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Old 08-31-2008, 08:03 AM   #1
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TV Tires

Well, it's time to start thinking about replacing the rubber on the F350. I'm currently running on Bridgestone Dueller A/T Revo's and have been very happy with the 60k I've gotten out of them, though I'm leaning more toward an all season H/T type tire now.

I'd like to hear what others are currently running on their tv and whether or not they're happy with them.

Recommendations and/or warnings are both welcome.

Mike
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Old 08-31-2008, 08:59 AM   #2
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Mike

Let’s compare notes. 1st I wonder what size tire you have on your F350.

Mine are the Continental – ContiTrac TR LT275/70R18. E load range, 3,640 # @ 80 psi.

Contitrac TR

Soon, late next year I will be in the same situation, needing new tires. In my case the 18” tires limit the selection.

I had a very bad experience when I bought new tires on my prior K2500 Suburban. I bought premium truck tires, Michelin LTX, and while non towing they where outstanding. However towing on a 130” wheel base, no, never again. They wear under weight real bad, had to rotate every 3,000 miles and side wall sway was unreal unless you come close max inflation pressure and then still had an issue. And they are LT's E range. However I have buddies using these on longer WB PU’s and have not had the same issue. The WB length must compensate for the softer side wall.

Since that learning event, I am caution on towing tires. Right now the Conti Trac work well. I have no issue with them, they wear good and even, traction not a problem and no side wall sway issues. At this point I will most likely put the same ones back on.

This much I can tell you, tires that ride great non towing do not always make a good towing tire. The words cushy ride and towing do not mix. The P range are a good example of this and some brands E range. Key is finding the good mix of wears well, no sway, and a ride that is at least acceptable.

My F350 rides harder then the K2500 Suburban and the Conti tires are I’m sure some of this. But I also now have a 1 ton verse ¾ ton and Ford verses GM. GM’s do ride smoother as well as 3/4 tons, empty that is. loaded neither are a problem.

I have had both brands 1 ton dual rear wheel trucks over the years and GM does better at the ride unloaded. My last 1975 F350 stake bed rode so hard empty I had a stomach ache just riding into town. Put 1 ton on it and no problem. My Uncles 3500 Chevy, same year, still a truck ride, but light years ahead of the Ford. We both had the same tires.

Good luck and I’ll follow your post as I too want to hear what others are up to and on what size vehicle.

Hope this helps

John
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Old 08-31-2008, 09:53 AM   #3
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I've got the Duelers as well on my Ex right now. They came on it when I bought it, and I'd estimate they have 15000 on them right now. Ride wise, it's great. My mom's Ex came with BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A's from the factory and they've got a little over 48 on them now. There is a significantly stiffer ride in hers, but one thing I like about them is they are very stable. When towing the 286 to PA, it seemed to sway a lot more when passing vehicles or when vehicles passed me. However, and I don't know if this has more to do with tires or the cams set better, when towing it up to storage, it didn't sway at all and I passed trucks with my mom's. It's like the BF Goodrich's have stiffer sidewalls, hence the stiffer ride, but the trailer doesn't pull the vehicle around causing more sway. At 65-68, I barely knew it was there when passing.

So, when it comes time, I think I will be considering BF Goodrich's as replacements.

Our friends have a diesel Ex and just replaced BF Goodrich's with Michelin LTX M/S's. They also upgraded the size to a 285 from a 265. It does ride nice, but they don't tow much with it on the highway. However, they have a friend with three Ex's and he distributes Amsoil all over the state, and he has these tires on all three and swears by them. He does tow somewhat often. I never asked if he complained about movement with the tires, but I can try to find out today.

Jon
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Old 08-31-2008, 11:05 AM   #4
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John,

The current tires are LT265/75R16 Load Range E 3415# @ 80psi.

SRW on a 158" wheelbase.

Usually pretty good about rotating every 5k or thereabouts, so tread wear has been pretty even all around with nothing out of the ordinary.

Very happy with traction in all conditions and never experienced anything along the lines of sidewall sway.

No serious complaints with the ride either though it has been far from 'cushy'. I used to drive it just about everyday with some type of load on it and I'm sure the longer WB has helped too. However, I use it mainly for towing now.

The Dueller A/T's are noisy at highway speeds though, and it never really seemed to bother me as much before. However, I'm more concerned about getting a good stable towing tire with good wear than I am about noise level.
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Old 09-01-2008, 05:57 AM   #5
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Mike....

My previous TV was an F-150 (this was before we downsized both TT & TV). It came shod with Goodyear Wranglers. At 59,000 miles we replaced them (after 6 years they'd become hard and lost traction in wet weather) .... even though they still had almost 40% of their tread left!

I replaced them with Cooper tires. Much harder-riding and not as much wet-weather traction as the Goodyears had (when the Goodyears were relatively new). I should have continued with new Goodyear Wranglers.

The current smaller TV came with Dunlops. They're "OK".....but not exceptional.

Frank
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Old 09-01-2008, 10:36 AM   #6
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I think that JohnB has a very valid point about ride and towing qualities. They're pretty much mutually exclusive. I made sure that my F150 had LT tires (optional) on it because I felt that they would be much better at the task of towing than the standard P series tires. Well The LT's are Goodyear Wrangler tires and they do an excellent job at providing stability and they are very good in the wet, as well. The ride on the other hand is pretty hard when inflated to towing levels and not towing. I've driven other F150's with P series and they ride very smooth even with higher inflation pressures.

