Tyre recommendations for rural roads

[_RaT_]

Bulletproof would be Michelin XPS. Thay are available in very, very limited sizes. They are heavy, cost a bit more and will wear longer then just about anything made. You can get them as XPS traction or XPS Rib. They are as I describe, bulletproof.

 

[Birdhunter1]

A farmer bud of mine spends almost all of his time in his truck on creek rock gravel roads and in 30,000 miles has never had a flat. He is running Firestone Steeltex A/T's on a 2001 f-250 Super Duty deisel 4x4. Like I said he spends almost all of his time on gravel roads, last year for sure I know that he went through 5 tanks of fuel and his truck never saw pavement.

 

[_RaT_]

Mike, here is a site that has the sizes and theirload abilities as well as ratings and peoples opinions. Unfortunatley not all tires are rated as is the case of the Goodyear SilentArmor. I threw the Firestone in so you could get an idea. Apparently the Michelin XPS Traction is not available there. Some tires show up as being pretty lousy. I included a chart. The best way to browse that site is to go to brands and click on a brand. You can do it by car as well.



Goodyear Wrangler SilentArmor

Firestone Steeltex Radial A/T

Tire comparison chart

 

[fishman]

dmccarty,

I had some Pirelli Scorpions on my 1/2 ton 4wd truck and they did ride and handle very well for the first 15 to 20k miles. However, they were worn out at 29k miles. Not very impressive. The good thing was that they had a 60k mileage warranty and I used the cash back to get some BFGoodrich All Terrain KO's. After 15k miles, I've got some wear, but nothing like the Pirelli's and they handle better, imho. Pricey though!

 

[rockyridgefarm]

Thanks for all the input.

I read on TireRack about how they come up with the ratings. They are done by the manufacturers themselves, the government can audit them (a reasonably Fair system, really)

But the tread wear number is determined on a test track in Western Texas. They go for 7200 miles and measure them, and extrapolate out the results. So, if you want a high rating, make the early wear very slow (like an extra tough outer layer...)

I called TireRack, and they strongly recommended the SilentArmor, too.
Stock tires are 225/70x16, which isn't available, so they suggested 235/70x16.

Thanks again for all the input. I get to learn a lot about this stuff, for a guy who can't even get a driver's license!