SUV Tires

[Jason Boggs]

I've had 2 sets of Yokohama tires and I love them. The first set was the Yokohama Geolander A/T+ tires and they lasted for about 45,000 miles or so. They were on my Nissan Frontier truck.

The set I now have on my Xterra is the Geolander A/T-S set. I've only had them for about 10,000 miles, but I really like them.

 

[Graham Butler]

I agree. I used to be big into offroading in my past life, and BFG All Terrains are the only way to go.

Now that I have a car, I'm not as concerned about tire brand as much.[

I will again add a vote for BFG A/T. Just note that they are not great in sticky mud but then again anything you want to use for chasing isn't going to be great. I have had 3 sets of A/T on my Tahoe. The first set lasted ~55k miles. On the last set I had the air pressure up higher and rotated them and got more like 65k+ miles out of them. I just had this third set put on a few thousand miles ago for ~$1000 at Sams with road hazard. This price may seem high but they are 285/75/16s which is big (tad smaller than running 33s).

Some people say that BFG A/Ts are just trendy but there is a reason they are the most popular on/off road tire. They are the best tire out there for daily driving with occasional offroad use.

Don't skimp on your tires. You can have the best chase vehicle in the world but if you can't control it......it ain't worth *****.

Good luck

Graham

 

[Chris Nuttall]

I'm actually getting Firestone Destination ATs put on my '08 Liberty on Monday. I've spent a few months doing research. I read reviews on Tire Rack and various Jeep forums. The Destination ATs and Revo 2 ATs are having a back-and-forth over for the #1 rated AT tire on Tire Rack right now. Considering I'll be on paved roads 95% of the time, it looks like the Destination ATs have the best balance of performance and price. Firestone Auto Care centers also alternate deals each month on the Destinations. They seems to go back and forth with buy 3 get the 4th free (current deal through Jan. 31) and 15% all of them.

 

[Aaron Blaharski]

What is the current thinking regarding tires. Best/worst etc.

Define "best". You'll probably get a lot of varying answers, everyone who drives a car probably has an opinion on what is the best tire, be it in terms of wear, ride, bang for the buck, all out performance, etc.

I'll take a shot at what I think your asking though - best "all around" tire for an SUV? I'll add a big +1 to what some posters above recommended - the BFG All Terrains. I put them through axle deep mud, bumper deep muck and water, deep drifted snow, two track, and the dunes of Lake Michigan. Never left me stuck, and still delivered a pleasant express way ride. Wear was also acceptable, and I never experienced any poor handling chracteristics in the rain (important if you plan on chasing in them). They cost more than a standard SUV tire, but I don't think you can go wrong for a tire that can do just about everything.

That's my personal experience with them. I'm sure there are others with similar performance, but the BFG A/T's are proven in my book.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

I'm actually getting Firestone Destination ATs put on my '08 Liberty on Monday. I've spent a few months doing research. I read reviews on Tire Rack and various Jeep forums. The Destination ATs and Revo 2 ATs are having a back-and-forth over for the #1 rated AT tire on Tire Rack right now. Considering I'll be on paved roads 95% of the time, it looks like the Destination ATs have the best balance of performance and price. Firestone Auto Care centers also alternate deals each month on the Destinations. They seems to go back and forth with buy 3 get the 4th free (current deal through Jan. 31) and 15% all of them.

I was going to go this route, but they didn't carry them at Sears anymore. They told me that the destinations were discontinued. That might have just been at Sears, but a heads up.

 

[Adam Lucio]

I agree. I used to be big into offroading in my past life, and BFG All Terrains are the only way to go.

Now that I have a car, I'm not as concerned about tire brand as much.

I put in a vote for this tire as well. I love them. I have taken them off roading on some seriously muddy and bumpy roads and have had not had to use the 4wd. I only use the 4wd to get myself out of a situation I got myself into with 2wd [I drive a Ford Expedition which is rwd when not in 4wd.]

Ive put about 20k on them in the first year and there is very little tread wear - as a matter of fact, the nubs in between the treads are still visible.

I wont get another tire! There is no road noise till you hit about 90 [dont ask how I know that!] The only bad thing I can say is they will make your vehicles ride a little more rough - but thats the same with any A/T tire.

Brand New:

7 months and 15k+ miles later!

