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Best AT tires for towing

35K views 65 replies 30 participants last post by  Redthies 
#1 ·
I tried to post this is the tire thread but I'm not allowed for some reason. I'm looking for tires to replace the junk Firestone Transforce that came on my 2018 Tradesman 2500. this truck is my daily driver and I pull a 5th wheel camper that I use for work. The camper weighs approx 17k. Driving is 95% asphalt and 5% off road. Road conditions are from dry to snow covered and I've had to move the camper over wet ground. I've been looking at the Nitto Ridge grapplers and the Cooper AT3's. Looking for reasonably quiet, good wearability, decent off road performance for an AT and good road manners.

What are y'all digging.
 
#2 ·
Have you seen Toyo's M55? Supposed to be a beast of a tire.
 
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#22 ·
They are.. I'm on my 3rd set on my 2012 Ram.. first set went on at 22K miles (removed the OEM Transforce HTs after 4 flats driving on gravel roads during deer season) and put 265/70R17's on it. They lasted till about 90K miles when I put the next set on in 285/70R17's (a 33" tire) which lasted till about 155K miles and I'm on my 3rd set (again 285/70R17) with 162K on the truck. Figure I'll get somewhere around 220 to 225K miles on the truck on this pair.
 
#10 ·
I’ve had good results with Nitto Terra Grappler G2, EXO Grappler, and Ridge Grappler.
Also been very happy with Cooper ST Maxx. Mickey Thompson ATZ 2 also very good
Noise level from quietest first
Terra G2
ATZ and ST Maxx same
Ridge Grappler
EXO Grappler
All were around 35” diameter
Range from 285 to 325. Wider tires do hum more on the hwy
 
#11 ·
I switched to the Nitto Terra Grappler G2 and so far I love them. Quiet, good wet and dry traction on road. Decent traction in the sand/dirt around here. Very little time in mud with them, but the few spots I did have them they cleaned out well. They also have a great load rating as well, so for towing they should do you good.
 
#12 ·
Have been happy with the Cooper AT3. Excellent in the rain but haven’t been in the snow to rate.
 
#20 ·
That’s the exact tire the mgr at “D” tire store just recommended yesterday and I was reading reviews and have found nothing but positive things regarding its performance.
 
#14 ·
I have a 2010, 3500, 4 WD, crew cab. I've towed a 16K 5th wheel, and currently have a 10K toyhauler travel trailer with ~1,500 lbs of tongue weight which is actually much 'harder' on the truck than the 5th wheel. My truck was all over the road with the original stock tires and horrible (scary bad) in the rain and snow - especially on highway wide turns. It would even get pushed off straight roads (farm country) by high winds in rain and snow. I'm not positive, but I think the original tires were BFG AT-type tires. I replaced them with Michelin Defender LTX tires (R speed and E load ratings) about 30,000 miles ago and they are unbelievably good on dry, wet, and snowy/slushy roads - with or without the trailer. They also don't drift in corners when the trailer wants to push you - especially on wet roads. I don't do any real off-road driving except decent dirt/gravel roads. Once in a while, I will get on a soft shoulder or a muddy road with the trailer, and so far, I haven't had any problems. I don't worry about where I go with just the truck, but I'm also not driving the Baja 500. I haven't measured the tread, but there isn't a noticeable difference after 30K. I do rotate the tires at each oil change. I fully expect to get 70K out of these tires.
 
#15 ·
Falken AT3w's here too. Had about 40k on my last set when I sold the truck, and I'm pretty sure I could have gotten at least another 10-15k out of them easy. Just got some on my new truck and I'm sure they'll be just as good.
 
#17 ·
I went with cooper destination at/3's, and am NOT happy with then as far as mileage goes, not much towing and nothing heavy(over 5k when towing) and have less than 22k on them and maybe have 30% tread left!
NOT going to make it to 30k that's for sure on my stock truck!
rather disappointing in poor wear of them, they did work well in all conditions, just wearing REAL fast!
next set will be hankooks Dyna pro ATM
something else I am going to add here that many maybe don;'t think about or look at, but a LOT of truck tires today have some pretty low speed ratings, and I sure see a LOT of folks today driving at faster speeds on hiways than ever, so, , before making a purchase maybe have a look and see where your speeds fall in at, better safe than sorry!
just food for thought, no bash here!
 
#37 ·
Something doesn’t seem right. I got 76k out of my factory tires and 70k on a set of BFG AT2 KO.

I’m currently running a set of Toyo AT2 right now and hate them. They are absolutely horrible on wet pavement and don’t seem to be wearing as well as my two previous sets of BFGs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
#23 ·
Just to chip in, I'm on my 3rd set of BFG K02's and I'm on the 3rd set for good reason lol. They are a fantastic all around tire for cruising, towing, winter, summer, rain, snow, ice ... you name it they handle it well. Kind of a Jack of all trades if you will.
 
