Help me pick tires.

jobasha11

jobasha11

Joined
Oct 9, 2013
Messages
1,509
Hello bladeforums, I'm in need of some new tires. I have never bought new tires before so this is the first time I've had a choice. The truck is a 2000 F150 with not much life left in it. These tires will probably die with my truck. I'm not trying to spend a lot, around 150-200 per tire. Less is better. All terrain that are more directed towards the mudding side than the road side is what I'm looking for. Both for looks and use. Self cleaning tread patterns are a big plus.

P.s. Tire size is 265 70r17
 
A simple Google search will provide you with a large selection. Filter it and look around. Sounds like you want an M/T in an A/T? Why not just get M/Ts? No sense settling for less when your only buying them once. Find a good ply tire and read some reviews. Also don't bother with single direction tires. Waste!
 
After being cheated by a few tire dealers I complained to my mechanics of many years .They only deal with Cooper.So I have Cooper AT3 on my F-150 .Before winter I'll be getting my second set. The first set was offeered with a 45 day return if not happy deal [can't beat that]. I do need an all purpose tire though without real OTR use. Mountains , snow etc.
BTW finding mileage is a difficult thing .Especially trucks as conditions vary.One of the biggest vaiables is the road ! The worst here has just been repaved , finally !! Some tire dealers and mechanics say on a pickup you may get no more than 20,000 miles ! Mine sees light duty as I'm retired and don't do OTR.
Remember --tires and brakes are the only thing between you and disaster !
 
After being cheated by a few tire dealers I complained to my mechanics of many years .They only deal with Cooper.So I have Cooper AT3 on my F-150 .Before winter I'll be getting my second set. The first set was offeered with a 45 day return if not happy deal [can't beat that]. I do need an all purpose tire though without real OTR use. Mountains , snow etc.
BTW finding mileage is a difficult thing .Especially trucks as conditions vary.One of the biggest vaiables is the road ! The worst here has just been repaved , finally !! Some tire dealers and mechanics say on a pickup you may get no more than 20,000 miles ! Mine sees light duty as I'm retired and don't do OTR.
Remember --tires and brakes are the only thing between you and disaster !
 
I've had Goodyear Wrangler ATs on 2 trucks in the past, good road tired, not so well off road, and they completely sucked in the snow. I generally drive 2 wheel drive in the show with no weight in the back but with the Goodyear ATs I'd break traction way too easy; I HAD to have weight in the back.

When one truck got trashed I bought another and it came with the Wranglers, same issue, so I went for the BF Goodrich All Terrain tires. Great tires in the snow and they do great on ice too, and plenty of traction off road (not great in mud though).

BUT.....I've had 2 of those BF Goodriches get out of round on me and screw things up. I'm not hard on my truck, I haul firewood and harldy ever take it off road (unless I'm getting wood or driving in a field to go shooting), so under normal driving the belts inside seperated and got out of round, both of the tires got ate, and one wore my lower ball joint so bad it had to be replaced. Both tires had less than 10,000 miles on them and BF Goodrich didn't warranty either of them; so with spending the money on good tires and the company not helping at all with their belts seperating, I'm never buying them again.

I know a guy with the newer Goodyear ATs and he says that they've been a great tire to him
 
Are there any U-Pulls near you? There are lots of 97-and up rotted or broken F150s arriving at my local yard every month and always have tires and rims on them when they come in. $15 with steelies and $20 with alloys. Sometimes there are prize tires on these such as Michelins. Even if they're half worn you still can't beat the price. You're looking for 16s and previous to 1997 all F150s had 15s and the bolt and hub pattern were slightly different.
 
You can read good info on all tires here:
Www.tirerack.com
Once you find a set of tires you like somewhat, you can then search for reviews and see what the pros and cons are (aside from price of course). I'm partial to Yokohama, Bridgestone, & Michelin.
Another option is, go to Pep Boys and see if they have a deal like 4 tires for $xxx.
 
tirerack.com has a good tire search feature. Additionally, you can have your tires shipped directly to one of their Recommended Installers in your area for convenience.

