Recommendations/Testimonials??

[76LongBox]

Well, now that I have the 76 running well, it's time to look at some new tires.  I need to repaint the 15x8 Rallies, and have paint on the way for that, but once I get that done, I want some new rubber on them.  I currently have Dayton Daytona SR's in 255/70 on the truck, and I like the look, etc.  These tires still have plenty of tread, but prior to building my shop 3 years ago, the truck sat on the road in front of the house in direct sunlight for 6 years with these tires on it, so they are starting to dry crack.

Doing some research on tires, it doesn't look like there are a ton of options in that size - at least not in brands of tires I know anything about.  One local tire shop told me about some "MM Grand" tires that they sell, which appear to maybe be a MultiMile Grand AM tire.  I don't know anything about them, and am leery of some off-brand like that.

Other options that I have found are (in no particular order):

Continental CrossContact LX
Kumho Road Venture APT
General Grabber HTS
BFG Radial T/A
Cooper Cobra Radial GT
Cooper Discoverer HT

While this is not my primary vehicle, it could be considered a daily driver.  I use this truck to save mileage on my 2010 Silverado Z71.  I might haul the occasional piece of lumber, pull my utility trailer, etc., but mostly just general driving around town.

I have absolutely no experience with any of the brands above except for BFG.  I had a set of Long Trail T/A's on a truck once...they lasted forever from a tread perspective but had absolutely no traction whatsoever.  I would tend to shy away from the Radial T/A simply because it has no treadlife warranty.

If anyone has any experience - either positive or negative - with any of the tires I listed above, please chime in and let me know. I'm typically a Michelin fan, but have very few options in a 15" tire, and none that I would consider in a 255/70. 

Any input will be greatly appreciated!

[bake74]

     I have run General grabbers before and were not impressed.  Though I will say every Cooper tire I have run before I have been impressed with.  Regardless if they were on a car or truck.

[76LongBox]

Thanks for the reply!  Anyone else got experience with any of these?

[travisr1988]

I had bfg radial t/a tires on my s10 blazer and loved them, they hadd good traction and lasted a good while with me abusing them...put them on a buddies blazer after i rolled mine.
I have also used goodyear rt/s which sucked. And general altimax r/t which had better traction in wet conditions compared to others.

[timthescarrd]

I ran Cooper Cobra's on my old '84 Camaro.  Good all-season tires, nice grip on clear days and still did well in the rain. Lasted quite a while too if I remember right

[cvbear]

our truck had worn out cooper's on it when I bought it (3, I can't recall what the other one was but it was different).  I replaced them with BFG Radial T/A's and they have held up well.

[76LongBox]

Thanks for the info guys.....

[jumpkickyergunt]

Toyo A/T II. You'll never look back. Better than those other tires you mentioned in my opinion.

[VileZambonie]

I take it its 2wd stock?

[76LongBox]

Yeah....2WD, pretty much stock.

[ck80]

One thing to note is that your profile doesn't say what part of the country you are from. To me, that may be one of the two most important pieces of info to consider in what kind of tires to get (other than how you will use the truck).

I've lived up and down the east and gulf coasts, ranging from New Orleans to New England, including states in between. What I will tell you is the tires that were best all around for me in New England are ones I wouldn't buy these days in Georgia.

Highway vs city driving, how hot it gets there, and how much rain you get (including how heavy the rain is when it does come) plays a huge role. Up in New England I had good luck with a variety of tires, ranging from Cooper and Continental to the cheapo Goodyear Wranglers, including one time a set from pep boys.

Down here in Georgia, we get heavier rain (not just total inches but RATE of falling) and the amount of standing water we get plays a role as well. The roads get hotter more often as well, which had be lean towards a harder rubber compound than a softer one.

(Now this goes outside your original questions, BUT, If it were me, and I wanted a wide rear tire, I would grab the 265/70/15 in a Michelin Latitude Tour for the back, and the same tire in a 235/75/15 up front, get a slightly raked look which would be chalked up to the springs in the rear anyways... Good rain performance, quiet ride, long wear pattern, and quality that you know wont fall out of round anytime soon...)

