Stock St's Not Cutting It- Need Some Help

leverlution · November 3, 2010

Alright guys, went back to out to the farm again last weekend. Stock ST's were "OKAY" in the afternoon and evening, but in the morning when everything was frozen they were just garbage. So, I need to get some tires to hold me over in light snow, deep snow, ice, dry, and farm/offroad use :-D Pretty much everything. Gotta drive no matter what the weather is, and I cannot neglect my property in West VA.

I'm sure this has been beat to death, but I couldn't find a solid answer after about 30 minutes of searching this morning. What is the largest I can put on a stock GMT900 pickup? I have the 265/70/17s right now. Not changing the wheels. Keep in mind, I need to be able to use my suspension on the farm and such. "stuffing" tires isn't really an option, they need to fit clean. I am not oppose to a leveling kit, but I am not sure I will have that before tires. Would a 275/70/17 tire be okay if I found one? Stick with the 265s? I'm sure a 285 will rub pretty bad on the farm without 2" or maybe even more. Nothing in WV is flat, heh.

Other than that, I just need some rubber advice. These are the tires I have read good things about and not sure what to pull the trigger on:

Goodyear Wrangler AT/S / Silent Armour.

Goodyear Wrangler AT

Kuhmo AT

Had a set of General Grabber AT2's on my old Jeep and they were AWESOME, relatively cheap too, just thinking about maybe trying something different. Maybe I should go back to those?

Is there anything wrong with doing 2 AT's on the back and leaving the front alone while saving cash and then doing them separate, or is that bad on the drivetrain?

Thanks guys.

jnpaddison · November 3, 2010

Goodyear Duratrrac or MTR's

leverlution · November 3, 2010

Went tthrough 10 MT/R's in less than a year in my Jeep, and they were garbage for my application. Im not rock climbing Not interested in those.

The Duratracs looks nice (expensive, but nice), im just concerned about ride quality/noise/mpg etc as well as the cupping issues the mt/r's had. My truck gets driven a lot, mostly street and a good bit of snow and oil trails in wv.

leverlution · November 3, 2010

Went through 10 MT/R's in less than a year in my Jeep, and they were garbage for my application. Im not rock climbing Not interested in those.

The Duratracs looks nice (expensive, but nice), im just concerned about ride quality/noise/mpg etc as well as the cupping issues the mt/r's had. My truck gets driven a lot, mostly street and a good bit of snow and oil trails in wv.

Soules75 · November 3, 2010

Just put these Grabber AT's on my truck. 265/70/17. They are pretty sweet, and I think they would look really awesome in 285's!

leverlution · November 3, 2010

I had some of those on a Jeep. AWESOME tire. Acceptable in the mud for an AT, good in the snow, great mpg compared to mt/r's, wore awesome etc.

Just looking for more opinions on different tires. Im really stuck between those or silent armour/at's's I think.

Soules75 · November 3, 2010

I am glad to hear you had such a great experience with these tires, being that they are so inexpensive and I just put them on my truck. How many miles did you put on them? I am hoping they last a while...can't wait for snow now!!

I put Cooper Discoverer ST's on my last truck, a 97 Silverado ext. cab and they did well in the snow. They did not do so well in the rain though, I slipped occasionally when accelerating from a stopped position, like stop lights. Overall a solid tire though.

I would suggest taking a look at the Hankook Dynapro ATM RF10's. They get great reviews, are supposed to be awesome in snow and pretty much all conditions. Otherwise check out the Cooper Discoverer ST or STT. Both solid tires, both perform pretty well in snow. Also the BFG's are always a popular choice...but IMO the Grabber AT2 are a better value.

99silverado22s · November 3, 2010

I have the duratracs and they are very silent cant even hear them, very smooth and resonsive. I love them.

leverlution · November 4, 2010

I am glad to hear you had such a great experience with these tires, being that they are so inexpensive and I just put them on my truck. How many miles did you put on them? I am hoping they last a while...can't wait for snow now!!

