help with my drive tire choice

I agree with the quality of what you pay for, but if i put 8 new michelins on my truck the tires would be worth more than the truck. not sure how long I will be in this truck. have no plans of trading, but ya never know, when something may happen, wreck, major breakdown, e.t.c.

 

Yeah it gives you pause, understand...

 

Bridgestone now has the M710 out. It is a lug, if you don't mind a lug, with a good RR. Personally, I am going with Continental HSR, which is actually a regional steer tire. About a 115 RR and no decoupler groove around the outside edge. Also, supposed to be good for a spread axle. We shall see.

 

There are a lot of choices. for me it is not that I need a lug or want one. it's more what will give me the most bang for the buck. there is almost always a trade off. believe it or not I have tried both hiwy & lug & still cannot decide. when I had steemark all position on my drives, it cost me $2000 total for all 8 installed mount/dismount, new valve stems. f.e.t. tax. everything 2 grand. got great m.p.g. but they lasted about 15,000 or so. I had approx 5-6 tire repairs while I had them. next I got the lugs m.p.g. suffered, but they have over 320.000 & are still on the truck. only 2 tire repairs in 3 years & 6 months. pulled approx 25-items out of them, some that would of for sure punctured all the way thru if not for being a lug tire.

I remember at somewhere about 180,000 miles, during a slow period for me, thinking, man I am glad I have the deep rubber, cause if I had all position as before, I would be looking at buying 8 tires right now & right now is not a good time to come up with the money, so YEA lugs. I do realize that if, if, if. I took the extra money I save from the m.p.g. on a set of all position & put it aside every week I would have more than enough to buy another set of 8 with money left over. so like I say. 1-1/2 year tires or 3-1/2 year tires ? 6 m.p.g.or 6.5 m.p.g.? several tire repairs or a couple?

considering everything. I am leaning towards the toyo. cannot find any tread depth like it with the r.r. it has. I saw the b..f. dr444 yesterday up close & in person. they are a monster. they look heavy, wide & ready for mud,snow, e.t.c so it's off my list. some ask why I want a lug? I don't. it's just that a lug is deeper rubber than all position, & last longer. I was hoping to get some insight into the ride & wear of the choices I mentioned. wear & ride make a big difference. when I went from kelly steers to b.f. 244 there was such a difference, that I would not of believed you if you told me. they cost $100.00 more per tire but the ride was amazingly better. I am glad the tire shop talked me into them several years ago. I still have a couple weeks to decide, while truck is in the shop. so far the toyo m657 are my choice as of right now. unless I see why I should not try them.

 

I'm really liking my XDN2s. 356,000 miles with 9/32 remaining. This could mean 475-500,000 miles. You won't get that from two sets of Double Coins.

If I don't buy another set, I will try the XDA Energy. According to Michelin they will save me enough fuel in two years to pay for themselves. But they only come in a LP 22.5 and I'm running LP 24.5.

 

I had the same issue with my Big Wheel. I would lose traction from a dead stop. The drive tire would just spin. Also, the right rear tire would develop a flat spot from using the hand brake too much.

 

on my steel marks I got 150,000 miles. not 15,000 typo on my post.

 

I drove a forklift with airless tires once and I remember hitting a speed bump in the parkin lot at 10 mph (full speed) and everything came flying off the pallet...good thing I had a hard hat on too!

The best tires I have had on for longevity were M726EL's w/ 32/32 tread from new. I got 420K miles on em before I traded em in w/ 4/32's, but the RR is 141. I switched to M720's w/ 26/32 new tread (RR 110) and I now have 80K miles on em, love the ride alot better, and they look like they have only been on for a week...not showin barely any wear yet.

 

I've got the BFG DR444 drives with ST230 steers, and they do alright on the road. Unfortunately, I venture off the pavement from time to time and the DR444 isn't half the tire the Michelin XDE M/S that I used to run were. Stuff I used to walk right through I'm now getting stuck in...but they were $100/tire cheaper and money was tight so I went with 'em. If you stay on the paved roads though, you shouldn't have any problems with the DR444. This is my first set of closed shoulder tires, though, and I just put 'em on in December....so I can't tell you how long they'll last or anything like that....just that they don't have near as much off-road grip as the Michelins I used to run.

 

FUEL MILEAGE DID I SAY FUEL MILEAGE???? FUEL MILEAGE Do the math, educate, plan and execute. A bad choice in tires could cost you 10 grand in 2 years. Its not the tread depth or how long they last but the FUEL MILEAGE! i have my RR for truck and trailer down to 95. Huge dividends on something I needed to buy anyway.