Advice on Tires For My (work) Truck Please

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by graman

Just to add to the discussion, I've been really pleased with the Toyo Open Country AT/2. Performs well in typical Canadian winters, handles heavy loads well, and has a 80,000km/5yr tread warranty - I'm 5 years in and just over 80k, but should easily have a couple years of useful life left of them. Majority of my driving is on pavement - low road noise at highway speed, but they perform great off road occasionally as well.

I think most premium tires with similar specs should perform somewhat equally, so my best advice is spend a bit extra and look for a good tread warranty.

A good tread life warranty certainly is an attractive feature. One thing to be aware of. Almost all Tread Wear Warranties have some fine print (like every warranty). Most will exclude tires with uneven wear often caused by alignment issues and lack of suggested tire rotation (which usually requires documentation). It's caused some serious heartburn for a lot of drivers who didn't read the fine print.

Also, these warranties are pro-rated. If you have an 80,000 mile warranty and only get 60,000 miles you'll only get a small credit toward the purchase of a new tire of same type (or whatever replaced it in that tire company's line. This is also when people find out about alignment and rotation requirements. BTW, on a $250 tire that credit will usually be in the area of $60.-----maybe.

Just pointing out that the longer a mileage warranty, the more responsibility the manufacturer puts on the customer in order for it to be honored.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by jcr59

Had a similar issue with the rotors on a gm car we had several years ago. The oem rotors would heat up and "warp". After several replacements I went with more expensive aftermarket rotors and low and behold the problem went away.

Would be nice if GM could admit they have a problem and foot the bill for a good replacement. I'm not holding my breath though.

Did this happen back when GM was in bankruptcy? Might explain why they didn't step up.


Some manufacturers are more pro-active. Nissan replaced the entire set of brakes, Pads, Rotors, Calipers, on all four wheels of my Titan because they discovered a "supplier issue" with the ones that were installed at the factory.

That was back when I had about 40,000 miles on my truck. Those same brakes are still on the truck and at the last inspection are at 50% remaining pad life and the odometer reads 113,000 miles.

[5picker]

Bruce,

The RIB is a highway tire only. Won't help you at all in mud/snow but you'll get tons of highway miles from them.

The Defender LTX M&S Is a good highway tire and will give you 'some' added traction in mud/snow but the ribs fill quickly and they don't self clean so if just a little mud or a little snow, they are OK. I've driven these tires in PA winters for 30 years and got by fine with them in the snow but in spongy wet grass, they were useless.

I realize this is for a work truck but where these tires disappointed me was with the 5th wheel or my dump trailer. They just didn't do well backing the trailers into some spots where wet grass came into play. I was always having to use 4x4.

The LTX AT2 is classified more as a winter tire. I currently have these on my truck.
They have done well over the summer in wet grass. They do make a little noise between 30-45 MPH on the highway but nothing you'd need to try and drown out with the radio!
I've not used them in snow yet but I'm betting they will do way better than the LTX M&S.

Unless you need more than light wet grass/snow traction, you should be happy with the Defender LTX M&S.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by nomad297

Based on what you have said and shown, would the Michelin Defender M/S be a better choice than the A/T2? I would like to buy at Costco (I will save $400.00 by buying here), and the Rib isn’t available there. Snow isn’t a big concern for me because of the weight of my truck and it is 4x4. We don’t get too much snow here, but when we do, I still have to work and drive, though. So, while the Defender is a mud and snow tire, I really don’t need them for that purpose, but the tread is closer to that of the Rib than the A/T2...I think.

The Defender and the A/T2 are just about the same price — just under $1,000.00 installed.

Here’s a picture of the Defender tread:

Attachment 217321

Attachment 217322

Bruce

In your original post you stated:

The closest comparison I can think of for the way I have to drive to anybody else is the UPS delivery trucks. I wonder which tires they use.

The answer to that is a "RIB" type tire. Just about every tire company offers a RIB type tire for Commercial Trucks. If the Michelin is not available in your area you might look around for Continental, Goodyear, Bridgestone, or even Cooper (an often overlooked quality tire company).

I don't know what it's like in your area for snow but based on he last 10 years where I live our city streets have had snow packed on them an average of 3 days per year and some years ----- NONE. If you're driving your work truck around town like a UPS truck then you want a tire that will yield the most number of miles on regular pavement. Unless you regularly have to back up on wet grass (which the 4WD would handle if you did) I'd stick with a commercial RIB tire. They're built for the kind of use you describe while the others are often passenger tire designs molded on a higher load range carcass. More suitable for the non-professional use truck (towing RV's, Hauling Firewood, garden supplies, or commuting).

If you only have 4 or 5 days of snow per year just carry a bag of Kitty Litter and/or a set of cable chains.

At one time in my career I put an average of 50k + on a 3/4 ton truck. A set of Rib type tires went 101,000 miles and still had legal tread on them. Almost twice what the regular "All Season" tires that came with the truck.

Lastly, if you can't find the XPS-RIB locally, Tire Rack has them and will ship to one of their affiliated installers for you.

Discount tire has them too.

