Truck tire help

Mongo

Mongo

Joined
Nov 5, 2001
Messages
8,969
Howdy all,

I have need to buy new tires for my truck. I've been pricing them out, and damn.... expensive! I am fairly certain that I have Bridgestones on it now, and NOT impressed with the mileage I got out of them. I have heard that Michelin have a good reputation, but cost sometimes more. A couple of questions for you:

1. Two are way more worn than the other two, but if I had to, would do all four. Can I get away with buying two at a time? If so, where do the new ones go, front or back?

2. What do you think of using Sam's club for doing the tires? I think they offer a free balance and rotation every 6K miles... not sure, will check into that. Prices seem as good or better compared to other "tire" places.

3. Michelins? Another brand you like better, and if so... why?

If it matters, looking for P265/70R17 113S size tires.

Thanks,
Mongo
 
I usually put new tires on the front,especially on a front wheel drive.Spring is getting close so you would probably be ok to put new on the front if it's rear wheel drive,then put 2 more on before next winter.Bridgestones aren't really noted for getting great wear,they're more of a performance tire,Michelins will wear better and still give you decent performance.I like Kelly Springfield,good wear for the price and a decent tire but I've gotten good wear out of Goodyears on a small pickup.
 
Two tires at a time is fine, as long as they are on the same axle, and new tires should always go on the front of the vehicle. It doesn't matter whether the vehicle is front wheel drive or rear wheel drive, all the weight of the vehicle is in the front of the vehicle, factor in the turning of the front wheels and tires always wear faster in the front. Michelin makes excellent tires and so does BF Goodrich. In order to prolong the life of your tires get an alignment from a reputable shop, and rotate your tires every other oil change (approx. 10k mi.).
 
hell I just replace my 2 fornt tires. I bought 4 used tires 3 years ago and the 2 front one wore out. the back 2 look very good. I put 2 used ones one the fort and I paid $35.00 each mounted and balance too. I can't beat that kind of deal.
 
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I have had Bridgestone Dueler A/T REVO 2'S on all off my trucks for the last 8 years or so. They are great wet weather, light off-road/ all-terrain tires that get pretty good mileage. MY K1500 Chevy had about 40K on the tires, and still going strong when I traded it. They probably would have gone 60K, no prob.

I have Michelin LTX M+S on my F150 now. They are a more expensive tire then the Bridgestones, but I am not happy with their wet weather performance. I will put the Bridgestones on in another 10-15K miles or so.

Get all 4 at once. If you can't afford it, get the two, and put them on your drive wheels. (even if you have a 4x4, thats almost 100% of the time your rear tires). I don't know about putting on the front, I guess that makes sense, but if you have a RWD, seems like thats where you are generating your traction from, and would be a good place to start.

That doesn't seem too crazy for a chain store to mount and balance I guess. If you have a local shop you use, they can probably do better. I got my tires from Tirerack dot com, and had them ship directly to my shop. They mounted and balanced for like $20.

Hope that helps.
 
I've purchased at Sam's Club before. Same tires as anywhere, and fast service. The reason I haven't used them lately, Sam's is a 3-hour round trip drive and a full tank of gas. So lately I've been ordering from TireRack and paying a local tire shop to install and balance. I pay a bunch for shipping, but save on sales tax. The price last time I compared was a dollar difference, but I saved a hundred bucks in gas.

You can buy two at once, no problem. I always need all four at once though since I rotate front-to-back about two-thirds of the way through the tires' lifespan.

If it matters, looking for P265/70R17 113S size tires.
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My standard truck tire is the BF Goodrich All Terrain TA. $850 for a set of four in your size.
 
Join the life a the dually owners :) About $1,500 went into my recent tire purchase.

If you're not a dually driver, then you are OK with just replacing 2 at a time (front or rear, not one front and one rear). I'm running a mud tire and they are advertised at 60K miles. And my previous tire set where street only tires and I got just shy of 90K out of them. I'm sold on Coopers from now on.
 
I run Michelin LTX AT2's on my 2007 Toyota Tundra. I pull a 14K# trailer with it a lot and my friends dump trailer. For a 1/2 ton pickup, I think it's fair to say I use it REALLY HARD. I got 80K miles out of my first set of LTX AT2's and expect the second set to put this pickup into the grave yard.

I have run this setup empty (nothing in the bed or on the bumper) in 12" of snow, hard pack refrozen melt, etc. with no drama. Prior to putting the sway bar on the rear axle, it was a little loose and squirrelly running empty and heavy tongue weight from a trailer would push it a little. Drive with common sense and it's surprising how far you can go in a 2WD pickup versus the idiots in 4x4's. ;)

I've gotten my money's worth out of the Toyota Tundra and Michelin LTX AT2's. The only thing I would do different today is buy a Dodge 5500 dually :eek: I seriously use this pickup past its rated loads and so far have not suffered any of the expected high wear or damage you would normally expect. The upgraded tires are a significant reason this setup has served me so well.

