Truck tires

[56FordGuy]

I appreciate the advice, I've about ruled out the Firestones and am close to saying no to Mastercraft.

The truck is a 4x4 dually. It's driven 4-5000 miles per year, and towing or hauling pretty heavy for a large percentage of those miles. Often in wet or muddy fields loading horses, tractors, or firewood so good traction on wet grass and slick clay is a must. Currently running Federal Mud Terrain tires. Incredible off road traction, and horrible on road ride and noise. That's why I'm ready to switch.

I'm leaning toward the BFGs, but I'm concerned about wet road performance and wondering about soft sidewalls. Great for the ride, but not so great for towing.

Any other tires to consider? I'll look at the Cooper tires mentioned above, along with any other advice. With tires being expensive, I really want to find the right ones.

 

[timswi]

Its funny how Volvos live. Two of my moms were totaled in wrecks that were not her fault and one was crushed by a tree that fell in a storm. Only thing I remember doing to any of them was replacing a power antenna on one and doing a valve cover gasket on another.

Chris

Thats not the experience of the guys I work with. Three of them have them for their wives and it costs them at least $1500 per year just to get them inspected (not exaggerating either). That's in addition to every other overpriced repair which they complain about constantly....These guys keep buying them because the wives loves them.


They say they run forever though...I say for that kind of maintenance expense they should.

No smacking Volvo, just stating what I've seen over the last 10 years and it's fairly consistent even beyond co-workers.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Thats not the experience of the guys I work with. Three of them have them for their wives and it costs them at least $1500 per year just to get them inspected (not exaggerating either). That's in addition to every other overpriced repair which they complain about constantly....These guys keep buying them because the wives loves them.


They say they run forever though...I say for that kind of maintenance expense they should.

No smacking Volvo, just stating what I've seen over the last 10 years and it's fairly consistent even beyond co-workers.

Its just one of them things. As you know, you could give me a GM truck and it would be in the shop day 1. I just never had any luck with them. Volvo's gave us great service.

What works for one guy does not work for the other.

We have no inspections here but everything me or my family has owned has been in tip top shape. I would say better than 99% of the stuff on the road. My grandfather and uncle owned car dealerships all their lives, used car lot and a Chrysler dealership, so maintenance was beat into us.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

I appreciate the advice, I've about ruled out the Firestones and am close to saying no to Mastercraft.

The truck is a 4x4 dually. It's driven 4-5000 miles per year, and towing or hauling pretty heavy for a large percentage of those miles. Often in wet or muddy fields loading horses, tractors, or firewood so good traction on wet grass and slick clay is a must. Currently running Federal Mud Terrain tires. Incredible off road traction, and horrible on road ride and noise. That's why I'm ready to switch.

I'm leaning toward the BFGs, but I'm concerned about wet road performance and wondering about soft sidewalls. Great for the ride, but not so great for towing.

Any other tires to consider? I'll look at the Cooper tires mentioned above, along with any other advice. With tires being expensive, I really want to find the right ones.

I would give the Goodyear Duratrac another look. Guys like them around here. They are a little pricey but you get what you pay for. The guys I know running them are getting 40,000 miles or so out of them but all these guys work the trucks for a living or really tow. I mean 12,000# or more 10,000 miles or more a year and put about 20,000 miles a year on the rig which is usually F-350's or GM 3500 series trucks.

Chris

 

[Bird]

My grandfather and uncle owned car dealerships all their lives, used car lot and a Chrysler dealership, so maintenance was beat into us.

And my Dad owned service stations and auto parts store, so as you might expect, the same thing was beat into us.:laughing:

 

[CCOUGHRAN1]

Just went through a tire purchase on one of my 4x4 dually trucks, I'll give my experience.

I purchased the truck used this spring. It had 220k on the odometer with a set of Falken 215/85r16 tires with decent tread. Not new, but far from worn out. While going through the truck, I found the tire receipt from Discount tire. Shows they were installed at 210k. A couple months ago, I was at 226k and the tires were worn out. barely enough tread to pass inspection. No uneven wear, just flat worn out in 16k miles. Discount gave me a $400.00 credit towards a new set, even though I was not the original purchaser.

Having run everything from a Buckshot mudder,
Michellin LTX,
Goodyear Wrangler,
BFG AT,
BFG MT,
Mastercraft Courser,
BFG Rugged Trail, etc...

I ended up with the following tire.

235/85r16 BFG Commercial TRACTION T/A These tires are not a mud tire, but far from a highway tire. Now I only have about 5k on them at this point, but I have been quite pleased in their handling on wet, dry, dirt, sand, and gravel roads.

Here is a link to the tires. The tread appears more aggressive in person than the photo on the website indicates.
Commercial T/A Traction | BFGoodrich Tires

 

[some zilch]

i work for a large municipality, and we buy NOTHING but firestone transforce at tires for our 80+ pickup trucks at my division. we average 8000 miles per set! they are the worst tires i have ever seen, and their life/durability is deplorable. my boss thinks its a total non-issue and wont even consider anything else. i wouldnt put firestones on my trucks if they were free.

 

[Bird]

i work for a large municipality, and we buy NOTHING but firestone transforce at tires for our 80+ pickup trucks at my division. we average 8000 miles per set! they are the worst tires i have ever seen, and their life/durability is deplorable. my boss thinks its a total non-issue and wont even consider anything else. i wouldnt put firestones on my trucks if they were free.

