Tire Brand Choice for our Van

[6MISFITZ]

I am looking at replacing the terrible Uniroyal Laredo HD/H LT 225/75R16 E tires that came with the van from the factory.

How these tires qualified for an M/S rating is very suspect! They must have qualified on the fact that they were round with tread and held 80 PSI, because traction in anything other than dry was terrible. The tread would plug up instantly in mud or snow turning me into an anchor and even traction in the wet was underwhelming.

I know my van came with narrow tires but park at a county fair on the grass and it rained, the thing would sink even with a second gear start and positraction rear axle!

My wife had an easier time with traction clearing the snow out of the way with her much lower to the ground Monte SS with speed rated GoodYear GS-A's then I did with the van following behind her - however she just traded it for a 4X4 with GoodYear LT 265/70/16 AT/S and unlike me is looking forward to winter.

What is your WEAR OUT and traction experience like with these tires?
AND which do you prefer?

Toyo Open Country AT
Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo
Cooper AT

Thanks in advance,
Mike

[6MISFITZ]

I am looking at replacing the terrible Uniroyal Laredo HD/H LT 225/75R16 E tires that came with the van from the factory.

How these tires qualified for an M/S rating is very suspect! They must have qualified on the fact that they were round with tread and held 80 PSI, because traction in anything other than dry was terrible. The tread would plug up instantly in mud or snow turning me into an anchor and even traction in the wet was underwhelming.

I know my van came with narrow tires but park at a county fair on the grass and it rained, the thing would sink even with a second gear start and positraction rear axle!

My wife had an easier time with traction clearing the snow out of the way with her much lower to the ground Monte SS with speed rated GoodYear GS-A's then I did with the van following behind her - however she just traded it for a 4X4 with GoodYear LT 265/70/16 AT/S and unlike me is looking forward to winter.

What is your WEAR OUT and traction experience like with these tires?
AND which do you prefer?

Toyo Open Country AT
Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo
Cooper AT

Thanks in advance,
Mike

[wakamicamper]

I just went thru what you are talking about. I had General Grabbers on my Ford Supercrew. Worst tires I have ever had. Bought some Firestone Indy 500 Firehawks. These tires are awesome in rain. Adheasion to the road is amazing. I leave sportscars spinning there wheels at intersections in rain. I checked these out at www.tirerack.com The Bridgestone REVO's were my 2nd choice. Bought them at a Firestone dealer in Toronto called Superior Tire.

[George Miklas]

On my vans in the past, I've used Michelin LTX, M/S radials. I highly recommend them for all-year use, and a smooth ride.

George

[Frank P.]

I bought 265/75/16 E from Discount Tires in North Columbus two and a half years ago. Got rid of the Goodyear 255P70/16 on it originally. My newer tires are a Kelly-Springfield, I think. I keep around 60# of pressure in them and a little more when we tow. They are much better than originals and do well in the snow.

Good Luck,

Frank

[BeenThere DoneThat]

I have a rig very close to the same as yours. (See by-line) I have about 40K miles towing and have experenced 6 partial seperations on the factory Firestone tires. I just swaped them out for Michelin Load E I got at Sam's Club. Some facts. I run at max GCVW but am under both axle and tire max weights. The front tires on my GMC (with Firestones Steeltex) run about 120F while the rears run about 150-160F. I just replaced the tires and have not towed with it, but during a 1500 mile round trip turkeyday, I did check the temps and found that they were all in the 100F range. (Note: FL-GA-AL so not in the cold north.) Unloaded, I normally saw 110F front and 120F rear with the Firestones. With your rig (like mine) you are going to be running close to max weights. Forget the cheap and go with the best you can. I have been lucky and caught my seperations when they were just starting to bounce. I don't know what might have happened if they had totally come apart.

[6MISFITZ]

Thank you gentlemen for all your replies and Season Greetings!
My apologies in advance for my lengthy ramblings.

I would have gone with Michelin tires, but for the problems with our Uniroyals!
Michelin, Uniroyal and BF Goodrich are the same company or have the same Parent company in Canada and when pressed with questions on our van's tires, offered no explanation on the very bad poor weather traction quality and wear out performance of the HD/H tires that came on our van from the factory.

