Its been just over 8 months now since I pulled my '03 F250 out of storage.
Its still running on the OEM tires, now 14 years old but with only 16k on them.
The sidewalls are started to crack, and the other day I noticed an 1/8" wide crack in the outer rubber all around the bead.

I called around and priced tires today and got some pretty wild and varied quotes.

The truck has LT265/75R16 BF Goodrich Rugged Trail Load range E tires on it now, and I like how they ride.
I don't use the truck often but when I do its almost always on a long trip with a heavy trailer. I don't do any intentional off roading but I do drive a lot on dirt roads and around the farm. The BFG's have been fine for my purposes so I don't want to go any more aggressive. Most of my driving is over the highway.

The best price I've gotten so far for the OEM tires is $850 mounted and balanced.
I've seen various other options out there, almost all are a lot cheaper but I'm concerned about the longevity of any imported tire.
I'm not even 100% sure that new BFG's would be US made?
If the tires are going to dry rot before they wear out, which is almost certainly the case, is it worth spending the better part of a grand on new rubber?
Has anyone else had any experience with other brands, primarily the off brands that can save me a few bucks here?

I've priced the following brands, Cooper AT3, Federal, Kenda, and Kumho, the cheapest being in the $580 price range mounted and balanced.
Cooper seems like the best deal out there but I've had issues with Cooper tires on my cars in the past with vibration and balance.

 

Keep it quiet!! .... for the road. I had an '02 F250 for almost 15 years. I upgraded to 18" wheels and Toyo A/T ll's 285-75-18's. They did rub just a tad on a fully locked turn but it was very minimal. We get some snow storms here so that's why I went with an A/T tire. They rode great and made very little noise, still had lots of miles on them when sold. For just a road tire I would install Michelin Defenders in the same size. I have them on my '16 dually and they are xlnt tires.

 

If the BFG A/S tires work for you, then keep them. Great towing tire, plus good in rain. I went to the KO2 only because I needed more winter traction.

 

I just picked up the Treadwright Warden A/T shipped to my door for $573 in a 285/76R16

They're well reviewed, so hopefully I like them to. I was in the same dilema as you. My tires always dry rot before I actually wear them out. This time I took the cheap path. Maybe I'll regret, but the price was quite nice

265/75R16 (32")
https://www.treadwright.com/collecti.../warden-w2616e

285/75R16 (33")
https://www.treadwright.com/collecti.../warden-w2816e

 

the mileage on your tires doesn't matter when they're 14 years old. if it were me I would go with the bfg ko/2's and not worry about having a major blowout while on the road with a inferior tire. maybe they'll last 14 years with proper care.


you can also treat the sidewalls next time you store your truck along with putting it on jack stands to take the weight off of the rubber.

 

What concerns me about going with the BFG Rugged Trail A/T again is that it may not be the same tire that I had before. Its my understanding that BFG has changed ownership or production location since 2003? I looked at a buddies truck today, its a 2009 with the same BFG tires, his are rotted badly already with only 24k on them.
Mine are cracking in two directions, around the bead, and in a spiral pattern outward on all sidewalls. The cracking just showed up this past week, and it got bad fast. There was no sign of any cracks two weeks ago when I washed the truck, this weekend it was impossible to miss the cracks, its even lost a few chunks of black rubber from the sidewalls leaving big white patches.
The cheapest tire options are some unknown brand sold online for $440 a set, that's just shy of half the cost of what the BFG's cost. I thought about Cooper AT3's, those seem like a decent compromise but I don't know much about them. Years ago I had a repeated go round with Cooper over tires on my Crown Vic, I bought what was supposed to be their best tire and the first set bubbled up and got lumpy after only 100 miles, the second set did the same, I went through 11 sets of rear tires on that car before I gave up and bought something else. A coworker had the same car and same tires and had no issues but I don't think he drove it as fast as I did.

I can buy Cooper at a decent discount through a buddies shop but I've got concerns as to how they compare to the BFG Rugged Trail A/T?
I drove a buddies older truck with them on it, but his Cooper AT/3's are heavier ply and on a different truck. His truck will rattle the teeth out of your head.
The one thing I always liked about my '03 is the ride, it rides better than my Crown Vic.
I think my last trip is what did the old tires in, I was running a lot of tongue weight over a 350 mile trip, pulling close to 12K on the hitch. I'm sure the tires got a good workout that day.

(I've got the original Bridgestone Desert Dueller tires on my '94 Ranger and they came with that truck when new, they have 26K on them and look like the day I drover it off the lot. But that truck doesn't go very far so I'm not too concerned about the old tires). I've got Cooper Trendsetters on one of my Crown Vics now and they all leak air, they did from day one. Two of them are out of round at only 14k. Traction on those is just plain bad too. Its not a fair comparison to a 3/4 ton truck but its just another issue with Cooper tires.

