advice on tires

[chickenhunterbob]

After 84,500 faithful miles (not kilometers, I converted) on a set of Goodyear Wrangler AT/S LT265 R16 75 D tires, they are finally starting to look their age.

I will need a new set before long.

This is my second time with Wranger AT/S, and will not hesitate to buy another set, but at this point am completely open to suggestions if anyone would like to endorse a tire that in their experience:
- is durable - long lasting,
- is relatively quiet on the highway,
- more or less in the same price range as the wrangler,
- has good of-road traction when necessary. I'm not an off road driver per se, but find myself frequently off the beaten path.
- good traction snow and ice

I'm happy with the tires I have, just wondering to hear opinions from person aexperience if any better and no more expensive alternative exist.

thank you
Bob Donogh

[DA BIG ONE]

The GoodYears are Great tires!

Firestone came out with the Destination AT and it is rated better than the GoodYear, so I bought a set for my 96 Tahoe in (E) load range, I can't praise them enough.

[Barry Nave]

Is it a knowen factor that duelly's wear twice as much than single's or that my truck weight is aways carring around 8'200 Lbs.? 30K seam's to be my tire life. Normal cost per tire I run is around $100-130 X 6.

[G. Gearloose]

Cooper AT's have great traction.


Beware any Load Range E's on your 1500...unless you carry enought weight to load them, they are slicker in snow because they have fewer and shallower siping cuts than its sibling model D-range, and that kills wet and snow/ice traction.

E's may be adequate for the first year or so, then it gets slick after the thread shortens and becomes less flexible.

[damork]

I made it to 110,000 on a set of Michelin LTX AT 265/75/16s and replaced them with the same. Have about 60k on the second set and looks like 100k+ will not be a problem.

[DA BIG ONE]

Originally posted by G. Gearloose:
Cooper AT's have great traction.


Beware any Load Range E's on your 1500...unless you carry enought weight to load them, they are slicker in snow because they have fewer and shallower siping cuts than its sibling model D-range, and that kills wet and snow/ice traction.

E's may be adequate for the first year or so, then it gets slick after the thread shortens and becomes less flexible. Whoops, this is an important issue indeed!

[chickenhunterbob]

Thanks for the comments!

I'm off to have a look at the Cooper, Firestone and Michelins this afternoon, and price them out.

My current tires are load range D, I rarely ever have a load in the truck, so can probably use load range C, but I notice on internet shopping for the wranglers that the difference in price between C and D was only about 3 bucks a tire.

Is there any advantage to having a load range D over C?

thanks again
Bob

[G. Gearloose]

Not certain,.. but with the heavy diesel, perhaps the D is better than C? C's appear to be over 2200# per wheel.

Just get an LT tire... Some vendors like to push the P-rated tires, especially on the SUV's...
the difference in thread depth can be 3-4 mm less on the same model name.


If your in serious snow country, perhaps this
http://www.coopertires.com/us/en/ProductDetails.asp?ProdType=LtTruck&id=206&title=Light+Truck+Tires

Never tried them, but appears to be lots of siping and deep thread. But no D's, just C & E :rolleyes:

[ 03-05-2005, 05:28 AM: Message edited by: G. Gearloose ]

[Kidd]

My 98 dually got about 70k on the stock 225/75R/16 Goodyear AT's. Currently running 215/85/16 Michelin M&S tires. They are a bit stiffer riding, but after 40k, I cannot see any wear yet. Excellent traction on ice and snow. Think these will make 100k easy. :cool:
Oh, and I rotate all seven twice a year since it is a 4 wheel drive.

K.D.

[turbovair]

For three bucks, go with load range "D"!!Peace of mind is worth $12!!!!

[Marty Lau]

Originally posted by turbovair:
For three bucks, go with load range "D"!!Peace of mind is worth $12!!!! Hey Chickhunter go with the load range D they will hold up on the gravel better than a C tire for you Chicken Hunting exployts. I run load E for towing and I live on a gravel I travel every day. Lesser tires break down faster.

[Iain]

Since you are Winnipeg and prone to the snow and ice that I see here as well.... I run Bridgestone Blizzaks in the winter time. I switch to a 15" rim in the winter (lowers the truck for a little better stability than with the 16" on). Very quiet, great in the snow and ice. I used to do more oilfield work and with the 4x4 in and the little 15" tires on I can still dig through snow just fine. They do wear fast if you leave them on for the warmer summer months, but in the winter, I wouldn't go back to anything else! (Note: I have to change the speed module behind the glove box to get the correct speedo reading).