Another good online source is discounttiredirect.com. If you have a Discount Tire retail store in your area, I've heard that they will often match the (usually) better prices listed at their online site.
 
Hands down the BF Goodrich AT KO were the best tires I've ever bought. Good all around traction, including snow. They drove fine on the road. They also wore like iron.

I now have Coopers on the truck (because they were 100 cheaper for the set) and they have been just okay all around.
 
I've got BFG Rugged Terrain T/A's on my 2011 Dodge Ram 1500 and I'd recommend them. They have an aggresive enough sidewall and they seem to be lasting. The truck has the HEMI in it and I get the heavy-foot-syndrome from time to time. I've currently got 15k on this set and they look like they'll last another 15k, at least.

BTW, when I was researching tires, I came across the BFG Rugged Trail, which has horrible reviews, so don't confuse them.
 
Portman30-06 said:
A simple Google search will provide you with a large selection. Filter it and look around. Sounds like you want an M/T in an A/T? Why not just get M/Ts? No sense settling for less when your only buying them once. Find a good ply tire and read some reviews. Also don't bother with single direction tires. Waste!
Click to expand...
I really am looking for a more mudding type tire. I'm just not sure about a full on off road tire for everyday use.

Big Chris said:
Look at GoodYear Wrangler Dura Trac http://www.goodyear.com/en-US/tires/wrangler-duratrac
I put a set on our X Terra and they are great. Great wet traction, great snow traction. Have not got to take it off road yet though. Since my wife started driving it I can not play with it any more.
Click to expand...

Bowman1911 said:
bfg km2. Best tires I've ever owned.
Click to expand...

The duratrac and km2 are right up my alley. The km2's are a bit out of my price range though.
I plan on stopping at the local used tire place tomorrow before I buy new. I'll make sure to ask about these models so I can see them in person.
Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Last edited:
If you are looking at Mud tires I can say few words there as well. I have 3 different sets of Super Swampers on 3 different trucks.
The Super Swamper Radial was the best wearing and stayed the truest. The SSR was the worst I had. They would not stay balanced and when there was still about 30% to 40% tread left they went way out of round. All these tires were on daily drivers at that. I have had a set of the original GoodYear MT/R and that was an awesome tire. They had great dry and wet road traction and off road they were amazing. The cleaning was easily done with even minimal wheel speed and they hooked up better than the Swampers in really soupy mud.
I currently have some 345/70-16 KM2's on my Dodge and they are heads and shoulders above the old BFG MT's. Again they have good wet and dry road traction. I had extreme confidence when driving in the snow and slush this past winter. I have not had them off road much yet, but I can say they are also very aggressive and clean with little effort.
I have always had Mud Tires of some sort on my trucks so I do not mind nor pay much attention to the tire noise, but the KM2 I have now is actually very quiet, IMO.
 
I used to run the Goodyear Wrangler ATs on an S10 and they worked great. Good off road tire, ran that truck a lot of highway miles with a 1/2 ton of firewood in the bed and never had any tire issues. Last I knew they were quite a bit less than $150 a piece too.
 
I have had pretty good service out of the Cooper STT tires. They go really well and still have decent road manners. I can second what Big Chris said about the Super Swamper SSR tires. I've had a few sets of those, too. The main thing I can add to this is, if you are going to run mudders, get a quality alignment as soon as you buy a new set, and address worn ball joints etc. Rotate frequently, too. Anything you can do to keep the wear even is important. Once they wear uneven the suffering starts and things go downhill quick from there.
 
I really like the km2's... but. Have any of you had experience with the Dick Cepek Mud Country? Everywhere I look, there seems to be good reviews and is often refereed to as a poor mans km2. On my truck, the km2's will be about $1000 while the mud country's will be around $800.
 
I have BFG KM2's on my daily driver and love them. They are great in snow and mudd. On my rock crawler I have BFG KRAWLER T/A's they are the best off road tire I have ever used! But they wouldn't be legal or last long on the road. They are on my truck that's my profile picture.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top