 

Have 04 f-250 been running bfg rugged terrain t/a 285/75 17 for about 4 yrs now, awesome tires mostly hiway driving great gas mileage excellent traction even look good check them out

 

I'm glad you mentioned gas mileage, when I put the Cooper tires on my CV I lost three mpg compared to the original Goodyear tires, when I took the Cooper tires off and went to Michelins I gained nearly 4 mpg back.
The car just feels better with the better tires.

Had anyone had any experience with Ironman tires from Hercules?
I've been pricing around and with tax and disposal fees I'm looking at a grand for the BFG tires. If they're going to die of dryrot not mileage, so long as it doesn't kill my mileage or traction, I'm leaning toward a cheaper tire. If the BFGs weren't so pricey I'd go back them if I knew they are the same tire they were in 2003.
The problem I'm having with the price of the BFGs is that for a few dollars more I can get Michelin LTX which from what I've heard is a big improvement, but I also heard they suffer from dryrot issues early on.

There's no worse feeling than putting on a new pair of tires and realizing it was a huge mistake. When I put the Uniroyals on my Mercury it felt like I took off rubber in put on solid tires. The handling, ride, and mileage all suffered. The mileage has slowly returned as they broke in but they seem to be riding even harder with a few miles on them.

The two biggest things I have to consider is that this truck tows a trailer almost 100% of the time, with a lot of tongue weight, and it sees its fair share of dirt road driving in places where traction counts. A few mountain roads along deep drop offs into the water mean I can't be slipping and sliding around. Backing up my one driveway is a 12% grade up a gravel drive into the barn, doing that with a heavy trailer on a rainy day gets interesting if the tires clog up. So far the Rugged Trail T/A tires have worked, and they're quiet on the road so I don't want to lose that.
I also get great mileage out of this truck, it averages in the 20-21mpg range on the turnpike on flat roads.

I hear good things about the Ironman tires but none from anyone who would have really checked fuel mileage.

 

I looked into the Treadwright Warden A/T tires but I don't think I'm willing to chance $600 on a set of tires molded on used casings with unknown mileage on them.


Its basically down to either BFG Rugged Trail T/A's, or Michelin LTX, I can actually get the Michelins for a bit less than the BFGs.
I can't find enough people who have run the Ironman tires long enough to really get a decent report on how they affect mileage. They're a slightly more aggressive tread than the BFGs so they can't be as good mileage wise.
I also had two tire dealers locally tell me that BFG no longer makes the Rugged Trail T/A in an LT ten ply tire. If so they just took themselves out of the picture.

 

It looks like you've decided to go in the right direction, but I was going to point out that you should buy basically the best tires you can afford. I never, ever buy cheap tires or cheap brake parts. There is just no reason to cut corners here if you don't have to. These parts might be the difference between living and dying one day - spend the money on them. Even in your case when you don't ever plan on putting that many miles on them, do it.

It doesn't surprise me that your tires are deteriorating so quickly. They are 14 years old and the rubber dries out. Because it wasn't driven, the tires weren't exposed to any stress that would allow it to exhibit cracking. As soon as you started driving it, all these massive signs of stress quickly developed because the rubber was so deteriorated. I wouldn't even drive it if I were you.

It does not surprise me that your buddy's tires from 2009 are falling apart either. Tires are just not mean to last that long. Did you two time travel here from the past with your old-*** tires? The tire shop guys have never seen a set as old as yours on a vehicle unless it was sitting in a barn or a field.

 

I bought the truck in '03, then took a job that supplied me with a vehicle.
I parked the truck in a garage along with my other truck, and two cars which were also new in '03.
I left that job and moved back to the area I'm in now. I had the vehicles stored at a relatives farm in a heated warehouse along with some other older vehicles.
The truck was parked in 2005, I got it back out and replaced the batteries and fluids last fall. I don't use it much but when I do, its goes on longer trips almost always towing a trailer.

If I didn't have to contend with the farm and some dirt roads that can be a bit muddy at times, I'd put highway tread tires on it. With the cost of fuel these days, mileage is a big concern. With the oem tires, its getting 20+ mpg on the highway, I don't want to screw that up, and I don't want to change the ride quality either.
A buddy put the Cooper Discoverer AT tires on his regular cab longbed and the truck rides like its rolling on solid rubber tires compared to the Michelin's he had on it.
My truck rides fantastic as it is now, I've also got a 2007 which I bought from the company I worked for, its basically the same truck but with a long bed, the 2007 has the same BFG tires but in 17" and that truck will knock the fillings out of your teeth even on good roads. The difference is immediately noticeable. Both trucks have only 16k on them.
The tires on the 07 are wearing faster, but so far they show no serious dryrot. The tires on the 03 have strange cracks, not the normal looking circular cracking, but curved splits through the outer tire rubber.

