December 13, 2021 2:28 p.m.

Your SUV will encounter different kinds of obstacles, on and off the road.  That’s why it’s important to invest in tires that live up to the demands on the vehicle. Tires will take a lot of punishment and have to keep up with the purpose of the vehicle.

SUVs on Philippine roads, particularly, have to deal with potholes and a lot of road hazards on city roads, and mud, rocks and uneven terrain in the countryside. Not many realize it but a puncture-resistant, heavy duty construction is an investment in value as these make them ultra-durable and will take a long time and a lot of abuse before they succumb to wear and tear.

These choices from Maxxis are all engineered and reinforced to resist punctures and wear so they last longer despite being subjected to punishing conditions. There’s a tire that can keep up with the tough life of your SUV, on the country roads and on city streets, and it’s bound to be one of these:

The RAZR MT772 is made to meet a different kind of challenge: being discreet and silent on city pavements while not compromising on performance. The first thing off roaders will notice with the RAZR MT772 is that there is definitely something missing: the tire noise.

Quite surprising since all the other specs of the RAZR MT772 read like what you would expect of a road warrior: it’s puncture-resistant and has deeply staggered shoulder blocks to ensure additional traction on tough terrain. A novel and sturdy sidewall design maximizes sidewall traction and adds to puncture resistance.

No doubt these would come in handy in the rough roads, but you will thank the tread design that ejects stone and mud when your wheels arrive clean as a whistle as you roll into the city after a weekend in the countryside.

The Trepador series, on the other hand, is all business. It is road-legal, of course, but you have to treat the Trepador M8060 with respect. It’s the choice of professional racers and championship rallies, now made accessible to mere mortals. It expects to be punished on rough roads so it’s made using a heavy-duty ply construction with composite material-belt reinforcement to make it resistant to punctures.

 A multicurve tread siping can grip both loose dirt and wet surfaces because the unique arrangement of the tread creates even contact with the surface and hangs on to the surfaces even as this varies from terrain to terrain.

The Trepador M9060 is also reliable on all types of extreme terrain, wet or dry. Aggressive directional treads with deep-set lugs let you shed mud on the dirt road. It’s also composite material-reinforced so it extends tread life. Good for unpaved roads and off-road trails, it delivers sports traction and endurance yet never compromises on safety.

The Bighorn MT764 also has a motorsports pedigree. Created to frolic in the mud, it has the “eagle claw” – a dual-stage tread design that grips mud extra hard, but sheds it just as easily, making it practically self-cleaning.

You know The Bighorn MT764 is made for the mud just by looking at it: the treads are extra-large and deep, and the lugs on the shoulder are pronounced, giving it sidewall traction on dirt roads. A nylon-cap ply and G-buttresses spit out stones and repel sharp objects, prolonging its life on the road.

Rounding out the choices for hardworking SUV tires is the Creepy Crawler M8090, so named because it practically bites the surface with wraparound square shoulder lugs that are hard to ignore. These provide extra grip as you try and get out of deep ruts and uneven surfaces, and cleans itself as it goes. And there’s plenty of these deep, multi-edged lugs on the Creepy Crawler M8090.

So what do all these choices have in common? Performance, safety and prolonged life – all you’ll ever need to consider w

hen fitting your SUV for the action it’s bound to encounter.