Need tire advice for a 2003 diesel F250 with Mickey Thompsons

[drodio]

Hi everyone, I've been lurking for a while and finally bought a truck to begin exploring with!

It's a 2003 Ford F250 with a 6.0L diesel 6spd manual that I affectionately call "Tonka". It has a 4 inch lift. You can see pics of it at http://go.danielodio.com/tonka

The previous owner also put some really big tires on it -- Mickey Thompsons, 325/65 R18 tires. Here are pics:

http://drod.io/1l1f3D001u0N411X443j
http://drod.io/3v0c3S2l2d3G2h142u2f
http://drod.io/060O0H183Q0g130R2J30

I"m looking for some tires that are more long-distance travel friendly. These might be great in the mud, but they're not great everywhere else. I'm planning on putting a pop-up camper on the truck, so I figure I'll probably need E-rated tires.

These are my priorities in tires, from most important:

1) Best possible highway travel (handling, gas mileage, road noise) while still somewhat capable offroad
2) Lifespan of tire
3) Cost of tire

Here are some tires I was looking at -- does anyone have any suggestions about these or other tires? I'd like to buy them at Sam's Club or Costco if possible but I'm open to others.

Oh also, I don't really know exactly what tires will fit on the vehicle... I know they're 18" rims, but I'm not sure how narrow or low/high profile I can go. For example, if I went narrower, say 275 instead of 325, should I keep the same "65" height? Or would some variance in either direction be OK? Any advice there would be appreciated as well.

265 width (is this too narrow considering I have 325s on right now? ... the stock F250 tire is a 235/85 R16!)

BF Goodrich Rugged Terrain T/A P265/65R18 (I can't tell what load rating these tires have): http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod3670218&navAction=

275 width:

Rugged Terrain 275/65 R18 http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...ich&tireModel=Rugged+Terrain+T/A&tab=Warranty

All Terrain KO http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...odel=All-Terrain+T/A+KO&partnum=765R8ATAKORWL

Dueler AT Revo: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...odel=Dueler+A/T+Revo+2&partnum=765SR8REVO2OWL

DuraTrac (might be too hard-core offroa for my needs?) http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...tireModel=Wrangler+DuraTrac&partnum=765QR8WDT

Any other suggestions? Any advice is MUCH appreciated!

DROdio

 

[redthies]

Best possible highway travel (handling, gas mileage, road noise) while still somewhat capable offroad

Based on the last three words above, I would go BFG ATs. Some people on here will trash talk them, but I think they are still the best bang for buck in an all terrain tire. I would also look at getting some stock alloy wheels off Craigslist. They run anywhere from $200-$400 for a set. You could go to 16s and get tires waaay cheaper. 255/85R16 or 285/75R16 are great sizes. They will give you clearance off pavement, and good fuel economy on the long hauls.

Looks like a nice rig!

 

[TrekAdvisor]

I was looking at the "rugged terrains" not the "all terrains" -- I was looking for something a *little* more road friendly than the ATs, as I'll be doing mostly highway miles. Here's the http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod3670195&navAction=

What do you think about that tire vs the ATs?

DROdio

 

[redthies]

I know. I had "RuggedTrail" TAs on my Dodge diesel from the factory. Crap, crap crap.

 

[jrose609]

I had those BFG Rugged Terrains on my F250. They are an all-season tire. Crappiest tire I've ever had in even the mildest offroad conditions. Good highway wear though.

 

[FishAll50]

drodio,

I have a 04 F250 CC 4x4 KR. I'm running 295/70/18 Nitto Terrain Grappler which gets you an ~ 34" tall tire about 11.5 wide - OEM rims. The ride and handling is excellent - very highway friendly tread - decent offroad - wear appears great so far. No lift so I get a little rub on front fenderwells but no major contact. You obviously would get no rub or could go bigger with your lift.

About $1200 drive out from discount tire.

View attachment 107381

 

[Fish]

Pretty damn happy with my Revos.

Here's the rub. You already have a lifted truck. Putting a smaller tire on it is just going to perform poorly and look silly.

If you're going to keep the lift, I'd look to a tire around a 285/75. That's around a 33" tire. Shorter, but not by all that much.

 

[Madmaxwell87]

Few thoughts- Those look like some wide wheels since they don't look much narrower than the 13" wide mickeys. Id guess a 10,maybe even 12" wide wheel. So if you want anything skinnier than that you'll new new wheels. Second- Those are 35" tall tires and with the 4" lift anything shorter will look funny with that big tall truck. Since you can fit a 16" wheel on there stock I'd take the truck back down to stock height and put some 285/75/16s(33x11.5) on stock wheels and move on. Its an awesome truck and I'd love to own it but it sounds like you need a stock setup truck. Plus you might be able to get into parking garages in the city with it at stock height.

 

[Regcabguy]

Nitto Duragrapplers 305-70-18. Insanely high load capacity and would look good with your lift.

 

[redthies]

Nitto Duragrapplers 305-70-18. Insanely high load capacity and would look good with your lift.

Nitto makes a great tire, and although I didn't love the Terragrapplers in our snow conditions, but the Duragrapplers do look good...

 

[Buliwyf]

I'd put on 34" 285/75 r17 BFG ATKO's or KM2's. Not sure what the 18" wheel version of that tire is. Not my favorite tires, but they are both available in big E ratings.

The ATKO's will act like street tires and rule everywhere most of us go with a fullsize. When things get really messy I strap on mud rated chains and pass by the mud tired trucks in goo with ease.

