What tires do you recommend

AronB · January 30, 2019

In 146,000 miles I have had 3 sets of tires on my 2012 Silverado 2500HD LTZ. I got 72,000 on the OEM tires, 65,000 on a set of Mastercraft Courser AXT's and I now have a set of Falken Wildpeak AT/3's on it. I am replacing the truck with a 2019 2500HD Denali in the next few days and going forward I will be putting the Falken on when I need new tires. The traction on wet pavement and in the snow is as good as I have ever seen, and the off road driving I have done with it during hunting season is very good for a on/off road tire. The road noise is excellent as well compared to other tires I have had in the past on my other trucks (General grabber AT2, Goodyear Wrangler SilentArmor to name a few)

Edited January 30, 2019 by AronB

Big Whiskey · January 31, 2019

13 hours ago, AronB said:

In 146,000 miles I have had 3 sets of tires on my 2012 Silverado 2500HD LTZ. I got 72,000 on the OEM tires, 65,000 on a set of Mastercraft Courser AXT's and I now have a set of Falken Wildpeak AT/3's on it. I am replacing the truck with a 2019 2500HD Denali in the next few days and going forward I will be putting the Falken on when I need new tires. The traction on wet pavement and in the snow is as good as I have ever seen, and the off road driving I have done with it during hunting season is very good for a on/off road tire. The road noise is excellent as well compared to other tires I have had in the past on my other trucks (General grabber AT2, Goodyear Wrangler SilentArmor to name a few)

I feel the same way about my Falken AT3's as well. They're only the second set of tires I've ever had, that I'd consider replacing with the exact same thing (old version of BFG AT before they changed the rubber compound is the first). And, that's after running various other AT's, such as the original Cooper AT3, Toyo AT2, Bridgestone Dueler Revo2, BFG AT2, etc. However, I've yet to try the new Cooper AT3 XLT or the new General Grabber ATX.

What size Falkens are you running?

AronB · February 1, 2019

On 1/31/2019 at 12:31 AM, Big Whiskey said:

I feel the same way about my Falken AT3's as well. They're only the second set of tires I've ever had, that I'd consider replacing with the exact same thing (old version of BFG AT before they changed the rubber compound is the first). And, that's after running various other AT's, such as the original Cooper AT3, Toyo AT2, Bridgestone Dueler Revo2, BFG AT2, etc. However, I've yet to try the new Cooper AT3 XLT or the new General Grabber ATX.

What size Falkens are you running?

I went with 265/70R-18 (OEM tire size) after having 285/70R-18 in the Mastercraft. I haven’t been disappointed at all I’m going back to the 265’s.

Cowpie · February 4, 2019

I have a recent anecdote as to why I stick with BFG. I live rural and there is about 2 miles of hilly gravel/dirt road from my house to the nearest highway. We had a real warmup over the weekend and the roads turned to a muddy soup. I also have a semi truck, and I needed to get going last night to get a load of Kawasaki Mules to Chicago this morning. Trailer was in town, but tractor at home because I had to do a bunch of maintenance work on it.

Took off and the truck just buried itself in the mud on the road. Even without a trailer, there is about 11,000 lb on the steer axle and those 11" wide steer tires just cut trenches in the road and bogged me down. Even when I had both drive axle lockers engaged. Well, what to do. I normally would call a neighbor who would bring his John Deere ag tractor out and pull me over the hills in such conditions.

Called the wife and had her bring the 2500 out. Hooked up a tow strap to a clevis hitch on the receiver draw bar of the pickup and to the tow hook on the semi. Wife pulled me and 21,000 lb of semi tractor over about 7 steep grade hills and got me to the main highway. Man, the wife did a great job of keeping the right tension on the strap and staying into it on the hills. She was a true towing champion! That 6.0L 2500 with KO2's on it did a fantastic job. When something just plain works, stick with it. That includes the wife!

catbox_eddie · February 7, 2019

Just had a set of 275/65-20 KO2's mounted today, loving them so far. They ride almost as well as the factory Wranglers, very little road noise and the wet/snow traction is infinitely better. It's a heavy tire and you notice it, but the ride and traction is worth it.

ftwhite · February 7, 2019

My opinion is there is no perfect tire. My personal expiriance says the perfect tire would be a cross between:
Yokohama for rain/hydroplane
Duratrac for winter/snow - the wet NW kind
Nitto Ridge grappler for trails
Michalin for highway noise, smoothness, and life.

But even then, I need 300k more miles to try out all the other awesome brands, which defeats the purpose of finding the perfect tire and sticking with it.

