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Vanished's avatar
Vanished
Explorer
Nov 06, 2015

Tire Recommendation

First off let me express my concern on my current tires - Firestone Transforce AT's LT275/70R18 on my 3500 SRW Cummins.. Truck only has 6500 miles on it and I rotated the tires - front is down to 12/32nd and rears had 9/32, new was 15/32nd! At this rate I won't get 20k miles out of these.. This is riduculous for a $200 'upgrade' to A/T commerical tires, and based on other reviews from Dodge owners this complaint seems quite common...

Anyways - I'm looking for a higher mileage A/T truck tire, that still gets good tread life and has some traction available.. I've run the BFG A/T KO2's before with good luck, but never towing this much and this often (13k trailer)... I was looking at the tirerack reviews as well but I'm guessing most people aren't as concerned about towing performance and wear as we are.

So - question is, what heavy duty truck tires do you recommend for towing 'heavy' 50% of the time and still having some off road traction? I'm afraid of the all terrain tires getting 'squirmy' on me and costing some significant MPG's...
Tow Vehicles

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  • Need-A-Vacation's avatar
    Need-A-Vacation
    Explorer
    Nov 06, 2015
    I had a set of the Cooper A/T3's, and was very happy wth them!!! Enough traction during some pretty heavy snow storms in Northern Michigan snowmobiling, even traveling up to "the bush" in the Soo, Ontario, Canada area for snowmobiling!!! Just haven't replaced the stock goodyears on our current truck yet. As we all know tire prices are ridiculous, so haven't replaced them YET!!!! Will be either the A/T3's, Toyo's, or the BFG AT's when I do....

    They also have a 50k or 55k mi tread warranty, for an AT LT tire!!!

    I have also had the BFG AT's. The A/T3's did just as well from what I recall.

    Buddy has a set of the Toyo Open Country AT2 (I think it is) Extreme in his Ram Megaca he is very happy with them so far.

    Not sure how either of those tire's will do towing that heavy, sorry.

    Good luck deciding!!!
  • IdaD's avatar
    IdaD
    Explorer
    Nov 06, 2015
    I ran M55s once on an F250 and they absolutely sucked in mud. Good in about everything else, but they couldn't handle mud at all.

    My Ram came with Transforce HTs and I'm not a fan. They're quiet on the highway and have decent dry traction, but they're bad on wet pavement and offroad, I'm afraid for snow and they look like they belong on a sedan.

    I think I'll probably replace them with Toyo AT2, BFG KO2 or maybe even Cooper STMaxx. The BFGs are the cheapest of that bunch but I worry about treadwear.
  • coolbreeze01's avatar
    coolbreeze01
    Explorer
    Nov 06, 2015
    I have a new set of Toyo Open Country AT II's. Happy so far and they seem quiet to me.
    Think they are warranted for 65K.
  • icanon's avatar
    icanon
    Explorer
    Nov 06, 2015
    You can't have both very good traction and hi-mileage tires it's not possible.
    To have great traction you need a soft compound, soft compound wears out quickly the opposite a harder the compound the higher the mileage. Personally I rather have great traction especially in wet conditions, it's better to have more driving control with TT behind you than slip, sliding away.
    My $0.02
  • blt2ski's avatar
    blt2ski
    Moderator
    Nov 06, 2015
    phillyg wrote:
    Every time I go away from Michelin I'm disappointed.


    THen there is someone like myself, that calls them michiblows!

    Reality is, not sure there is a truly GOOD tire out there. As some will prefer a traction, hwy, all season/terrain.

    The only one tire I have seen on here that owners like all around is the Toyo M55. Expensive, long life, hwy traction tire, not noisy, but it does have noise. Carries loads very well with the all steel case. There are other tires and brands with the build too. IE Good Year G series, Cooper I noticed has something equal again. Bridgstone R-XXX, Michelin XPS and the traction equal. I personally would not call that version a traction, more all purpose season. Thats IMHO!

    Good luck!

    marty
  • alexleblanc's avatar
    alexleblanc
    Explorer
    Nov 06, 2015
    i'm here to say that I swapped out the Michelin LTX AT2's in LT275/70R18 on my truck within a month of buying it. I put on BFG AT's and only got 45000km's on out them. I run them as a dedicated summer/towing tire as I run duratrac's with studs in the winter. I felt like they wore out very quickly but they did perform well. I'm really torn on what I'm going to replace them with but I've got 6 months to review, research and decide.

    I'm leaning towards one of these right now ( keeping in mind that I do want my truck to be able to do some offroad as i'm often on construction sites and go to fishing holes)

    -Toyo Open Country AT2 (ton's of positive reviews online, somewhat noisy though)
    -Goodyear Wrangler AT Adventure (I've had good luck with long service from goodyears)
    -Nitto Exo Grappler (great ratings, tough construction and solid sidewall)
    -Cooper ST Maxx

    if they are for on road only - these are well rated
    -Toyo Open Country H/T Tuff Duty
    -Nitto Dura Grappler
    -Cooper Discoverer AW
  • WyoTraveler's avatar
    WyoTraveler
    Explorer
    Nov 06, 2015
    I like Hankook. I have about 12,000 on mine and like them. Will know more after winter and see how they do on snow. Very aggressiive tread. I have a 2008 F250. I changed my tires out at 50,000 miles. My PU came with Goodyear.

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