I have a 1999 Ford F250 Superduty diesel 4WD. It has 100k miles, and it's second set of tires (Hercules all-terrain) are bald. They have 47,000 miles on them, and though that might not sound like they are short-lived, I know the 6 or 7 miles per day I drive on limestone gravel roads have taken more than their share of rubber. I can see how the gravel takes chunks of rubber off. I don't drive over 30 when on gravel. My question is this: What are the best tires to use in my situation? My brother's friend works in a tire store and he said to get the 10-ply commercial truck tires for it. Will extra plies really help? I use this truck to drive to work on interstates, 57 miles each way, farm work, and pulling a gooseneck horsetrailer we camp in, so it pulls the trailer through pastures and mud, too sometimes. Thanks in advance for your advice!

-- Debbie in Mo (risingwind@socket.net), January 03, 2002

Answers

My 1999 Ford 550 came with Continal/General tires on it and I got right at 73000 out of them.

-- Gary (burnett_gary@msn.com), January 03, 2002.

I have had good luck on my diesel dodges with michelin ltx 245 75R16 E tires. They seem to last about 75K miles with a mix of highway, off road, town and gravel. I used to tow a 30 foot gooseneck stock trailer and still tow a gooseneck flatbed. The trucks have all been heavy and 4 wheel drive. I also rotate the tires regularly and I do rotate them to the other side...I know that is a radial tire no-no, but it has worked for me.

I have run Laredos and Herculese at and some others and they typically gave me 40k. Took my cheap self a while to see that the 20 bucks more a tire for michelins was really cheaper.

Good Luck.

Oscar

-- Oscar H. Will III (owill@mail.whittier.edu), January 03, 2002.

The Michalins on my chevy 1/2 ton now have 96,000 miles on them :) They are getting replaced this week, but they are great tires. The extra expense is worth it.

-- Tracy (zebella@mindspring.com), January 03, 2002.

Ply-rating is an indication of how much load (weight) a tire can safely handle. The higher the ply-rating, the greater the load carrying capability. I have never heard that ply-rating had any influence on tire longevity (assuming you're not overloading your truck). IMHO, tread thickness, tread design and rubber quality determines tire life, as well as, regular tire rotations, balancing and alignments. After 73,000 miles, my 1999 Chev Z71 1/2-ton still has its original tires (Goodyear Wrangler RT/S). By the looks of the tread, I expect to get at least 100K out of the tires. I do not travel much on gravel roads, however. I do drive on frozen lakes on occasion. --Happy trails, CF

-- Cabin Fever (cabinfever_mn@yahoo.com), January 03, 2002.

I like Kelly tires. I'd say they're a genuine 50,000 mile tire at a fair price. The Kelly Safari series has some patterns that shed mud half way decent and still get the mileage.

I really didn't expect them to last long with an aggressive tread pattern but they did.

-- Darren (df1@infi.net), January 03, 2002.

Bridgestone/Yokohama's will give you up to twice the wear at the same cost as other name brand tires. We have gotten over 250,000 out of some Bridgestone/Yokohama's on our tractor trailer, nothing else can come close to that!

Get them at a commercial truck tire dealer, they carry your size tires as well, or can order them for you quickly.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), January 04, 2002.

Replacing tires in gravel/rock country is just about all I do these days. Running three Dodge diesel rigs (2500 & 3500's). On the 2500, I just replaced a set of Wrangler ATS, with a set of Cooper Discovery ST's. Got 45K out of the Wranglers, which is practically a miracle where I live. The 3500's both need new rubber, getting only 25-28K out of a set of Michellin's. Going back to the TXR's which seem to do better around here. I know Goodyear makes "F/G" tires, but it's hard finding them in Wyoming.

-- matt johnson (wyo_cowboy_us@yahoo.com), January 04, 2002.

I'd agree with Annie on the Yokohama tires. I've gotten twice as much use out of them than comparable Goodyear tires on several vehicles and they're cheaper. The last set of Goodyear car tires I bought were $170 each(16" Eagle zr gatorbacks) and didn't even last 25,000 miles.

The Kelly tires Darren mentioned seem to be pretty good. I have a set of Safari AWR 31" with about 20k on them and they still look new.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), January 04, 2002.

Actually I'm considering the new wider tires (455's) instead of duals next year. Local wood chip trucks are running them. Anyone tried them yet?

-- matt johnson (wyo_cowboy_us@yahoo.com), January 04, 2002.

Cheapy SK 40,000 mile tires yielded 97,000 miles on the front of my truck with no rotations, mostly highway, but a fair amount of parts imbedded soil at the junkyards. The Yokahamas are good, tried those before. Michellins are great for longevity, but only OK in mud (at least the ones I had). Uniroyals suck. Ive had nothing but bad luck with them- the ones I have on there now have bald patches all over them, but the tread is still ok (after a whole 40,000 on 60,000 mile tires). Feels like I asm running on square tires. BF goodriches are the best tires Ive yet to run, but I cant afford them, more often then not. Firestones, well I had 4 on my trailer. Within one week after the recall, all 4 blew tread off the tire and into outer space. These tires were not included in the recall. They forever lost my dollars.

-- Kevin in NC (Vantravlrs@aol.com), February 01, 2002.