Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives 255 85 16 tires

Put a set of 255 Cooper St maxx on last week after throwing chains 3 times in one day on my worn out old 255 regular ST,s so far I'm impressed, I haven't even put in 4 since the new rubber

ST Maxx are incredible tires. My last 2 sets were ST Maxx and I never had to change a flat even though they picked up nails and screws. Damn tough

There are a lot of excellent options, and some sneaky pigs around. There are many versions of the Goodyear Wrangler for example, some good, some really suck.
Anyway I think a big part of the decision is sidewall strength. Where I hunt is possible to run into some moderately sharp loose rocks. Naturally these can cut a weaker sidewall pretty easily, and can also slash a robust sidewall if that is part of your destiny. Heavier LT E ply tires generally get less mileage, cost more, and have a firmer ride. Shock not absorbed by the tires is transferred to stress on the truck suspension. So there is a price to pay for less flats.
I am going to get tires today and I had a few coffees researching tires the last few days. Hopefully the local Sams club has the Michelin LTX A/T2 in stock. These are reported to get incredible mileage, some saying 100,000 miles. That seems like BS to me, but the norm say snow tread depth left at 60,000 miles. Cost is moderate at less than 200 bucks mounted/warrantied/rotated. Walmart/Sams seem to have the best price out the door and free rotation is very cool. The Tirerack and other online vendors were consistently more expensive with shipping/mounting on most tires.
Here is a good average ranking of common tires. I think any of the top 5 or so would be excellent. I personally hate road noise, so I looked at that factor as a tie breaker.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=ORAT&sortValue=0&filter=y&width=265%2F&ratio=70&diameter=16&rearWidth=255%2F&rearRatio=40&rearDiameter=17

Turns out that tax and a 10/tire warranty kicked the price up to 811 OTD. They did well in the semi-maintained gravel roads in the state forest. Looks like a good balance of wear, low noise, durability, and traction.

St Maxx in 255/85R16 It what I want next for my snow plow truck.

I have Toyo MTs on my 3/4 ton pick-up. They are bad in packed snow and ice conditions. When taking off from gravel (Summer driving) I have to put the pick-up in 4 wheel drive to get going if there is a slight rise to get over. I only use them in the summer then put on a better snow tire for winter.

They do make a rig look good and they ride real well. Steering response is excellent. Hauling or towing with them feels more stable then the BFG KO ATs I had on.

I am thinking of a different tire when these need replaced in about 7 years.

The Toyo MT's are arguably the best off road tire made today for a street legal vehicle. They are simply fantastic in about every way for a 4X4 truck.

However...... They will use far more fuel to operate as a part time off road vehicle and full time daily vehicle.

I have a log book that is used to record my mileage and service which is up to date from Dec 2004 on my Cummins powered 4x4 Dodge 2500 since the day I drove it off the lot brand new. The stock tires were replaced the same week I bought the truck. I put on an aggressive 35x12.50 off road tire. Similar to the ToyoMT. My speedometer and odometer settings were corrected for size and the first several dozen MPG calculations were done with the actual mileage not the displayed MPG. I was in the 18 plus MPG highway range, ( rarely better then 20) and when hauling my camper or a trailer in the 15plus MPG range.

at 35,000 miles I switched to the more mild tread of the 37" BFG AT tires because I have 410:1 ratio's thinking I might get an even better final drive ratio. The MPG for the next 50,000 miles was consistent in the 17 plus MPG range and the loaded MPG settled into the 15+ range. Just a bit less MPG.

At about 85,000 miles I needed tires again so I switched to the E rated Toyo 37X13.50 MT's. This because the D rated BFG's were a bit soft for the weight of the truck camper. Within a month of use I realized that these were gonna be expensive! I was now getting 14MPG empty and 10-11MPG with the camper or trailer. It's been consistent since then. Rarely peaking at 12 and more often in the 10.5 mpg range

I would not be taking this into consideration if it were for a couple tanks of fuel and using the on board MPG display. However my mileage was hand calculated for many tanks of fuel to verify accuracy of the display, My speedometer was reset each time for the size of the tires and verified accurate with my garmin GPS.

This fuel mileage is very representative of the difference in fuel consumption for the different tires used.

I now need a new set of tires at 110,000 miles. So I will be switching back to an AT tread pattern in the 35X12.50 size at an E rating. This is a positively clear MPG improvement over the D rated 37 BFG and a huge improvement over the giant TOYO 37X13.50's at 95 pounds each! I would not likely have believed that there could be a 5-6MPG difference based on the tire size and tread pattern. However this is not arguable to me. I've now seen it with three sets of tires over 110,000 miles of resolution.

The height seems to have the least effect, the width, weight, and the more aggressive tread is clearly the biggest effect over all.

I also have new Front hubs on my truck with Warn Free wheeling dials. Back to old school locking hubs for me! They claim 1.2-3 MPG improvement. The only fella I know that has also done this conversion claims a solid 2MPG but only on long road trips. I can live with that! Hoping to be back into the 18-20mpg range with these changes.

I had Toyo M55 on a full size diesel and couldn't stand the noise. If your on gravel though, they are one of the best choices out there for wear and sidewall toughness. The down side is at highway speeds the launch all the 3/4" minus stones they picked up at the inner fenders.