Truck Tire Time

The tread is plenty deep--these aren't snow tires. In any case I think tires shouldn't fail structurally before the tread wears out. That hasn't happened to me before in 32 years of driving.... These are Toyo Open Country from 2016 (date code 2516).

I ordered a pair of not-quite-the-cheapest E-rated tires from Walmart as suggested for $300 installed. For a work van that I drive less than 4000mi/yr (and decreasing as I work even less), I suspect they will do fine.

Carry on with your discussions of tire minutiae. Cheers!

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Originally Posted by climberevan

This appears to be where the tire experts hang, so I have this for your consideration. These are from 2016, and were purchased by the PO of the vehicle, so I doubt I have a warranty claim. This is the second Toyo that has failed like this in the past few months. I don't drive very much (work 1t van), so I am loath to spend a lot on a set and have them fail again way before they wear out. Are the cheapo E rated tires good enough to replace the blown ones?

Belts appear to be broken, causing a circumferential bulge.
Attachment 476454

Tread is also delaminated.Attachment 476455

This is just a weird cavity that has opened up.Attachment 476456

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Zooming in on the photos, those look to have some pretty serious weather checking, cupping, and uneven wear. I’m guessing they should have been replaced long before the failure.

It sort of looks like you might have hit something? Hard to tell from the pics. For sure tires can age out before they wear out. Just look at ST trailer tires that don't see a lot of miles. People still think because they still have decent TD, that they should just keep on rolling. Until they don't.

FYI Simpletire.com is having a cyber sale. Just got some Wildpeaks w/ free delivery and additional warranty for ~$1600 in 305/55 R20 E rated. Pretty good considering anywhere else they were over $18k w/o warranty.

This is the year of the tire for us. So far this year I have put snow tires on two vans, KO2s on my Sequoia, and Wildpeaks on my Tundra. Now I'm shopping for snows for the wife's car. Ugh.

So I went to put the Winter wheels on the truck and the caliper is hitting the inside of the rim on the front driver’s side. The rims are used ones I bought from a 2013 super duty and going on my 2015 super duty so same model series. No problems with old rims. Front passenger side is close, but no rub. I tried switching front to back and same problem. Plan is to try grinding like 1/16 to 1/8” off the offending area, but going to sleep on it. Any thoughts here?

Picture of the offending caliper

Attachment 477632

I bet that it’s not an oem caliper. So it’s probably taller. Or the pads aren’t seated well and the caliper is sticking up higher.

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Originally Posted by cat in january

Plan is to try grinding like 1/16 to 1/8” off the offending area, but going to sleep on it. Any thoughts here?

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Should be fine. A few years back my old man bought some new wheels for his Taco and sized down so he could run meatier tires. Long story short, he came to find out that the rims slightly interfered with the calipers, and the shop's "fix" for that problem was just to drive it around the block a few times until it stopped making noise. He was understandably very pissed off at the time and will never go back to that shop, but several years later he's had no issues with the wheels or calipers.

…
<runs outside to check brake clearance on my 2013 OE Super Duty 18 x 8 rims and the older OE Super Duty rims I had my Nokians mounted>
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Thanks guys. I ended up using a sharpie and my little file for taking down rakers on my chainsaw. Figured I couldn’t get into trouble with that. Took a bit, but noise is gone. I double checked the wheels and the calipers and both were oem ford parts. Wheels I took off were steelies and alloys went on. Need to borrow a torque wrench now as mine maxes at 150 pounds and book calls for 165.

Some entertainment for you all …

Like cat in January, I had purchased some older OE Super Duty wheels and had my snows mounted to them in May when I pulled them off my main wheelset.

So I had the truck at Firestone yesterday for my annual alignment and to do the winter wheel swap, and they called me about a problem … with the brakes … but not caliper interference. The older 18x8J wheels I bought have even more clearance than my 2013 OE set. My master cylinder cap was missing!

I had the oil changed in May and they always do an H20 analysis, it’s possible the tech either straight up left the cap off, or maybe didn’t put it on correctly and it worked its way off. I don’t remember that I had pulled the cap for any reason this summer, but who knows. Firestone had a cap delivered and did the flush and bleed, so all good now … hopefully not too much fluid spilled and caused problems elsewhere, more importantly I’m thankful I didn’t have a serious brake fade episode while going down the pass with my trailer pushing me and the family in the truck!!! Our passes are steep!

I've put 3000 miles on my new Cooper Discoverer Road+Trail AT's now so here's my initial review:

They look great- aggressive sidewall for mall crawling. Tread blocks aren't huge but big enough for light trail duty.
Snow performance is excellent. Very little sliding and great traction forward.
The 114T in 245/70r17 is awesome. Feels very secure without wobbly sidewalls going around corners. Does have a tendency to understeer in very fast corners but I also drive a lifted 1/2 ton van so it's to be expected.

Completely silent on most roads- the quietest tire I've driven on nasty worn concrete at 80mph also (including several highway tires).

The Cooper $100 rebate showed up in under a month- they're generally very easy to deal with.

If anybody is looking for a light duty tire with some off-road capability, I'd highly recommend them.

Going back to my search for E rated 245/70R17 tires for the van…I don’t want to go any bigger/wider, partly because on my short overhang van there’s no enough spare tire clearance at the rear diff if I go above 31” OD. I’ve found 55 psi is best, and since I’m not seeing anything between XL (50 psi max) and E (80 psi), I’m staying with E’s.

Current nitto grappler G2 is good in snow but I’d like a bit more ice traction (obv it won’t be winter tire traction in this category). Toyo Open Country AT III gets decent snow/ice traction assessment in controlled tests at tire rack…tread depth is less than others though. Wildpeak AT3W is heavier and slightly taller than the others, has a fairly good rep but less traction on ice than the Toyo or Nokian nAT. And Tire rack controlled testing saw a weakness in lateral stability in snow. The outpost nAT seemed like the overall winner but until that NA factory opens, they’re back ordered for months.