I know tires are a wearable item and traction goes down as the tread wears but my complaint was that the tread blocks wear completely smooth just past ½ way and resemble a Formula 1 dry race tire with 4 grooves rendering the tire useless in grass, mud or snow even though it wasn't near legally bald or only about half worn. There is still about 6/32 to 7/32 of an inch of height between the top of the tread and the wear bar BUT since the tread blocks are not as deep as the wear bars, it is smooth with grooves offering ZERO traction this time of year.

Most LT or HD tires with an E range load rating do NOT have any wear out guarantee, but these tires did. 80,000 KM or 50,000 miles. My van only has 30,000 KM or less than 19,000 miles and NO real TREAD. Since my grooves were still 6/32 to 7/32 of an inch deep, there was plenty of rubber left - however zero tread blocks for traction in anything other than clean, dry asphalt.

Tony (Been There, Done That) my van is a regular ¾ ton 135 inch wheelbase van, not the heavier extended van and no extra weight from a roof conversion but you raise an excellent point about actual tire temperatures when towing.
I have had my van weighed with and without trailer and I am comfortably under all maximums – axles, tires (with WDH done up), tow vehicles GVWR and GCVWR, etc, etc. but I do know that a tire's worst enemy for longevity, is heat and that is something I forgot to add to the Santa list again this year!

Had Uniroyal prorated anything that equated to maybe a token $5.00 off Michelins I would have gone for it but they instead quoted me some very rosy specs from this tires spec sheet (which could also be found on their website) which obviously seemed to me to be skewed in their favor and did not answer my real world question or address my real world complaint.

I did some checking at the Tire Rack website mentioned earlier and compared the Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo against the Michelin at Tire Rack website and it beat the LTX for wear and traction in wet, mud and snow. I was leaning the way of the Revo's but I found some information on the Toyo - Open Country AT with many similar reviews and the price for this tire was the clincher!

Yes if these new Toyo tires do not hold up under the heat of towing again (even after tire rotations), then I will have to BUY another brand again but so far I am happy with the traction offered by the new Toyo's with their much more aggressive tread pattern in this Christmas Eve's snow storm. They far, far exceed the traction offered by our van's original Uniroyals (even when they were new) and have made getting out of our street much easier since it is one of the last streets that get plowed after any measurable amount of snow.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far,
And Happy NEW YEAR everyone!

[BeenThere DoneThat]

Good luck with your choice. Let us know how they do.
Winter driving is not something I normally worry about. (I was working on the motorcycle today is cutoffs and barefeet.) My off-road is normally limited to some non-paved state parks. (Except for the trip on the Trans-Labrador Highway. That section between Fire Lake and Labrador City is the pits. Literally. A goat trail. Even a cow trail would be better as they are not as dumb at the goats.)

[walt]

Hey guys. I just wanted to know how you like your vans as tow vehicles. I just recently purchased a 2003 dodge ram conversion van. It has everything I need to tow my 2000 Jayco TT (28 feet/5100pds) except the hitch and brake contoller which I am havving installed shortly. The van has 5.9L and 3.92 rear I am very excited to tow as soon as it is ready to go.

[6MISFITZ]

Hi Walt, we love our van as a great capable tow vehicle for at least a medium size family. In our case, tons of room, seats, and tons of hauling capacity.

If you have done your homework with regards to your vans capacities (GVWR, GCVWR, tire weight ranges and axle weight maximums and axle ratios to make sure the weight of the conversion doesn't take away from the hauling and stopping you need to do with it) which sounds like you already have, then it cannot be the spring camping season soon enough.

One thing I would add, is to make sure you add a transmission oil cooler since your van did not come with the factory towing package.

Mike.

[-Dave H-]

Altho I'm a bit late on this subject, here's my $.02. My son's truck (an '01 4X4 Dakota) came with Goodyear RTS Wranglers.......they have been wearing like iron, but traction-wise they were useless. I Replaced them with a set of Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo's about a month ago. Talk about a difference!!!! Son drove from northern MN to Saulte Ste. Marie, Ont then back, thru lake effect snows whose flakes were the size of bedsheets ! Bottom line...this Dakota has twice the traction with the Revos in 2WD, than it ever had in 4WD with the Goodyears!
$160 apiece-mounted, balanced, etc....and worth every nickel!!

--Dave--

05 SRW 3500 4X4 QC LB Ram 4.10 48RE