Hello everyone need some new tires for my ford 1 ton van running treadwright warden been happy with them but front tire cup on sides. So need new tires but dont want to spend a lot looked at the Walmart USA made Dextero got good reviews and looked at Firestone transforce AT 2 what do you guys think of these for a all terrain tire and would you reccomend something different. Thanks

 

Doesn’t cupping mean an alignment problem? Possibly worn shocks? Definitely not regular tire wear.

Sixto
07 E350 5.4 197K miles

 

Did alignments for 30 years
Get the heaviest load rating tire you can afford
They will wear better and track better for your heavy van (think 8-10 ply) for a 350
Have the alignment checked
Rotate the tires once in a while (I rotate mine at 15K mile intervals)
Cupping wear is about normal for a van
I have run 10 ply on my 150s, they ride like rocks but wear flat (well flatter) (less cupping)

 

Okay thanks what brand tire would you recommend for my van as brand wise. Thanks

 

Milestar was cheap, but rotted off of mine in 5 years time, had no wear on the tread yet, Sailun separated, Coopers separated, so just know the 10 ply tires do not last long, I've owned this big van 22 years, no tire shop will put less than E on a 350, except Walmart, beware, those idiots will toss on a C, had some discounted, dad didn't look at them close, just focused on the size, I pointed out the front of my van weighed more than the load rating on the tires they put on it, beware a tire deal. BTW the cupping is either camber or toe, get it adjusted before putting new tires on it.

 

IMO there are only 3 things you care about. brand should not influence you in any way.
1st: UTQG... this is the "softness" of the tire
2nd: Tread depth (how deep the tire is in 1/32 of an inch
3rd: Load/ speed rating, since you are not going over 110MPH any time soon, all you care about is load rating

a tire for $150 that has a thread depth of 13/32 and a utqg of 800 is going to last a LOT less than a tire that is 16/32 and a utqg of 900
you dont want something TOO hard and too much tread depth makes for a less stable ride so going extreme is either for LONG distance or for HEAVY loads
forget brand, tread patterns, and DOT, as long as it was stored properly a tire can be over 10 years old and still give you 6 to 8 years of life the same as a current year production DOT. its about heat cycles and UV exposure and storage of said tire.
once you make sure a tire you can afford has the right load rating and you can find the max thread depth and a suitable UTQG, buy it.
There is one thing with larger "truck tires... LOAD index, this replaces the UTQG because its more about load over distance for wear rating vs softness. a 120/116 is about as good as you can get in this tire range.
Mine are about the best tires you can get for the $ and they are Michelin Agilis LTX LT 245/75R16 120/116Q E (10 Ply) TF AS
I do not care about the brand but they fell into the sweet spot of 10/32 and

 

My first question would be what type of driving do you do? All terrain needed on an E350?

Or all-season?

 

in michigan so need a good all terrain road snow tire mainly better in snow than in dirt.

 

Okay thanks will take that into consideration have you had much experience with firestone at2 or no budget is no more than 200 a tire if I can help it thanks?

 

Okay thanks so to make it more simple for me what should I look for for tire tread deepness like what size number and how do I tell the softness of the tire what number do I look for thanks.

 

I like the all terrain, tho it doesn't matter on the street, my ext E350 weighs 8000 pounds, it gets great traction in the winter, even got a bite through the iced over roads, but as I said, these tires do not last long no matter how much you pay for them, 10 ply will break the belts in the sidewall before the tread is gone.

 

Question out of ignorance: are ATs better in snow than true snow tires? I ask because there was a question about AT tire compound softness.

Sixto
07 E350 5.4 197K miles

 

no
nothing will out perform a snow tire on snow and cold climate driving, unless you are going over extremely bad conditions that a BIG off road tire would help out for.
if you go off road, snow tires are just as worthless as regular tires... not in the snow. Its not about the softness, its about the ability to hold snow and other versions of semi frozen water so it can grip more of said snow

 

AT is somewhat soft, is like all season, soft tires do not last long on the hard asphalt which is the trade off, yet they will rot off before wearing out unless you run the highways, even when I was traveling to visit family, I couldn't wear the treads off before they self destructed.

 

Living in Utah for 60 years
Nothing is better in the snow than an actual snow tire with a snowflake on the sidewall