[GMCfourX4]

In response to the question about tire life: If you take 2 identical trucks, 1 that does all city driving, and 1 that does all highway, you will get a LOT more tire life (mileage wise) on the highway truck. It also depends on how the truck is driven, loaded, and aligned. My truck has a locker in the back, and I tend to be pretty heavy on the throttle. I am not particularly heavy, however, on the brakes. I find that I have to rotate my tires b/c the rears wear much faster than the fronts, even though I'm usually unloaded.
As far as the load rating goes.... The higher load rating will get you a tire with a stiffer stidewall, which is important for handling on a heavy truck. Especially with the heavy diesel engine, you don't want to be running a tire with flimsy sidewalls that will roll every time you go into a corner.

-Chris

[ace58]

It is interesting that GM uses E rated tires from the factory, although at times they seem undersized in the wheelwells, rather than a larger D rated tire. :rolleyes:

[DmaxMaverick]

Originally posted by ace58:
It is interesting that GM uses E rated tires from the factory, although at times they seem undersized in the wheelwells, rather than a larger D rated tire. :rolleyes: There is a good selection of larger E rated tires available. GM's reason for choosing a small tire escapes me. The new 3500 SRW's come with 265/75/16E's.

[ttpost]

the answer is simple on the smaller tires, if they save a dollar on every tire and sell a million trucks they have saved 4 million dollars, even at a quarter a tire they have saved a million dollars. :rolleyes:

[GMC Hauler]

So what size is everyone using? My suburban has a set of 265/75/r16's on the stock rims now. I need a new set soon, but noticed how short the 245/75's look. I would like to stay at least the same height as the 265's, if not a bit narower than the 265's but wider than the 245's. Any advice?

[DmaxMaverick]

GMC Hauler

255/85/16's

The are about 1.5" taller than the 265's, and the width is right smack between the 245's and 265's. They will fit a stock wheel just fine, and within spec.

[Hye]

Based on comparison between 15" C's or D's and 16" E's, I have found that load range E tires are more puncture resistant when used off road. Ice is rare around here.

[GMC Hauler]

DmanMaverick,

That is everything I am looking for: Slightly taller to reduce the rev's, and a bit narrower to reduce the rolling resistance.

I just bought a set of those new alumimum rims from the newer GM trucks, with GMC center caps and lug nuts for $300.

These new tires will work great!

Thanks :D

[chickenhunterbob]

Again like to thank you all for your input. Makes me humble on how much I really don't know about tires at all.

At this point, I have talked to Cooper, Michelin and Goodyear.

Cooper and Michelin are priced about 150.00 and 200.00 per set higher than Goodyear, of those recommended. I like them all though. I didn't go to Firestone.

Goodyear so far has by far the best deal going. Not until Apr 4, but I can wait, the old truck may not move until then anyhow. The have their annual "buy 3 - get the 4th free" sale.

My strategy then at this point is to call again on Cooper and Michelin on Apr 4 to give me 25% off the cost of the rubber. If they don't, I don't care, while they are both great looking tires, the Firestone are also fine to me.

Now, more questions about load range and size.

I have a K1500 with 3.73 gears, and LT265 R16 75 D tires are slightly oversize from the stock tires, which would have been LT245 R16 75 load range C according to the door sticker.

I don't tow anything other than occasionally my fishing boat, rarely haul anything very heavy very far, and my primary goal is fuel mileage, in addition to what off road I posted previously.

For my application, is there another size of tire I should look at? (higher, narrower)to yield better fuel mileage?

The previous owner had a new VSSB installed at the dealer that installed the current (bigger 'n stock) tires, so I have a spare that I can monkey with to get the speedo right if this is an option.

Are load range E tires that much rougher riding than D? They are about another 35 - 40 bucks per tire, but may last longer? My current tires have a fair amount of tread left, but the sidewalls are shot, all cracking and bulgy.

thanks again
Bob

[ace58]

DmanMaverick,
Nice pictures. You have found the right tire size. I also bought a set of "new take off" current style aluminum wheels from a dealer with the stock 245/75/E tires to replace the stock rally wheels and 265/75/E Michelins. With 3.42 gears I have to consider the larger tire circumference and final drive RPM before I go any bigger.

[DmaxMaverick]

Originally posted by ace58:
DmanMaverick,
Nice pictures. You have found the right tire size. I also bought a set of "new take off" current style aluminum wheels from a dealer with the stock 245/75/E tires to replace the stock rally wheels and 265/75/E Michelins. With 3.42 gears I have to consider the larger tire circumference and final drive RPM before I go any bigger. I'm not sure what you are saying. The wheels/tires in my pic's are Centerline 16X8 with 285/75/16D's. They are about the same height as the 255's, but quite a bit wider.

