Got my new tires put on yesterday! Goodyear 285/70/17 MT/Rs. Have to say that there realllllly good looking. So far I have only driving about 20 miles on them. Got on the freeway and barley noticed any road noise.

I have noticed that when making sharp turns the tires flex more, kinda scary at first but I may kick up the air pressure a bit to stiffen them up. The max PSI in these tires are a whopping 65! I have them at 45 right now as the Big O Tires that put them on said that they would be really rough with the full 65 pounds in them. I may kick them up a little to see how much of a difference it makes. The traction is much better (could tell that right off the bat), the ride is a bit rougher but hey it’s a tuck not a luxury car.

I will try to get pics this weekend and post them. Gotta clean the truck first, still dirty from the desert last weekend…

 

Ok got the pics of my new tires (after I washed the truck)...

 

Dcovell,

Nice looking tires. Best of luck with them. They look like they have a pretty agressive tread. Guess you go off roading a lot? Question: Why did you not go with the BF Goodrich tires. Ive heard lots of good things about them?

Jim

 

Well the BFGs were more money and I have been reading a LOT of good things about these tires.

Goodyear used to have at MT tire and was replaced by these MT/R tires with a lot of improvments.

So far I really like them.

I try to go offroading as much as possible, going 2 or 3 times this month. Unfortunatly during the summer it is REALLY hot in the desert like 110+ hot so don't go out much then...

 

dcovell

Sounds and looks like you have been busy. Those tires look good. I was thinking about getting those exact same tires. You will have to keep me posted on how you like them.

Take care
Shane

 

My friend sells Goodyear and says those are a nice tire. Wind tunnel tested for reduced noise. I don't do much off roading so I went with the BFG's. Nice looking truck, good luck with the rubber.

 

I will post a report on them after we get some rain. Still haven't tested them in the rain yet.

Don't get a whole lot of rain out here in Southern California...

 

You need to get your air pressure increased to as close to the max, 65 lbs, as you can. My experience has been if you under inflate by as much as you are, the tires will fail. More so during the hot summer months.

 

I actually have an emaail in to TireRack asking that question. These tires are a bit diffrent though as they are designed to have lower pressure and not come off the rim/fail. But the life may not be as long.

I currently have them at 45 PSI but am thinking about putting them up to 60 PSI and seeing what there like. If the ride is not too stiff and the wear is even then I will leave them there. Otherwise I may leave them down at 45 to 50 PSI...

 

It will be interesting to hear what they say. I'm running my BFG 295's at 33psi front and 31 rear. The truck is run most of the time [98%] with no load. The tires have a "dust print" all the way across, and feel good at all speeds. Let us know.

 

The reason I posted is because under inflating tires too much can cause all kinds of problems. Most dangerous is tire failure due to excessive sidewall flexing and the higher temperature caused by the flexing. In the summer time, the higher temperature just compounds the problem.

There may be a chance that you're going to be fine if the tires were designed for a much heavier truck. Lighter truck, less stress on the sidewalls.

I live where the temperature is near 90 for most of the year and hitting 95 or so during the long summer. Anytime I have followed the vehicle manufacturer's specs, I have had tire failures way before the tread was worn. When I started inflating them to the max for the tire, failures stopped and I was able to run the tires until the tread was worn down.

 

These are load range D tires so the sidewalls are very stong, but I will be pumping up some more to see what the ride is like. Maybe not 65 but maybe 55.

I applaud you for your concern as there are many accidents and even deaths caused every year becuase the tires are under inflated.

Now the reason I feel some car manufactures may suggest the lower pressue is to improve the ride (softer)/traction out of cheaper tires. Not the best practive. For standard tires I would inflate between the max cold temp and about 5 pounds less than that.

I have noticed more flex in the sidewalls (a feeling of not as much control in sharp turns) with these tires so I will see what higher pressue does.

 

I had LTs on my '87 that had a max pressure of 65 lbs. Let me tell you... They were fine on paved roads, but hit a bad stretch of pavement or go off road and it practically jarred my fillings loose. Of course, the '87 suspension was no where near what it is like now on more modern trucks.

I hope yours aren't that bad. I think you're on the right track in infating it enough to reduce the sidewall flex.

 

nice tires. are they noisy?

 

Alright got to test my tires out in the rain today....

They kick A S S !

I stomped on it on an onramp that I have seen a few cars lose control on in the rain (yea not too smart) and my traction was almost like the road was dry. Total control no side to side and very little to no spining of tires.

Also did some hard turns on the wet road and still great traction.

As far as noise goes, yes there is a bit more noise but it is almost unnoticable except at freeway speeds, then there is a slight hum that is drowned out by having the radio set to about 5-10% volume. Basically for tires with this agressive of a tread, the noise level is almost that of a AT tire.

So far I am very impressed with these tires and also did a calc last night on Gas Mileags, because the tires are larger I had to add 3.5% to my trip odometer reading to offset the extra rotations. Anyways I calculated 13.8 MPG with freeway and city driving, lost less than half a MPG with the larger tires. I did notice imediatly that the slight loss of power/acceleration with the larger diameter. This would be offset with a gear change out but thats just too much money right now.

If you are blessed with the 3.73 gears I would highly recomend the larger tires otherwise if you don't mind the slight loss in power then go for it!

Oh yea and the rubber is almost sticky to the touch after the first 100 miles of wearing down the outer layer of rubber from the factory. I have read where several people have gotten around 35,000 to 36,000 out of a set of these, so hopefully I can get that much too.