I put Cooper Discoverer ST's on my last truck, a 97 Silverado ext. cab and they did well in the snow. They did not do so well in the rain though, I slipped occasionally when accelerating from a stopped position, like stop lights. Overall a solid tire though.

I would suggest taking a look at the Hankook Dynapro ATM RF10's. They get great reviews, are supposed to be awesome in snow and pretty much all conditions. Otherwise check out the Cooper Discoverer ST or STT. Both solid tires, both perform pretty well in snow. Also the BFG's are always a popular choice...but IMO the Grabber AT2 are a better value.

I put somewhere in the neighborhood of 30-35,000 miles on the Grabber's before I traded that Rubicon for my 2010 Silverado. Couldn't tell you exactly how many. Put them on probably less than 6 months, definitely less than a year, after owning it. I bought it at 22,000 miles, sold her at somewhere around 65,000/4 years after buying. Had a motorcycle so I didn't drive it as much. The dealer asked if I had just put them on recently. I think I sold them at 11 or 12/32nds out of 17? They still performed WONDERFULLY, and I beat the crap out of them. The really looked like they were only 1 season old. Never got a puncture, never leaked etc.

I have 300 acres in WV, as well as a few 100 acre land plots out there. WV is ALL really step hills, mountains etc. tight side roads with a million pot holes, all the trails are wet red clay mud etc. The grabbers did as well as you could expect them to, but it was also a Jeep (they are pretty good off road). My MPG jumped significantly, probably 2-3 mpg, from the MT/Rs. Ride quality was 10x better, and I never heard them whine the whole time I owned them (you can hear EVERYTHING going on outside of a Jeep..). I got stuck in a few nasty storms in WV, and those tires got me 300 miles home every time. My Jeep was a manual trans, no ABS, no trac control. Last winter in Maryland, I spent more time driving in the blizzards (38 inches total in our area) than I did indoors. I drive for hospitals, picking up personnel etc. during snow storms and I got married the weekend after the second storm. So, I was pretty busy. Busy enough that I broke the RF axle shaft just before the second storm and had it fixed that day for free by a neighborhood mechanic that knew what I was doing. Wet asphalt performance was like going from a swamper to an all season. I couldn't have asked anything more from the grabbers. To be fair, it was on a Jeep, so any improvement was a vast improvement, and I was coming off of IMO the worst tires I had ever owned. I had really bad luck with the MT/R's. Could have just been the Jeep, could have been how I drive, could have gotten unlucky, I dunno, but they were horrid. Either way, if I still had a Jeep, I would buy them 100 times over. I am just unsure how much of that was the truck/tire combination, and how much was the tire.

Anyway, I am glade you like them. You certainly made a good decision, and I severely doubt you will regret it I just would like to try something new if I can, if not I have no problem buying them again. My two Jeep's left such a sour taste in my mouth, I don't want anything that would remind me of them lol.

leverlution · November 4, 2010

I have the duratracs and they are very silent cant even hear them, very smooth and resonsive. I love them.

Really? They look like they would be a little noisey. You can't feel the lugs at all? That sounds pretty impressive. They look much more aggressive then you make them sound. I really like the look of them, and I am sure they would perform awesome for my needs, just not sure how much I would like them as a Daily Driver tire. I can't afford to have to replace them a few months later because they are driving me crazy, especially with the super high premium Goodyear wants for them..

kdrchuck · November 4, 2010

I have the duratracs and they are very silent cant even hear them, very smooth and resonsive. I love them.

Really? They look like they would be a little noisey. You can't feel the lugs at all? That sounds pretty impressive. They look much more aggressive then you make them sound. I really like the look of them, and I am sure they would perform awesome for my needs, just not sure how much I would like them as a Daily Driver tire. I can't afford to have to replace them a few months later because they are driving me crazy, especially with the super high premium Goodyear wants for them..

I bought my tires before reading enough about the Duratracs

Where is your farm in WV. I'm from Charleston. You could pick up a leveling kit, Swing by and I can install it and sell you my 285 Destination ATs. Then i can go buy some Duratracs.