Best tires for 3500 dually 235/80R17

[GlasNav]

Spoke with all the major tire places today, then a friend of mine that owns a Dodge, Ram dealership and he pointed me to a tire store that handles primarily commercial accounts and ranch trucks. This guy can get anything and sell you anything. But, here's the shocker, his recommendation is NEXEN ROADIAN CT8 HL which he supplies to hotshot drivers and fleets. All of his prices including the major names are the same as Discount Tire, etc with one major exception, mounting and balancing included in the price of the tire. At $206 a tire out the door, I have to take the gamble.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by GlasNav

Spoke with all the major tire places today, then a friend of mine that owns a Dodge, Ram dealership and he pointed me to a tire store that handles primarily commercial accounts and ranch trucks. This guy can get anything and sell you anything. But, here's the shocker, his recommendation is NEXEN ROADIAN CT8 HL which he supplies to hotshot drivers and fleets. All of his prices including the major names are the same as Discount Tire, etc with one major exception, mounting and balancing included in the price of the tire. At $206 a tire out the door, I have to take the gamble.

I'm a guy that likes to go with the horse what brung me but the Nexen brand may be OK. I saw a set on a new vehicle a couple of weeks? back and was rather shocked. I always viewed them as a 2nd tier tire. Then again.....had a tire dealer in FL tell me what I needed on my trailer was a new set of Trailer Kings - best trailer tire on the market so there's that.

I've just started looking into them after reading your post but have not found anything on their construction etc. Good luck with them. I suspect as advanced as construction methods are getting and the company being from S Korea they ought to be good....unless they were made in their Chinese plant.... Just kidding.

[GlasNav]

Danny: One thing I did learn is that Coopers are an on again off again product, apparently some inconsistencies in their product line. Also, like the Goodyears made exclusively for WalMart, Cooper is doing the same with Discount Tire. Appears that the tread depths of these dedicated products are 2 - 3 mm less than the regular retail products.

Would love to have 6 new Michelin LTX or Bridgestones, but an extra $600 minimum is hard to swallow if the Korean commercial tire is an equal.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by GlasNav

Danny: One thing I did learn is that Coopers are an on again off again product, apparently some inconsistencies in their product line. Also, like the Goodyears made exclusively for WalMart, Cooper is doing the same with Discount Tire. Appears that the tread depths of these dedicated products are 2 - 3 mm less than the regular retail products.

Would love to have 6 new Michelin LTX or Bridgestones, but an extra $600 minimum is hard to swallow if the Korean commercial tire is an equal.

I agree. Michelins are pricing themselves out of "my" market. When we had the tire failure enroute back to TX and I decided to just dump the Firestones with all new Defenders it set me back 1900 at DT. I should have paid attention more closely. They started asking all the questions about this and that, I was aggravated and behind schedule so told them to just get them put on...well, they did. The Nexens may be the next best alternative out there. I've sworn off Goodyears, BFGs, Firestone, Bridgestone - guess I'll have to start digging like you've been.

[pawpaw]

Originally Posted by GlasNav

Danny: One thing I did learn is that Coopers are an on again off again product, apparently some inconsistencies in their product line. Also, like the Goodyears made exclusively for WalMart, Cooper is doing the same with Discount Tire. Appears that the tread depths of these dedicated products are 2 - 3 mm less than the regular retail products.

Would love to have 6 new Michelin LTX or Bridgestones, but an extra $600 minimum is hard to swallow if the Korean commercial tire is an equal.

A buddy of mine has a 2016 Ram dually and the Nexen tires on the front didn't make it to 30K miles. These were the OEM tires so he had the front end checked and shop said everything was OK. He went with Firestone Transforce and so far so good.

[GlasNav]

Originally Posted by pawpaw

A buddy of mine has a 2016 Ram dually and the Nexen tires on the front didn't make it to 30K miles. These were the OEM tires so he had the front end checked and shop said everything was OK. He went with Firestone Transforce and so far so good.

