P265 70 R17 tire options for Large SUV

[Gale Hawkins]

I need to get a set of four tires for the 2003 Escalade 2WD with tow package and after hours of reading reviews I am confused by what people post. It seems the very same tire is loved by some and hated by some.

At this time the towing needs should be very light so my focus is on safety of the wife and kids driving in rain, deers and snow with snow being quite seldom a concern.

Quite is a plus and wear life is way down the list of important features. 30K miles will get us through two winters. High end Michelin has never gave more than 30K of wear on her Towncar tires. On the first 5 miles of our 15 mile trips to town has about 25 not so small cruves in it and we never seem to leave in time to "Poke" to town. :B

Thanks for any experience.



Any SUV experience out there with matching concerns?

 

[tchmango]

I put some Bridgestone tires on my wifes Commander last year. Her car is AWD and has the capacity for seven people on occasion. The tires appear to have a good construction and came with a 60K mileage warranty. I am like you in that if we get 30k plus from a tire I am happy. Traction, braking, and general safety factors are my primary concerns. They were not the cheapest but not that expensive either.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I put some Bridgestone tires on my wifes Commander last year. Her car is AWD and has the capacity for seven people on occasion. The tires appear to have a good construction and came with a 60K mileage warranty. I am like you in that if we get 30k plus from a tire I am happy. Traction, braking, and general safety factors are my primary concerns. They were not the cheapest but not that expensive either.

Do you remember what line it was and is the noise level pretty low? It sounds like our vehicles are about the same size.
We rented a Commander a few years ago and it was nice. Well we get to go pay the sales taxes on the Escalade ($780) this morning and tag it. Then we will shop for tires. Got insurance coverage this AM too.

 

[om21braz]

According to the business owner where I purchase tires, the Uniroyal Cross Terrain "Laredo" is a excellent lower-cost alternative to the Michelin. For what it is worth, he says that it is constructed of the same materials in the same factory as the Michelin LTX. The treadwear ratings are comparable. I had the Uniroyals on a 06 Silverado 1500 crew-cab and they did well - very good in rain, quiet, good ride. I cannot speak for longevity as I sold the truck before they were worn out. I put approx. 13k on them and they had very little wear. The truck came new w/ Bridgestones and they were a decent tire - about 35k before replacement time.

 

[dodge man]

Fortera TripleTred from Goodyear. An excellent tire, although probably not cheap.

 

[rswyan]

For what it is worth, he says that it is constructed of the same materials in the same factory as the Michelin LTX. The treadwear ratings are comparable.

For what it is worth, I'm getting ready to replace the rear tires on my Sprinter (van) .... I replaced the fronts about 20K miles ago ....

The tires I'm replacing are Michelin LTX M+S ..... the new ones are Michelin LTX A/T2's ....

The rears will have over 170,000 miles on them when they are replaced (fronts had around 150K) ..... and they are still legal.

Hard to beat Michelin.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

According to the business owner where I purchase tires, the Uniroyal Cross Terrain "Laredo" is a excellent lower-cost alternative to the Michelin. For what it is worth, he says that it is constructed of the same materials in the same factory as the Michelin LTX. The treadwear ratings are comparable. I had the Uniroyals on a 06 Silverado 1500 crew-cab and they did well - very good in rain, quiet, good ride. I cannot speak for longevity as I sold the truck before they were worn out. I put approx. 13k on them and they had very little wear. The truck came new w/ Bridgestones and they were a decent tire - about 35k before replacement time.

I think they have the Uniroyal Laredo now and per paper in the manual they have about 45K miles. I am hope one has a broken belt causing the wamp wamping. It is worse on some roads.

 

[timswi]

I use the knock-off Wild Country's. They are made by Cooper and Kelly.

I usually get around 35K before they get close to the wear bars...I usually only rotate them once or twice during their life...(I just forget)

For around half the price of name brand tires, these are tough to beat.

I also have 265/70-17.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Fortera TripleTred from Goodyear. An excellent tire, although probably not cheap.

This was my inital choice but after reading about 100 reviews a small number talked about have traction dropped off and noise increased well before they had a lot of wear. It really confused me.

Most were happy but there were a lot that was not. Some it was due to getting 30K and not 60K but then I do not expect more than 30K but i do want good grip and quite tires over most of their life.

The 2WD traction control the Escalade got starting in 2003 is awesome it seems but do want the best traction tires i can find.

 

[CinderSchnauzer]

Check this site for tire specs and reviews:

Tire Rack - Your performance experts for tires and wheels

I currently have Bridgestone Dueller AT RHS 265/65/18 on my Silverado Crew. They are NOISY as they become worn and tread life is not that great.

They will be replaced with Michelin LTX M/S 2.

Tires on previous vehicle were Firestone Transforce AT. I thought they wore well, rode quiet and had good traction in all conditions.

 

[JIGBUILDER]

I have the Bridgestone Revo LT265/70-17 E load range on my 2wd 2500 truck. I liked them so I had a set of Bridgestone LT265/70-17 C load range AT Revo 2 put on the wifes '06 1500 crew cab 4x4 chevy a year ago last month. The truck came with OEM P265/70-17 Bridgestone 693 II. The Revo 2s are a very quiet tire and has excellent traction in any road conditions.