There's a huge difference between using a truck to get somewhere offroad, and playing around offroad. Most of the loggers and oil field joes have fairly regular tires and use chains as needed instead of expensive mud terrains that suck at towing. Most of my heavy truck traffic is similar.

 

[bob91yj]

Another vote for BFG AT's. They aren't the best at anything but they are pretty good at everything! I find that the BFG AT's are the standard bearer in this tire segment that other tires are compared to. I run them on both my 2500HD and on my '05 Rubicon, same tire size on both (315/75/16). I have very little mud experience, so I can't speak for how they do there.

Before you think I'm on the BFG bandwagon, I hate their mud terrains, I can't keep a side wall intact when playing in the big rocks (Hammer's, etc) to save my life, flatted a tire with a manzanita twig no bigger than a pencil right through a tread block on a tire with less than 200 miles on it, stupid stuff happens to them for me. Interco's were required to save my driving!

 

[TrekAdvisor]

Wow thanks for all the expertise & experience, guys. Here are some thoughts based on what you've said:

1) What resonated the most is what @Buliwyf said, "There's a huge difference between using a truck to get somewhere offroad, and playing around offroad. Most of the loggers and oil field joes have fairly regular tires and use chains as needed instead of expensive mud terrains that suck at towing. Most of my heavy truck traffic is similar." That's exactly how I feel. The reality is outside of "aggressive looks" that I'd like, the reality is that this truck will be on the road 99% of the time. But @Buliwyf what confused me is that you proceeded to recommend BFG ATKOs or KM2s -- both of which are a pretty aggressive, "offroad ready" tire vs. a highway tire. So I'd love to better understand your position.

2) Based on @redthies and @jrose609's comments, I'm going to not consider the "BFG Rugged Terrains" due to them being completely useless offroad. Anyone feel differently?

3) @FishAll50, you mentioned the Nitto Terrain Grappler (I assume you're referring to the 'Terra' not 'Terrain') and @Regcabguy you metnioned the Dura Grapplers. Anyone have any thoughts on which would be better for me based on #1 above? Here's a chart showing the differences in the 2 tires: http://drod.io/1B2X3v1l1q2F1B182z3Q from the Nitto site.

4) @Fish, I agree that putting too small a tire on the truck would make it look silly. And I don't want to remove the lift. So I had an idea -- I wonder if it would be possible to go in a completely different direction... almost put semi-style tires on the truck. I bet that sounds weird, but Eco Roamer's F650 had these rims on it: http://drod.io/2Z3X3D0n0R2X2U3k3z1M ... I believe those are 22.5" rims... 4.5" greater than I have on there now, so I don't know if this is a crazy idea or somewhat doable on a non-dualie truck. Back in 2007 @Robthebrit said "Sticking with 22.5 inch semi type rims is a good call, you can get tires all over the world in one form or another" and that resonated with me since I want to take this truck all over. It just seems that with my lift, I could potentially pull the huge rims + tires off, and then I'd get a good highway tire that didn't look weird on the truck. Or maybe I'm crazy. I'd love to have someone give me thoughts on this approach. And if someone *doesn't* think it's a crazy idea, I'd love to know of a place to find used rims & tires of this size, even if just to kick the idea around a bit.

NOTE: The tire size that seems most consistent with the stock tires from a revolutions per mile standpoint would be a 275/65 R18 (assuming the rims will fit that tire -- I'll have to check; there's nothing written on the rim identifying its width). @Fish I guess you're saying a tire in this size might not look right on my truck. That's definitely something I'm thinking about... I guess I could try to go taller; anyone else have any opinions?

And I agree that I definitely need an "E" rated load tire.

So here are the top tires I'm considering (outside of point #4 above, which is probably just crazy), prioritized in order based on everyone's feedback so far:

- BFG All Terrain KO: http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod1111217&navAction= ($250 each at Sam's Club)
- Nitto Terra Grappler: http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/tires/nitto/product/submitProductSize.do?r=CEBINT|pc|94103&pc=40389 ($243 each -- it's a 70 height not 65; they don't seem to make the E rating in 65)
- Nitto Dura Grappler: http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/tires/nitto/product/submitProductSize.do?r=CEBINT|pc|94103&pc=40480
(I'd really love some advice on Terra vs. Dura)

Also, does anyone have any experience with these tires?

- Wrangler ArmorTrac: http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod3100117&navAction=
- Wrangler SilentArmor: http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod1111301&navAction=
- Wrangler DuraTrac: http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=203108&navAction= (probably too aggressive for me)

Lastly, according to this TireRack survey, the Firestone Destination A/T wins in the A/T category: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=ORAT ... anyone tried those tires? Here they are in the size I'd go for: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...ite Letters&partnum=765SR8DESTATOWL&tab=Sizes

 

[redthies]

I have only owned BFG ATs, and Terra Crapplers. Note spelling on the second. I would pick the BFGs over the Nittos every time, but that is based on SNOW use. I liked the Nittos fine for summer use, but they were not at all what I want in the snow. Note that I live in a town that gets 10-15' of snow. You likely won't see that in SF Bay area. Nittos would be ok for the occasional trip to Tahoe, but the BFGs would be better.

 

[bob91yj]

I'd say give the Kevlar Silent Armors a try if you want something a little different.

I'm a believer in Kevlar belts after the last Baja 500. The Herbst Trophy Truck rolled into our pit, they had blown a left rear tire, beadlock's kept the sidewall's on the wheel, the tread was gone but the Kevlar belts of the carcass were still holding the tire intact. The tire was so hot it was smoking when we got it off. Granted this was a BFG project tire but I think a Kevlar belted tire from brand X would be worth a shot if the tread pattern and load rating's meet your needs.