#28 ·
Toyo CT not as mud tire like the toyo M55.

Ride great, very quiet and smooth Ive been towing 30,000lb last few months got about 20k on them just starting to see wear.

I will say for the first time i got stuck today, was towing about 10-12k trailer and the truck got stuck in a soft area of mud and cow . drove over it empty many times . tires loaded up with mud and crap. would the M55 work better maybe but im 70 percent highway 30 off.

last weekend truck was loaded at 14300lbs just the truck with a big load of firewood driving it over rocks and dirt trails for 20 miles and 60 miles on highway. and they still look great. i did worry driving over some of the sharp rocks being so heavy i just took it very slow. they seem fine no cuts or leaks
 
#29 ·
I just put a set of Cooper AT3 XLT's on my '18 in the stock 275/70R18.

They are designed for heavy hauling, gravel roads, and are severe snow rated with a 3PMSF rating.

All of that and they have a 60K mile warranty, not too shabby.
 
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#31 ·
I switched from Toyo and BFG about 4 years ago and have no intentions of going anywhere but Cooper. I got really tired of how quickly Toyo and BFG wear out. I also have Cooper SRX's on the wifes 4Runner and they are a great tire too.. and hardly any wear in the last 2 years.

I even made the mistake of trying out 14 ply Toyo's, and those have the same rapid wear rate like the 10 ply tires do.
 
#32 ·
Had 1 set of M55s a while ago. Couldn't tell you how long they lasted, cause I sold the truck about 40k miles later and they hadn't wore out yet.

Another recommendation (not cheap) is Toyo AT2s.
Now I haven't had a set on a HD truck, but put a set of C load AT2s on my company truck Chevy 1500 crew cab.
I had them siped the first winter after about 10k miles on them. Tread is not as deep as the E load tires. Am up to about 40k miles on them. Truck is 90% lightly loaded (full tool box and 50 gal slip tank) commuter/highway and 10% heavy towing.
They got phenomenal traction the last 2 winters (pulled them for 1 summer season to save them for winter #2 and have been running them all year now.) and are still at over 50% tread
I honestly did not expect this mileage out of the C load tires and they look set to make it through this winter with good traction (hopefully) and next summer at least.
 
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#39 ·
...

Another recommendation (not cheap) is Toyo AT2s.
...
I would NOT recommend Toyo AT2's to anyone. I tried them a few years ago. they get absolutely crappy on wet roads when they're about half worn. I had them and they were so bad I got rid of them with half the tread left, 2 other people I know in the Vancouver area had the same problem and they did the same thing. (It rains a lot in Vancouver)

I just put 285/75R18' Falkens on my truck.

 
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#34 ·
I got the Cooper XLT's in 275/70/18 about 4k miles ago. Was checking pressure like I do routinely and noticed 2 of the 4 tires sidewalls are cracking/splitting in multiple spots.

Not good. Will be taking truck to Discount and see if this is a fluke or if it is a known problem. Go the tires Memorial Day this year.

I love the tires but can't have split sidewalls waiting to blow.

Only towed my boat so nothing to do with towing/weight etc.

Thinking I'll go Falken AT3W 2 ply, or Yokohama X-AT 3 ply sidewall, if they end up crediting me back vs replacing the 2 bad tires.

Rick
 
#35 ·
I am just shy of 5K mikes in my 275/70R18 Cooper AT3 XLT’s that I installed just after labor day. A little over 1500 miles towing, 115 miles with chains on, 400 miles of dirt roads (some towing), and some highway miles. I’ve driven in mud, snow, ice, and slush.

I am very impressed with this tire. It’s got great traction, very quiet, and shows no signs of visible wear yet. I’ll measure the tread depth at my first rotation.

I’m debating getting a 5th tire at my 1st rotation and doing a 5 tire rotation and having a better 2nd spare. I need to ask what what would do to my mileage warranty.
 
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#38 ·
I run Falken AT3W on my personal trucks and our work trucks. The work trucks are often towing goosenecks that are technically (and legally) overloaded which is rough on life plus 5th wheel campers that are on the heavy side of things, right at max rear axle weight. They are great tires on the road, incredible in snow and tend to last around 50k miles before they are getting low enough that we swap them out. If you ran them all the way down to the wear indicators you could probably get 60k miles from them. All our previous tires we tried were going anywhere from 20k-45k with the Toyos coming in around 45k so they would be a close second, but the Falkens are better in snow.
 
#41 ·
Toyo M-55’s, I ran them on my ‘12 Ram 3500 SRW 4x4 after going through a couple sets of BFG AT’s (great in the snow but too soft for the summer) and had a set of M-55’s installed on my ‘18 when I bought it. They cost more but they last longer. No plans to ever buy anything else.
 
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