they filled up with clay in like five minutes and turned his truck into a sled. Had to get pulled out by a guy on actual mud terrains who just laughed and said the same thing you're talking about. Now my friend checks the sidewall letters before he even looks at the tread because he got burned so bad. Marketing names can get people stuck in dangerous spots, it's not just a dumb label thing.