Anyone switch from AT to all season/weather tires?

Snakes709 · January 3, 2020

Have the 6.2/10 speed AT4 with 18" duratracs. Will be doing a trip from Edmonton, AB to Halifax, NS and back, or Edmonton to Halifax to Florida, back to Edmonton this summer. Was thinking about swapping to some sort of highway tires and curious of what kind of fuel economy improvement ill see over the duratrac AT tires.

ShamrockShooter · January 5, 2020

I'm in a loaner truck 5.3 right now base Lt with highway tires and it's getting about 1 mpg better than my Trail boss with duratracs. I have thought about doing the same thing for my cross country trip this fall. I do notice one thing with the highway tires you notice the engine grumble more and a lot of other noise that the duratracs hum covers up. From a cost standpoint a 1 mpg difference would take quite a few miles to make up for the cost of the tire

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Snakes709 · January 5, 2020

3 hours ago, ShamrockShooter said:

I'm in a loaner truck 5.3 right now base Lt with highway tires and it's getting about 1 mpg better than my Trail boss with duratracs. I have thought about doing the same thing for my cross country trip this fall. I do notice one thing with the highway tires you notice the engine grumble more and a lot of other noise that the duratracs hum covers up. From a cost standpoint a 1 mpg difference would take quite a few miles to make up for the cost of the tire

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Well the trip alone is 10,000kms to halifax and back. Thats not including driving while there. Not to mention the rest of the life of the tires.

econometrics · January 6, 2020

1mpg better, or even 2mpg better over that long of a trip only saves you $80-120 for the whole trip. A little less than 1 decent all season tire.

Personally, I would do it for better ride vs MPG. Put some LTX-M/S2s on there and really improve the noise and ride quality.

ShamrockShooter · January 6, 2020

The AT4 I think is missing the front bumper bottom air dam valence. I have been looking for one for my trail boss for long highway trips. It's probably a better bang for the buck mpg improvement if you can find a used one for $50. I bet that it would give you a 0.3 to 0.5 mpg bump

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ShamrockShooter · January 6, 2020

And honestly if I were you I would look on eBay or Craigslist and just buy an entire set of rims and tires. There are lots of OEM take off sets. Run one in the summer and keep your duratracs for the winter

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aseibel · January 6, 2020

If the tires you are considering only match your existing OEM tire dimensions, I bet you won't even notice 1 mpg of difference. More important, in my opinion, is making sure your tires are inflated properly. Slightly over the recommended pressure will give you a bit of a fuel economy edge due to less rolling resistance. Mythbusters did an episode about this.

If you have space to store a spare set though, having dedicated summer highway tires could be nice to enjoy the lower noise on the freeway and keep treadwear down on your AT tires. The total life of your two sets should then exceed two sets of AT tires.

Snakes709 · January 6, 2020

Its not just the fuel economy im looking at. Usually one of us are sleeping in the back seat while the other one drives. Much easier to sleep with quieter tires and smoother ride. Not saying the duratracs are horrible in all aspects, but anything that can be improved would be nice.

Grumpy Bear · January 6, 2020

1 hour ago, Snakes709 said:

Its bot just the fuel economy im looking at. Usually one of us are sleeping in the back seat while the other one drives. Much easier to sleep with quieter tires and smoother ride. Not saying the duratracs are horrible in all aspects, but anything that can be improved would be nice.

My OEM Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II now have 106K miles on them with 5/32 tread left. To this day they are quite as a mouse in church. All you hear at highway speed is the air over the cabin and that guy a hundred feet behind you with his A/T tires singing at the top O' their voices. No comparison is possible.

Wife finally wore out her Michelin's and we reloaded with the Continental Cross Contact LX20. That is a very nice tire. Quite, smooth and comfortable. If they are still making them when it time to replace my set...I'm all in.

On fuel, you have to look at it in longer terms than this single trip. You buy them for their lifetime, right? I have no idea why people got focused on just the trip length as meaning anything at all. Also. Check some of the tire test at TireRack.com and you will find larger efficiency gains than those guessed at in this thread between HT tires. Pretty sure it will be measurable and noteworthy between AT and HT

Snakes709 · January 6, 2020

14 minutes ago, Grumpy Bear said:

My OEM Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II now have 106K miles on them with 5/32 tread left. To this day they are quite as a mouse in church. All you hear at highway speed is the air over the cabin and that guy a hundred feet behind you with his A/T tires singing at the top O' their voices. No comparison is possible.

Wife finally wore out her Michelin's and we reloaded with the Continental Cross Contact LX20. That is a very nice tire. Quite, smooth and comfortable. If they are still making them when it time to replace my set...I'm all in.

On fuel, you have to look at it in longer terms than this single trip. You buy them for their lifetime, right? I have no idea why people got focused on just the trip length as meaning anything at all. Also. Check some of the tire test at TireRack.com and you will find larger efficiency gains than those guessed at in this thread between HT tires. Pretty sure it will be measurable and noteworthy between AT and HT

Thanks, ill check into those tires. As i mentioned, its not just the trip im focused on. Its just we are going on it shortly after the snow melts, so thats when ill want them. Will most likely have 2 sets of rims, one for the summer and the other for the winter. So hopefully they last me a few years.

madconcept · January 6, 2020

Guess it all depends on your needs and the look you want.

My Sierra came with BFG KO2’s and notice there’s a definite road noise with them plus they feel “heavy” to me while driving. They’re also an LT rated tire.

I’m going to keep them even though I’m not planning any off-road adventures.

They perform well in the rain and I’m quite happy with them despite being a bit more aggressive than what I need, plus they look great.

Would I replace them with more of a highway tire? Not sure? Guess I’ll see when it comes time to replace them.

Always chuckle seeing guys running around with 24’ rims and Mud tires on their pavement princesses!

madconcept · January 6, 2020

2 hours ago, Snakes709 said:

Thanks, ill check into those tires. As i mentioned, its not just the trip im focused on. Its just we are going on it shortly after the snow melts, so thats when ill want them. Will most likely have 2 sets of rims, one for the summer and the other for the winter. So hopefully they last me a few years.

I’m in the same boat that I’d like to get a set of dedicated winter tires/rims for my truck even though my BFG are snowflake rated.

Dedicated winter tires will perform a lot better than an all-weather rated tire plus I want my 20” rims to stay looking sharp!

Not a lot of people selling used rims though for 2019 and up trucks in my area!