A few tire questions...

[tftimm]

I've got a 97 Crew, 2WD PSD. First of all, its my first diesel and I don't think I'd ever buy another gasser, atleast another gasser pickup.

Within the next month, I'll be in the market for new tires. I'm looking for a nice looking A/T tire with good tread life. I don't plan on doing any pulling with the truck and very little off-road. Maybe some caliche/gravel roads, but that's about it. It is primarily used on the highway so I want a tire that is going to last.

My first question has to do with load rating. Since I am not going to be pulling any trailers, do I need E Rated tires? They are more expensive and from what I read, give the truck a much firmer ride. If D is OK, I would rather have the smoother ride if I am not sacrificing treadlife.

That brings me to my question, will I see a considerable difference in treadlife with say E loaded BFG A/T's vs. D loaded BFG A/T's? If the anwer is probably not, I would prefer the D rated for the comfort.

I have had excellent luck with DiscountTire and will be buying my tires here at the local store. They already told me that they only recommend E rated for 3/4 ton trucks, but they will put on what I want. If D rated will do and I won't sacrifice treadlife, I'll go with D.

I have narrowed it down to:
BFG A/T (D or E)
Nitto Terra Grapplers (D or E)
Hankook DynaPro ATM (E)
Dunlop Rover MT Maxx Traction (E)

Has anyone run the same tires in both D and E Load Rating? Did you notice any difference in ride and was there considerable difference in treadlife. With almost pure highway driving, I'm hoping to get 30-40K out of them to give you some idea.

[tftimm]

Interestingly enough, on the Nitto website, the difference between the D and E load rated tires are the following:

D Rated: 3000 lbs
E Rated: 3415 lbs

[kevin3627]

I have 33" nitto mud grapplers on my 94 reg cab psd 4x4. they look great and when i bought them the ride was pretty good. I am not trying to frown on nittos but after 20k with maybe 1/4 tread left on them they ride like crap, and they sound like a 747 when you get on the highway lol.

If you doing little offroading and not alot of towing i would recommend the BFG A/T I have had a good experience with them

[tftimm]

Anyone have any experience with the Goodyear Wrangler Authority tires? They are aggressive A/T tires that look very nice. They are a special tire for Wal-Mart, E-Loaded 265/75R16's go for $165/tire.

I'm leaning towards BFG, although I don't like to go with what everyone else has and everyone seems to have the BFG's. I'm sure that's for a reason, but if there is something a little less known that are just as good, I wouldn't mind giving them a shot.

Thoughts?

[StrokedInMT]

Originally Posted by tftimm

Anyone have any experience with the Goodyear Wrangler Authority tires? They are aggressive A/T tires that look very nice. They are a special tire for Wal-Mart, E-Loaded 265/75R16's go for $165/tire.

I'm leaning towards BFG, although I don't like to go with what everyone else has and everyone seems to have the BFG's. I'm sure that's for a reason, but if there is something a little less known that are just as good, I wouldn't mind giving them a shot.

Thoughts?

for what it's worth, by buddy manages the wally mart tire/lube shop her in town and we both have run the BFG's (they sell) for years, and love em. i wanted to run the Authority in the worst way, but so far they dont make them big enough (35,12.5,18) yet. However he has told me that they have been getting excellent feed back on them and he IS planning on his next set to try them. only catch, he is runn'n a gasser super duty there just no hope for him

[Fireman40]

I would go with the Nitto terra grapplers. I have a set of them and I have over 50 K on them and there still kicking. They are only D rated and I tow alot of heavy trailers and have had a couple K in the bed and have not had any problems. My buddy owns a tires shop and says that an E rated tire will give you a much more rough ride and you will feel every little bump. In my experience bfg at suck. I got let then 20K out of them and they wore horribly. I would buy the nittos again for sure. Plus they were $400 cheaper than bfg

[stroked out]

BFG A/T's for sure. i have 33's on my 96 and my brother has them on his 2003 both F250. i have the load range D and hes got the E. i have 25,000 on then and and still over half tread left hes got a lil over 35,000 on his and had just a little less tread then me. they last and wear and ride good. my uncle has them on a 4X4 ranger hes got over 100,000 miles on them and still drives on them. they are bald but still thats alot of miles they have enough tread to drive on but that truck dont weigh as much as us.

i love them they can take me anyway i want to go.
in my opinion over all they beat out my buddys trucks.
they are running super swappers, dick cepeks, mud dawgs a friend just got the BFG KM2 so he likes them but we will see how they wear over time

hope this helps

[tftimm]

I was hoping for a consensus and I don't seem to be getting it. I'm still on the fence, but it seems as though D rated will work for me and that I won't see any significant difference in tread life, although the D rated will give me a much smoother and softer ride which is important.

Keep the comments comming. I read a lot of really bad reviews about the Wrangler Authority tires splitting, bad build quality, etc. I'm shying away from them and looking at the BFG and Terra's, D Rated.

[Fireman40]

like I said earlier in the post I had bad experiences with bfg, my vote is the nittos all the way. And as far a rating D should be just fine and cause you no problems

[IHDude18]

Go with the bfg m/t's I had them on a '89 f250 with a 351w and 12" of lift, they road well, alittle road noise not bad, had good tread wear and longevity. They didn't last but 13 months because I spun one on a small stump I didn't see and it riped half the tread off, too much wheel speed.