Tires for my P/U

[jboomer]

Well, it's that time again. I've squeezed about 60,000 miles out of the tires on my 1999 Silverado 2WD and ready to purchase some new ones. I've read a few reviews recommending Yokohama's and am thinking of giving them a try. The Avid T4's look real good as do the Bridgestone Dueler H/T's. Anyone got any advice as far as opinions on either of these or tires I should definitely avoid? It appears to be hard to find anyone with a positive opinion toward the Wranglers, so I've already marked those off my list.

I've got the Sumitomo Serengeti Touring A/S's on there now (255/70). Like I mentioned above, they've lasted a long time. Their Treadwear rating is 440, Traction A, and Temp B. But, the traction rating I've got issues with. This truck has the short bed on it and I admit it is light, but when driving on wet pavement, I can break the rear tires loose at ANY speed...I mean SUPER slippery. So, I won't use these again.

 

[oldguy]

I have the Bridgestone dueler A/T revos and altho you won't be hitting to much they are great in snow. So far I like them after about 10,000 on them and they seem to be wearing much better then the Goodyear Wrangler A/ts I had.
This is on an F250 2wd

 

[Kokanee]

I have hade both Bridestone Duellers and Goodyear wranglers on my Ford 4WD. We get a lot of snow in Canada and for the money you just can't beat a set of BF goodrich all-terrains. A good freind of mine recently bought the Yokohamas, and they also seem to be a very good tire. I have also heard some very good things about the Dunlop.

 

[Lorin]

I have the Bridgestone dueler \ AT's on my truck and am very pleased with the traction, and ride. They actually work better than the more expensive Michelin's that I replaced. Although I dont go off paved roads much, I do like the assurance of having the AT (all-terrain) duelers over the HT (highway terrain) tires. Been through some pretty slick mud with very little problem (my truck is a 2 wd GMC 1\2 ton).

 

[Camstyn]

I got 110,000 miles out of a set of Michelin LTX M/S on my 1 ton cargo van, could have probably gotten another 10 or 20k if it weren't for the weather getting nasty.
I've got BF Goodrich A/T KO's on my 03 Silverado 3/4ton and so far with 10k miles I really like them, they are great in the snow and everything I've thrown at them so far, but I'll be impressed if they last half as long as the Michelin's did.
I only got ~40k miles out of a set of Pirelli Scorpion A/T's on my '99 Chevy half ton 2wd and they were shot after that. Terrible in the snow, too.
For a 2wd truck I'd really look hard at the Michelin's. They really wear like iron.

 

[dirt bike dave]

I put Michelin Cross Terrain/SUV tires on my Ford 2wd pickup. These are a 'P' tire, not an LT, but have plenty of load carrying rating for my application. They are optional equipment on some of the higher end GM SUV's. Far better traction (especially in the wet) than the long-wearing stock tireson my truck. The Michelins also have far less highway noise and a very smooth ride. I've had good luck with Michelins on other vehicles, so decided to spend alittle extra $. Have maybe 20,000 miles on the Cross Terrain/SUV so far, looks like they will last along time. I've also heard of short lifespan on the Pirelli Scorpion.

 

[jboomer]

I got 110,000 miles out of a set of Michelin LTX M/S on my 1 ton cargo van, could have probably gotten another 10 or 20k if it weren't for the weather getting nasty.

Wow! That's impressive! How's the tire compound? Are they extra hard, cause a stiff ride, good traction wet/dry? With a cargo van, you probably had a little more weight on the rear axle, that's the biggest thing to me right now...finding a tire that'll work good on the wet pavement, seems to be the biggest problem I've had with this truck.

I've not really looked into the Michelen's, so I guess I'll take a peek at those as well. You say I'll spend a little more with these? I'm looking to not spend more than 100 bucks a tire if I can help it, seems those Bridgestones are running about 110 or so, guess I need to plan on investing a little more!

 

[Zerotact]

I have ordered a couple of sets of Kuhmo tires off of tirerack.com. and these tires were super sticky. The treadlife left a little to be desired, but I did dump the clutch few times. Plus, I got a pamphlet with the tires stating that they were for competition use, and carried no waranty.... But they were deffinately sticky, even in the rain.

