Making a choice on Tires for tow duty

[Me78569]

The time has come to buy some new tires.   Seems like I am burning through them at a pretty rapid rate.   Wear is even, just wearing down fast.  The current set are some off brand of tire, which explains why the low mileage.  25,000 miles ~1.5 year since I got them.

 

Seems like towing the gooseneck really ramped up the rate of wear.  I have no need for offroad style tires, the truck has been retired from off roading duty anyways.  

 

 

So I have a few choices here, 

 

I have a set of 17" alum rims on the side of the house I can throw lt tires on.  235/80/17 $150-200 per tire

 

I have also been eyeing some 19.5" setups with commercial tires.  The thought of 100,000+ miles on a set of tires is nice.  Considering I put 25k a year that should, in theory, cut my tire cost by %50 over the next 5 years.  Upfront cost is a big pill to swallow, but I really like the idea of getting 19.5" rims that I can move to the next truck etc.  $1000 for rims and then another $1000 for tires

 

 

So for those guys towing regularly, what kind of mileage are you seeing with your tires?  Any recommendations?  

[Mopar1973Man]

I'm going to pull a few names I remember with the setup. I'm pretty sure @War Eagle and I know @AH64ID have the 19.5 wheels. Hopefully they get the notice and pop in. 

[Killer223]

i have no comment on the 19.5's yet, i want a set someday though,

as for tires lasting i have the best mileage from the cooper ATP's right now i have over 58K on them and still have a good amount of life left, i'll get another 15-20K on them i'd guess. i tow my 5er with it all the time.

 

right now on my 08 have Goodyear wranglers w/Kevlar, and they seem to be wearing like iron as well. over 35K on them and look great.

you might get longer mileage from a slightly wider tire, spread the load a little can help.

[Me78569]

The appeal of the 19.5's is pretty big,  but we are saving for a new truck so the money spent on 19.5's comes out of the new truck fund.  

 

I am leaning towards just sticking some no name's back on the 17" I have and hoping to get another year out of them, which will be enough time for us to get a new truck.....but 19.5......  

[Killer223]

i saw some 19.5 with tires w/1K miles on them in Dallas CL a while back.. might be worth looking to. i think it was !K asking price...  i'll go look...

dang he already sold them.

 

https://www.igotacummins.com/threads/9789-19-5-Vison-wheels-and-245-70-19-5-tires-mounted

[War Eagle]

I have a 3500 SRW 4x4 that I wear 19.5s on.  This is dictated because the load I carry is way over the weight rating of the 17 inch wheels an tires available.  I carry a heavy camper with a slide and tow a boat which loads my rear axle at nearly 8500 pounds.

 

I wear the 19.5s during the non winter months only and run Hankook AH11's on Vision aluminum rims.  This is a steer tire and and I have nearly 50k on them at this time.  I'll easily get over 100k from them and maybe a significant amount more.

 

In winter months I use my stock 17 wheels and traction tires.  I chose this path because I haven't found a very good selection of snow and ice traction tires in 19.5.  Since I don't carry my camper and drag the boat around in the winter I don't need the weight carrying capacity of the 19.5s.  In my research, I have found that the 19.5 traction tread tires don't get anywhere near the mileage of a steer tread tire.  Also there is a very limited selection of traction tread compared to 17 inch tires.  So rather than buying a 19.5 traction tire that won't give me long life I just decided that I was going to use the two tire and wheel strategy for my driving needs.

 

If you go the 19.5 route I would suggest checking wheel prices for Vision wheels.  I got mine through Discount tire. 5 rims and 4 sets of lug nuts for around $900.  If the new truck you are thinking of buying is a dually then it would not be necessary to go to 19'5s to carry the kind of load I'm carrying.

 

Over the last few years I also have seen one or two ads for 19.5 wheel and tire sets in Craigslist.  If you're not in a hurry then you might find something that would work for you there.

 

The tires had a little break-in time but I really like them.  They run smooth and quiet.  They are heavy and have a very stiff sidewall.  This is a perfect combination for carrying my camper.  Little to no swaying now with the high center of gravity load I carry. 

 

Even though the rotating mass is about 50 # per tire heavier than my stock 17's, I get a bit better mileage than when I'm running my 17s.  I attribute that too the lower rolling resistance of the stiff sidewall tires.

[Russ Roth]

I have Nitto Duragrapplers on my '02, size 285/75x17 Load range E.  They are rated for 3,980 lbs IIRC.  This is second set.  I had about 40,000 or so on the first set when my '01 got totaled along with ruining the rear tire on that side.  Think they were still about 8/32nds tread depth.  I could check for sure if you are interested as I have not used those on the '02 yet since I bought another set of rims and tires.  Very happy with them for both towing and mileage.  I am guessing I would easily go 80-90,000.  Sidewalls are very stiff.  I highly recommend them if you want bigger tires/rims with street tread.  When tread is good traction in snow is surprisingly good although certainly not on par with traction tread.