 

[tchmango]

Dueller HL. They are quieter than the Goodyear Fortenza they came on the vehicle and ride very well. They came with a 30 day ride guarantee. I did go up a tire size from stock and feel this benefited the ride. That is my experience.

 

[rswyan]

BTW, I forgot to mention:

The Michelin LTX M+S I mentioned above were the replacements for the tires that came on the vehicle from the factory - Michelin LTX A/S's ..... which I replaced a little early (tread was getting down there and winter was coming) ....... the A/S's had over 123,000 miles on them when I pulled 'em off.

Vehicle now has over 293,000 miles on it - with over 90% of those miles on only two sets of tires.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Dueller HL. They are quieter than the Goodyear Fortenza they came on the vehicle and ride very well. They came with a 30 day ride guarantee. I did go up a tire size from stock and feel this benefited the ride. That is my experience.

That sounds like a good tire but however like most every line the reviews are all over the board. One stated they only got 17K miles and another got 75K miles out of the 60K rated tire.

There must be about 100 factors controlling tire life, ride and quiteness.

Yesterday was a tagging and repair history day but today I hope to visit a few tire stores. The tag number turned out to be 0666 for real I noticed after installing it. If the wife does not like the number I will give her the old Blazer and take the Escalade for my daily driver.

History showed nothing big. At 40K the second owner complained of hard shifts and got a new valve body and at 87K (15K ago) the water pump and belt was replaced. I could see the gasket still looked new under the water pump.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Cooper Tires - Discoverer CTS - Premium Luxury Touring SUV

Today I purchased four Cooper Discoverer CTS that are designed for SUV's specifically. They were $700 locallyh installed which put them $100 more than the Firestone Destination and $100 less than a similar line from Michelin.

Why did I buy them? The owner had installed them about a month ago on the 2007 SUV he recently purchased with 95K miles on it. Being a sister to the Escalade with about the same miles this impressed me. The tire store owner told me to drive his but I declined so he drove me for about 3-4 miles.

http://cooper.tiremedia.com/news/514.html

On that test ride in almost the same vehicle they were smooth, quite and felt stable even though I was just riding. They are an awesome looking tire and had the most consistent positive reviews on the web I found after I got home tonight.

Time will tell but after20 miles I would buy again. :thumbsup:

My experience with Cooper tires goes back 50 years when a set came on an old Oliver farm wagon we bought used.

You may not like them but do take a look at them in person. They really made our 2003 Escalade with 102K miles ride like new. I have to say I am impressed with the power and MPG of the 5.3L GM engine but I have only run 93 in it so far. The 6.0L GM engine in the AWD version recommends Preium gas in the owners manual. That sucking sound at WOT at 4000-5500 RPM sounds more like the 454 in the motorhome.

On inspection while the wheels were off I was pleased how thight everything was and how it still looked quite new. Front shocks have been replaced in the past and it has the air leveling shocks on the rear.

If these tires go south fast I will try and post that too.

Thanks for the help. I googled most of the lines suggested adn I think they would all have made good tires. In a small town the quality of the dealer is a huge consideration. Free 6-8K mile rotations and flat repairs was a plus over some options in town.

 

[MESSMAKER]

It seems like everyone around here runs Mastercraft(made by Cooper) or Cooper tires. I have had Cooper and they were awfully good. I have Firestone Destination at's now because of a great deal but they don't ride as well ans are a good bit louder.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Mastercraft has a lot of tire sales locally and well as the Cooper dealer.

As an undate on our Cooper Discoverer CTS tires. They rebalanced our tires due to loosing one weight.

At 100 none came off and all was smooth. I leave the glove box open to see if it is going to dance or not. There is not roar from the tires that I can hear.

 

[timswi]

It seems like everyone around here runs Mastercraft(made by Cooper) or Cooper tires. I have had Cooper and they were awfully good. I have Firestone Destination at's now because of a great deal but they don't ride as well ans are a good bit louder.

Fully agree, the local guy sells Mastercraft and Wild Country. Those tires are everywhere around here. Really, unless you want a name brand on you side wall, the differences aren't that great when you run the financials on the purchase. Granted Michelin and BFG At/TA's are great tires, but very expensive as well. I've had horrible wear experience with Bridgestone and GoodYear.

I've had great luck with my Cooper or Kelley Wild Country knockoffs.

$900+ every 3-4 years or $400 every 2 based on 20K or so per year.

 

[daveinnh]

The last 2 sets of tires on my 2001 Silverado were Bridgestone AT Revo LT. Bridgestone now now offers a version 2. They offfered great traction on dry, snow and mud. Didn't hydroplane or pick-up small stone in tread and quiet too.

I had put 190k on the truck and traded it in last August for a 1500 Sierra that came with street tires.

Good lcuk

 

[Gale Hawkins]

As an update we now have about 1000 miles on the Cooper Discoverer CTS and so far they are awesome at low and high speeds for a smooth, quite ride. They leave you feeling in control but I think the Escalade must be the most wide SUV on the road based on the way it fills a parking spot.

The alignment rack was just wide enough to handle it and it did not need any adjusting and all the parts were tight at 103K but I wanted to be sure so I did not mess up a $700 set of tires.