 

[Camstyn]

The Bridgestone Dueler HT's are quite cheaper than the Michelin, at $81 compared to $137 on tirerack.com, but I noticed that the load rating for the Bridgestone is only 2271lbs. As far as I can tell they're made for an SUV and not a light truck.. As long as you don't haul much I'm sure they'd be perfectly adequate. The comparable Michelin LTX M/S is rated at 3042lbs and has a sturdy load range E.. It may be overkill for what you need. My 3/4ton came with tires like those but in Firestone flavor.

They are an extra hard rubber compound which helps get the long mileage out of them.. I think they ride slightly firmer, less wobbly, compared to a lighter duty tire. They gave great traction in the dry and wet, I'll be buying another set in the spring time. I rarely had much weight on the back end but for whatever reason the rears wore out at a quicker rate than the fronts, opposite of what I expected.

Good luck with your decision, hope this helps answer some of your questions..

 

[Lorin]

My experience with the Michelin LTX \ MS wasnt quite so favorable. I had a sidewall blowout at around the 25,000 mark (sidewall split a good 4 inches from rim to tread). After asking around, I found that another friend had experienced a similar problem with the same tire. I decided at that point to change to the Bridgestone's (at the tire dealers reccommendation) and have been extremely pleased. The A\T tires actually handled better and had less transmitted road noise than the Michelins.

 

[jboomer]

That's a great price on those Bridgestones. I was almost convinced that was the tire I wanted, but I priced them locally at 363.60 a pair (including mounting and balancing)...they're 151.99 a piece here. A little too steep for my blood. The Yokohoma Geolanders are pricing $119 a piece....probably as much as I'm willing to spend.

I see that you ordered yours from TireRack. How much does shipping run a set of tires? Seems like it would be quite a bit and would offset any money you would save by ordering through them. Plus you've got to have a garage mount and balance them. Do you recommend a local mom and pop garage to get tires from or using a larger "retailer" like Sears or a Firestone store, etc? Seems like a larger retailer might get you a better price (I'm guessing here).

 

[Danman]

I had some Dueler A/Ts. They were on it when I bought my truck. They handled great and lasted a long time. I took them off before the end of there life for some Dueler H/Ps. I relay liked the A/Ts, but I was not riding or driving my truck off-road. The H/Ps are rated at 40K and I have stretched them past that. The are pretty gone now. I don't do much off-road. Just getting to the riding area (at least 7 miles of dirt road, and sometimes muddy) or riding some of the dirt roads at our lease. I will be going back to the A/Ts, but with the REVO in a few days after installing some new shocks. Then its off to get an alignment. I, like Lorin would like the security of knowing that my tires will handle what I do with them even if off-road is not my preimary purpose.

I realy not to fond of the over 100 bucks price, but I realy like the last set. I will be going with the 30X9.5X15R size as that is what I had last time.

 

[490Dave]

My next set will be the Bridgestone A/T Revo's. Excellent reviews on these tires and plus i just like the way they look.

 

[Patman]

I've got over 30K on my Bridgestone AT's with atleast another 20K left. The heavier diesels seem to really eat up tires and after burning a set of Goodyear ATS's in about 20K I wanted a good AT tread with a high load rating and good traction both on and off pavement. When it comes time to put new rubber on I'll go with the same tires. I also ran them on my full size Bronco with the same excellent results and only switched to Michelin's because my wife wanted a little more road biased ride when she was driving it for a few years. Now that I am starting to build the Bronco for more offroad usage it will either have the Bridgestones AT's or most likely the MT's.

 

[490Dave]

If you're a little more budget minded check out the Peerless Force 4 AT

 

[jboomer]

Well, I got my tires this last Saturday. The Dueler AT Revo's were just too expensive: about $130 each. I ended up buying the Firestone Destination LE's for about $90 a piece -- researched on tirerack.com --- seemed like a good price for a highly recommended tire. I don't anticipate any problems as of yet. So far the tire looks really good and I can already notice an improvement in traction over the Sumho's I was running (can't get the tires to even break loose on the dry pavement--doesn't spin every time I touch the gas pedal in my yard). They also seem to offer a smoother ride, as if the tire compound itself is softer....not to mention the rear end of the truck doesn't start skipping toward the outside when I go through a corner with choppy pavement. So, I THINK I'll be OK with these. I should get to try them out tonight/tomorrow on the wet pavement (which is what I was most concerned with to begin with). Thanks for everyones tips/ideas, I definitely would have gone for the A/T Revo's had it not been for the price....they are GOOD LOOKING tires and I've read nothing but positive results!