Joseph H. Smith

This subject has come up many times. I have not had much luck with tires. I do not haul anything and rarely have more than a couple of hunded pounds in the back. I have had HT, RT, AT in BF goodrich, Roadstones, hancook. I am in the country of panama working. Goodrichs last me 30,000 to 35,000 miles at $150.00 each (no longer availabe in Panama), Roadstones had the plies separate between 10,000 and 20,000 miles with one exploding and causing over $1500.00 in damage and almost sending the entire family over a cliff. Hancooks which are currently on it have split in the water chanels but have a little over 20,000 miles on them. Both Roadstones and Hancooks cost $100.00 each and seem to last a third less.

What is common to these tires is that between 5,000 and 10,000 miles they start spinning on moist to wet inclines on cement roads from a dead to a slow start which causes premature wear. I was at a stop light turning right onto a street that started immediately uphill at the intersection. The street was still wet but had stopped raining for sometime. I have the 4:10 rear end so I start in 2nd. Tires started to spin and the truck stopped, no matter how easy I went on the accelerator. I downshifted into first and still the tires spun. I was about to put it in 4wd when the truck started to move.

When the truck is empty the bulk of the weight is in the front of course, as is with any pickup. Pickups should have a transfer case which allows you to choose rear wheel, front wheel, 4 wheel drive. When you are empty you should have front wheel drive as that is where the weight is, hauling should be rear wheel drive, and 4wd when necessary.

Since of course that is not an option I have tried running 60 psi on this last set of tires and I have been able to squeeze out another 5,000 or so miles. I am now going to have to special order tires because the high quality brands are too expensive here in Panama coupled with few applications here for Load range E they do not stock firestone-bridgestone-michelin-bf goodrich. I am going to order the Bridgestone Dueler R-T Revo but this time I am going to try the 265 in place of the 245. $225.00 + tax each.

By the way I do all of my own maintenance so I rotate every 5,000 miles and since I reduced the psi to 60 from 65 front and 80 rear I have had no uneven wear at all. Most of the wear previously was in the center indicating to much psi.

After 113,000 miles and 5 sets of tires good alignment, constant rotations, no death wobble or pull, steering and suspension tight I am really envious of the people who post about tires lasting 50,000 + miles. I have done some research and I am hoping for better performance and durability from the Bridgestones I am about to buy. Here goes $1200.00.

Eskimo

Have you possibly considered 19.5's? Seems like they would pay for themselves more quickly than with most people.

infidel

Getting the tires siped will help immensely, don't know about having it done in Panama though. How to do it yourself here> http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...reSiping.shtml

More info on siping in general> http://www.can4x4.com/articles/siping.html

I get the tires siped on all types of vehicles now, wouldn't even consider not doing it. Adds at least 20k to the life of the tire and only costs about $10 per tire.

I think you're running the pressure too high also, 55 front and 45 rear works great for me.

Mopar1973man

Out here in Idaho we reduce the tire pressure down to 25 PSI for deep snow / sand. But for normal roads I would bring it down to 40 PSI to get more face of the tire on the pavement. I have the same troubles when I inflate to 60/65 for wood hauling. When empty I can spin easy... So reduce the tire pressure to reduce spining... Down side is MPG will fall about 1-2 MPG.

LWB - 7,900# Empty - Front 45 Psi / Rear 40 Psi - MPG 20 - 265/75-R16

BIGROD

The E load rated tires should last longer. The rubber should be harder. This could also cause more spinnig on wet roads.

If your driving alot on rock or shell roads this will eat the tires up. The rock and shell will take little bites out of the tire.

As for as spinning on wet roads add weight to the back of the truck. This should help, and the truck will ride better.

greasy

Siping your tires will help a ton on wet roads, specially cement ones.

JKM

I am running Kelly safari tires right now , and i like them , like them alot, about 10000 km on them now , and no noticeable wear. i usually run them around 40 psi unloaded or 60-65 with 4500 lbs in the bed.

my work truck has dueller a/t 's on it , and they are great tires on road , but they are not much of an off road tire , at all.