The problem is I like the BFG Rugged Trail T/A but its not available, and I don't want to go to their All Terrain. The Michelin looks like a highway tread, definitely more street than off road.
The Ironman is the opposite, it looks like its a bit more aggressive than I need, which will also eat up fuel mileage.

Firestone Destination A/T looks like another possible option, but I know little about how it would affect mileage and ride quality.

 

I got a chance to try a set of Cooper AT/3 tires yesterday.
A buddy had bought a set for his factory wheels before lifting his truck and going with aftermarket rims and tires.
The tires are only a few months old with under 2500 miles on them. I put them on mine Friday evening. I drove just over 350 miles on them Saturday.
I can safely say that they are not the tire for me. They are noisy compared to the BFG Rugged Trail T/A tires, and I burned almost a third of a tank more fuel on the trip pulling about 8500 lbs. I noticed the difference almost immediately in how the truck rolled. There are a few exits off the highway in PA where I pretty much used to just coast without any throttle as I slowed down on the one ramp, with the Cooper tires the truck lost speed fast, in half the distance it usually did with the BFG's.
I realize that the AT/3 tread is more aggressive than what I had but the lost of mileage and quietness was surprising to say the least. For now I put the BFG's back on, old and cracked or not, they still ride better than the Cooper tires.

I'm glad I found someone who loaned me a set to try, I'd have been pretty upset if I spent $700 on them and had to deal with them for the next 10 years.
Last night I went online and read some of the reports on these and most of the negative reports matched what I found, plus the fact that many were seeing very low tread life on these.
I've gotten a lot of good recomendations for Ironman All country tires but to me they look too much like the Cooper AT/3, and considering Ironman is a subsidiary of Hercules, and Hercules and Cooper are sister companies, chances are theyr'e pretty much the same tire underneath? Those who have them around here don't drive far and aren't doing a lot of highway miles. Most of the guys I talked to just drive to and from work so they really aren't able to give me a good assessment on how they do as far as rolling resistance and noise either.

I don't really need a super aggressive tread, just a tire that can handle dirt roads and some farm use. The BFG's on it do fine, if I could buy them new, I would but from what I'm told by the local dealer here BFG no longer makes the Rugged Trail in an LT tire, and that BFG isn't the same company these days compared to when they made the tires on my truck, which were made in USA. The current BFGs are apparently not all made in the USA.

What I'm finding so far is that BFG is out, they no longer make a suitable tire comparable to what I've got and some of the complaints I'm reading online pretty much put them off the list.
Cooper AT/3 is out, too noisy and I lose gas mileage.
Michelin LTX is out both due to a lack of a suitable tread and too many reports of extreme dry rot issues.
I've been told that the Firstone Destination tires are noisy and are imported.

I have no info on Goodyear Wrangler tires but from what I've read they're not that great?

One local tire dealer is pushing Federal Couragia A/T tires, they're cheap and Chinese but other than that I don't know much about them. I like the look of the tread pattern but have heard nothing about them other than a lot of local fleets are running them.


Here's two pics of the original tires, the curved lines aren't cuts but cracks in the outer black casing which expose the white layer underneath. A few tires have pieces that have flaked off already. The cracks around the bead opened up within the past month. The tire pictured is the best of the four, the right side is worse than the left for some reason. I have been noticing 1/4" chunks missing off the tread blocks all along, but attributed some of that from the red rock chip laden mud at the farm.
I had first thought the curved cracks were cuts but even the never used spare has them under the truck. Its never been out of the spare tire rack.

 

The BFG Long Trail is also a good A/S tire.

 

I have them on my F150 but I don't see them in a load range E or LT 10 ply?

When I asked the local dealer about BFGs I was told my options are either go with the All Terrain or a Commercial TA. Neither were recommended as a close replacement for the Rugged Trail T/A.
I've had All Terrains on lighter trucks and they weren't half the tire my current tire are but they did change the tread design a few times.

I sort of got the impression that BFG is getting away from the heavier tires, their selection in load range E or 123 is limited.
They dropped the Rugged Trail and Long Trail in the LT series with only the Commercial T/A to sort of replace the Long Trail. I don't see the All Terrain as a dead on replacement for the Rugged Trail series. Something tells me this all has to do with where they're made these days. They seem to have a good selection for lighter trucks and SUVs but not much for the 3/4 and 1 ton trucks.

 

That is not good, although you might want to do some research on Tire Rack. I don't think your tire store is telling you the total truth.

The BFG KO2 is a surprisingly quiet A/T tire with a smooth ride for such an aggressive look. You might want to consider them.