F350 diesel getting a new set of GY Duratracs. Currently running OEM size 275/70/18 and considering the 295/65/18. Didn't get great wear from the 1st set but really like the tires. I'm wondering if a little wider tire might wear better and give more tread life? I'm not sure if there's much a guy can do to get more life from a tire with a heavy truck that has good torque, pulling heavy loads periodically through the year? Anybody running the 295/65/18's on the factory 18" that would give them a thumbs up or down?

 

What type of miles did you get out of old pair? I was thinking about going to same thing. My Toyos are shot after 25,000.

 

Wider tires won't do anything for tread life. It's an appearance and contact patch benefit.

 

I bought my truck used and it was set up with the 295/65r18 duratracs and so far I love them.

 

I only have 14,000 on the old set on the truck - they are down to about 11/32" from 18/32" new tread. I punctured one on the sidewall last weekend on the rear and decided to replace all 4 instead of keeping one new tire that is about 1/2" diameter larger. The tire shop ended up giving me a lot of credit for the 3 used tires too, so the whole set of 4 new ones is less than $500 installed so I couldn't pass it up. The tire shop said this morning that the 295's are back ordered and take a while longer to get than the OEM 275 size so I'm just going to stick with stock size again.

 

I clear 295/70R18s on my 07, basically identical to your 05. The tires bulge some in the middle, that's the downside of a wider tire on the 8" rim, the small sidewall difference isn't enough to make yours that much worse. But enough guys here run 305+mm wide on them to shout me down and say go for it when I say stuff like this.

Edit: Didn't see the update before I posted, good luck with the new stockers

 

The only thing I did on my 05 is a 2" front leveling kit, so I could take a little wider tire (I used to run a 285 BFG A/T) but the tire shop also said the factory rims are a bit more narrow than recommended for the 295. More justification to stick with the OEM 275 width. Thanks for your reply. I like the ranch hand bumper a lot.