With tires, you generally get what you pay for. In my case, the rubber weighs over 60lbs a piece so, $400 a pop seems like a bargain. E-rated 10-ply 20" tires make those car tires look like cheap balloons.
 
Running a Cummins on a 2500 platform, 265/70R17 Firestone Transforce AT's, load rating E

1 - You put the new tires on the rear, just like Danketch posted.

2 - Used Sam's Club before for other cars. Prices might look good, but after blowing a valve stem at 45mph, a snapped wheelstud and a missing lugnut, their "techs" need serious supervision IMHO.

3 - I've run Bridgestone, Michelin and Firestone. I'm routinely on the road, off the road, towing and/ or recovering other cars or trucks, and love the Transforce AT's.

Hope that helps, Mongo!
 
I've had two sets of BF Goodrich Comp TA's that were outstanding. Handled fine on the road and were very good in the snow. I got 80,000 miles on the first set and 60,000 on the second set.

I'm currently running Cooper Discovers which were quite a bit cheaper. No problems so far.

I had decided that it didn't make sense to spend the extra couple hundred bucks for the BF Goodrich's when I had 140,000 miles on my truck already but in retrospect, there was no reason to change to the Coopers.
 
Bob W said:
I've purchased at Sam's Club before. Same tires as anywhere, and fast service. The reason I haven't used them lately, Sam's is a 3-hour round trip drive and a full tank of gas. So lately I've been ordering from TireRack and paying a local tire shop to install and balance. I pay a bunch for shipping, but save on sales tax. The price last time I compared was a dollar difference, but I saved a hundred bucks in gas.

You can buy two at once, no problem. I always need all four at once though since I rotate front-to-back about two-thirds of the way through the tires' lifespan.



My standard truck tire is the BF Goodrich All Terrain TA. $850 for a set of four in your size.
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I bought tires there once and I learn 3 hours latter and they still have not put them on yet. give me back my truck and went somewhere to get my tires.
 
My best friend and myslef both drive 3/4 ton single axles, his a Ford '94 with 7.3L Powerstroke, mine an '85 GMC Sierra with a bored-out 350 smallblock. We both also run Yokohamas all the way around, his are A/Ts, mine H/T's. I would recommend the A/T's, purely because my H/Ts have almost no offroad capability.... got stuck in the mud twice last summer- in my front yard:(
 
richard thurman said:
I bought tires there once and I learn 3 hours latter and they still have not put them on yet. give me back my truck and went somewhere to get my tires.
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That's the nice thing about ordering my own tires and having them installed at a local shop; I drop the vehicle and tires off in the morning, and pick it up in the afternoon. :thumbup:
 
US-STEEL said:
(Bridgestone Dueler AT REVO 2) I'm not convinced there's a better light truck tire made.:thumbup:
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Drive off the pavement with them. I thought the same thing until they packed full of mud and became rollerskates almost immediately. On pavement, they fling pebbles and rocks. That was a $$$$ painful learning experience.
 
Bob W said:
That's the nice thing about ordering my own tires and having them installed at a local shop; I drop the vehicle and tires off in the morning, and pick it up in the afternoon. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

why bother?? I just bought 2 used tires for $35.00 mounted/balance and installed. sames cant beat that.
 
I don't know much about specific brands or patterns, but what I do know is,
Not all trucks spec an appropriate load rating for the tire, so do the math yourself. (do you trailer?)
Pressure up for on pavement, the compromise is that your shocks work more, every truck is different, so you'll have to see what works, and what gives you a good footprint.
You are going to compromise mileage to get off-road capability. Pick an appropriate tire for the use, instead of what you want to do with them. a good pavement tire, and a cheap set of mudders on steel will save you money in the long run on fuel and vehicle wear.

from the sounds of things, you should be rotating a bit more often, which while it doesn't really make the tires last longer, does improve your safety, as you keep the higher traction tires on the axle that needs it. Or just burn to bald and just do two at a time, whichever way you want to.


Every shop is going to have good crew and bad crew. Worst case, get them mounted and balanced, then put them on yourself, at least then you know its done right.

BFG ATs have always done the job on any truck I've driven, but then I've never cared about the mileage, or the truck, or the tires. Just seemed to be alright in most conditions.
 
When I had to replace tires my truck I asked around about wear. I thought mine had worn much too quickly. The common comment was the roads here were in such bad shape that as little as 20,000 mi was all you could expect ! The roads were terrible .Anyway I wanted better tires than I had so I ended up with Cooper AT/3.Very satisfied.
 
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