Tire Recommendations: Mostly highway miles + some offroad

[arveetek]

It's time for new shoes for my Tahoe. I'm looking for the perfect tire, of course!

I'm probably going to replace my current 15" rims with some 16" versions, and go with an LT285/75R16 size.

I drive a lot of highway miles, with a 45 mile round trip to work 5 days a week. So I'm looking for a long life tread.

I do, however, take the rig on a few multi-day outings during the year, which sometimes includes a couple hundred miles of off-pavement dirt, some mud, and a few rocks. So I'm looking something with a bit more aggressive tread.

I've narrowed down my choices to the following:

All terrains: Falken Wildpeak A/T or Toyo Open Country AT II - Best tread life, not as good grip off road

Hybrids: ******** Cepeck Fun Country II, Cooper Discoverer ST Maxx, Goodyear Duratrac - Good tread life, better grip off road

Mud terrains: Treadwright Guard Dog - Worst tread life, best grip off road, cheap!

I welcome all opinions on these, or even other tire suggestions for my requested needs.

Thanks!!

Casey

 

[redthies]

Our resident tire guru (Redline), is crazy for the FCII. I owned a set on my 05 Dodge 3500. They were a vast improvement over the BFG Rugged Trails that came on it, but they wore quicker than I expected. That said, on your Tahoe they should wear well due to its being much lighter. I didn't think they were spectacular in snow, but our snow here is quite wet.

I also think the ST Maxx is a great tread. I will be looking at these if they do come out with more sizes as the rumors say...

 

[tuckernielson]

Have you ruled out Nitto? The Trail Grappler and Terra Grappler have good reviews.

 

[upsidedown22]

I have the Goodyear Duratrac 285/75/16 on my F-350 CCLB 22K on them sofar. Had BFG AT on it for the last set the GY ride much better and seam to handel much better. The way they are going it looks like 60 to 70K out of them. They do work well in the snow and ice both on and offroad.

 

[Falkon]

arveetek,

I have running the Cooper Discover ST Maxx foir about 6 months. While my truck is nota Domestic and I am not sure if it is "full size" or not, I do however drive 40 hiway miles one way for work each day and my off-roading is similar to yours as well.

That being said, I do love the Coopers. Full disclosure, I do consider myself a Cooper Man as I have run them, though not exclusivley, for many years and vehicles.

Road Noise: Minimal, but noticeable. Someone sitting in a car at hiway speeds is not going to hear me until I am next to them. Can be heard in the cab, but it does not bother me.

Tread: Has held up very well. I have put about 15k on them and they appear to be wearing very well and even. I do keep them rotated and balanced.

Grip: Superb! Bouldery streams, easy. 6 inches of snow with mud underneath, a breeze. GA dirt (red clay), pretty darn good. The tread did pack a little on the wet clay, but it cleared enough to get me up about a steep hill. I did slip off of the top into the ruts slightly sideways, but the truck and tires just kept chugging along spitting out enough of the wet clay to get some bite and make it to the top.

Rain: I was nervous about these guys in a rainstorm at 70 MPH, but they locked on. I have never felt any hydroplaning or slipping.

Those are the facts as I know them.

Now for some opinion, don't get the Mud terrains. With as much pavement as you drive, you are bound to hate them eventually. Unless maybe you are a rich 20 year old dude, then you probably wont mind as much.

There's my 2 cents, a bill is already in the mail.

 

[1stDeuce]

You might check Cooper AT3's too if you don't need the super tough sidewall of the STMaxx. I'm also a big fan of Cooper tires, having had a set of STT's that have not yet let me down, and have suffered more abuse than I care to admit to... Best of all, the LT sizes are MADE IN THE USA!! The FC2's are great winter tires, and very capable offroad, as Redline will attest. I believe they are also made in the USA.

I can also tell you that the Guard Dogs (MT/R-ish pattern, right?) are LOUD. REALLY LOUD!! (A lot louder than their MT/R brethren!)
Chris

 

[gun45boat]

I swear up and down on the new goodyear MTR Kevlar's I have over 100k on a set of 8 (50K on each set of 4) I personally think it is the best highway and off road tire on the market, and I have run MANY tires. BF Goodrich Mud Terrain KM2 would be second place. Pro Comp tires SUCK!!!

 

[jim65wagon]

arveetek,

I have running the Cooper Discover ST Maxx foir about 6 months. While my truck is nota Domestic and I am not sure if it is "full size" or not, I do however drive 40 hiway miles one way for work each day and my off-roading is similar to yours as well.

That being said, I do love the Coopers. Full disclosure, I do consider myself a Cooper Man as I have run them, though not exclusivley, for many years and vehicles.

Road Noise: Minimal, but noticeable. Someone sitting in a car at hiway speeds is not going to hear me until I am next to them. Can be heard in the cab, but it does not bother me.

Tread: Has held up very well. I have put about 15k on them and they appear to be wearing very well and even. I do keep them rotated and balanced.

Grip: Superb! Bouldery streams, easy. 6 inches of snow with mud underneath, a breeze. GA dirt (red clay), pretty darn good. The tread did pack a little on the wet clay, but it cleared enough to get me up about a steep hill. I did slip off of the top into the ruts slightly sideways, but the truck and tires just kept chugging along spitting out enough of the wet clay to get some bite and make it to the top.

Rain: I was nervous about these guys in a rainstorm at 70 MPH, but they locked on. I have never felt any hydroplaning or slipping.
l.

