what's a good truck tire?

poorboy · Oct 13, 2001

what\'s a good truck tire?

I have just spent the day looking for a good tire to put on my little f-150. Since I drive 2 miles a day to work round trip to work and approx. another 2 around the farm I was looking for a pretty aggressive treaded 16 inch tire. Also since I abuse the thing because I won't go ahead and buy a 3/4 ton until I get things lined out on the farm I'm looking for a 8 or 10 ply tire. The good-year ats looked close to what I needed but I'm not sure because all of the places I stopped at usually just had suv type road tires. Question #1, what tires are out there along this line that go well especially in mud? Question #2, how much larger can I safely go on a 97 f150 since the 235-75r16's look so little? Thanks guys, I'm sorry that I seem to only ask of this board and can seem to never add. Seems like this year has been so busy that I do well to read all the posts.

JATO_RaT · Oct 13, 2001

Re: what\'s a good truck tire?

The best bulletproof, best wearing tire is the XPS series from Michelin. Either the XPS traction or XPS Rib. The standard truck size is 235 85 16. I have some huge tires on my truck which came with it. I would trade straight across for some much smaller but much tougher, much longer wearing, better traction and much, much quieter XPS Tractions from Michelin. About $ 160.00/tire. Really made for 3/4 ton and up as the 80 PSI pressure makes a 1/2 ton ride hard. Rat...

bgott · Oct 13, 2001

Re: what\'s a good truck tire?

Call your Ford dealer and see what tire sizes they can reprogram your truck's computer to work with.

woodmills1 · Oct 14, 2001

Re: what\'s a good truck tire?

for the past 8 tears i have been using an independent brand full snow tires on my one ton chevy dump. very good snow and mud traction with fair wear life. these are campaigner ct lt235/85r16. i buy them from a local independent tire shop at $130 each. however if you want quiet don't get full snow tires.

JJT · Oct 14, 2001

Re: what\'s a good truck tire?

In My opinion BF Goodrich makes the best light truck tire you can get. 3 ply side walls, priced right and they get decent wear. I've use AT, (all terrain) for years, they also make a more aggressive MT, (mud) tread. I tried half a dozen different manufacturer before I found the BF's. I will not use anything else.

treeboone · Oct 14, 2001

Re: what\'s a good truck tire?

Tirerack.com is to tires what tractorbynet is to tractors

Bird · Oct 14, 2001

Re: what\'s a good truck tire?

Poorboy, I agree with JJT. Unless you're shopping strictly for lowest price, I'd go with the B.F. Goodrich All Terrain TA. However, since you mention 8 and 10 ply tires, one point to consider is what air pressure you intend to run in your tires. Unlike tractor tires, most car and light truck tires need to be run at no less than 80% of the air pressure listed on the sidewall to avoid tread separation or bubbles. And you need to consider what air pressure the wheel was designed for.

Many years ago, I had an uncle with a half ton pickup who put 8 ply tires on it, and overload springs, and was only running 50 psi with a slide-in camper on the truck. One of his rims split. The tires were made for that kind of pressure, but the wheels weren't. And in 1990, I decided to beef up the suspension under my 5th wheel travel trailer and found that moving up from 4 ply to 6 ply tires required new wheels also because the OEM wheels were not rated for more than 35 psi.

In '91, I spent 4 months working in my brother's tire dealership in Anchorage. He was primarily a Goodrich dealer (no longer in the business, so I have no interest in selling Goodrich tires), but since there was not then a Uniroyal dealer in town, we also handled any warranty service for Uniroyals. During that 4 months, we never had a warranty request on a Goodrich tire, and the only warranty question we ever had on the Uniroyals (4 or 5 of them if I remember right) was on 3/4 ton GM pickups and suburbans with tires rated for 75 psi and being run at 45 in accordance with the vehicles owner's manuals; i.e., too low an air pressure causes too much flexing.

Sorry if this is a little long.

Bird

jdkid · Oct 14, 2001

Re: what\'s a good truck tire?

Hi ya
We have the BF MT's on one of our 4x4's and i have to say we will not buy them again poor grip in the mud and to soft for rocks ,the best tire we have had are cooper discovereys(?)STT not to bad for road sound but good grip in the wet and good milage out of them could be worth a look ..they do have a web site but i have not got address at hand
catch ya
JD Kid

woodmills1 · Oct 14, 2001

Re: what\'s a good truck tire?

good point with the wheels. those on my dump truck are stamped with a load rating. if i remember they are just under 2,500 each

JATO_RaT · Oct 15, 2001

Re: what\'s a good truck tire?

The rating for 235/85 16's should be closer to 3042lbs/tire, single, at 80 PSI. The Michelin site will list the XPS tire under the Semi truck tire, not the light truck tire. Expect at least 80,000 miles out of the XPS traction providing you rotate the tires. I only wish they had a set in 16.5 size. I may have to settle for some BF Goodrich or Goodyears when my current tires wear out because of my rims. Rat...