Picking one set of tires just pisses me off.
[emoji12]

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Icutmetl · February 2, 2020

On 1/24/2019 at 12:03 AM, Big Whiskey said:

I would recommend an AT with a good mileage warranty, the 3 peak snowflake rating, and an aggressive looking sidewall. So, that narrows it down to the Falken AT3W, Cooper AT3 XLT, and General Grabber ATX for me. Those would be my top 3 choices.

The Cooper AT3 XLT doesn’t carry the 3-peak rating, though. Seems like the combo you described is the holy grail for the all-terrain tire world. Toyo’s got an Open Country AT3 coming soon; as well as Maxxis Razr AT that are both said to have a mileage warranty and 3-peak rating, so that will add two more choices.

Big Whiskey · February 4, 2020

On 2/2/2020 at 1:59 PM, Icutmetl said:

The Cooper AT3 XLT doesn’t carry the 3-peak rating, though. Seems like the combo you described is the holy grail for the all-terrain tire world. Toyo’s got an Open Country AT3 coming soon; as well as Maxxis Razr AT that are both said to have a mileage warranty and 3-peak rating, so that will add two more choices.

My bad on the Cooper AT3 XLT. I thought it had the 3 peak rating. I must have gotten it mixed up with the AT3 4S. I bet the XLT would be pretty good in the snow anyway.

I'll check out the new Toyo and Maxxis!

redwngr · February 9, 2020

On 2/7/2019 at 1:03 AM, ftwhite said:

My opinion is there is no perfect tire. My personal expiriance says the perfect tire would be a cross between:
Yokohama for rain/hydroplane
Duratrac for winter/snow - the wet NW kind
Nitto Ridge grappler for trails
Michalin for highway noise, smoothness, and life.

But even then, I need 300k more miles to try out all the other awesome brands, which defeats the purpose of finding the perfect tire and sticking with it.

Picking one set of tires just pisses me off.

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And just when we think we got it figured out, the tire brands modify the models they offer :banghead:

i82much · February 9, 2020

i would like a duratrac tread with a BFG AT KO2 sidewall, myself.

Edited February 9, 2020 by i82much

langston1726 · February 10, 2020

Another vote for KO2s. Aggressive look, quiet,

perform great, and with over 15000 miles, they still look new. I opted for the C rated tire for better ride and I very rarely tow anything.

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Big Whiskey · February 15, 2020

On 2/2/2020 at 1:59 PM, Icutmetl said:

The Cooper AT3 XLT doesn’t carry the 3-peak rating, though. Seems like the combo you described is the holy grail for the all-terrain tire world. Toyo’s got an Open Country AT3 coming soon; as well as Maxxis Razr AT that are both said to have a mileage warranty and 3-peak rating, so that will add two more choices.

Do you have a link the the new Toyo AT3? I can't find anything about it...

Icutmetl · February 15, 2020

11 hours ago, Big Whiskey said:

Do you have a link the the new Toyo AT3? I can't find anything about it...

Nope, nobody does yet. I read about them on a couple forums and saw a YouTube video recently from SEMA where one guy was probing the Toyo guys about them. That video was soon removed and my comments about the upcoming AT3 deleted.

TXGREEK · February 16, 2020

Here’s my experience with the Nitto Ridge Grapplers, two different sets and both the very same thing, not just this set, but both.

First set when leveled: 285/60/20

Second set when lifted: 295/60/20

Now, the New KO2’s: 285/60/20

Noticed when new they were quiet but did slip with almost no traction on paint, tires on wet paint don’t do well but these literally felt like they were on oil, just spun.

Here they are New, siping looks more like an after thought, more like the siping was added after tire mold.

This is at 15k miles, notice the siping is literally disappearing, no water evacuation creating dangerous slippery conditions and scared the crap out of me on wet blacktop. They also got much louder at 15k too.

Here are my new KO2’s, the siping runs straight through the lugs, designed this way when molded. Smoother, much better ride quality and noticed they grip far better on wet paint. KO2’s, imho have far superior technology in their rubbers.

Interesting thing is that everyone still compares themselves to the KO’s and KO2’s, for the obvious reason that BFG All Terrain are the King of AT’s, not cheap but neither were these ridge grapplers but KO2’s are very much well worth it.

Good luck to all!

Sent from Above

L86 All Terrain · February 21, 2020

I just got home from a trip to the Northern Reserves in Canada, its basically just a trail through the woods the ground is not shaped underneath. It is dragged with groomers and tires and packed in snow and ice, so constant bumps, dips, punch outs, hills, icy bedrock corners etc. I have 275 KO2 BFG's and they did awesome, only had to kick in 4x4 when meeting fuel trucks when I had to climb into the snowbank to squeeze by. About 700km off road in 2wd pulling a tandem flat deck with 5,000#. I am really happy with them. Many areas are glare ice where the sun shines on a hill and the truck would stay planted even when my trailer wanted to slide a bit. Overall really happy them.