I'll concur with the above. The ST Maxx's on my Tundra have 30,000 miles on them and are just about at their use-able half-life. That'll give me about 60,000 miles when I need a new set. I run about 300 miles a week on pavement, and spring summer and fall is a mix of paved, graveled, and muddy two-tracks for camping season. This winter I was able to do snowy roads, and I feel these are way better than the BFG AT's I had a loong time ago and the old ST's that were my last set of tires.

My personal opinion (and YMMV) is they are the best all-terrain tire out there. Certainly the best one I've ever driven on. They are my new favorite tire.

 

[4x4junkie]

I swear up and down on the new goodyear MTR Kevlar's I have over 100k on a set of 8 (50K on each set of 4) I personally think it is the best highway and off road tire on the market, and I have run MANY tires. BF Goodrich Mud Terrain KM2 would be second place. Pro Comp tires SUCK!!!

I run the MT/R-Ks also. They are an awesome offroad tire and so far have been pretty quiet for a mud tread. However I think there are better choices for the OP's use. MT/R-Ks will be finished pretty quick with a 45-mile round trip to work 5 times a week... Plus I don't see a Tahoe on 285/75R16s as a practical choice to hit the Rubicon trail in either.

I would say give the Duratracs a shot. Though I haven't used them personally, I've heard a lot of good word on them, and they should do well on anything you're likely to encounter in your Tahoe.
The BFG A/T-KO is certainly worth having on your list as well. They aren't the greatest in mud, but do exceptionally well just about everywhere else.

 

[beez33]

I have run cooper for a lot of years lots of on road with some off my last set od stt lasted 5 years the new st should give at least that kind of time if not more

 

[arveetek]

Thanks for the opinions everyone, I really appreciate it!

arveetek,

I have running the Cooper Discover ST Maxx foir about 6 months. While my truck is nota Domestic and I am not sure if it is "full size" or not, I do however drive 40 hiway miles one way for work each day and my off-roading is similar to yours as well.

That being said, I do love the Coopers. Full disclosure, I do consider myself a Cooper Man as I have run them, though not exclusivley, for many years and vehicles.

Road Noise: Minimal, but noticeable. Someone sitting in a car at hiway speeds is not going to hear me until I am next to them. Can be heard in the cab, but it does not bother me.

Tread: Has held up very well. I have put about 15k on them and they appear to be wearing very well and even. I do keep them rotated and balanced.

Grip: Superb! Bouldery streams, easy. 6 inches of snow with mud underneath, a breeze. GA dirt (red clay), pretty darn good. The tread did pack a little on the wet clay, but it cleared enough to get me up about a steep hill. I did slip off of the top into the ruts slightly sideways, but the truck and tires just kept chugging along spitting out enough of the wet clay to get some bite and make it to the top.

Rain: I was nervous about these guys in a rainstorm at 70 MPH, but they locked on. I have never felt any hydroplaning or slipping.

Those are the facts as I know them.

Thank you for that analysis! That's exactly the kind of information I'm looking for.

Now for some opinion, don't get the Mud terrains. With as much pavement as you drive, you are bound to hate them eventually. Unless maybe you are a rich 20 year old dude, then you probably wont mind as much.

There's my 2 cents, a bill is already in the mail.

I was thinking that would probably be the case. I've never run a set of mud terrains on a full size. I have some Wild Country mud terrains on my Jeep TJ, but it rarely gets driven. They're pretty quiet on the road, but then, the Jeep is kind of noisy, so it's hard to tell!

I'm definitely not a rich 20 year old dude! I'm an everyday working man with two kids and a stay at home mom to support, so a tire purchase like this is a VERY major decision! I definitely don't want to wear out a set of tires in 25K miles.... I just can't afford that!

Casey

 

[arveetek]

I talked with a friend of mine today who owns a tire shop and is also an avid off-roader. He strongly recommends the Cooper S/T Maxx or the Toyo Open Country A/T II for my situation. He hasn't used the Maxx yet, but loves the older S/T. He's also used the Toyo and says it can't be beat.

So I've narrowed it down to those two choices. I think with proper rotations, I should be able to get a long life out of the S/T Maxx. I'm leaning more towards that choice right now.

Casey

 

[arveetek]

You might check Cooper AT3's too if you don't need the super tough sidewall of the STMaxx. I'm also a big fan of Cooper tires, having had a set of STT's that have not yet let me down, and have suffered more abuse than I care to admit to... Best of all, the LT sizes are MADE IN THE USA!! The FC2's are great winter tires, and very capable offroad, as Redline will attest. I believe they are also made in the USA.

I can also tell you that the Guard Dogs (MT/R-ish pattern, right?) are LOUD. REALLY LOUD!! (A lot louder than their MT/R brethren!)
Chris

I'm a big Cooper fan myself. I've got a new set of Coopers on the wife's minivan. We got over 80K miles on the last set! Of course, my wife doesn't quite understand why the tires for my Tahoe cost so much more than for her minivan!

I've got a buddy who runs the TW Guard Dogs (yes, the MTR copy) on his JK, and he likes them pretty well. I've never ridden in it, so I wasn't sure how loud they were.

Casey

 

[GHR]

You might find this article useful in your decision

http://www.fourwheeler.com/techarticles/wheels/129_1204_4x4_tire_guide/

 

[redthies]

I sorry, but I'm a longtime fan of Fourwheeler mag, but ANYONE who rates the KM2 above the AT KO in snow needs to have their heads examined. I mean serious brain scan type examination!!!