After 5,000 miles and 4 balances the new Goodyear Silent Armors aren't going to pan out. Tire shop manager is willing to put a new set of anything I want on there at no cost to me. I'm considering the popular Goodyear Duratracs, but also another set of BFG A/T's (which I only got 35,000 miles out of last time). Trying to balance a big of all terrain with good traction (wet and dry), decent overall tread wear, etc.

I get until next Monday to decide and get something ordered. What would you do if you were in my shoes? Any other brands you might toss in to compete with the Duractracs and BFG's?

Thanks.

 

Toyo Open Country A/Ts. or M/Ts

 

+1 for M/T's

 

Wow, what do you do to your tires? My BFGs have 40k on them and still have around 50% of the tread left.

 

Actually I had BFG's on my cargo van and barely got 20k out of them, was told that should go with MT's for my company - Love it now

 

Maybe check into the Good Year Wrangler MTRs, they have Kevlar belts and sidewalls which will better handle the stress of bigger loads. Just a thought. I am surprised at the problems with the Silent Armours. I have 70,000 plus on mine and have only done regular rotations. never even had to re-balance them.

 

the BFG At's come in 2 different flavors, load range D and E. The E's come with a 50K mileage warranty the D's are snow rated ( have the lill snowflake) and don't do near as well as the E's. The D's dont have a mileage guarantee. I have ran both on my F350 and loved them. The E's got me close to 60K the D's a lill over 30K.

 

That's what it was. Thank you for clearing this up.


PS
Love your avatar

 

Ditch the Goodyears... my Dad used to have GY's on all their company trucks, but they were replacing the tires because they rode so bad, not because they wore out. They've since got hooked on the BFG All-Terrains... on my truck, despite the fact 315/75/16's are D-rated), we've gotten 60-70K outta each set with tire rotations each oil change. If I could've afforded it, I would've gone with 18x10" rims and some 325/65/18 tires, but that combo is almost twice as much as what I've got now so I said screw that. Hope this helps!

 

I also used to get decent mileage out of BFGs, my previous set seemed to melt away. I don't do anything crazy with my truck tires other than use an F350 like a truck. I haul gooseneck trailers loaded full of equipment and logs, haul a travel trailer and atv a few times a summer, no burnouts, I'll admit I do like to get into the turbo getting onto the interstate and blow a little smoke, I do rotate every oil change, keep the air pressure up. I think I'm pretty easy on tires, except for the size of my truck. I know that a lot of torque can chew through some tires too, but this is my 6th powerstroke so it's nothing new to have the power. I'm just looking for a set of tires that can at least be balanced to where the truck doesn't start vibrating at 35 mph and get worse from there on up.

 

I've heard some good things locally in my neck of the woods on the Duratracs. I know a couple of guys that are plowing with them and absolutely love them. They're a pretty quiet tire as well. Too new to have any feedback on mileage though. I almost bought them last winter but took advantage of Pro Comp's buy 3 get one free deal last year on Xtreme MT's.

 

I went from bfg rugged trail getting 17 mpg and pulled them off at 80k miles to bfg at ko and lost 2mpg. Both load E same size!Can't figure it out.

 

If you got 35K out of the BFGs, then the D/trac isn't gonna get you that kind of mileage unless you take it easy. I"ve heard of a lot of squirmy highway driving with those.

With that said, I had a set of 285/65/18 BFG AT T/A KOs on my truck and only managed 40k miles out of them.

I put on a set of Nitto Terra Grappler 295/70/18 (yeah big step up) on last week. I've put on about 1100 miles on these tires, 900 of which were highway miles. They handle great and with the exception of being louder than the BFGs, seem to be great thus far. However, I bought these b/c they were cheap. I saved $400 over the BFGs.

Now, I wouldn't necessarily take advantage of the guy offering you any set of tires regardless of price, but I'd probably stay in the AT - either Nitto, Toyo, or the BFG. I've heard good things (and bad) about all of the above. The Goodyear Duratrac seems to be more miss than hit, but I've never run a set or known anybody personally that has.

And, if you need an MT, then get one but if you're wanting quiet and mileage - don't.

So, if I were you, I'd probably go with the BFGs again or maybe the Nittos. I like my Nittos thus far and with 1100 miles on 'em show hardly any wear on the tire depth gauge.

What are your intentions with the tire? Highway tire or are you going to need traction? Cause if you need traction hardcore, then the Goodyear Duratrac is gonna be your best bet or maybe a set of the Procomp Xtreme ATs (given you don't want a MT).

As you can see from my post, there are a lot of variables in tires and you need to think of what your objectives are with them.

-rockstate

 

MY BFG AT KO Es only lasted 42k Km too. I just switched to Yokohama Geolander ATS with a 80k Km warranty. So far so good on winter road. Its true the E rated BFG no longer has the snowflake like mine did so they will probably last longer with a less soft tire compound. KO are a great all round tire but they are soft and mine needed a lot of balancing and rotations. I think you might be better off with Geolander or a Nitto or Toyo tire for a heavy truck.

 

I must be the odd ball. I have coopers on mine. second truck, ride well, have about 30K on them and I can still get another 10K. They are a 40K tire due to the tread pattern.

E-rated, I tow alot and they stay cool.