Quote:
Originally Posted by Tbos
Sourdough,
I really don't do much off road so AT is not really needed but we do get some snow and I don't want to go slipping and sliding when that happens. The OEM tires are quiet but lack the stability I want. They do ok in snow but get slippery in the rain. Which Firestone tires are you running now? Per the Michelin website they don't have LTs in my size.
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The truck came with Firestone TransForce ATs; 285/65R 20 if I recall. I've got about 32k on them and I've been really happy with them on the road. I do wonder about their construction. The day before I left to come to FL I was airing all the tires and saw a gash in the sidewall of one of them. It was Sunday and luckily the Firestone store in a nearby town was open so it got replaced so we could leave on Monday morning. I've never cut the sidewall of a tire before except when offroading in heavy duty rocks. It didn't feel like the rubber was too soft and it didn't lose air. I had the local tire store owner look at it and he said to just load the trailer and go to FL then replace it; it would be fine; it was a heavy duty tire. I told him I wasn't crazy so got a new tire for about $263 installed. I do think the cut came when I hit a large, sharp edged pothole I didn't see at about 40mph. With the tires running 80psi there isn't much give.
Doing a quick scan I didn't find many LT tires in your size. Also realize that tires can do one thing or another usually pretty well but when you start combining all the requirements, ie; rain, snow, asphalt, rocks etc. the tires ability to do each of those jobs degrades a little. An aggressive AT tire won't do well in the rain but will probably do pretty well the snow. At least nowadays they've started siping the tread on the ATs to improve their highway/rain performance.
As Desert185 noted, it looks like a compromise may be in order to be able to get what you need. Another thing you might do is use a comparison chart (I think TireRack has one on their website) that would let you compare various sizes so you can retain the same circumference but maybe change the width/height of the tire so that you can find more LT choices. Good luck in your search.