Lets talk tires.

Budneeds2beers

Aka Mike Honcho....
Aug 25, 2016
497
4
18
Cali
So I need tires for the truck. Ive been looking all over and cant decide. Trulefully because I guess I’m really not sure what I need. Im really not interested in brand specific or size. All i know is it needs to be a D or E rated tire. But otherthen that im not sure. Whats better for heat/cold weather? Load ratings? Do larger diameter tires have a better rubber compound? Speed ratings important for a larger tire? Any heat ratings or provisions? Any information would be great? Like i said, im not really looking for a specific manufacturer or size just information about tires to help myself and others make informed decisions when we are buying tires.
 

gmduramax

Shits broke
Jun 12, 2008
4,072
248
63
Nor cal
You need at least a load range E. You can get by with less but you can’t haul much. It depends what you do with your truck.
 

OregonDMAX

NOT IN OREGON, NO DURAMAX
Apr 28, 2013
3,964
8
38
36
Goodyear, AZ
You need at least a load range E. You can get by with less but you can’t haul much. It depends what you do with your truck.

That depends there are D rated tired with a higher load rating than some E rated tires.

Op your questions, although good ones are too broad. Without knowing what you plan to do with your truck we can't recommend a tire category.
 

joshd472

New member
Oct 10, 2016
254
0
0
I had toyo rts. Load range e. Very aggressive looking but had little road noisy. Seemed to wear good too.

The ridge grappler is another one I've heard good things about. It you want that look.
 

JoshH

Daggum farm truck
Staff member
Vendor/Sponsor
Feb 14, 2007
13,714
776
113
Texas!!!
The load range you get really depends on what you do with your truck. If you regularly haul heavy trailers, I would suggest you stick with a load range E tire. I know there are load range D tires that have a higher weight rating than the stock load range E tires, but a load range E will have stiffer sidewalls and be able to go to higher pressures which gives them a little more stability when loaded heavy. If you don't every haul anything, lots of people get away with running an XL load rated tire. The only catch to that is there are some tire stores that won't sell or mount them on an 8 lug wheel (Discount Tire is one I know of).

Most tires available for our trucks are going to work just as well as any other tire at different temperatures. Obviously a cold tire won't grip as well as a warm tire which will grip better than an overheated tire, but there is no way around that. In sports cars, they make tires that are almost undriveable in cold weather, but there aren't really any tires available for our trucks that have compounds with those characteristics.

Typically, rubber compound will change with tire manufacturers and tire model. So a 31" tall tire should have the same rubber as a 37" tire that is from the same line and manufacturer.

As long as you stick with a name brand tire, you shouldn't have any worries about heat or speed ratings.
 

Chevy1925

don't know sh!t about IFS
Staff member
Oct 21, 2009
21,680
5,827
113
Phoenix Az
So I need tires for the truck. Ive been looking all over and cant decide. Trulefully because I guess I’m really not sure what I need. Im really not interested in brand specific or size. All i know is it needs to be a D or E rated tire. But otherthen that im not sure. Whats better for heat/cold weather? Really isnt one best for temps, some are made for snow/ice and have more siping for that Load ratings? dont worry about the load rating as much as the load index, that is a much more accurate way to know what a tire can haul. Do larger diameter tires have a better rubber compound? nope Speed ratings important for a larger tire? can be if you are consistantly exceeding what the rating is Any heat ratings or provisions? nopeAny information would be great? Like i said, im not really looking for a specific manufacturer or size just information about tires to help myself and others make informed decisions when we are buying tires.

biggest thing i would look at is noise. Then look at mileage of a tire and what people get out of them. doesnt hurt to see if people are having issues with separations and what not too

Toyo now has a few tires out there that are "F" load range. they did this to meet some of the load index requirements new trucks are up to.

i will say, i dont like the new KO2. tread wear is FAST! i know a ton of people that like the toyo at's or rt's. the tread on my toyo MT's are soft so im not expecting a ton of miles out of them. I also look at weight of the tire. some have a significant weight over others and that will have an impact on mpg.
 

TROJAN366

Gold Rush
Jan 13, 2012
2,474
1
38
MASS
I am under the impression that the Toyo AT2 is the best all season load range E on the market. Lots of sizes. Excellent wear. Fairly quiet. Good looks. I have suggested them to everyone I know and run them on my dd. I have yet to hear a single complaint. Multiple buddies with over 50k hard miles on sets. One was over 65k and he hauls heavy all the time.
 

cjb2283

Member
Feb 1, 2016
57
0
6
Utah/wherever the AF sends me
Other things to consider, tread aggressiveness will also depend on your needs and driving terrain. Tread wear warranty, how long do you want the tire to last. Most of the meatier tires don't come with a tread wear warranty or its not as long as your HWY tire.
 

