Super Swamper by Interco: Three Season Tire Test

For a tire designed for mud, the SSR Radial turned out to be formidable rock tire as well. At 7-8 lbs, the SSR"s pliable sidewalls wrapped itself around obstacles like Silly Putty, conforming to the terrain without objection.

In the past decade, tire manufacturers have unveiled an array of tires we would not have dreamed of thirty years ago. Back in the day, when a 32-inch Tru-Trac was pushing the limits of goo, the thought of scoring a set of 35-inch Ground Hogs... that was just a dirt digger"s muddy dream. Call it a radial with aggressive self-cleaning tread and side lugs fit for chewing through muddy trenches, and you"d probably say we"d been sniffing too many exhaust fumes. With technological changes in suspensions, drivetrains, and our own ideas of extreme, tires manufacturers have followed suit with creative tread designs, tougher carcasses, state-of-the-art rubber composition, enhanced sidewall integrity, and rim bead protection.
Founded in 1968 and run by three generations of the same family, Interco Tire has built its reputation around tough tires. In the early years, the development of the 78 Series, a first in light truck tires, began a revolution

We took the SSRs on a spin through the VORRA racetrack at Prairie City OHV Park in Sacramento. Pros: good ride and traction at 15 psi. Mid thoughts: drifted a little on loose corners. Cons: lugs kept picking up rocks and spitting them at our camera.

in four-wheel drive and all-terrain tread design. Who can forget the introduction of the massive Ground Hog, right?
When it came time to replace our tried-and-true bias ply TSLs, we were ready to join the 21st century and step up to radials (or we"re just getting soft in our old age). Don"t get us wrong, we dig the TSLs. Granted, they"re not all that refined, they are loud on the blacktop, and cold morning flat spots could send our coffee slopping into our laps. But off-road they were tough as nails and clawed away at the terrain like an hungry hyena. After a six year run on our dedicated rock rig, the side lettering was completely gone, they were dinged, cut, strafed and gouged, but never lost air.  We selected the 35-inch SSR (rather that a loftier model) because, well uhh... the carbureted 22R four-

The SSR has a tighter tread pattern than its predecessor, the TSL. A 3-degree offset of the polyester plies eliminate nesting of the plies at high speed allows the Radial to run quieter and cooler on the highway.

banger on our `82 Toyota can barely keep up with its own shadow. And, we didn"t want to deal with changing the ring & pinion again. Mounting the SSRs on an old set of MRT do-it-yourself beadlocks was fairly straight forward--for a beadlock. Weight needed was reasonable, and our immediate impression when we pulled on to the highway was, Ahhhh. The SSRs were like driving on velvet compared to our abused TSLs. Noise levels were reasonable for a big meaty tire, cornering was positive and groove-wandering was minimal. However, if you are expecting the whispery smoothness of a generic mud & snow, the SSR is probably not the tire for you. But who wants generic, right? We want a true off-roading tire with some moxie. One that is as home on the rocks as it is in snow or mud.

Due to snow"s forgiving nature, you can get away with a lot when it comes to air pressure. We took the SSRs to the northern Sierra Nevada for an early winter trek to the Rubicon area. Mother Nature had unleashed a heavy dose of fresh snow and maximum floatation was key. We found down to 5-6 lbs to work great.

Within 48 hours we"re heading for California"s Sierra Nevada and a four-day trek through the Ershim-Dusy OHV route. This high-elevation trail provided a thirty-two mile playground of granite, sand and loose rocks. Airing down to eight pounds allowed the SSRs to mold themselves around every contour in the terrain. Overall gription on granite slabs was excellent and the enhanced low-pressure footprint provided good floatation in the sand. On Thompson"s Hill, a lengthy climb through loose scree and dusty boulders, the SSR"s aggressive shoulder lugs sorted through the mix, finding traction where available.
The next air-down for the SSRs was a December snow trek to the Rubicon area in Northern California. In the snow you can get away with much lower psi without threat of losing a bead. The key is not to push too hard in the corners or apply excessive lateral force. As expected, the inverted-mushroom shape of the tire at low-pressure provided a larger footprint and enhanced floatation. Again, they preformed well.

When it got deep and soft, we took the SSRs down to 3 lbs. We lost a little ground clearance but the wider footprint made up for it.

The SSR is available in sizes ranging from 27x9.5R14LT to 38x15.5R20LT, and have six to ten plys depending on the tire. The six-ply 35-inch SSR has a load range C, mounted diameter of 35.3-inches, cross-section of 12.5, tread width of 10.6-inches and scale in at seventy-five pounds. Mounted and rolling, the diameter was 34.4 (4,000 vehicle @ 35psi.). Not quite 35 inches, but pretty close. Interco was pretty tight lipped about rubber compounds. Due to its sticky nature on the rocks and that the leading tread block edges were slightly rounded after several rock runs, we"re guessing the it"s pretty soft. We"ll follow up with a long-term test down the road.
Due to the premise of radial design and longitudinal sipping, the carcass and sidewalls provide a fairly smooth ride on the road. On the dirt, the aggressive tread pattern and radial design provided plenty of traction on the rocks and great contour to the terrain.  Because our old Hi-Lux is not a daily driver and only comes out of the garage for wheeling trips, the SSRs should provide years of excellent trail running. A formidable member of the Interco family of tires, the SSR is welcome in our corral any time.

The name Super Swamper has become synonymous for mud, and the SSR Radial fits the Interco family"s genre to a "T".	We don"t get the killer gumbo mud of the south out in California, but we found the self-cleaning tread blocks and aggressive side lugs provided great traction and reduce mud buildup.