Do it all tire recommendations

6.7Bison

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Looking for recommendations for a jack of all trades tire. I'm sticking with the stock size LT 275/65r18 load range E. Being in mid Wisconsin I see a decent amount of snow, ice, salt slush, rain, and mud. The truck spends most of its time hauling a trailer anymore, but still sees a decent amount of commuting. No hardcore off roading or mudding but it get used off the beaten path every now and again. I would like to get a decent amount of miles out of them to stretch my dollar. A physically lighter tire would also be beneficial as to not take a hit on mpg if I can avoid it. A little hum would be ok, I just don't want the wife to complain. My current Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure W/ Kevlar have done ok in most things except for damp grass and mud. They also have a slight sing to them on the highway.

I am willing to pay for a decent tire but I'm not going to overpay if the value isn't there. I had a set of Hercules AT tires on my F-150 in college that I burned through quick and didn't have the best traction. Upgraded to BFG ATs and it was worlds better. Lesson learned there.

So far I am leaning towards the Toyo Open Country A/T III or the Maxxis Razr AT.
 

dsberman94

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Toyo AT SUCK in wet grass. I had a set on my diesel and took them off at half life because I got tired of getting stuck in my yard. I’ve leaned toward the Goodyear duratracs for everything you have listed. They’ve got a good hum on the roads but check the other boxes. Also mastercraft courser mxt if you can find them still. They hum but last. TOYO MT are also good. I just don’t have good luck with an A/T tire for anything but roads.
 

ncollins64

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Yea like he said. Personally I’m a toyo mt fan, they wear like iron and check all the boxes. I usually get 50k plus out of them. Just have to keep ‘em checked and rotated.
 

PDT1081

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Cooper AT3, Mastercraft AXT2, Hercules Terra Trac AT2 will do exactly what you want. Same mold, slight differences in compound. Run proper inflation and keep on top of rotations. I was getting 45k-50k out of the Mastercraft and Hercules. Only went with the Coopers this time because I chose an odd size only offered in the Cooper.
 

ToMang07

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Personally, I'd spend the $$$ and go with Duratracs. I tried the AT3s on my last truck, they wore well, more AT style than the MS the Duratracs, but they picked up stone like crazy.
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J98

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Duratracs (at newish tread) are one of the best non-dedicated snow tires I've ever had.

However they seemed to wear rather quickly on my duramax. The next set I had on a half ton 6.2 Chevy, and at around 60% life I could barely take off in the rain without spinning.

I liked my set of Open Country A/T II's, little smoother then the Duratracs and didnt seem to wear as fast.
 

6.0 Tech

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I’m a bfg all terrain fan. Have done most everything I need. Mud, dirt, towing, daily, drag racing, wet, we don’t have much snow or ice, so I can’t comment on that. They do everything good, nothing great. I run at 40 psi daily, and 65 towing, otherwise they blow the center tread out of em after about 30k. Since I dropped pressure, I’ve been getting 45-50 out of them


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dsberman94

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I used to have a company truck, ‘13 Chevy 2500. Hauling equipment and 100 gallons of fuel all day. I always made sure they put duratracs on my truck any time after July. They lasted easily twice as long as the general grabbers they would put on to save money. The duratracs put on in July would last me through winter, into spring, they’d put a set of grabbers on in spring and I’d wear them out by July or august, back to the duratracs again. The grabbers wear quick with weight, hauling or towing. I might actually suck it up and put them on my f150 in 35s when these tires I have now go bald. Absolutely the best all around tire I’ve had on a truck.

A/Ts throw rocks like it’s their job and aren’t good in mud or grass. At least not on a truck with a light rear end and a lot of torque. My current winter tires are mastercraft AXT2 and I won’t get them again, it was just all the tire shop had in the size I needed with a storm coming the next day. Some M/Ts last a while, some don’t, but they’re loud. A good brand m/t definitely will last a while, cheap Chinese ones don’t. And they’re actually pretty good in snow when they’re new. I have ran the MXT on my superduty for winters and they’re good. We put them on my wife’s wrangler in a 12.5 wide and were good for winter for 2 years. We still put them back on in the summer months but put her stockers back on for winter so the wheels don’t get ruined. I’ve also ran the toyo MT in winter in a 305 wide and they were good until about half tread. I do remember my father using the Firestone tires on his superduty and they lasted well. I believe they were an a/t but had big tread blocks and large sipes and weren’t too loud either, at least not over the sound of the engine.
 

BrewTown

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I'm not sure if it's still the case or not, but Goodyear offered some of their tires with a choice of compounds. I apparently got the soft ones because they lasted 22k on my 01 ZF6 untuned, ladder rack and 15-20% towing. 28k on a tuned '00 Cummins. Half gone at 12k on a V10 Excursion. I personally have never, and I do mean never had luck with Goodyear. They always hold air great, not flat prone, just wear is excessive. My Cooper AT3s seem to wear a little funny, shocks and alignment? Last much longer than those GYs though. Just put Michelin LTX on the wife's Expedition. Fingers crossed they are still a fantastic tire
If you're doing the Dura-tracs, look into compounds to make sure you get the better ones. I got them at Goodyear and they never mentioned it... That was 10 years ago so take it for what it is...
 

