Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Stock tires ain't worth squat

After driving my new truck home last night in that snow I discovered something. 4wd all the way and I'm not impressed. Slip sliding away, what I discovered was those damn street tires the put on a truck ain't worth squat.

I asked my dealer freind about that once, he said with that kind of truck they sell the ride, unlike something like a TRD.

It's a truck, let the tires sing and rumble, but let them bite when it counts. Screw the ride.
Now looking at A/T tires after I sell my old truck.

Thinking Cooper Discoverer ST Maxx

the ones that came on my f250 in '15 were pathetic. don't remember what they were but they were a brand name. wore out in 19k miles and were about useless on anything but dry pavement.

I’ve got Cooper Discoverer m+S tires on both my rigs for winter, Michelin’s for summer season. Good tires. OEM tires are strictly for the ride and handling off the sales lot. Mostly crap. Happy Trails

I hate Coopers.

We keep buying them because of the service our local store provides.

My 2018 Silverado has "off road" tires. After 2 flats they came off and BGF K02's went on. Money well spent.

Yeah seems that’s all anyone carries. They wear down fast..

I wont buy them any more either. Not impressed with how fast they wear out when put to use.

I have been running these year round for years on my trucks. Great in snow. My Cooper dealer runs them on his plow trucks.

405wcf

Those would be far from my first choice for a winter tire. Hard compound and little siping. I put a similar tire on my truck last year and am disappointed in their performance on hard packed snow and ice.

I don’t buy anything by Michelin’s

Good tires can take you farther in 2 wheel drive than some road tires in 4x4.

If you have a 3/4-1tn and a diesel, the Nitto Exo Grappler is an excellent choice. It's the best I've used on hard-packed snow/ice short of dedicated snow tires like Blizzak. They're very puncture resistant, don't get eaten up on gravel, and have a 3rd belt in the sidewall that really stiffens things up if you're towing/hauling something heavy.

I avoid mud like the plague but I did have a little "oopsie" last spring and despite the front bumper being drug, I was able to back out of that black-hole. I wouldn't make a habit of testing a diesel 3/4-1tn pickup in the mud.

Current truck is an '11 F250 w/180K+ Mi, all by me. In it's life I've had:

Continental Conti-Trac from the factory.

Nitto Trail Grappler which had great off-road traction but were not good at all on ice/hard-packed snow which we typically have 3-4Mo/yr here.

BFG ATKO2, no complaints, a very good all-around tire

Nitto Terra-Grappler, probably wouldn't buy again. They're not as good as ATKO2 regarding traction, but, they're just as loud and throw just as many rocks on gravel.

I'm on my 2nd set of Exo-Grappler, I run them as a "winter tire" and have the Terra's on a 2nd set of rims for summer.

On my '06 F250 6.0L PSD I had a set of BFG Long-Trail from the factory and also tried a set of Goodyear Dura-Trac. The Dura-Trac didn't last 2-weeks and I gave them away. They were like driving perched atop dodgeball balls, squirrly is an understatement. Ended up running BFG ATKO for the rest of that truck's life.

The Exo's on a 1/2tn would most likely be mighty rough riding, they're stiff. I'd be inclined to look hard at the new Toyo Open Country AT3 for an "all-around" AT tire on a non-diesel rig.

FWIW, Nitto is the Made in the USA division of Toyo. I like the fact that they're Made in USA thus the reason I've tried 3 different sets to find what works for me. Not a lot of Made in USA choices for tires anymore. The Nitto's don't cost much more than any other comparable tires.

I am on my third set of the ST Maxx, just short of 50,000 miles on the first set and a little over 50,000 on the second set. I have no complaints, they are made for hard use and when rotated regularly they will serve you well.

Me either.

Wife has high dollar MT's on her pickup. I do believe they are the worst tires I have seen.

Rotated regularly, but roar so bad on the highway, even I can hear nothing else. Hate them.

Every set of Coopers I've had on my truck rolled like they were square. I even thought there was something wrong with my front end the whole time because it had a shimmy. I finally broke down and bought a set of Michelin Defender M/S All Weather tires for it, and it was like a different truck. I have no problem on slick surfaces either. They are on my vehicles from now on.

For slick roads, you need slick road tires. All season's are no better than highway tires according to traction tests. They look like snow tires but aren't. Real winter tires are made of a soft rubber that sticks. They'll wear faster so you don't want to run them year round. Also, siping makes a big difference. All those little cuts grab the snow.

I have Cooper AT3's on my pickup. They're not excepltional on ice by any means.

This is just a photo I grabbed off the web showing a real siped tire.

I've got a 2018 Silverado also. It came with Goodyear Wranglers. Had to have one tire patched at about 250 miles, picked up a nail. It wasn't many more miles when I got another screw in the sidewall close to the thread. No one would patch it were it was at, didn't want to buy new tire with 10,000 miles on other three. I plugged it and it is still going strong, but it has to be the thinnest sidewall I ever seen on a truck tire.

Been running Toyo Open Country A/T II on mine. Will buy another set when thy are done

I ran that ST Maxx tire through 2 Montana winters and it did very well in snow and ice so wouldn't judge it based on looks alone. I'm now running the Exo Grappler that horse1 recommended and agree with his assessment. I think they will outlast the ST Maxx, though do feel the ST Maxx does better in deep snow and mud.

Bingo.

Mud tires also suck on pavement.

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