It rained at TDS this year and Cappa, Verne Simons, and I hit the taffy-like mud for some wheelin!

The soil out in the Truckhaven hills surrounding the Salton Sea where the annual TDS Desert Safari is held is loose, silty, sandy stuff. But when you add a little water it turns into a muck like you don't find many places off-road. It's extremely sticky, slippery stuff. Jump out of your Jeep and take a few steps. The mud sticks to your feet, the next step more mud sticks to that, and so on until your shoes are the size of beach balls.

I've been running this same set of 35x13.50R15 BFG Krawler T/As on my '53 flattie since I built it back in '02. Coincidentally, that was about the last time I had this Jeep out in some really gnarly mud like this. Back then the tread was brand-new with crisp edges around the tread blocks. The tread packed up quick and didn't really self-clean redily. It caused me to think for years the Krawler wasn't a very good mud tire. But in the 8 or so years since I've been wheeling these tires, the tread blocks have developed a rounded, worn shape from hudreds of hours of abuse in the rocks.

So here we were hitting the washes, gullies, and ravines in a downpour with super-sticky mud clinging to our tires for all its worth. And you know what? The Krawlers did pretty damn good. They're still no Super Swamper, but the self-cleaning performance of my worn tread blocks was improved over the brand-new crisp tread blocks. Sure, the tires still packed tight with mud, but a blip of the throttle cleared most of it away. And when clawing and chewing up into gullies and banks, the treads seemed to find enough purchase to grab hold and move me forward, albeit with some sliding.

So bottom line? In my opinion the Krawler is still one of the very best tires you can use in the rocks bar none. And a Swamper TSL, LTB, SX or  Bogger are still the best mud tires. But if you're a rock crawler who occasionally needs to hit the mud, your Krawlers won't completely dissappoint you once you wear 'em in a bit.