Another "what tire thread"... 15 GMC Yukon Xl....

[fifty]

Hey guys... I know these threads usually suck. So much of it is speculative and based upon individual opinion...but sometimes a tire sticks out for a certain sized vehicle or type of usage. Plus it seems what I am looking for is pretty limited in availability.

I have a 2015 GMC Yukon Denali XL 4wd that has the factory 20 inch wheels and craptastic street tires. I am planning on getting a set of winter/rain/ going camping wheel/tires in 18's which are about as small of a rim as I can fit over the brakes. Ill probably get a set of Methods because all the factory take offs around here are as expensive if not more.

I have been looking at these three tires as they seem to routinely get great reviews:
COOPER
DISCOVERER A/T3

HANKOOK
DYNAPRO AT-M

GOODYEAR
WRANGLER DURATRAC

I dont do any hard core offroad in this school bus, and it does spend a lot of its time on crappy pot hole ladden pavement and freeways. Although, keep this in mind. We bought it new in '15 and it has 15k on the clock. So not a lot of mileage because of the infant, but now that she is older, we plan on taking trips to tahoe, bodie, basic dirt mud snow ice water and freeway.

We dont need an aggressive mud tire, and wet weather performance is as important as being able to run in the dirt or snow.

Mileage is not a care, I believe that 50k and 80k tires just mean they grip worse. I would ratehr have a better gripping and handling tire that wore out in 20k than a hard rock that wont stop that lasts 50-100k... Kinda like the eco tires that are on it now.

Any opinions on the three listed or a specific tire we should look at? I have the michelin premier LTX on a honda element that we beat the crap out of on a daily basis (dog car and general errand car when with out the kid) and they are ok, but not very good handling in the dry and probably crappy if there was any dirt on the ground. Makes me wary of their AT tires....

 

[TexomaPowerboater]

Duratrac is great tire, but will be too loud. Don't know much about the others, but BFG AT is great tire IMO. I've not had good experience with Michelin LTX either, but that was like 5 years ago.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

The AT3 is the best in that list for your purposes.

 

[Comanche Scott]

First two choices look good. But not the Duratrac for your specific use/vehicle.
Duratrac is an awesome tire for a more aggressive off road application, but not as good as other Goodyear choices for what you specifically want.
Better choice in the Goodyear brand would be the Trail Runner
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Goodyear&tireModel=Wrangler+TrailRunner+AT

If it were me, I'd look for a snow flake rated tire with a more street biased tread from a major manufacturer, that comes with a good warranty (or get the replacement warranty from your tire store for road damage).
The large GM 'Utes can be tough on front tires, and street biased tread pattern seem to last longer with a good tire rotation program.

Keep a close eye on feathering wear on the outside edges of the fronts, and have your alignment checked/corrected before the tire takes a set, or it will make an awful noise going down the road.
Hope this helps,

 

[fifty]

Thanks for the quick response all. To update, I had the BFG AT/KO tires on my f350 and hated them. They were floaty and just didnt seem to work anywhere for my purposes.... Oddly a friend has them on his excursion and loves them... But he is a sell the salesman type guy and often changes his tune when he goes onto a different product. (but not always).

I will look at the trailrunner and the cooper were my favorite before putting the list together.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Thanks for the quick response all. To update, I had the BFG AT/KO tires on my f350 and hated them. They were floaty and just didnt seem to work anywhere for my purposes.... Oddly a friend has them on his excursion and loves them... But he is a sell the salesman type guy and often changes his tune when he goes onto a different product. (but not always).

I will look at the trailrunner and the cooper were my favorite before putting the list together.

I have had the AT3 on 2 GM trucks and did far better in the snow than the KO's I had used over the years, and were great in heavy rain.

 

[CrazyDrei]

Hey guys... I know these threads usually suck. So much of it is speculative and based upon individual opinion...but sometimes a tire sticks out for a certain sized vehicle or type of usage. Plus it seems what I am looking for is pretty limited in availability.

I have a 2015 GMC Yukon Denali XL 4wd that has the factory 20 inch wheels and craptastic street tires. I am planning on getting a set of winter/rain/ going camping wheel/tires in 18's which are about as small of a rim as I can fit over the brakes. Ill probably get a set of Methods because all the factory take offs around here are as expensive if not more.

