First Truck Tire Purchase - Advice Please

johnnyg123 · March 17, 2018

best riding tire on the road and in rain conditions was the michelin ltx at2 but they werent too good off the pavement and sucked in the snow. wound up going to a set of dedicated snows for the winter here on last truck. worst tire i have had was the general grabber at2. good in the beginning but after 10,000 miles lost all wet traction and took off the truck way too early. presently running nitto exo grapplers and very happy with them. had them on last truck and within 2 days of buying new one took off the factory duratracs and put the nittos on. a few guys i work with running the cooper at3 and love them. if i was to put a less aggressive tire on then the nittos it would have been the coopers.

Piggywutz · March 17, 2018

7 hours ago, AgDoctor said:

I would somewhat agree about the Michelins being grandpa tires...but I think the Toyos look like grandpa tires, the BFG KO2 looks far more agresaive than the Toyos. No offense, but I don't see what people like about them. I have a set of KO2s on my work truck and they have approx 55K on them and a little wear left...very little. My personal truck has Ridge Grapplers with maybe 1500 miles. Duratracs are great tires also. I have had 2 sets...the bad things about them are coat and at 30,000 miles they get loud!

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Opinions, you got em, I got em. It's all good brother.

The KO2's are basically the same tire since the 80's with just some added side wall tread to point to and tell your buddies that they are not an old mans tire. They are aggressive bro! I had BFG all terrains on a 96 Silverado that I bought new. I did not like them in the winter. Deep snow they were all right, but I hated them in slush or packed snow. Only tires that I ever slid off the road with in 25 years of driving were those BFG's. Won't buy again.

Goodyear. Never liked any Goodyear tire that I ever had. Always, always wore poorly. Always, always had poor traction. Will never give Goodyear any more of my money.

Never had a Nitto tire. I like the way they look. I might try them in the future. I was deciding between them and these Toyo's and got better deal on the AT2's. I have 5000 miles on them so far and am pleased so far.

Piggywutz · March 17, 2018

7 hours ago, AgDoctor said:

I would somewhat agree about the Michelins being grandpa tires...but I think the Toyos look like grandpa tires, the BFG KO2 looks far more agresaive than the Toyos. No offense, but I don't see what people like about them. I have a set of KO2s on my work truck and they have approx 55K on them and a little wear left...very little. My personal truck has Ridge Grapplers with maybe 1500 miles. Duratracs are great tires also. I have had 2 sets...the bad things about them are coat and at 30,000 miles they get loud!

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Opinions, you got em, I got em. It's all good brother.

The KO2's are basically the same tire since the 80's with just some added side wall tread to point to and tell your buddies that they are not an old mans tire. They are aggressive bro! I had BFG all terrains on a 96 Silverado that I bought new. I did not like them in the winter. Deep snow they were all right, but I hated them in slush or packed snow. Only tires that I ever slid off the road with in 25 years of driving were those BFG's. Won't buy again.

Goodyear. Never liked any Goodyear tire that I ever had. Always, always wore poorly. Always, always had poor traction. Will never give Goodyear any more of my money.

Never had a Nitto tire. I like the way they look. I might try them in the future. I was deciding between them and these Toyo's and got better deal on the AT2's. I have 5000 miles on them so far and am pleased so far.

papageoff · March 17, 2018

Im in a similar debate. I have a 2" level, and stock size tires right now. Going to need new tires within the next couple of months. My truck is my DD and my tow rig for our camper. I would LOVE to jump up to a 33" or something close bc they look great. I have talked myself out of it bc it is my tow rig. The added weight of a bigger tire plus the fact that bigger tire is essentially gearing up your truck, may cause your truck to struggle a little more when towing.

I voted for Stock sized BFG's.

Personally I plan on going w the Nitto Ridge Grapplers. I have the 20" factory chevy wheels, so finding "E" rated tires in the stock size isn't as common as it may be for smaller rim diameters. Just my 2cents. Good luck to you!

Would that 2" really make that much of a difference? I've never increased tire sizes before.

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papageoff · March 17, 2018

Awesome in the rain? No hydro-planning issues that people have mentioned with those tires before?

OP, if you are mostly on road more and towing a little heavier go with a more road oriented AT tire (not hybrid) as road handling with a heavier trailer will be important... The more aggressive the AT tire like the BFG or hybrid tires like the Duratracs flex much more with the larger tread voids. The Michelin's are probably the best tire you listed on the list, also check out the Cooper AT3, very highly rated and well priced and easil hold their own off road (check out the expedition portal AT tire test). The Hankook's are another great choice and a factory AT tire for some including Ford trucks so they have been through towing tests to be sure they are up to snuff.

As far as size, you go big like the 275/75/18 and you will notice a big change in the gearing of your truck. Go up just one size like a 275/65/18.

Tyler

Thanks. I test drove a truck with Cooper AT(P?) tires and hated them. It kinda burned a memory.

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papageoff · March 17, 2018

285/65 rim to choose toyo tires, the all terrain. in this size you will get the xt version. good for 40k miles plus, i have 24000 on mine and they look newm half a dime deep. great in snow, decent in water, decent in mud, terric on rocks aired down, not good for soft sand

Hmm.. in FL soft sand is a lot of what I see off road. Well, that and my dirt road. ;)

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papageoff · March 17, 2018

So, this is the first time I've had a chance to come back and actually review the poll results. I drew two immediate conclusions:

No one likes the stock SR-A tires... Surprised, I'm sure.
There were many more of you in favor of stock size than I'd expected. This really gave me pause.