Guess I’ll go Toyo. Or make do with the (55 k miles) grapplers until the nokian becomes available.

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Originally Posted by frorider

Going back to my search for E rated 245/70R17 tires for the van…I don’t want to go any bigger/wider, partly because on my short overhang van there’s no enough spare tire clearance at the rear diff if I go above 31” OD. I’ve found 55 psi is best, and since I’m not seeing anything between XL (50 psi max) and E (80 psi), I’m staying with E’s.

Current nitto grappler G2 is good in snow but I’d like a bit more ice traction (obv it won’t be winter tire traction in this category). Toyo Open Country AT III gets decent snow/ice traction assessment in controlled tests at tire rack…tread depth is less than others though. Wildpeak AT3W is heavier and slightly taller than the others, has a fairly good rep but less traction on ice than the Toyo or Nokian nAT. And Tire rack controlled testing saw a weakness in lateral stability in snow. The outpost nAT seemed like the overall winner but until that NA factory opens, they’re back ordered for months.

Guess I’ll go Toyo. Or make do with the (55 k miles) grapplers until the nokian becomes available.

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what about looking at duratracs. That’s what we all run on plow trucks. I stud mine but a bunch of guys don’t because they run them all year. I have ridge grapplers for the summer. The grapplers definitely lack snow performance after the first year of use. I ran them last winter and they were good but not great. Splurged this year and got my winter set on stock wheels.

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Originally Posted by SoVT Joey

what about looking at duratracs. That’s what we all run on plow trucks. I stud mine but a bunch of guys don’t because they run them all year. I have ridge grapplers for the summer. The grapplers definitely lack snow performance after the first year of use. I ran them last winter and they were good but not great. Splurged this year and got my winter set on stock wheels.

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yeah as a skier, i would be extremely wary of beginning a winter with grapplers at 55k. hell the other day my BFG with 20k were slippin and slidin around and i couldn't wait to get the Blizzaks swapped on.

as we know, holy shit the "snow tire" difference is night and day....but i understand that's not really what we're talkin about and you're in the AT tire category. prolly best to just replace with Toyo, esp if you can get a deal. Then if you don't love them, buy the nokians when they come and sell the Toyos. you might end up paying a bit of a premium but those moments of stable stopping and turning with new tires will be $ well spent.

Fro, this was an interesting head to head test. Falken AT3W vs Toyo AT3 vs Mickey Thompson Baja Boss.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...y.jsp?ttid=293

I’m with jmed though, get what you can get before the next wave of El Niño spackle storms hit the Carson range and freeze elevations jump up and down 4000 feet every day, I’m sure the Toyo Open Countries would serve you well.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...y.jsp?ttid=293

Thx, yeah that tire rack 3 way comparison is what I was referring to above. Last winter I almost never drove the van (huge tahoe winter, it was in all the papers) but this feels like the year we hit PNW / BC / utardia #vanlife style.

Until this thread I hadn’t researched the outpost nAT, seems pretty ideal for people like me that in say March are (carefully) driving in 13F snow and a few days later are in 75F desert 4WD roads.

Just mounted 255 80R17 duratrac RT’s new tire from Goodyear. It’s too early to say but my initial impression is they are better than anything I have run in the past, including the old duratracs, Toyo AT3’s, cooper ST’s, BFG AT KO2’s the list goes on. Attachment 478838

Falken at trails with 15k miles did surprisingly well in some snow today no obvious slipping. Still swapping for my Viking contacts soon but was pleasantly surprised.

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Originally Posted by frorider

Going back to my search for E rated 245/70R17 tires for the van…I don’t want to go any bigger/wider, partly because on my short overhang van there’s no enough spare tire clearance at the rear diff if I go above 31” OD. I’ve found 55 psi is best, and since I’m not seeing anything between XL (50 psi max) and E (80 psi), I’m staying with E’s.


Guess I’ll go Toyo. Or make do with the (55 k miles) grapplers until the nokian becomes available.

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Kind of an under the radar tire but I have several co-workers who run these on their 3/4 ton rigs and really like them in the wet and in snow.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...RatingsReviews

I have a set of Geolandar g015 3PMSF 33s that I initially intended to use for winter. However, I recently obtained a set of nearly new 31s Blizzaks at a great price. I live in an area where the pavement is typically free of ice and snow, but I frequently drive on snowy Forest Service Roads. Currently, my car is equipped with Wranglers, and that perform surprisingly well on deep snow aired-down. Usually, I use chains on the rear. I can't fit them in the front with either the Wranglers or the Geolandars. The Blizzaks would allow me to install chains on the front and back. I am contemplating whether to install the Blizzaks on wheels or sell them and continue using the Geolandars. I am not sure I can handle loosing the 2".

That duratrac RT looks good, the open channels are what I look for since I’m often driving in slush or mud, but it looks like an E rated in my size isn’t available.

5 hours and $270 later I got my duratracs to finally balance. Had to use bean bags in them instead of wheel weights. Never have had this problem except with duratracs. My summer tires balanced like a dream. Winters are 325/65r18 studded and summers are nitto ridge grapplers 37x12.5r20.

I’ve had non e-rated blizzaks not need weights when new.

Anyone here tried Continental Vancontact winter tires? They're E rated and cheap in the size my truck uses:
https://www.prioritytire.com/contine...YaAutjEALw_wcB

They apparently come OEM on some Sprinter vans, and I've seen a few take off sets even cheaper than the new set.

I know a dude up on the hill who recently put those on his 3/4T with slide in camper … but not sure how valid his feedback will be as he only put them on the front and is running a different brand and model on the rear [emoji846]