Hey guys, have a best tire recommendation question. I have gone through1 1/2 sets of BF Goodrich All-Terrain, 2nd set was faulty, and soon a set of Toyo Mud-Terrains that have 30K on them. They were suppose to go 40-50K, but don't see it happening even after religous rotations every 5K. I went with the Toyo because they had a E rating and they were 10-ply. They were exceptionally quiet at first, but just got louder as the tire went around. : ) Just curious what you guys are running. I do mostly freeway, but need traction because I live in the Pacific Northwest.....and there are plenty of gravel roads around here. What do you think.

 

I just got put on a set of Goodyear Wrangler Authoritys at Wally World. 265/75-14 E load. Cost me 808 installed. They are a bit noisy but they are supposed to be good for 60K I think.

 

I know that lots use the goodyear silent armour tire with good results. I run a little more aggresive myself, with the procomp x terrain. Not the best for wear, and most of the mud terrain tires are such. My next set will more than likely be the new bf mud terrain km2. (again not much of a highway tire)

 

I have 285/75/16 Goodyear Silent Armor Pro's. I drive on everything from highway to gravel and dirt roads and they handle great whether it's dry, raining or snowing. I only had them a little over a thousand miles (I don't drive my truck much) but I really like them so far.

 

THe BFG Rugged Trail T/A tires consistently are averaging 65k to 100k miles on these Excursions. They are the best tire and longest lasting from everyone that has spoken on this forum, including myself! Those tires wear like iron!! They also tow and handle great!!

 

I've never liked any of the BFG tires i've had on other rigs but if the Rugged Trail is getting the best mileage, try it. I know some guys who swear that the newer BFG MTs last 40-60k. Remember that a longer lasting tire has a stiffer compound and is less able to conform to and grab road surfaces. Look for a tire that has a whole lot of siping or have your tires siped, usually for about $12 a piece.

I've read good things about the Goodyear Silent Armour. Toyo ATs have incredible traction but wear faster than the MTs, less than 20k on my last 3 sets of ATs, MTs are doing better. I have an uncle who got 96k on his 2x4 SD but lived in Mississippi so he didn't need any traction. Pieces of metal were unravelling due to having no tread left.

Avoid anything from Mickey Thompson or Dick Cepek, great traction though not in snow but very hard to balance, keep in balance, keep from falling apart, etc. I've been impressed with performance from Michelin ATs but can't say how they wear. Very impressed with Pro Comp AT's traction and wear, their more aggressive XTs are supposed to be heavier duty but sounds like from above that they don't wear well. I run into farmers who buy Cooper and other brands not usually considered as performance truck tires, but I've seen guys get super high mileage like 90k.

Its hard to get any tire to last under a heavy truck. Obviously a very thick, rigid tire can last for over the road trucks, but you would have to sacrifice a great deal of ride and handling quality. Well constructed radial mud tires like the Toyos can obviously be balanced and setup to ride and handle extremely well. For a tire that will provide higher floatation and better traction on wet, snowy, and icy pavement, you have to get a tire that has some flex and a softer compound. Narrower tread will be more likely to dig, wider will be more likely to stay on top.

The Toyo AT comes with full depth tread siping from the factory and is the best snow tire I have ever used. A mud tire will contrarily dig down to find traction in snow which I think makes you more likely to get stuck if a skilled driver is not behind the wheel. Also, a higher traction tire is going to have larger voids between the lugs so you will have more noise. Some tires propose noise canceling by varying the distance between lugs around the circumference of the carcass.

As you know in the NW you can run chains in the winter. That way you could choose a tire with a stiffer, longer lasting tread but have better traction in the winter. Siping a stiff tread would probably help, studs too. Otherwise I think you're currently running the best compromise between quality, durability, noise, traction, and tread life of any performance tire I've heard of.

Are you getting much cupping and feathering between rotations? I've been advised the Toyo MTs need to be rotated and balanced more like every thousand miles, according to Les Schwab anyway. I highly recommend Les Schwab but will never but tires from 4Wheel Parts again, bought a warranty that wasn't honored, happened to friends too. I bought a lifetime balancing deal with Les Schwab. They have a Hunter GSP 9700 Road Force Tire Balancer, which is the best I know of. Not every branch location has one, other companies use them as well. I'm interested in the new Interco tires. Their Swamper line is awesome, very curious how their new street tires perform. Make sure whomever you buy your tires from has a reliable warranty.

 

Replaced my factory Contitracs with Michelin AT/2s about 2 months/8000 miles ago after exhaustively reviewing just about everything out there. Simply the BEST all terrain tire I've ever run. Quiet, stick like glue wet or dry. I have limited slip 2wd and can't get these things stuck or even spinning in construction site muck, mud, clay or sand. One of my carpenters has a mud track on his ground and he convinced me to run the SD through it and it ran thru just fine, albeit keeping the throttle open about half way to keep the ltd slip locked up. Dry road manners make the truck feel like it has a rear sway bar (it doesn't). Mileage claims I read range from 70-90,000 and I don't expect any less although too early to tell. No discernable wear whatsoever at 8k and I don't treat them well. My only issues were initial cost, real pricey at about 260 per tire mtd and balanced and they dont eject very small aggregate gravel real well but I can live with it considering the tire performance in every other way. BTW, Discount Tire highly recommended if they have a location near you, the free lifetime rotations a real perk.

 

This subject is covered often and you can search for more results in the archive. It's very subjective as some will have their favorites and some hate xyz brand for whatever reason. We all drive in different regions and surfaces which yields different results even with similar tires.

You request a mostly highway tire with some light duty off-highway use and no mention of towing. As such it would seem a light duty all-terrain or even highway-terrain would suit your needs rather then a mud terrain or more aggressive tread design.

Some suggestions:
Firestone Destination A/T
Cooper Discoverer S/T
Pro-Comp All-terrain

Even these may be more then you need and might be more satisfied with an even tamer tire like the Silent Armors, Long Trail or the AT/2 which have a tighter tread pattern, won't be as loud on the highway, and will most likely yield more milage. And regardless of what some have mentioned, they will not perform off-road worth a rat fart. Anything more then a gravel road and you need to step up to something more aggressive.

Have fun researching. There's so many choices these days.

 

I have always used Les Schwab, no cupping or feathering on these tires. I have been extremely impressed. My first set of BF Goodrich AT, I got 42K out of them, and probably could have gone another 10K, but opted out of that thought.