I have considered having a set of 255's installed on my OEM aluminums for trips into deep snow country, but my current setup works exceptionally well. The 255's would have considerably less rolling resistance and would probably boost my mileage a little, but, mileage isn't too bad as it is.

[Marty Lau]

Bob;
I run laod range E only and if you run lower pressure when not hauling big loads 35-40 psi the ride isn't too bad and yet the tire is beefer and will stand up better. I think C rated tires is talked about as a "6" ply rating and D as "8" ply rating while E is as a "10" ply rating . I don't think they are the real plys anymore but equal to the old basis 10 ply tires. On the E rated tires I have not had side wall troubles my trouble is the tread chips off when I tow bigger loads on the gravel and if I stick to loads of 5,000lbs or less I do ok but when I go to the 10,000lb mark the extra traction need to pull up the gravel hills tear up tires fast. If I was you I would go no less than a "D" rated tire and if you can find a decent deal on them a "E" rated tire. I'd stick with what brand you got as you have gotten great life out of them. Best I've done is 57,000 miles off the Factory Uniroyals everything else if I get over 30,000 miles I'm doing great, I even went a bought premium tires that wherre suppose to go 60,000 miles they went 30,000.

[dstoops]

I've gone through 3 sets of Goodyear 245-75-16 load range E's on 2 different GM K 2500's. They did very well until the last set. One must have been out-of-round slightly...It would shake just a little even though in balance. I averaged 70,000 miles/set. Lots of highway driving some of it loaded very heavy. This time since I had improved hp and torque I wanted to get the most out of my effective final drive ratio. I wanted to go to 265-75-16. If I remember correctly that size wasn't available in a load range E from Good year. I ended up with Michelin's this time and am happy with them so far....Only 5000 miles. One good resource is Tire-Rack's web-site. You can compare tires very easily and there are comments and ratings people who have bought from Tire Rack.I buy all of my tires there now.
Tire Rack (http://www.tirerack.com/)

[GMC Hauler]

Originally posted by DmaxMaverick:
GMC Hauler

255/85/16's

The are about 1.5" taller than the 265's, and the width is right smack between the 245's and 265's. They will fit a stock wheel just fine, and within spec. Where did you get your tires? I am having a hard time finding tires this size in load range E.

[DA BIG ONE]

GoogYear has released a tire called Silent Armor, in load range E, it has puncture resistant feature and kevlar belt.

[nvmtnlion]

I did quite a bit of research and I finally decided to go with Bridgstone Revos in 265/75/16 Load Range E's. Costco wholesale had them for $400 cheaper than any tire place in Reno.

[chickenhunterbob]

And the winner is...

Goodyear wrangler, LT265 R75 16 Load Range E.

http://www.off-road.com/events/2005wranglerlaunch/

On sale 4 for the price of 3, I have them inflated to 65 PSI right now, and took a spin tonight. They seem pretty good, and look great!

They incorporate some new technology apparently, in that they have a belt of Dupont Kevlar that's supposed to make a bit quieter than regular steel belted.

The have the "severe snow service" icon, a snowflake in a mountain.

I wanted Load range D, but this particular tire (like even the wranger AT/S now, Michelin and some others) seem to only offer C and E. The guy at the tire shop recommended E for the extra weight of the engine, and after I haggled him out of another 40 bucks off the 4 for 3 price and had him put them on.

Too soon yet to offer a personal recommendation, It really isn't fair to compare the ride of any brand new tires to ones that came off after over 145,000 KM but in a short while I can probably give a fair evaluation of my own personal opinion if anyone else is tire shopping.

Bob

[DA BIG ONE]

Another note;

Lawyers have been sueing, and winning in cases where a lower grade tire is fitted onto say a vehicle that requires "E" load range tires, claiming the tire contributed to the loss.

Surely, It will get to tires that are rated too high for application.....

I had a collision loss last July needed some new steel wheels, insurance wanted to only pay for aftermarket wheels ($80. ea), same style but welded together and not rated for the weight of my burb.

After checking with GM I found they do use 2 different 8 lug steel wheels that look the same to the untrained eye.
First is for 1/2 ton trucks "it is the welded type",
Second is for 3/4 & 1.0 ton trucks it is the reveted type and has a letter code stamped at the valve stem area ($275. ea.