I have been looking at these three tires as they seem to routinely get great reviews:
COOPER
DISCOVERER A/T3

HANKOOK
DYNAPRO AT-M

GOODYEAR
WRANGLER DURATRAC

I dont do any hard core offroad in this school bus, and it does spend a lot of its time on crappy pot hole ladden pavement and freeways. Although, keep this in mind. We bought it new in '15 and it has 15k on the clock. So not a lot of mileage because of the infant, but now that she is older, we plan on taking trips to tahoe, bodie, basic dirt mud snow ice water and freeway.

We dont need an aggressive mud tire, and wet weather performance is as important as being able to run in the dirt or snow.

Mileage is not a care, I believe that 50k and 80k tires just mean they grip worse. I would ratehr have a better gripping and handling tire that wore out in 20k than a hard rock that wont stop that lasts 50-100k... Kinda like the eco tires that are on it now.

Any opinions on the three listed or a specific tire we should look at? I have the michelin premier LTX on a honda element that we beat the crap out of on a daily basis (dog car and general errand car when with out the kid) and they are ok, but not very good handling in the dry and probably crappy if there was any dirt on the ground. Makes me wary of their AT tires....

Tires, tires and more tires.

Tire technology has changed so much in the last 3 decades that asking this question is more of a litmus test of the responders' age then anything else.

All the tires perform well, otherwise they will not be allowed to be manufactured by the DOT. No one tire is a great do it all. Dropping tire pressure from 50psi down to 9psi will make a 3-season tire outcrawl a MT tire, been there done that.

From what you are describing it sounds like you need a slow wearing, quiet, comfortable LT tire. I had really good luck with Nitto Dura Grappler Highway Terrain LT. Had them on my Sub for 80k miles, still 50% of tread left.

Best advice: pick a size, pick a brand and go with it. 18" rims will ride smoother than 20" rims.

Good luck and show us pictures of your new shoes!

 

[rcab87]

I run the Hankook Dynapro AT/M in 275/55R20 on my 2011 Sierra. They are a relatively mild tread, but perform confidently off the pavement. Like most mild all-terrain treads, they pack up quickly in thick, sticky mud. Even though they packed up, they still managed to self clean enough to get me out of the nasty spots with some wheel speed. On road they are great, especially in slick conditions such as snow and ice. They also wear very well. Mine already have 34K miles on them with at least half tread left. When I had them rotated last, the tech said that he felt they could last at least 65K miles.

I ran the Discoverer A/T3 on my last truck, a 2005 Silverado 1500. I ran 285/70R17s on it, and they also performed very well in slick conditions such as rain and snow. They self cleaned better in the mud than the Hankooks, and off road performance in general was better. The only drawback that I saw to them was that at least for me, they had considerably less tread life, wearing out in about 50K miles with rotations at the recommended intervals.

 

[XJLI]

Interesting experiences.

I had AT3s on my Rover and hated them. Front end was always sliding around more, locking up under braking, weak sidewalls offroad.. barely wore though. KO2s on my Silverado now and I can't say enough great things about them.

 

[TexomaPowerboater]

One of the primary reasons I went back to BFG AT tire was tread life. I had 70K miles on a pair over 5 years when I traded truck in last month. The tread was still within recommended range and most of truck's life was kept outside in TX. I had the E rated BFG At's on a 3/4 ton 4x4 van as well, very soft riding tires.

 

[Rippin'AV]

I’ve got a 2015 Tahoe with 18’s and ended up putting a small leveling kit and Toyo Open Country AT’s in about a 33”. Cant remember the exact metric size at the moment but its great. Have about 20k on them and they are wearing perfectly. On my other rigs I’ve had excellent results from Goodyear Silent Armor tires. Amazing in the dirt and actually very impressive in snow. BFG with their new KO2 AT’s are also very good tires, had a set on my old pickup and loved them while I had them.

 

[rayra]

Have to say my Yoko Geolanders are working well in mostly dry dirt / sand conditions. High desert i smy usual stomping grounds. Only been thru snowy highway conditions a few times with them so far, they did ok. But I'm really not taxing them very much, so can't say how they'd perform in harsher demands.

They've also been wearing very well. 3yrs, 15k mi, they aren't worn much, aren't tore up and are still fairly pliant. Not bad for SoCal conditions.

 

[nitro_rat]

I am a big fan of the AT3’s. Hands down better than the BFG. I had good service from a set of the Hankook Dynapros (they were on my current dodge when I bought it). They did as well as the AT3’s on road, but not as well off the road.

I’m currently running Michelin AT’s on the dodge, Michelin street tires (don’t recall the model now) on the wifes ‘11 Denali XL on stock 20’s and undecided on new shoes for my 84 Suburban just swapped to 3/4 ton running gear. It was running the AT3’s in its previous life as a half ton...