thanks cturner.
rcman, those are a great recommendation. as far as the doing great in mud part, i get mixed reviews. believe it or not, it actually has a lot to do with where you are in the country. down here in ga, they don't do great in the mud because our "mud" is red clay. it is very thick and sticky and clogs up the tire. in most other areas they do very well in the mud for an a/t and they are a great compromise for a lot of people.
to the op, you have to be honest with yourself when choosing a tire. most guys probably want a super aggressive tire that looks good (i know i do anyways), but thats usually not the most important thing. like turner said, mud or mileage? from what you have said, your wheeling is kinda moderate but you drive it every day so i good a/t or a conservative m/t would be best for you. just off the top of my head, i would look at the a/t tires by bfg, hankook, and nitto. if you just have to have something aggressive, there are a couple of m/ts that would do decent for you if you compromise on the mileage a bit. the bgf km2 and the nitto trail grappler (but they only make it in oddball sizes, usually for 18s or 20s) would get you some decent mileage and aren't too loud. my last recommendation will be sound a little odd, but the yokohama geolander a/ts would work great for you. they are NOT very aggressive looking, but they have actually won a few tire tests in offroad magazines and arent nearly as expensive as all the other tires that have been mentioned. the 2 downfalls are that they aren't that aggressive-looking so you would have to swallow your man-ego a little, and everytime i try to sell a set, they are on backorder when i try to order them. for some reason, they have a high demand but they won't make many. i guess they got lucky with a good design but as a company they are still focused on their car tires. if you can get them, though, i think they would do great for what you need. hope that helps and let me know if you have any more questions!