Don't you have to write specs and go out for bids for your tires? For anyone who doesn't already know it, the early steel belted radial tires would come apart at high speeds, so Firestone, Goodyear, and Goodrich made fabric (polyester) high speed radials that were even labelled as "Police" tires. If a police department bought Fords, they came with Firestone tires. If they bought Chevrolets or Plymouths, they came with Goodyear tires. And when we got bids for replacement tires, Goodrich always got the bid. At one of the fleet management national conferences, they asked how many had Fords that came with Firestone tires, probably 25% of the crowd raised their hands. So they asked how many were satisfied with Firestone tires. Not one single person. The fleet manager at the time for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol told me they didn't have any problems with the Firestones, but they only lasted about 10,000 miles while the other brands were good for at least 30,000. Very shortly thereafter, Firestone got out of the police tire business and General got into it.

 

[56FordGuy]

I ordered my tires yesterday. Went with the Cooper Discoverer AT3. I looked at the Goodyears, but found a lot of complaints about soft sidewalls. Checked out the BFG Commercial Tracion TA, and it didn't seem to do well in the mud.

I had a set of Coopers on a previous truck, and I liked them. The AT3s have a good reputation, and seem to fit my needs.

Ordered from a local tire shop that does all my tractor tires. Checked a couple of chain tire shops, and did find them a few dollars cheaper. Ordered from my local guys because you can't beat their service. They've stayed open late to finish a tire for me or so I could get there to pick one up a few times, and generally gone out of their way to take care of me. The tires should be in early next week, but I may not have the chance to get the truck by there and get them installed until Saturday.

 

[Bird]

Even though I tend to go with BFG, I'll be very surprised if you're not happy with your decision to go with Cooper and your local dealer.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Yea, I have never owned a set of Coopers but never heard a bad word said about them either. I am sure you will be happy.

Chris

 

[CowboyRon]

Please keep us updated on how you like the cooper tires.
Thanks

 

[56FordGuy]

Please keep us updated on how you like the cooper tires.
Thanks

Will do. They arrived at the tire shop today. Don't have them installed yet.

 

[plowindeeper]

Thank you for buying AMERICAN they will be made in either Ohio, Texarkana, or Mississippi.

 

[BrianR]

I really do like these Cooper Discoverer AT3's. They ride and handle like no other. The BFG's are a good tire, but unless these AT3's are bad in snow, I will stay with the Cooper AT3 tire from now on.

 

[timswi]

Anyone have a suggestion to replace Good For A Year LS-2's...Don't think they are going to make 25K, probably will be gone before that, almost to the wear bars at 16K and yes they have been rotated a couple of times...275/55-20

I'd be happy with something that can get around 35K and be ok in snow and the general northern climates..The LS's weren't as bad as I expected in the snow.

 

[om21braz]

Anyone have a suggestion to replace Good For A Year LS-2's...Don't think they are going to make 25K, probably will be gone before that, almost to the wear bars at 16K and yes they have been rotated a couple of times...275/55-20

I'd be happy with something that can get around 35K and be ok in snow and the general northern climates..The LS's weren't as bad as I expected in the snow.

I previously had some Cooper Zeon LTZ in a 20" on a older F250. They did very well the first winter, but by year two they were terrible traction-wise. I got less than 25k on them before they were very close to the wear bars. Granted, they may do better on a half-ton truck.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Anyone have a suggestion to replace Good For A Year LS-2's...Don't think they are going to make 25K, probably will be gone before that, almost to the wear bars at 16K and yes they have been rotated a couple of times...275/55-20

I'd be happy with something that can get around 35K and be ok in snow and the general northern climates..The LS's weren't as bad as I expected in the snow.

Are these on your new GM 1/2 ton? If so they wore way to quick, especially since from what I remember you do not do much towing, maybe 3,000 miles a year???

Thats the problem with 18's and 20's and even the bigger sized tires, finding a tire that does well in mud and snow. Most seem to be street type tires. I had a friend that traded his V-10 Excursion on a Ram 1500 when they came out because he wanted the 20's. It was 4x4 and could not get out of his drive but his wife got in and out multiple times with a Ford Windstar front wheel drive minivan.



Chris

 

[timswi]

Are these on your new GM 1/2 ton? If so they wore way to quick, especially since from what I remember you do not do much towing, maybe 3,000 miles a year???

Thats the problem with 18's and 20's and even the bigger sized tires, finding a tire that does well in mud and snow. Most seem to be street type tires. I had a friend that traded his V-10 Excursion on a Ram 1500 when they came out because he wanted the 20's. It was 4x4 and could not get out of his drive but his wife got in and out multiple times with a Ford Windstar front wheel drive minivan.



Chris

I've driven in 8" of snow with these tires with no problems (that's the most we got at drive time last year)..The do better than I thought, they just didn't last...Pretty much expected it since I've NEVER had any luck with GoodYears.

Towing wasn't the problem...Done better wear wise with noname knock-offs.

The main wear cause, I believe, is that when the wheels were replaced, they put 38lbs in the tires where the truck calls for 30...I drove it 1000 miles without realizing it...Hit the tire centers pretty good, the outer sides are perfect.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Wow, I would be making the dealer replace them or pro rate them at least. They can not read the data plate on the door of the truck they sold you in the first place? Pretty incompetent service dept in my opinion. I would never take anything there if they can not properly inflate a tire.:confused2:

Chris