[trreed]

My ex has a set of Michelin LTX2's on her truck and she regularly tows a (almost overloaded) 4 horse/front tack trailer and those tires have worn really well.  She had a set of BFG All-Terrain ko's (the originals) and those wore really well too but have been phased out.

Edited November 27, 2017 by trreed

[Wild and Free]

I have been having great luck with Treadwright tires and they have a great sale going on right now. I just put the second set on my 2010 1500 Hemi and have a set in the shed waiting to go on the Cummins.

Running 235 80 will always wear out way faster due to less tread on the road especially pulling trailers, Get some 265 70 17 and you will get better life out of them, I laugh at the people around here running the narrow tires and complain of short life while towing regularly.

[Me78569]

I am planning on going with 265 this time.  I have wanted to try treadwright, but I the stories of friends brothers uncles having a blow out worries me.   I know it is illogical but yea.

 

@Wild and Free have you run a set on your 2500 yet?

[Mopar1973Man]

3 minutes ago, Me78569 said:

I am planning on going with 265 this time.

 

I ran the Hankook ATm for quite long run and did excellent. With all my travels of going back and forth to Ontario, OR and then hauling the RV for place to stay on the busy weeks. I got good service from them. 

http://www.hankooktire.com/us/passenger-cars/hankook-dynapro-at-m-rf10.html

[Wild and Free]

14 minutes ago, Me78569 said:

I am planning on going with 265 this time.  I have wanted to try treadwright, but I the stories of friends brothers uncles having a blow out worries me.   I know it is illogical but yea.

 

@Wild and Free have you run a set on your 2500 yet?

Not yet. Just burned off the first set of treadwright 285-70-17 D rated and went back down to 265-70-17 C rated wardens. 285's got 40K out of them lots of trailer towing and probably 50%+ of the miles were gravel as its my DDer and I drive 45 miles of gravel 4 days a week just for my work commute alone not counting the trips to the inlaws farm several times a month.

Got 265-70-17 E rated wardens waiting to go on when the current set of Coopers that came with the wheels are done for which isn't far off.

I know of several folks who have had great luck with them as well around me and other co-workers who currently have them on order, one for a 2011 crew cab cummins.

14 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

 

I ran the Hankook ATm for quite long run and did excellent. With all my travels of going back and forth to Ontario, OR and then hauling the RV for place to stay on the busy weeks. I got good service from them. 

http://www.hankooktire.com/us/passenger-cars/hankook-dynapro-at-m-rf10.html

I had great luck with the Hankook ATM as well. they are extremely popular around my area and for good reason, excellent all around tire.

[Mopar1973Man]

3 minutes ago, Wild and Free said:

I had great luck with the Hankook ATM as well. they are extremely popular around my area and for good reason, excellent all around tire.

1

 

Same here rubber compound is harder wear much longer. Great traction even in snow and ice without studs. I know I got over 50k on those tires did very well. Majority highway miles but there was some dirt road runs but low percentage of dirt.

[015point9]

I should of found this site sooner.  2 years ago I replaced Michelin Ltx (street tread) with same model but more aggressive  tread.  First tire rotation 4 mill difference.  Asked discount tire to check into why. Their answer was to towing and tire made of different compound.  Better traction but disappointed in tire wear.  

[Mopar1973Man]

Like a long ago Big O Tires had a wonderful MT series tire.

 

 

This tire is no longer made. In the beginning the tire compound was rather on the hard side and worked awesome for off road use. Then later on back in 1999 or 2000 if I remember right the tread pattern changed some and the compound got much softer and the tires were barely lasting 18k to 25 k miles and being wiped out. This is what that same tire changed into and wear quality is very poor.

 

 

Even going back more back in motorcycle days we would try and get R compound tires for racing on the streets but the tires would wear away really quick but were very sticky tire and great for cornering. Then when I move on to cruiser motorcycles like the Goldwing I was attempting to get away from soft compound tires and something harder so the tires lasted longer. 

[Me78569]

well I ended up placing an order for 4 Threadwright wardens 265/70/17's  I also have some balancing beads on the way.   

 

I guess we will see if I can mount them myself haha.  If not the mexican tire shop down the street will be getting a few bucks.

[Wild and Free]

Can't beat em for the price in my book, Did you get the kedge grip? I am really seeing the benefitt of it the last couple weeks now that we have some snow on the roads, can tell the traction and braking is much better. I was a skeptic on this but now like it having experienced it even if it does lessen tire life a bit according to them.

[Me78569]

Nope, tread life is more important than grip for me.

[Wild and Free]

1 hour ago, Me78569 said:

Nope, tread life is more important than grip for me.

For the price one is still WAYYYY ahead of the game even if they only last 30K miles in my world of driving mostly gravel roads, even for the non kedge grip. I am wondering what i will get for miles on the current c rated 265-70-17 VS the last set of D rated 285's which went 40K with probably a couple thousand towing miles in there.

 

Edited January 2, 2018 by Wild and Free

[Me78569]

Well one of the 4 has a sidewall leak causing a bubble that was spotted before installing on the truck.  

 

The other 3 look good.  We will see what treadwright says.,