 

[Mark Blue]

It seems the previous posts are either geared toward "passenger style" tires or offroad / all terrain tires. Let us know Stephen what you were thinking when you originally asked. I would imagine that since you live in KC and spend most of your time driving on pavement you would be interested in an all season tire geared towards SUV owners rather than something specialized (summer, winter, offroad, etc.). If you have a moment to chime in that would help fine tune what you are after and if you could post the size you are buying that would be great!

 

[Wes Carter]

Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo II best tire ever for a SUV. I had 2 sets first the Revo then the Revo II great tires all the way around and highly rated. I had these on my Ford Escape over in England and they handled those crappy roads great. Brought the truck to Kansas and put the second set on and also fantastic on gravel/dirt/snow/rain.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Dueler+A/T+Revo+2

I had those on my Ford Ranger and I'll concur, they are by far the best tire I've ever had on a pickup truck. I really never thought about putting them on a SUV that is primarily driven on the open road, but I have no reason to think they wouldn't do well there also. But for a multi-use 4x4 truck, they are the cat's meow.

 

[Stephen Locke]

Very intuitive Mark, Yes I am primarily interested in Highway tires.
I have 4wd Explorers but for 2010 I've made a vow to avoid mud
roads as that usually seems to kill the chase.

I would rate my concerns as follows;

1) blow-out resistance. The factory Firestones on my 2000 Explorer were recalled for that problem. Firestones seem to have a long record of belt separation and blowouts.

2) hydroplane resistance.

3) wear resistance

4) noise

5) price

6) I guess I should include weather checking since my current Goodyears
are rotting on the rims.

 

[Mark Blue]

Okay, since monster mudders aren't your gig, we'll focus on all season tires. I assume your size is: 235/75R15. If not please let me know, but it seems to be what Tire Rack says is your OEM size for a 2000 Ford Explorer 4WD.

I searched Tire Rack and sorted them out by the highest rating and I think it comes down to two or three choices.

If you are interested in mainly Michelins they have a Michelin LTX M/S that looks as though it would fit the bill. By the looks of the tread it almost appears it would work for light duty off road in case you get into some mud, but is mainly "designed to deliver a smooth, quiet ride along with traction in dry, wet and wintry conditions, including in light snow." That last part in a quote from the website.

You may not want to hear this, but Greg Stumpf actually recommended a good tire in the Goodyear Fortera TripleTred as owners of this tire give it high marks on the Tire Rack website. It appears hydroplaning is its' forte, which is good as storm chasing often involves driving in heavy rain. It also appears to have the industry sidewall mark for snow capability, which for you would work for the rest of the year when the snow flies in KC.

I think Jason Boggs mentioned the Yokohama Geolander, which also gets high marks on the Tire Rack. This appears to be an all round all season tire that does well above average in most categories. There is also a Continental, Pirelli, and a new Hankook that is a very nice looking tire.

Assuming I have the right size, here is a link to the models above where you can read up on each of them:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSearchResults.jsp?filtering=true&width=235/&ratio=75&diameter=15

You can also go with a wider tire as long as you maintain the same aspect ratio and as close to the same overall diameter for your size (spedometer calibration). These specs are posted for every tire on Tirerack.com. I hope this helps, and Discount Tire also has an online store where you shop as well.

 

[JSmith]

I put Uniroyal Liberator A/T's on my Durango and I love them

 

[Stephen Locke]

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSe...75&diameter=15

That's a great resource Mark, Thanks!

 

[Steve Bottkol]

Added a set of Goodyear Fortera Triple-Tred to my 2006 Honda Element just before chase season 2009, and my hydroplaning was significantly reduced, almost to none at all. They also performed very well driving around in the peak of the Norman blizzard last month and do good on wet dirt roads too.

I've run these tires for almost 4+ years on my 03 suburban and getting ready for another set. I have nothing but great things to say about these tires, they handle great in the rain, snow and ice as well in dry conditions. I do however have only a couple of negatives, but the positives outweigh the negative IMO.

Gas mileage did go down about 1 to 2 mpg and good luck making it to the 60K tread wearout. I'm at about 52k on my current ones and they still pass the penny test, but I can feel things get a bit loose in the rain.

 

[JF Massicotte]

I used GY Fortera TripleTred for almost 3 seasons... Would definitely recommend, never ever got any hydroplan issues, even with some situations I expected that to happen. Also offraded with them in Kansas in 2008 and did not get stuck into deep mud on some sall roads. However, I stopped using such roads since I really tought I my chase was about to end at that point.

So add my vote on these, however, there're not cheap.