Yep, another truck tire post….

Did a search and read over a bunch of posts from the past. One thing I see missing is longevity of tires. I ran the Mich LTX2 and loved them. Best truck tire I ever ran. common to get 80-85K miles a set. Well the bright engineers at Michelin came up with the “Defender”, and the milage sucks donkey balls. Been through 2 sets and barley 50-55K miles. Yes, the formula was changed for a softer rubber and it shows. I drive easily 30-40K miles on my primary truck a year, so getting 1.25 years per set is not acceptable.

Load Range E only – 3500 diesel – about 10K # gross weight

so, all I need to know is this, I ran tire XYZ and got about XXXXXX miles out of them. I loved or hated them. I assume not many on here below the dixie line…. If you loved them, they shed water and ripped through the snow.

so, lets beat this topic up again….

I texted Randy. But will post it here for anyone else interested. Yes we have beat it pretty good before but here goes. Goodyear Wrangler Adventure AT is getting my vote for best option. Nothing seems to get 80K right now. I feel if taken care off you should get 60-70 out of those.

Check out Firestone Transforce tires,the guys that run hotshots sure like them for long tread life.Or any tire aimed at the commercial sector.

Agree with them lasting. I hear guys say the traction is not the best.

Well…I have just over 500 miles on a set of Goodyear TrailRunner AT E’s on a 3500…So far so good.

You got me thinking as I’m due for a new set before the snow flies. I’ve got just over 87k on my set of Nitto ridge grapplers. 295/55/20 load range E. 2500 duramax. I’ve just rotated by eye, as I saw fit. Probably could have done a better job with that. But I’d say I got my money worth. Very happy with the performance. Lots of back road hunting/ice fishing for me.

Just checked discount tire. Holy smokes did prices go up. I payed $1,150 out the door. and now those same tires are $1950 with tax/install. FML…

milemark_714 wrote:

Check out Firestone Transforce tires,the guys that run hotshots sure like them for long tread life.Or any tire aimed at the commercial sector.

I’ve been impressed so far with the transforce I’ve run on my NV2500, haven’t got stuck yet in snow. Not a diesel

Deuces wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>milemark_714 wrote:</div>
Check out Firestone Transforce tires,the guys that run hotshots sure like them for long tread life.Or any tire aimed at the commercial sector.

I’ve been impressed so far with the transforce I’ve run on my NV2500, haven’t got stuck yet in snow. Not a diesel

For everyone’s benefit are we talking HT or AT?

I drive about 40-50k a year in 3/4 truck for the last 8 years. I havent found an all terain tire that makes it that far honestly. Tried Yokohama Geolanders and Hankook Dynapros ATs . I do have a set of Falken Wildpeak AT3s on now and I like them so far.

Always had good luck and feedback about Hankook Dynapro AT2’s. Most getting 70k plus… not sure how heavy they are pulling though.

If there’s a tire out there that’s awesome in the snow and on the ice capable of 80,000 miles I’d love to know as well lol

It seems like any tire that’s any good off-road is too soft to get a lot of miles on-road.

The other off road capable tire that gets good reviews and real world experience with longevity is the BFG KO’s or now KO2. They are louder than the Goodyears I recommended though.

John Rasmussen wrote:

The other off road capable tire that gets good reviews and real world experience with longevity is the BFG KO’s or now KO2. They are louder than the Goodyears I recommended though.

I’m a KO2 fan been running the same set for 2 years now on my tundra. Have notice 90F days they tend to wear faster since the rubber is softer but I don’t have many days like that here. Also not the best on glare ice for stop and start. Other then that I have ran through deep snow and mud past the axel and all sorts of blizzard road conditions and felt safe every time. currently have 45,000 miles on them. also they do pick rocks so have a tow protector or bow cover when trailering.

Firestone Transforce AT or the HT.I sold a set to a guy few years back on a 2500HD diesel.He pulls a trailer for work and liked them enough to put another set last fall.I think he had 65,000 or so on them.

B-man wrote:

If there’s a tire out there that’s awesome in the snow and on the ice capable of 80,000 miles I’d love to know as well lol

It seems like any tire that’s any good off-road is too soft to get a lot of miles on-road.

Some are softer but what causes some of the faster wear is heat.
More open tread gives better traction but also causes more friction.
Open tread=More traction=heat=faster tire wear.

It is impossible to have the best traction AND best mileage.

Had some of the older BFG Ko’s and hated them and they actually got recalled and replaced by discount tire. After that I tried good year dura tracks and I really liked them and they wore great. I now have general grabber Atx on my truck and they seem good but on gravel roads they throw a lot more gravel than the duratracs

Coletrain27 wrote:

Had some of the older BFG Ko’s and hated them and they actually got recalled and replaced by discount tire. After that I tried good year dura tracks and I really liked them and they wore great. I now have general grabber Atx on my truck and they seem good but on gravel roads they throw a lot more gravel than the duratracs

I have the Grabber ATX on my 2500 diesel right now (about 20,000 miles in). I’m happy with the traction in mud/ice/snow, but they’ll probably only go 40,000 miles or so for me (I like having tread left, I tow frequently and don’t rotate/balance as much as I should).

