Oh no, tires again!

[Tracy in IL]

WHen I bought my last set, I used Tire Rack's search tool.
For me, priorities were wet/dry/snow handilng, good braking, good handling, quietness, and good customer feedback. Firestone Destination ATs were #1, followed closely by Yokohama Geolanders. Yokohamas were $30 per tire cheaper so I got them. 20k miles later I made a good choice.

 

[Different Drummer]

From "Step Brothers"

View attachment 226952

LOL

 

[MRFREEZE57]

think am pretty much decided on the michelin defenders, have read enough reviews that show are good for my driving style and for the wet weather here in the Northwest. Discount tire has a great deal on them at present, 894 bucks installed plus tax. from what have read most any are an improvement over the oem tires on the vehicle. with 4wd and the LSD rear end should do ok in the few occasions that we have snow that hangs around for much time.

 

[Quyonmob]

My advice on tires is based on only 40 years of riding motorcycles, driving trucks and cars and towing trailers large and small:
1. Avoid cheaper never heard of / no name "budget" rubber. The best will vibrate because they are out of round. The worst explode. Somewhere in the middle they are slippery when wet, don't grip enough to stop well and are useless in snow. They're cheap because of hard rubber compounds made by companies without engineering expertise.
2. Never buy tires rated for less speed and weight than what you have now.
3. "Upgrading" to larger rims, lower profile tires ALWAYS means a rougher ride for marginal handling improvement. ALWAYS.
4 a. For those who must drive in winter: Nothing stops better on snow and ice than a studded winter tire. NOTHING. Second best is a non-studded winter only tire. "M&S" tires really are not "&S". Whatever the tire guys say. .
4 b. The marginal added cost of snow tires is greatly offset by extending the number of years you will have those expensive summer tires. Not to mention the avoided cost of the damage from that loooooooooong slow slide/crash in an ice storm.
5. Price shop by calling and getting an "out-the-door" price. Tire shops are notorious: you buy 4 sale priced $220 shoes and wonder how you end up with a final bill of over $1,100! Out-the-door pricing means that the costs of balancing, TPMS charges, new valve stems, tire disposal tax, shop charge, other fees, taxes, installation and other BS are all taken into account before you walk in. You can go nuts with all the pricing sales BS offers that are out there.

I agree with all of that, but studs. Studs are old tech. They negatively impact performance of a modern snow tire in every condition except glare ice. If you operate 100% on glare ice, they are ideal. I’m in Ontario and don’t run them.

Now chains? That’s how you build a snow tank.

 

[kurek]

Just my 2 cents worth. Two years ago I needed tire and bought a set of Continentals for a Mitsubishi I have

I had Continentals on my Mitsubishi too -



Running a set just like 'em on my Ram. They're very good at just about everything. But that describes a lot of tires - hence why so many people have favorites and these threads inevitably just become a catalog of every tire on the market.

 

[Doug Ram]

Thank you for your input.
Good points you make and ones that I agree with. Perhaps one of the reasons I seem to be leaning toward the Continental Terrain Contact H/T is my experience with Continentals on my GS motorcycles in the past. When it comes to understanding tires and the technology I am not a total neophyte. However, I certainly have not had the opportunity to try them all so my quest here is to hopefully get other's first hand experience.

Edit: Looks like we are neighbors.

Each of those points I learned the hard way, mostly from riding motorcycles, where you are extremely lucky(/and/or slow) if can you eek out 15,000 miles from a pair. I rode a Suzuki 650 Burgman for 10 years commuting and long distance touring. This bike can be best described as a touring motorcycle in scooter disguise. It was a very comfortable, fairly sporty handling thing with a motorcycle frame and engine with a scooterish body and automatic gearbox. So I rode about 15,000 miles a year and ate motorcycle tires like a fiend. Worse, tire changes had to be done by a motorcycle shop because of the crazy integrated gearbox/rear wheel setup. I got so tired of spending big money on tires I tried a brand I'd never heard of, which cost about 2/3s the OEM Bridgestones. They sucked. They vibrated. It took longer to stop, even with anti-lock brakes. I could easily spin the rear wheel on dry pavement. I was afraid of rain. After a month I bit the bullet and had them taken off. I thought they were so bad that I sawed them in half and threw them away. Hard and costly lesson to learn.

 

[Doug Ram]

I agree with all of that, but studs. Studs are old tech. They negatively impact performance of a modern snow tire in every condition except glare ice. If you operate 100% on glare ice, they are ideal. I’m in Ontario and don’t run them.

Now chains? That’s how you build a snow tank.