6.7Bison

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Sounds like I will need to take another look at the Goodyear Duratracs. When I did my first extensive search I had read some concerns over wear like J98 and BrewTown mentioned.

I had bypassed MTs earlier as I didn't feel like i needed that kind of traction and was concerned of the trade offs of more wear, noise, and heavier tires. Maybe I'm living in the past and these newer MTs buck these trends? I would agree that a standard AT anymore seems more like a highway tire. I was trying to aim at the hybrid AT/MTs, RTs, or aggressive ATs.

I can't recall if the Hercules I had on the F-150 were AT or ATII but I really wasn't impressed with winter and wet traction and only got about 30K from them. I loved the BFGs on the half ton but have read some reviews of people not being impressed with them on a diesel. I may need to double check them as well.

A lot of good recommendations all around. I probably wont order until September so keep them coming.
 

jschildm

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I have had really good luck with BFG ATs on my 97 with 200k+ miles. 40-50k miles on a set, quite a bit of towing and some general driving. I did have the first set where the middle tread wore out running at max pressure. The next set is doing better running them at a little lower pressure. They are 285 75 R16s on stock OBS rims, so that makes the middle wear worse than it would likely be on a rim that was as wide as they would suggest. Compared to anything else I have ran, they are worth the money.
 

6.7Bison

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Alright while looking into your suggestions I also came across a couple other tires. Anyone with opinions on the Mickey Thompson Baja Legend EXP (formerly D*ck Cepek EXPs), Cooper Discoverer Rugged Trek, or Mastercraft Courser CXT? Any other recommendations?
 

PDT1081

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Alright while looking into your suggestions I also came across a couple other tires. Anyone with opinions on the Mickey Thompson Baja Legend EXP (formerly D*ck Cepek EXPs), Cooper Discoverer Rugged Trek, or Mastercraft Courser CXT? Any other recommendations?
I've been running ATs for so long I forgot about the Mastercraft CXT. It's a great tire. I used to run them on my 2wd 7.3. I was going to put them on my current truck, but the tire shop ordered them in the wrong size, but had the AXT in stock. For my use (mostly highway) I couldn't justify the extra for the CXT. Down side is they will wear quickly if your pressures aren't correct or you don't stay up on the rotations.
 

lincolnlocker

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Dont waste your money on duratracs on a super duty. At half life, they aren't worth a **** and dont last that long at all. I put 30k on a set and that was running them bald and rotating them at 5k.

Mastercraft cxt or the cooper rugged treks get my vote every time. I had the cxts on my 12 and on my 15. This set us the cooper rugged treks. Got 45-50k out of the cxts, and im about half life at 30k with these rugged treks. Absolutely the best all around tires i have had. The mikey at2s or whatever they are are virtually the same as well. All 3 are a cooper tire anyway so there isnt much difference in them.
 

Sterling B.

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I have a total of about 7 days of snow experience in my life, so I have no recommendations on that. However, I've been really happy with the Hercules TG Max (basically identical to the Mastercraft CXT mentioned above). Just put Toyo AT2 on my wife's 7.3 Excursion, so the jury is still out on that one, but we were steered away form the Ridge Grappler due to diminishing wet weather performance after 1/2 tread. I can also say I've been satisfied with the Cooper STT Pro on my 7.3 F250. Our tire shop has had good feedback on the Mickey Thomson EXP and will likely end up with those on the F250 when I replace the STT Pros.
 

lincolnlocker

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I have a total of about 7 days of snow experience in my life, so I have no recommendations on that. However, I've been really happy with the Hercules TG Max (basically identical to the Mastercraft CXT mentioned above). Just put Toyo AT2 on my wife's 7.3 Excursion, so the jury is still out on that one, but we were steered away form the Ridge Grappler due to diminishing wet weather performance after 1/2 tread. I can also say I've been satisfied with the Cooper STT Pro on my 7.3 F250. Our tire shop has had good feedback on the Mickey Thomson EXP and will likely end up with those on the F250 when I replace the STT Pros.
Made by cooper as well. They all have similar characteristics. The stt pros are just aggressive as hell. Lol
 

Sterling B.

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Made by cooper as well. They all have similar characteristics. The stt pros are just aggressive as hell. Lol

Definitely... Very similar across the Cooper family. Had some Dean Wildcat EXTs back in high school and it seems as though Dean is back on the map.

I've been really surprised by the STT Pro considering it's aggressive appearance. Road manners are good even into the last 1/2 of the tread depth. mine are getting a bit loud now, but that's my fault... got a front end issue and let it slip a bit so they're choppy.
 

lincolnlocker

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Definitely... Very similar across the Cooper family. Had some Dean Wildcat EXTs back in high school and it seems as though Dean is back on the map.

I've been really surprised by the STT Pro considering it's aggressive appearance. Road manners are good even into the last 1/2 of the tread depth. mine are getting a bit loud now, but that's my fault... got a front end issue and let it slip a bit so they're choppy.
Oh boy. Hard to stop the chop if there are issues. Lol
 

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