Time for new Tires, looking for suggestions

[Ray Cecil]

Current size on truck is 265-75 x 16 Maxxis Buckshots. Came on the truck, and are not all that impressive. They look sharp, but I prefer to buy a little more road tire. Main goal is to keep a nice aggressive look but with a lot less road noise than these mud terrains.....

Its been awhile since ive had BFG AT TKO's on anything. Looks like they are up to version KO3 now. Anyone have these? Im getting old and want lower noise so I can listen to Merle and Cash on the radio....and have conversations.

Im not against getting a dedicated road tire. Another concern is the load rating. I will be towing occasionally grain, and farm equipment. Not too much or too heavy, but I don't want to get too squirrelly.

Im sort of leaning to the BFG AT TKO at the moment, but looking for other AT's that might fit the bill.

[Gary Lewis]

Hello, Ray!  Long time no see.  Might you be visiting this area on Sept 14th?  That's when the show is.

As for tires, I'm running 33” Falken Wildpeak AT3W’s on Big Blue.  Took some terribly noisy Cooper Discoverers off and love these.  MUCH quieter.

I did a lot of research and it got down to the KO2's vs the AT3W's and I chose the latter due to wet road rating and several reviews.  The KO3's might been better on wet roads.  Don't know.

[85lebaront2]

Ray, I bought Firestones last time for Darth, since he's a dually, the tires are narrower. I have LT215/85R 16s LRE which are rated single 2680 lbs at 80 psi, dual 2470 at 80 psi. They were quite reasonable as the tire store has the contract for the school busses. They are pretty quiet, but I am not sure I would go mudding with them.

[Ray Cecil]

Gary Lewis wrote

Hello, Ray!  Long time no see.  Might you be visiting this area on Sept 14th?  That's when the show is.

As for tires, I'm running 33” Falken Wildpeak AT3W’s on Big Blue.  Took some terribly noisy Cooper Discoverers off and love these.  MUCH quieter.

I did a lot of research and it got down to the KO2's vs the AT3W's and I chose the latter due to wet road rating and several reviews.  The KO3's might been better on wet roads.  Don't know.

No Sir, won't be in OK until Thanksgiving.

I was considering the Discoverers, glad you mentioned they are noisy.

I'll look at those Falkens. I've never bought that brand before.

[mat in tn]

i have the cooper discoverers on my expedition and they are great. traction wet or dry. quiet! these are the same size as you have, I think. I replaced the bfg k02 withe these. best decision. the noise was awful before. this is a road car that we travel in, and l want conversation or a clear radio.
now I have the Falken wild peak at3 on my f150. 32x11.2x15. best all-around in my experience. traction. ride and noise. second set on that truck

[Nothing Special]

I've had lots of BFG ATs, with the last set being KO2s.  And that will be the last set (at least for my truck).  A lot of people really like them, and maybe you would too.  But I never did.

The tires "tracked" on the pavement from day 1 until I replaced them.  Rather than just go where they were pointed they seemed to try to turn back and forth.

And while they weren't loud, they weren't quiet either.  There was a relatively low volume whine that just got sort of annoying.  Not that you couldn't hear the radio over it, just that you could hear it.

I replaced them with a set of Michelin Agilis Cross-Climate.  Very definitely not an all-terrain tire, but it does fine on the dirt that I drive on and I'me very happy with them on the road.

I don't know anything about the KO3s.  Maybe they'd be a lot better.  But I'm sticking with more of an all-season tire rather than an all-terrain on my trucks from now on I think.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Keep in mind that Cooper "Discoverer" is a whole line of tires.

There's LT (light truck), HT (highway traction), AT (all terrain), ST (snow traction), RT (road & trail), MT (mud terrain), SRX, STT, etc...

https://www.coopertire.com/en_US/tires/by-vehicle/truck-pickup

[Ray Cecil]

mat in tn wrote

i have the cooper discoverers on my expedition and they are great. traction wet or dry. quiet! these are the same size as you have, I think. I replaced the bfg k02 withe these. best decision. the noise was awful before. this is a road car that we travel in, and l want conversation or a clear radio.
now I have the Falken wild peak at3 on my f150. 32x11.2x15. best all-around in my experience. traction. ride and noise. second set on that truck

Which Discoverer did you get?

[Ray Cecil]

I also like the tall skinny tire look, over the fat tire look. Anyone ever ran a 255-85 x 16"? This morning I am leaning towards a taller/skinny "pizza cutter" look. Someone somewhere at sometime told me that term "pizza cutter" referred to the tall skinny offroad tires we used to see on a lot of the classic trucks. I like that look, but wondering if I can achieve that in a more freeway friendly tire. I'm thinking I want a tire that balances well, and is quiet. 99.8% of the time, this truck sees pavement. I have a 100 yard long gravel driveway, and occasionally turn around a trailer in the yard.

If anyone has any photos of a tall skinny "pizza cutter" looking tire on a bricknose or bullnose, would be appreciated.

[Ray Cecil]

Well, looks like 255-85X16 is a rare size that is a lot more expensive than the more common sizes. $50+ more a tire.

There are a lot more 245-75X16 and 265-75x16 options available.

Probably just sticking to the 265-75x16, and getting a highway tire.