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by Poper

Wasn’t gonna chime in till I saw all the Michelin responses.
I just put on set of four LTX A2 last week. Had a problem!
Truck is 2015 2500 Chev. 4wd.
Came new with the LTX A2, and wore flawlessly to 60k running 60lb ft 70 rear and always rotated at 6k miles. Always rode like on a cloud!!
The new tires bounced all over the road!!?? I did not buy the Michelin’s at a tire discount shop.
However after research on “ Road Force Balancing” I learned that the Road Force Balance is done by manufacturing plant before it gets to the dealer.
Almost no tire shop, discount or otherwise offers this service. It’s as rare as hens teeth.
I did learn that the better more equipped dealerships have this equipment.
It’s a Hunter Balancer Machine. Do a search on it. It will tell you who in your area has the equipment.
Long story short, buy the Michelin LTX at a Chev or GM dealer that has the Hunter machine.
It simulates the load force in pounds on the truck while performing Dynamic
Balance. Giving it a poundage rating.
Sadly and unbeknownst to me My tires were only static balanced, adding sticky weights to one outer edge. Hence the bounce on $1200 tires..
So after paying for mount and “balance” at tire shop ,I had my Original Chev Dealer perform Road Force Balance all four $80.
Difference in ride was immediate and I’m now confident that I’ll get another 60k from these new ones. BTW tires are 275-70-18 E load.
Good luck.

I've been running dynamic balance beads in my motorcycle and Truck tires for over 12 yrs . My tire shop loves me i get free balance and rotations but all they have to do is rotate as the beads keep tire balanced under all conditions . get mud stuck on the rim balance beads compensate . I'll never run a tire with out them . I have the tire shop do a balance when new tires are installed as the beads will not help with a lateral imbalance then they break the bead on the rim and throw in a bag or 2 of beads and balance is done for the life of the tire

[nomad297]

I have discovered that if I want to buy from Costco, I cannot get the RIB type tires because the size nomenclature for all RIB tires does not match the factory installed tire size in their database or the tire and loading sticker on my truck. They will not install tires that don’t match the exact same size. This is why, when I do a tire search for tires for my truck on Costco’s website, no RIB type tires show up. It is the “115/112Q” part of the RIB tire size that would fit my truck that makes it impossible for me to buy from Costco.

Now I need to decide if I should buy from Costco, or not.

Here are the tires I can choose from at Costco:

https://tires.costco.com/SearchResul...7C%7C%7C%7C%7C

Bruce

[nomad297]

There is something that I am just not grasping when it comes to the RIB tires. No matter where I search for them, I get the message “These tires will not fit your vehicle.”

What am I missing?

Bruce

[whirledpeaz]

Originally Posted by nomad297

There is something that I am just not grasping when it comes to the RIB tires. No matter where I search for them, I get the message “These tires will not fit your vehicle.”

What am I missing?

Bruce

Nothing as far as I can tell. It is most likely due to their legal department. If it is not the exact size or one of the optional sizes available for your make model and year then you get the message. It's our litigious society in action.

***EDIT

Could it be the speed rating of the RIB being too low for your truck? With 115/112Q the Q means a speed rating of 100 mph. Additionally, they have almost 1,000 lbs less load rating per tire than the LTX A/T 2

[Lins]

https://www.bridgestonetire.ca/tire/duravis-r500-hd

On another forum, some people got some good miles out of these.

[nomad297]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

In your original post you stated:



The answer to that is a "RIB" type tire. Just about every tire company offers a RIB type tire for Commercial Trucks. If the Michelin is not available in your area you might look around for Continental, Goodyear, Bridgestone, or even Cooper (an often overlooked quality tire company).

I have searched all of these brands and none of their search tools show a RIB tire for my truck.

I don't know what it's like in your area for snow but based on he last 10 years where I live our city streets have had snow packed on them an average of 3 days per year and some years ----- NONE. If you're driving your work truck around town like a UPS truck then you want a tire that will yield the most number of miles on regular pavement. Unless you regularly have to back up on wet grass (which the 4WD would handle if you did) I'd stick with a commercial RIB tire. They're built for the kind of use you describe while the others are often passenger tire designs molded on a higher load range carcass. More suitable for the non-professional use truck (towing RV's, Hauling Firewood, garden supplies, or commuting).

It’s about the same for snow here, and from what you have written here, RIB tires would be fine with me.

If you only have 4 or 5 days of snow per year just carry a bag of Kitty Litter and/or a set of cable chains.

I have chains, but they are for my current OEM tire size.

At one time in my career I put an average of 50k + on a 3/4 ton truck. A set of Rib type tires went 101,000 miles and still had legal tread on them. Almost twice what the regular "All Season" tires that came with the truck.

This is what I would like to see.

Lastly, if you can't find the XPS-RIB locally, Tire Rack has them and will ship to one of their affiliated installers for you.

I looked here, but I can’t find them in my size.

Discount tire has them too.

I looked here, too, but they don’t show up in any search results for my truck.

What size would I need to get that would be suitable to replace the LT265/70R18/E I am being told I need to stick with?

I have looked and looked, but I cannot find any brand RIB tire that will fit on my stock rims. What’s wrong with me? Did I miss where somebody told me I would have to change my rims if I want to use RIB tires?

Thank you,

Bruce

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by nomad297

What size would I need to get that would be suitable to replace the LT265/70R18/E I am being told I need to stick with?

I have looked and looked, but I cannot find any brand RIB tire that will fit on my stock rims. What’s wrong with me? Did I miss where somebody told me I would have to change my rims if I want to use RIB tires?

Thank you,

Bruce

With that tire size you'll probably have to stick with an All Season type tire. Just look for one that had a tread design closest to the RIB.

You want as much rubber as possible on the road.

[nomad297]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

With that tire size you'll probably have to stick with an All Season type tire. Just look for one that had a tread design closest to the RIB.

You want as much rubber as possible on the road.

Sorry!

I guess I should have provided my OEM tire size in my first post. I don’t know why I didn’t even think about that. Apparently, that would have saved you, me and others a lot of time.

Thank you, Mike, and everybody else for all of your input.

Bruce

[HAMMDOWN]

I am in the process of replacing my tires with Toyo open country HT E rated we’ll see how they hold up