Thanks to everyone for voting and commenting. As usual, I'm my own worst enemy in these decisions since I have two competing goals and so many options. Had I realized a camper was in the cards, I'd have probably broken down and gotten the 3/4 ton from the start, but I'm not going to redo that since it would just push of getting the camper.

I'm probably going to buy the tires in April since Professor Google says that's the best time of year. I'll post back with what I get and what my results are. If I upsize, I'm also planning to get a DiabloSport i3 to reprogram things. So, I'll let you know how that goes as well.

Edited March 17, 2018 by papageoff
diction, syntax, and word-order

swathdiver · March 17, 2018

6 hours ago, Piggywutz said:

The KO2's are basically the same tire since the 80's with just some added side wall tread to point to and tell your buddies that they are not an old mans tire.

Not hardly. While the center tread blocks resemble the old All-Terrain T/As the KOs were an improvement upon that tire and the KO2s are vastly superior to both. In between the tread blocks are different as are the tread blocks at the end of the contact patch which are designed to shed water and whatever rapidly. These blocks closely resemble those of the Radial T/A, the best tire ever made for old school muscle cars. And yes, the rubber on the sidewalls adds to the looks but serve a purpose as well.

I would drive in the mud with the Rugged Trails and my running boards would be fairly clean. Going down the same path in the same conditions with the KO2s, my running boards are covered in mud and the treads are clean. Once mud got stuck in those 1980s All-Terrains, it was like running a slick until those tires saw a hose!

rjpoog1989 · March 18, 2018

On 3/17/2018 at 8:22 AM, Piggywutz said:

Goodyear. Never liked any Goodyear tire that I ever had. Always, always wore poorly. Always, always had poor traction. Will never give Goodyear any more of my money.

I’ve had bad luck with every Goodyear tire I’ve ever run. There’s nothing good I have to say about them. I’ve heard so much good about duratracs, and I’m tempted to try them, but scared away by bad experiences. SRAs are junk. LS2s are junk.

On the other hand I’ve had very good experience with Michelin and BFG. I run Michelin on cars only, their truck tires are definitely old mans tires.

papageoff · May 24, 2018

Time for an update. I got 275/65r18 KO2s yesterday. They're E-rated and have 40psi in them. The fronts look like they're low on air and since the tire goes to 80psi, they probably are. I like the look but I can definitely feel the weight and hear them. The noise isn't obnoxious, but I guess the SR-As were basically silent where these are not. As for the performance, I've gone about 100 miles or so and I (roughly) estimate that I've lost 1-2 mpg which isn't surprising considering they weigh like twice as much as the SR-As. The truck is much more sluggish off the line but it still has plenty of power. As for the ride, well... Let's just say it's "well connected" to the road. I now feel all sorts of bumps and stuff that I never did before. I think going up to 80psi would turn them into solid concrete.

Overall, if they were on the truck when I bought it, I'd probably never blinked an eye about any of this. But, since I didn't buy it that way I miss my smooth ride and mileage. If I could find KO2s for this truck in a standard load rating, I'd probably live with the noise. It's really not bad. The tire shop is willing to let me swap to something else and recommended the Michelin LTX AT2s. I agree they look like old man tires and they have very mixed reviews. I was also considering the Goodyear Adventure All Terrain with Kevlar. The goodyears seem to have better reviews, but my buddy has them on his taco and they're wearing VERY quickly for him.

Which do you think would be better for light mud/loose sand? That's about the extent of off-roading I have in FL.

Edited May 24, 2018 by papageoff

johnnyg123 · May 24, 2018

i had the ltxat2 on a 2500. great road tire but not so good even on wet grass. i went with nitto exo grappler and an very pleased. aggressive look good on the wet roads and good for the snow here in ny . look at the cooper all terrain lot of guys at work running them

swathdiver · May 25, 2018

20 hours ago, papageoff said:

Time for an update. I got 275/65r18 KO2s yesterday. They're E-rated and have 40psi in them.

Too low, go to 50 psi. I noticed that they ride better at this psi and once warmed up they also ride smoother. They will wear quickly at 40 psi too, learned that the hard way.

papageoff · May 25, 2018

Too low, go to 50 psi. I noticed that they ride better at this psi and once warmed up they also ride smoother. They will wear quickly at 40 psi too, learned that the hard way.

I did exactly that this morning. I've only driven about 6-7 miles since, but they do feel much better. I'm going to try 60 psi tomorrow just to see if it can firm up the wallowing a bit, but I may keep them now.

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papageoff · June 24, 2018

I just wanted to circle back and close off the thread for future searchers.

I have driven these at 55psi for a while now and I can say 60 might be better but at 55 they're pretty good. The noise is there but not bad. We'll see how that changes as they age. The ride is a bit stiffer but not in a bad way most of the time. It's hard to describe. I towed a 6500lb camper on them and had no traction/tire issues. I was able to pull the camper out of the slick muddy grass without tearing up the yard too much. The old tires would have spun like mad in that.

I do notice the weight of the tires relative to the old stock sr-a tires. The performance definitely took a hit. Mileage is down about 1-2mpg as expected, too. They seem sensitive to pressure. If I let them get down much below 55 cold, they feel mushy handling.

At this point I'm keeping them. I'd have probably liked a more road oriented tire on a daily basis, but these are good tires and I'm happy with the compromises.

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