Otherwise I would run through the other brands based on testing and performance for my local weather and road conditions...

[76LongBox]

Hey ck80...thanks for the input.

I'm in Arkansas.  I don't typically get the old truck out in the rain, but I had considered the Latitude in the 265/70/15.  It's only about 1/2" taller than the 255/70/15, so it wouldn't make THAT much difference in my speedo - and of course I could probably just get a new speedo gear and fix that anyway. 

I have a set of the LTX M/S2's on my 2010 Silverado Crew Cab Z71 and like them very well, and even considered dropping back to the stock 235/75/15 so I could run them on this truck - but I really want something closer to the width of what I have on there now.

For goofing around town, I should be able get a few more miles out of these Daytona SR's that are on it now until I can figure out exactly what I want to go with.

I decided this weekend that the interior is next on the list anyway....I pulled the old rotted carpet yesterday and found (as I expected) that I need a new floor pan and rocker panel on the passenger side.  New carpet, refresh door and kick panels, recover the bench or convert to buckets.... Decisions...decisions...decisions.....and money.....money.....money.... LOL!!

[ck80]

There are lots of online calculators that let you play with the numbers, here's one for reference: http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTireMath.do

The speedometer difference from a 235/75/15 to a 265/70/15 isnt as much as you might think (if you believe the calculator) - .5mph more @ 20mph on the speedo, a bit over 1mph @40 and only 1.5@60... Not enough to throw me for a loop and begin getting tickets anyways.

I have a set of the LTX M/S2's on my 2010 Silverado Crew Cab Z71 and like them very well, and even considered dropping back to the stock 235/75/15 so I could run them on this truck - but I really want something closer to the width of what I have on there now.
 

I've been running the M/S 2s as well on my trucks here. I did some considering of the newish Firestone Destination LEs lately on my impending purchase, as they also have tested well, nearly as good as the M/S2s, but, price difference is negligible so I'm taking a why change what isn't broken approach. (Same reason I bought some Defenders for my 83 Regal... if you think 15" tire choices are sparse try finding quality in a 14" from this era!!!)

I decided this weekend that the interior is next on the list anyway....I pulled the old rotted carpet yesterday and found (as I expected) that I need a new floor pan and rocker panel on the passenger side.  New carpet, refresh door and kick panels, recover the bench or convert to buckets.... Decisions...decisions...decisions.....and money.....money.....money.... LOL!!

Funny enough, I too am planning out my new interior as well. Its hard to figure out how close to stock to keep it, or how much to modify it. Its for me to enjoy, just not sure what I really want yet other than for it to be blue. My fear with a recover of the bench is if it will look factory, or lumpy, and how it will hold up. Just look at the bright side, if you spend as much money on fixing one of these trucks up each month, as you would on a new truck payment, then eventually you will run out of things to buy before you would have had the other truck paid off!

[76LongBox]

Blue interior for me too, and I also struggled with the "stock vs modified" interior thing.  I posted in the Interiors forum today about the seats I'm looking at.  A little more coin than I really wanted to spend right now, but I'm taking the approach if I don't have enough time/money to do it right the first time, I don't have the time/money to do it twice.

My biggest problem is patience...I don't have much of it.  When I start something, I want it done NOW....so that causes me to spend more than I should at any given time.

Last year when I decided to do the engine/tranny swap, I sold a few of my guns that I never shot anyway to fund the project - swapping money from one hobby to another.  I might decide to do the same again this time. LOL!!

Either way, it's fun working on the old truck.

[76LongBox]

Well, the more and more I looked at my existing tires, the more nervous I was about driving the truck at highway speeds.  The cracks in the old tires were pretty bad, so I took care of it this morning.  I went with the Cooper Cobra GTs.  Found a local tire shop and was able to get 4 of them mounted/balanced, out the door for $487.  I didn't think that was bad at all.

I certainly feel more comfortable driving the truck now.