No, no, no! Degraded performance on dry pavement using studded snow tires is so, so, so, 20 years ago. Plus, it's on the black ice when you need a set of winter tires the absolute most. But all you need know is this: Nokian Hakkapelitta 8. Studded from the factory. See https://www.nokiantires.com/winter-tires/nokian-hakkapeliitta-8/

You will never think about chains again.

And their non-studded snow tires are dammm good too!

They are dearly costly, but those Fins and Ruskie designers know their cold and snow tires. Now made here in Tennessee.

 

[Different Drummer]

WHen I bought my last set, I used Tire Rack's search tool.
For me, priorities were wet/dry/snow handilng, good braking, good handling, quietness, and good customer feedback. Firestone Destination ATs were #1, followed closely by Yokohama Geolanders. Yokohamas were $30 per tire cheaper so I got them. 20k miles later I made a good choice.

Thank you, I see that there is a Geolander in an H/T series which is what I am looking for.
I will check it out.

 

[Quyonmob]

No, no, no! Degraded performance on dry pavement using studded snow tires is so, so, so, 20 years ago. Plus, it's on the black ice when you need a set of winter tires the absolute most. But all you need know is this: Nokian Hakkapelitta 8. Studded from the factory. See https://www.nokiantires.com/winter-tires/nokian-hakkapeliitta-8/

You will never think about chains again.

And their non-studded snow tires are dammm good too!

They are dearly costly, but those Fins and Ruskie designers know their cold and snow tires. Now made here in Tennessee.

I’ll stick to no studs. Have run both, and unless it’s 100% ice or hard pack snow base to the road, studs suck on asphalt.

I’m trying some Yokohama ice guards on the ram this year. My grabber AT2 (3pms rated) are more than half worn, so the siping is limited and would suck this winter.

 

[Ryan Lomba]

I replaced my original tires around 50k with a direct replacement - i apologize but I just don’t remember what they were. Anyway, at 100k the guy at discount tire said they didn’t have a direct swap and sold me on some Cooper Discover HTP’s in a slightly smaller size. I honestly thought the handling characteristics in wet weather for this truck just weren’t that great, but with the Cooper’s, it’s so much better. No more losing the ass when pulling out into traffic on a turn with wet roads. I can’t believe the tires made that much of a difference, but it’s like driving a different vehicle. I should also mention he price matched, which was great, since the coopers were a bit pricier. I hade never even heard of them, but I’m sold forever. Probably be getting another pair at 150k

 

[Doug Ram]

Yeah, my recent forced experiment in snow tires tells me that Northerners who haven't used studded tires in 10 or 15 years really need to check out modern factory studded Nokians. As said, I've been running a test over the last 2 winters. Our family has 4 cars with snow tires (from 1 Toyo, 1 Cooper, 2 Nokian). The snows were all put on the same season when we moved into our current place. I went with different brands because of price and fitment issues (not fun). I splurged on my wife's 08 Solara with the studded Nokians because it's the only one without 4 wheel drive and it was being driven most. After two 6 month long seasons (going into our 3rd), I can say this about my little experiment... The studded Nokians are the ones I'd trust on black ice; they are pretty quiet and have the most tread-life remaining. Plus, all the studs are still on them. The non-studded Nokians are probably the second grippiest of the bunch. They are definitely the quietest. Otherwise all the non-studded tires are good grippy snow tires, but they slide on ice. Regarding bare pavement: I don't notice any difference between the studded and non-studded tires on either dry or wet pavement. They all handle well, at least at legal speeds.....

I hope none of you find yourselves in the position of having to conduct this experiment! It's an expensive PITA!!!

 

[Quyonmob]

Yeah, my recent forced experiment in snow tires tells me that Northerners who haven't used studded tires in 10 or 15 years really need to check out modern factory studded Nokians. As said, I've been running a test over the last 2 winters. Our family has 4 cars with snow tires (from 1 Toyo, 1 Cooper, 2 Nokian). The snows were all put on the same season when we moved into our current place. I went with different brands because of price and fitment issues (not fun). I splurged on my wife's 08 Solara with the studded Nokians because it's the only one without 4 wheel drive and it was being driven most. After two 6 month long seasons (going into our 3rd), I can say this about my little experiment... The studded Nokians are the ones I'd trust on black ice; they are pretty quiet and have the most tread-life remaining. Plus, all the studs are still on them. The non-studded Nokians are probably the second grippiest of the bunch. They are definitely the quietest. Otherwise all the non-studded tires are good grippy snow tires, but they slide on ice. Regarding bare pavement: I don't notice any difference between the studded and non-studded tires on either dry or wet pavement. They all handle well, at least at legal speeds.....

