LT's for TV

[Wannabes-SUN]

Greetings, all
We're planning on replacing the P-rated tires that came with our F-150 with light truck tires, and are wondering what the consensus is out there as to who makes the best LT tires. In our experience, Michelins are tops for passenger tires, but we don't have any experience with their truck tires.
Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[dtstanton]

Best for what? Traction? Treadwear? Gas Mileage? Quietness?

I've always had good luck with Goodyear Wrangler ATs, Matthew - with this tread pattern. Good all-around tire.

It's been a while, and I never towed anything with them. This was when I lived in WV along the Ohio and worked in Institute (up until 10 years ago when I moved to TX). I put over 60,000 miles per year on my truck back then. Kept them on all fours on Jeep CJs, Wranglers, pickups (long and short wheelbase), both 2WD and 4WD.

When I couldn't get Wranglers for whatever reason when I needed them, the Goodrich All Terrain TA also served me well - with this tread pattern.

These also did well for traction in all driving situations. Couldn't tell you about how many miles they'd last. Wasn't a concern to me at the time. Rotated and balanced them regularly to make them last longer. Both of them seemed like they were pretty quiet, too.

The best snow tire I ever bought was a cheap 40,000 mile M/S tire I got at Western Auto many years ago.

-Dale

 

[henryj-SUN]

I had Yokohama G051, ranked no. 5 on TireRack, on my 01 Silverado in LT225/75R16 LRD. My 07 Sierra came with Bridgestone LT245/75R16 LRE from the factory and I now have Michelin LTX MS2 in the same LRE size, ranked no. 1 on TireRack. I have never had a good OEM tire on a truck--my son has had 2 F150s with Michelin--and the upgrade to the Yokohama and Michelin was a huge improvement right across the board.

Use TireRack to find your size, look at the "survey" to see how the brands compare and feel free to come back with more questions. The F150 does have a factory LRE option and you could just get what would have been OEM on your truck.

In my experience a LRD tire is a better fit for a 1/2 ton. The load rating more than matches the 1/2 tons GVWR and the 65 psi will give a better ride. The psi on a LRE can be a problem. The factory pressure my dealer used to deliver my Sierra was 50 psi front and 80 psi rear--that matches those respective axles GAWR and the factory considers the truck to be within spec. LT tires have load/inflation tables and you can play with the psi unlike P series tires. However, real world experience is that 50 psi front leads to a soft mushy tire with poor steering response and cornering as the sidewall rolls under. I am currently running 65 psi in the front and 75 psi in the rear and those are good for towing. Even though my load is no where needing those pressures, the stiffer sidewalls are better for towing, but a bit harsh solo. My truck only drives solo when we're traveling anyway so I don't mess with pressures. Your truck with LRD could probably run at 65 psi front and rear. With LRE you might try 65/75 like I have and then drop 5 off the front and maybe off the rear too. Don't change front and rear at the same time so you feel better what you like. Google for a load inflation table if you don't have one--Goodyear has the most comprehensive and it doesn't matter whose you use as tires have common standards.

Henry

 

[henryj-SUN]

TireRack Ratings

Just in case you have trouble finding the survey pages, here are the 2 you might be interested in: highway all season, on/off road all terrain. Unless you're really hooked on a particular brand, nearby store etc., it makes no sense to go below the top 5, top 10 for sure as the differences in the top tires are pretty subtle--look for the feature that means the most to you.

Henry

 

[Sunline Fan]

JohnB didn't have good luck with his first gen (M/S 1) Michelins, but I'm very pleased with my Michelin LTX M/S 2. VERY quiet, handles nice, good ride, and good traction in the snow too. I hear this second gen LTX is much better than the original too.

You just need to make sure to keep them inflated well enough for towing. My LREs max at 80, and 65 is good for me towing or not towing.

 

[Wannabes-SUN]

Thanks for the replies! Anyone else wanting to weigh in, please do so.

Dale,
We're looking to upgrade to a better towing tire, something better than the OEM passenger tires. We've not really had any complaints with the OEM tires (Goodyear Wranglers), which "feel" best at 41 front/45 rear towing. We're looking to take the Sunny out West next spring so we want to have our towing optimized before we go. (Palo Duro is on the list of places we'd like to stay.) Forgot to say that we want an American-made tire, will absolutely NOT buy Chinese-made.

Henry,
We're familiar with TireRack, having bought tires for our car from them and will probably buy the LT tires there too. As you pointed out, by their reviews, the Michelin LTX M/S2 is top-rated and that's probably what we'll get. Thanks for the info, especially about the PSI on them.

Jon,
Thanks for the Michelin LTX recommendation; it helps confirm what we'll most likely going to buy. Thanks also for letting us know the PSI that you run in yours; we have to experiment once we have ours on and if the weather ever gets warm enough here to go camping again.