I don't use the F150 for everyday use so I don't mind the stiffer ride. I will say that I think that it is pretty important to have the stiffer sidewall tires, when towing, for the additional stabilty that they offer.
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Old 09-04-2008, 11:53 AM   #7
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I use Michelin LTX tires on the Dodge and hey seem to hold up well. I have used Bf goodrich commercial t/a tires in the past. They are good tires but I think the Michelins are are a little better. They also seem to last longer than the BF Goodrich T/A's
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Old 09-04-2008, 02:54 PM   #8
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Mine are the Continental – ContiTrac TR LT275/70R18. E load range, 3,640 # @ 80 psi, like JohnB's. My truck went into sevice April 28, 2005

It currently has 52,300 miles on it. Lots of those miles are highway miles (3 (month long) trips out west). So, I guess in the not too distant future I'll have t be tire shopping, but right now the tires don't look bad. One quote I got over a year ago was $182 a tire, YIKES! I'm afraid to get a price now

Ruff ride, heck I can't tell as my other ride is a school bus.

Kitty
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Old 11-21-2008, 03:57 PM   #9
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I know I'm way late to posting on this thread, but I just thought I would incase anyone else is browsing and wants to know.

We moved from BFG All-Terrian LT265/75R16 Load Range E @ 80psi tires which lasted for about 45,000 miles with no complaints. They actually still had plenty of trad life, but we went four wheeling in Arizona on a trail that some locals told me was moderate, and later found out was strictly for Jeeps and only srious 4x4's.

Problem was we were about 5-7 miles in on a 10 mile trail when it got so rough, we thought "Well never make these climbs!?"



Luckily a diesel has gobs of low end when shifted into 4Low, and the truck was able to crawl up many climbs that had me clinching the cheeks so hard I could have cracked the hardest of Acorns.

What didnt fiar too well after the day out on the trails was my side steps, pretty bent up, and the sidewalls of my tires. In numerous spots we had tore right through to the steel belts

So when we were getting ready to go down to Baja for a few months, we decided to play it safe and upgrade the tires to some of the new Goodyear Silent Armor. These tires have kevlar sidewalls, extra rubber on the sidewalls to protect from curbs, rocks and nonesense like extremem fourwheeling, and another layer of Kevlar to protect from roadnoise.

I cant recommend these tires enough. I have a few friends who I've raved about these tires to and they all called to thank me saying how queit they were.

I've had the Michelin LTX and thought they were great, but I liked the tread on these Goodyears and wanted to try them out. They were also cheaper than the Michelins and the same BFG's I had taken off!

Just thought I'd Pass this along incase anyone is on the fence when buying new tires.

So far, we've taken them in the sand, burried the truck up to the frame rails and only had to air down the tires to about 20psi to get ourselves out. Driven in snow with no slip, driven through plenty of nasty rain with never hydroplaining and really dont have any negative comments on them
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Old 11-21-2008, 09:45 PM   #10
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Holy Cow

Glad you where not pulling the camper.....

Yes 4 lo is grandma gear and and climb most anything the truck will not tip over or drag from... You will not run out of wheel torque that is for sure.

John
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Old 11-22-2008, 10:53 AM   #11
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Hey John, that was one of the hills where Cindy wasnt screaming at the top of her lungs for me to stop....LOL

We used to have an old CJ-7 built specifically for climbing. 5.40 gears with a 4.0L Crate motor.

It would climb anything you put in front of it, but only had a top speed of about 40mph.

So we're used to climbing stuff, but not when we're so top heavy and thinking we were just going for a leisurely afternoon drive. It was a fun day after the fact. One of those ones we can talk about now with chuckles and laughs, but at the time, I thought she was drawing up divorce papers....LMAO
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Old 11-28-2008, 08:00 PM   #12
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The Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armors are the tires I finally decided to go with too. I've had them since the beginning of October and I'm extremely happy with them.

One of the things that sold me on this tire was the 30 day trial period that Goodyear offers. If you're not happy with them, they'll buy them back.

Though I don't plan to, it seems like these babies were made to be abused. They also have a nice bead that protects the wheel rims from rocks and that occasional stray curb in addition to the kevlar construction.

The ride is really nice too. Not too stiff, definitely not 'cushy' at all. And they are quiet. What a difference between these and the Dueller's they replaced. Night and day. Haven't driven on them in any snow yet but the traction in rain has been very good.

I don't have any negative comments for these tires and highly recommend them. In fact the guy who installed them called me to see how I liked them after our trip down to Lowe's Motor Speedway and Skyline Drive. He replaced his 6 month old Michelin's with them and now recommends them to his customers.
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Old 11-30-2008, 02:57 PM   #13
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Hey Mike, I couldnt agree more with your comments. Unless some manufacturer comes out with something better than these, I find no reason to look for anything different.

In the past few weeks, we've had some snow off and on and these tires have held up great.

My dad has to put his F-150 in 4x4 to get up the driveway with the snow on it, but he has the stock General tires that are a pretty road-only tread, and I can just drive right up the driveway no problem.
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