I hope none of you find yourselves in the position of having to conduct this experiment! It's an expensive PITA!!!

Studs aren’t legal in my current area, as well as a lot of other places.

 

[Cactusmonkey]

Our new Ram came with Bridgestone tires. I have always thought Michelins were the best tire on the market so after driving the new truck for two days I took it to Discount Tire. They traded out the Bridgestones and mounted the Michelins. On the way home my wife and I were shocked at how much louder the Michelins were. I called Discount Tire and talked to them. They said bring it back in and we will put the Bridgestones back on. They didn't do it for free but I understand that. We can not believe how much quieter the Bridgestones are.

 

[MRFREEZE57]

Each of those points I learned the hard way, mostly from riding motorcycles, where you are extremely lucky(/and/or slow) if can you eek out 15,000 miles from a pair. I rode a Suzuki 650 Burgman for 10 years commuting and long distance touring. This bike can be best described as a touring motorcycle in scooter disguise. It was a very comfortable, fairly sporty handling thing with a motorcycle frame and engine with a scooterish body and automatic gearbox. So I rode about 15,000 miles a year and ate motorcycle tires like a fiend. Worse, tire changes had to be done by a motorcycle shop because of the crazy integrated gearbox/rear wheel setup. I got so tired of spending big money on tires I tried a brand I'd never heard of, which cost about 2/3s the OEM Bridgestones. They sucked. They vibrated. It took longer to stop, even with anti-lock brakes. I could easily spin the rear wheel on dry pavement. I was afraid of rain. After a month I bit the bullet and had them taken off. I thought they were so bad that I sawed them in half and threw them away. Hard and costly lesson to learn.

the only tire eating motorcycle was a BMW R1100RT, that thing ate front tires on the left side something terrible which all of that model did. my current ride a Harley coming up on 60k miles, have the best luck with Michelin commander 2 and the newer commander 3, get excellent mileage and are great on the road, have almost 20k on the rear.
after almost 50 years riding found is not good idea to skimp on tires for motorcycles. just straying a bit away from the topic.

 

[MRFREEZE57]

Our new Ram came with Bridgestone tires. I have always thought Michelins were the best tire on the market so after driving the new truck for two days I took it to Discount Tire. They traded out the Bridgestones and mounted the Michelins. On the way home my wife and I were shocked at how much louder the Michelins were. I called Discount Tire and talked to them. They said bring it back in and we will put the Bridgestones back on. They didn't do it for free but I understand that. We can not believe how much quieter the Bridgestones are.

which of the Michelins did you try?

 

[Lucy Girl]

Dear lord, please don’t. Just no. Just because you had to eat a **** once, doesn’t mean you should eat more turds.

Correct, I hate turds and I also HATE SR-A good fu__. They screw you up with every turn.

 

[Different Drummer]

Well, I finally got around to utilizing the Tie Rack site to its full potential.
I will stay with my conviction of using an H/T tire based on an honest assessment of my use and needs.
Looks like the Continental and Michelin are the front runners. The first hand positive reports seem to outnumber first hand reports of other brands. However, I believe that Kurek makes a valid point in regards to the existence of multiple good choices.
I do have some breathing room in regards to how soon I purchase tires so hopefully I can locate a deal around the Holiday's.
More than likely whatever sales arise will probably carry a reasonable amount of weight in making the choice as long as it is with one of the better rated. Preferably the Continental or Michelin.

 

[MRFREEZE57]

Well, I finally got around to utilizing the Tie Rack site to its full potential.
I will stay with my conviction of using an H/T tire based on an honest assessment of my use and needs.
Looks like the Continental and Michelin are the front runners. The first hand positive reports seem to outnumber first hand reports of other brands. However, I believe that Kurek makes a valid point in regards to the existence of multiple good choices.
I do have some breathing room in regards to how soon I purchase tires so hopefully I can locate a deal around the Holiday's.
More than likely whatever sales arise will probably carry a reasonable amount of weight in making the choice as long as it is with one of the better rated. Preferably the Continental or Michelin.

I think tires are kind of like what oil to use, you will get a different answer from everyone. I finally pulled the trigger on the michelin defenders, ordered from discount tire just under a grand installed price out the door. they have a total 152 bucks discount thru today. have done enough research and concluded they will be ok for my type of use. getting them installed Wednesday.

 

[TOTALCHAOS69]

BFGoodrich! The tire all other tires strive to equal... incontestable.

 

[MRFREEZE57]

well just had the new Michelin defenders installed this AM, haven't many miles yet but did take them a freeway run and are just as quiet as the OEM Goodyears. will see after more miles put on but am satisfied with them.