That said I’ll probably buy them again

I only put on 15,000 miles a year, so I’m in a different boat than Randy

John,

Are the Goodyear you are recommending the “Kevlar”.

Those are what came OEM on my Colorado. I have 65k on them and will be getting new tires before winter.
They seemed to perform fine. My put them on again. Thanks for all the recommendations that you provide!

Randy, If you had the Mich LTX2 and loved them why not stay with them?
I’m assuming you had the M/S, I have the same tire in a AT, 2500HD DirtyMax.
I’ve had them on my last 2 trucks.

Add me to the boat of “good luck” finding tires that go well over 60k and have substantial traction. As someone said simple physics show that traction and longevity are likely working against one another.

For me, I can’t put highway slicks on my truck as I’m in fields, ditches, unplowed roads, etc too much. I’m running the Falcon AT3w’s and only have 2k on them. My biggest gripe is that they pick rocks like no other. They are great in mud. Snow and ice will be tested soon.

Stop Griping about mileage. There are 2 types of tires. Summer and winter. If you run “all season tires” (Which are No Season Tires) you will always bitch about mileage and performance. Buy a pair of snow tires and a pair of summer tires. No tire is good for all seasons in Minnesota.

Period

If you find a hybrid let me know.

DTW

Buckeye1 wrote:

John,

Are the Goodyear you are recommending the “Kevlar”.

Those are what came OEM on my Colorado. I have 65k on them and will be getting new tires before winter.
They seemed to perform fine. My put them on again. Thanks for all the recommendations that you provide!

Yes they are the ones with Kevlar the Wrangler Adventure AT

Denny O wrote:

Randy, If you had the Mich LTX2 and loved them why not stay with them?
I’m assuming you had the M/S, I have the same tire in a AT, 2500HD DirtyMax.
I’ve had them on my last 2 trucks.

Denny they reformulated the original LTX, LTX2 and made the new Defender LTX and it seems people are not getting near the mileage the old ones did.

LTX M/S2 was the best tire ever made for daily driver use, IMO. And yeah the defenders were modified, probably because Michelin wasn’t selling 4 new tires every 50k. That being said I’ve seen very good reviews on the defenders also, and those are what I’ll be putting on my wife’s Tahoe when the time comes next summer.

I’m running E range Cooper Discoverer AT3 XLT. 20k on them so far and they show no real wear yet. I like them, but the Tahoe doesn’t need this much tire.

Randy Wieland wrote:

I ran the Mich LTX2 and loved them. Best truck tire I ever ran. common to get 80-85K miles a set. Well the bright engineers at Michelin came up with the “Defender”, and the milage sucks donkey balls. Been through 2 sets and barley 50-55K miles.

Everybody loved the mileage they got from Michelin tires, but complained about the traction they got. I had several sets of Michelin tires and always went over 75k on them, but I quit buying them because they were the slipperiest tires in any wet conditions. I guess Michelin finally listened…

I wonder what a real truck tire place that services fleet vehicles would recommend. There has to be some industrial options out there that aren’t on the rack at Tires Plus.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

I wonder what a real truck tire place that services fleet vehicles would recommend. There has to be some industrial options out there that aren’t on the rack at Tires Plus

The industrial side of things often runs rear axle traction tires and front axle steering tires like big rigs do. The only tire designed for commercial use in Randy’s size anyway was the Michelin Agilis Crossclimate it does not come with a tread life warranty but says it is designed for commercial use and heavy duty applications. I have sold some to a cabinet company we do work for and they run 1 ton Sprinter Vans, they seemed to wear well, not sure on traction. They have two different tread patterns and I only like the pattern in the load range E.

HT John

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Everybody loved the mileage they got from Michelin tires, but complained about the traction they got. I had several sets of Michelin tires and always went over 75k on them, but I quit buying them because they were the slipperiest tires in any wet conditions. I guess Michelin finally listened…

Interesting. I ran them on a 2WD 1997 C1500 and they demonstrated the best wet traction of any tire I’ve ever ran on anything. Same with ice, never had an issue with 2WD in MN using those tires.

My issue with them was the 4 tires cost nearly as much as I paid for that truck!

After exhausting enough hours researching the best E rated AT tires for a truck, I went with the Kenda Klever AT2s in a 265 70r17. Three peak rated and they seem to be highly regarded. I wanted a new tire by deer season and so far so good, however, we haven’t had much snow in Iowa yet so nothing real extreme as far as testing goes.

Just ordered same Kendas for my good truck. Buddy has them and really likes his.

Randy, I see that Kanati makes a 12ply tire that might be worth looking into.