I have cooper endurance on the tahoe that has been amazing for being quiet, but I cannot get those in the 16" rim size.

So many options....

[Ray Cecil]

Well, I went ahead and scheduled an appointment to get Firestone Transforce HT2's. Ive never bought firestone before, and these have great reviews for tread wear, noise, and ride quality. Im really hoping to get this truck sounding quieter. Need to find a speedo cable for a 7.3idi with cruise. Its making noise behind the dash. Ive been slowly identifying noises and getting them took care of.

[Nothing Special]

Ray Cecil wrote

Well, looks like 255-85X16 is a rare size that is a lot more expensive than the more common sizes. $50+ more a tire.

There are a lot more 245-75X16 and 265-75x16 options available.

Probably just sticking to the 265-75x16, and getting a highway tire.

I have cooper endurance on the tahoe that has been amazing for being quiet, but I cannot get those in the 16" rim size.

So many options....

I had 255/85-16s on my '85 F-250 for one set of tires.  Couldn't get that size when those wore out so I went to a more common 235/85-16.  The 255s are 33" tall and 10" wide compared to 31.7" tall and 9.25" wide for the 235s.  Is that difference significant?  I decided not, and I.ve run 235/85-16 ever since.

Ray Cecil wrote

Well, I went ahead and scheduled an appointment to get Firestone Transforce HT2's. Ive never bought firestone before, and these have great reviews for tread wear, noise, and ride quality. Im really hoping to get this truck sounding quieter. Need to find a speedo cable for a 7.3idi with cruise. Its making noise behind the dash. Ive been slowly identifying noises and getting them took care of.

I've got the Transforce HT (not sure about the "2") on my Dodge.  I really don't care for those tires.  I can't speak to tread wear as I don't know how many miles they had on them when I bought the truck.  They are quiet and I have no complaints about the ride or handling.  But the traction seems to be pretty bad on poor traction surfaces.  I don't do any off-roading with this truck, but wet leaves, or wet dirt, or on snow I seem to need 4WD a lot sooner than I would've in my Ford with the Michelins.  To be fair, the Dodge has a lot more torque and worse weight distribution with the Cummins diesel up front.  But I won't be getting these tires again.

[Ray Cecil]

Bob, thanks for the input. I work from home, and never take the truck on a trail, or anything more than a gravel driveway. I did read about there advanced polymer that keeps tread life very well. To me, that means the durometer is probably fairly hard, which means less traction on anything not paved; as your experience has confirmed. I might get a second set as winter tires and just swap them if I know I'll need to get out in the bad weather.

The truck stays in the garage, out of weather, and if I know it's going to rain, I try to just plan on taking the Tahoe. We will see how they do for me. If they tow well, provide a quiet ride, and smooth operation, I'll consider it a win.

[Ray Cecil]

So, I dropped off the truck and got tires this morning. I'm 2/3rds the way through a 3.5 hour one way road trip pulling a trailer.

So, I got 265-75×16 Firestone Transforce HT2. So far I've noticed much better noise, or lack thereof, vs the Maxxis MTs.

I may take the truck back up there next week and tell them to check the balance, seems unbalanced at 60-65 mph. Pretty smooth ride. I do not like the handling while towing. I probably should have gotten a slightly shorter side wall. Even with 80psi, seems a little more squirrelly while braking downhill in a corner. Lots of hills and corners around here. It's not like Skiatook OK, lol.

Handling is worse than the mud terrains, which is surprising. So, thus far my I itial impressions are just so-so....might have been happier with a different tire.

 

[Gary Lewis]

Hills?  What are those?  

But having the sidewall flex isn't fun.  I've had that happen and it sure messes up the handling.  But I'm surprised you are getting it at 80 psi.  

I hope your feedback after the trip is better.

[Ray Cecil]

It was an interesting trip. It's about 1am and finally home.

I think I got used to the handling. They don't sway just going down the road. I think a little wider rim would probably fix the issue. I mean, they are oversized tires for what the factory put on there.

I definitely tested how tough they were. We got 10 minutes from the Police Post, which is where I was hauling my officer friends stuff, and I hit something it the road. Truck tires held up nice, but the rear drivers side tire on the trailer didn't hold up so well. I got about 5 seconds down the road and I saw it smoking....pulled over and changed a tire on a 70mph freeway in the middle of the night. Luckily I always carry a spare.

[Gary Lewis]

Man, I'm glad you caught that tire smoking!  Too often one goes and takes the other.

But the driver's side is so scary with the other traffic.  Glad you made it home!

[Ray Cecil]

Yeah, I hit that thing in the road and was looking for a spot to pull off anyway. It had lost all air pressure and was just heating up.  I totally forgot to throw my scissor jack in my toolbox. Luckily the factory f250 Jack was still under the hood and not frozen up.

I have 3 trailer jacks on my trailer. The tongue, and two at the rear for supporting the back corners when loading the tractor. The rear jacks can lift the trailer normally, but with a flat tire, the frame of the trailer is just low enough to where I can't rotate the jack and use it. So I had to lift the axle with the flat about 2" before I could use the trailer jack.

I highly recommend having 3 trailer jacks on any trailer. Makes changing tires, and loading so much easier and safer.