My Farmall 656 needs new rear tires/rims, 15.5-38's so I purchased a set of new 14x38 double bevel rear rims and a set of Firestone Super All Traction II tires in 15.5-38. When they arrived the tires looked a little narrow, but I thought maybe when mounted they'd be better. Wrong. The tread/contact patch on these tires is almost 2" narrower than the tires that are on the tractor (15.5-38 Safemark Multi-Angle, probably mid '80s vintage). The tread blocks are also quite small. I bought these because I have had excellent luck with Firestone tractor tires in the past but I think I was hoodwinked on these SAT II's. They are a cheap undersized tire, with a large price tag. Problem is, there are few options in 15.5-38 and I refuse to buy tires made in China. I really wish Firestone still made the All Traction Field and Road but they don't, closest thing I can find to that pattern is the Galaxy Earth Pro R1 (made in India), but that might be an option. Another option is the Titan High Traction Lug (made in USA), but availability isn't good on them right now, and they are a Long/Short Bar tire which don't pull as well IMO. I can get a Petlas TA-60 (made in Turkey), which is the old 45* tread style, I've got a set of them on my IH 454. They are ok but nothing to write home about. This tractor is my main tractor on the farm for hay making, bush hogging and winter feeding and on the job site for pulling a sheepsfoot roller, scraper and pull type box blade. Thoughts/opinions?
I recently (12 mths ago) put new rears on a little massey 35. I went with BKT, mainly on price, but they are a pretty good looking tyre. Something as small as the 35 can't do real work, so as long as they hold air I'm happy. Don't know if they make something in your size or not, quick google search showsmade in India. Mine were 14.9-24. Not really sure if this is helpful either, but like I said they've held air for 12 months and look the goods.
About 8 years ago I put Alliances on my ** 135. I had old Firestone Traction Field and Road 14.9-24s and wanted to pick the back up a couple inches so I thought 14.9-28s would be just the ticket. These ended up being considerably taller than I thought they would be and maybe a little narrower, too. They are made in Israel. The pattern looks about like Pony's.
The sat 2 aren’t the og super all traction. I run firestones on all my tractors. 23deg only. The super all tractions can still be found. Just have to dig a little deeper. For some reason they have been extremely hard to find. It will always will pull up sat 2 right off the bat when I look at them online. That being said. Call Riley park tire in Indiana. I live in ky but they are the Firestone guys and I usually call them. I’m not sure if they still make the the og sat in your size. Most of mine are 20.8-38 and they can still be found in the og sat. But it might be worth a call and see what they say as to why yours are undersized. The original super all tractions are a deep tread. The sat 2 aren’t near what the sat lugs are depth wise.
I should clarify that the tires themselves are not undersized, the carcass is pretty close to others I've had, it's the tread. The tread blocks don't extend to the edge of the tires and contact patch is about 1.5-2" narrower than what's common on a tire this size. To me that will equate to faster wear, more ground compaction and less traction. When I get the tractor back to the shop I'll set one of these new tires up next to the old and take a pic for comparison. I'll add BKT to the consideration, I believe they are made in India. I believe both Galaxy and Alliance are owned by Yokohama, also made in India/Israel. As for the Firestones, there's only three tires they still make in a 15.5-38 size or equivalent. Firestone Super All Traction II in a 15.5-38 bias, which is what I have, Firestone Performer Evo Radials in a 400/75R38 (but they are almost a rice/cane tire w/ 2" deep lugs) and a Firestone Radial 23 All Traction in 15.5R38. Problem is, although they supposedly still make all those, the SAT2s are the only ones widely available. Availability seems to be the problem with all the tires I'm looking at. 15.5-38 is no longer a common size, they probably haven't come on a new tractor in almost 30yrs. As such I think the mfg's only make limited quantities. A couple of the tire stores I'm checking with said their distributors get new shipments of tires around the middle of the month, so I might just have to check back and see what comes in.
BKT and Galaxy are both solid choices in my book. I don't have experience with either companies bias R1 tires, but they make good tires in general.