Interesting, the tire guy did steer me away from the more comfortable NEXEN that are used as OEM equipment when I asked about that tire. For towing, he specifically recommended the commercial tire that he outfits the hotshot trucks with. I will provide updates as we drag the trailer around the country!

[pawpaw]

Originally Posted by GlasNav

Interesting, the tire guy did steer me away from the more comfortable NEXEN that are used as OEM equipment when I asked about that tire. For towing, he specifically recommended the commercial tire that he outfits the hotshot trucks with. I will provide updates as we drag the trailer around the country!

Have a great time on the trip!!

[Badbart56]

Originally Posted by pawpaw

A buddy of mine has a 2016 Ram dually and the Nexen tires on the front didn't make it to 30K miles. These were the OEM tires so he had the front end checked and shop said everything was OK. He went with Firestone Transforce and so far so good.

True story. I had the same tires on my last dually. Got maybe 40K out of them with irregular wear patterns.

[GlasNav]

Originally Posted by Badbart56

True story. I had the same tires on my last dually. Got maybe 40K out of them with irregular wear patterns.

Were they the OEM NEXENs or the commercial NEXEN ROADIAN CT8 HL?

[GlasNav]

The NEXEN ROADIAN CT8 HL tires went on yesterday, although I would love to have Michelin Defenders or Firestone Transforce, I have to take the gamble as these are rated for commercial application and towing. Will provide updates as to how well they wear.

[Badbart56]

Originally Posted by GlasNav

Were they the OEM NEXENs or the commercial NEXEN ROADIAN CT8 HL?

The Nexen's were commercial load range G. When I ran the FDOT Road Ranger fleet in NW Florida we used nothing but Firestone Transforce AT's. A great tire. Not too noisy and handled great, wet or dry. One of the trucks (all were K2500 Silverado 4X4) got 106K miles on them.

[GlasNav]

Originally Posted by Badbart56

True story. I had the same tires on my last dually. Got maybe 40K out of them with irregular wear patterns.

Regarding the Nexen Tires, was the irregular wear on the front tires or all the way around?

The only reason I ask is that I used to be a die hard Blue Oval guy, and I recall fighting toe and camber on every one of them, and it was even worse in the days of "Twin I Beam" suspension, they were finicky up front.

Rear irregular wear on a dually usually comes from continuous off center load and or mismatched inflation.

It will be interesting to see if they hold up for us, as there is a significant cost differential between these and Michelin Defenders, my next choice is the Transforce which are proven to hold up.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by GlasNav

Regarding the Nexen Tires, was the irregular wear on the front tires or all the way around?

The only reason I ask is that I used to be a die hard Blue Oval guy, and I recall fighting toe and camber on every one of them, and it was even worse in the days of "Twin I Beam" suspension, they were finicky up front.

Rear irregular wear on a dually usually comes from continuous off center load and or mismatched inflation.

It will be interesting to see if they hold up for us, as there is a significant cost differential between these and Michelin Defenders, my next choice is the Transforce which are proven to hold up.

Do some research on the Transforce tires. I've had 2 new trucks come with them and got rid of both sets early due to some kind of failure. I do think the failures were as much my doing as theirs (flat/nail while towing, slit in sidewall) along with my distrust of Firestone in general after a debacle with a new set of 721s(?) back in the day.

They were something to consider IMO when they were 250 and the Defender was 348 but now they're both the same price last time I checked. The rubber compound on the Transforce is HARD which contributed to the slit in the one. The siping is very shallow and in short order you are riding on solid hard rubber blocks which don't do much for traction. JMO

[GlasNav]

I gave Nexen a call in Ohio today and customer service forwarded my call to technical support. My question was if they had an inflation chart for what air pressure to run their Roadian CT8 HL tires on a dually. I was told not to go by the manufacturers recommended pressures on the door sticker but to use 60 PSI for front and 55 PSI for rear. He said otherwise it will ride extremely hard and that would cause rapid tread wear. He also stated that the only time to press them up to 80 PSI is if using them in a cargo trailer application.