WVRigrat05

Wound for sound
Jan 1, 2011
3,081
4
38
36
French Creek, West Virginia
I’ve ran cooper stt and Mickey Thomson mtz’s since day one with the exception on one set of cooper st’s, I’m so sick of road noise with mud tires but they handle the snow and wet roads way better, I’m going with either toyo at or BFG all terrain this time.
 

zakkb787

<that’s not me...
Sep 29, 2014
2,340
52
48
Granite Falls NC
Had toyo Proxes st on my lb7. I didn’t tow and theybpribably would not have been suitable for it. But I loved them. Quiet. Cheap. And rode awesome. Had about 5k miles on them when I sold it and they looked brand new
 

WVRigrat05

Wound for sound
Jan 1, 2011
3,081
4
38
36
French Creek, West Virginia
I forgot that if you travel a lot of gravel or back roads you almost need a 10 ply so you don’t puncture the tire as easily, learned that the hard way on my truck and explorer, I run 10 plys on both of them.
 

02greysixer

Active member
Jun 4, 2011
1,829
7
38
North Central FL
E rated TerraGrapplers on my F250. Truck weighs 10k pounds or so with all my shit in it. No issues in the 10k miles I've put on the tires so far. Little louder than I like but I've gotten used to them.

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Yngdmax92

Active member
Sep 26, 2013
962
44
28
I know you guys like top of the line stuff, but I just got atturo xt tires. Seem pretty good, great price.

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PureHybrid

Isuzu Shakes IT
Feb 15, 2012
3,494
474
83
Central OH
I was looking at the Toyo at2 but a few mentioned horrible wet weather performance after the tread was wore down. I have ran two sets of Terra Grapplers, had no issues, but went with Hankook Rf10 this time because Nittos are getting expensive. They have been great so far, and were under $800 for a set of 285/70-17. Unless something happens to these tires that I don't like, I'll be buying another set.
 

beach_33

Member
Feb 18, 2008
704
0
16
des moines, IA
biggest thing i would look at is noise. Then look at mileage of a tire and what people get out of them. doesnt hurt to see if people are having issues with separations and what not too

Toyo now has a few tires out there that are "F" load range. they did this to meet some of the load index requirements new trucks are up to.

i will say, i dont like the new KO2. tread wear is FAST! i know a ton of people that like the toyo at's or rt's. the tread on my toyo MT's are soft so im not expecting a ton of miles out of them. I also look at weight of the tire. some have a significant weight over others and that will have an impact on mpg.

Hmmm. I’ve almost always found the opposite when running Bfg all terrains. Ran original all terrains and the new ko2 on my old truck and they seemed to be the only tires I could get to last. So I went with the new ko2 on my new truck and wear is great.. I have about 55,000 miles on them now and they are about half tread left. Maybe a little less. Also I tow my boat that weighs around 16,000 lbs almost every weekend during the warm months. And I should note that I don’t take it easy on the throttle when I have the boat on the back.
 

Chevy1925

don't know sh!t about IFS
Staff member
Oct 21, 2009
21,680
5,827
113
Phoenix Az
Hmmm. I’ve almost always found the opposite when running Bfg all terrains. Ran original all terrains and the new ko2 on my old truck and they seemed to be the only tires I could get to last. So I went with the new ko2 on my new truck and wear is great.. I have about 55,000 miles on them now and they are about half tread left. Maybe a little less. Also I tow my boat that weighs around 16,000 lbs almost every weekend during the warm months. And I should note that I don’t take it easy on the throttle when I have the boat on the back.

original KO's i loved. they lasted a long time, worked great off road and on, plus were quite. i ran two different set of KO2's. one on my tracker and the other on my brothers truck. i had 3k on my KO2's and they lost 1/4 of the tread already. Brothers truck has 15k on them and they got about 1/4-1/3 tread left. The rubber they went to on the new ko2 is much softer than the original ko's. they worked fricken bad ass in moab when i had them on the tracker up there but just in 3 days wheeling time, the siping edges had all worn off and opened all the blocks up. you would think they were BFG Krawler red label sticky tires for rock buggies with how they lasted. I put Cooper STT Pros on the tracker and have 4-5k on them with no significant tread wear. they are just loud....
 

DAVe3283

Heavy & Slow
Sep 3, 2009
3,727
296
83
Boise, ID, USA
I have the special order BFG KO2's for the higher speed rating, and so far they are lasting as well as the KO's, but my KO's were also the special order for the higher speed rating. Maybe they use a different rubber for the special order version? I get ~50k miles out of a set, but I replace before the legal wear limit, so probably 60k+ miles if you run them down. But after ~50k miles they are getting slick off-road so I swap them.

I am really impressed with the wet traction of the KO2's vs. the KO's. Seems to hook way better in the rain. They do kind of suck in the cold, but so does everything else.
 

LML6600DMAX

Member
Dec 9, 2015
76
0
6
I put a set of nitto exo grapplers on this time around. Really like them, have done well off road for an AT, and are pretty quiet on the highway.



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HWI

Member
Feb 7, 2016
36
0
6
FL
I only got 32k out of my KO2s. I just replaced them with some cheap Amp Terrain Pro A/Ts, they look nearly identical and so far perform just as well, but they have a 60k mile warranty, so hopefully they last me more than 2 1/2 years.