What's new
Ram Heavy Duty Forum

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

A few tire questions

Will_T

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,025
Reaction score
595
Points
113
Location
Oregon
My original stock Firestone Trans tires were wearing so much more on the rear at 8,000 miles than the front that I decided not to rotate them at that point. This is because I have not been overly happy with the handling and steering of these tires on the front, especially on wet roads and wanted to keep the tires with much more tread on the front. Because of that, (and maybe a subconscious desire to have a reason to justify replacing them), I left them as they were. Now at 15,000 miles the front tires still have lots of wear left but the rears are getting closer to needing to be replaced. This is likely because probably more than 14 of those 15K miles are towing the TT. I will replace them this year for sure. And once I get the right tires on, I will have them rotated at 3 or 5K miles I guess to keep the wear more even over the 4 tires.

So the first question is what tires do people that tow almost exclusively like? I have read other threads where everyone gives their favorites. But those recommendations are for all kinds of reasons and driving patterns and road conditions. I never tow in snow or ice and here in the arid west, not that often on wet roads. If you only towed an RV with your truck, what tires are good choices? I never go off road, only fairly decent gravel forest service roads, and our long, 3/4-minus driveway. Almost never on snowy roads. And never a daily driver. Even of the 1,000 or so miles on it so far without the TT, probably 1/2 of those are towing the utility trailer, pretty heavy, with no weight distribution there. Almost never drive it unless I am towing or need to put something heavy in the bed.

2nd question is not necessarily relevant to me, but I do wonder if it is correct. I have seen a few posts on RV forums where people say they never rotate their rear tow vehicle tires to the front. They keep front on front and rear on rear and just replace the rears with new when needed with the same tire that is already on the front. I have seen some claim they go through 3 sets of rear tires before they need to replace fronts also. I had never hard of doing this and wonder if it really OK? And does it even really make sense? Thanks.
 
Purchased our 2024 Ram 3500 4x4 in Western Colorado and immediately towed a 9,995 GVWR travel trailer to Minnesota in 2 days. Traded in the Firestone Transforce HT tires right after we arrived where the Discount Tire salesman told me that the factory installed tires don't have as deep of a tread depth as the aftermarket sold Firestone Transforce HT. Whether that's true or not it wasn't my concern. $150 per tire trade-in.

I needed a commercial grade durability tire for towing, but with a 3 ply carcass rugged enough for our rough gravel and volcanic rock roads, snow and ice 3PMSF rated for living in the Rockies near the Colorado Plateau. Run the same tires on our 2016 Ram 2500 4x4 with 53K on them and they're still Colorado traction law tread depth compliant at greater than 6/32". Rotate 5 tires. These tires were only sold in Canada until s few years ago. They aren't popular in the USA.

Look for commercial grade highway tread tires for longevity for your towing usage. You wouldn't like the Toyo C/T's that we run due to they have a more aggressive tread, but are heavy which cuts the MPG. Our family's Ram 2500 4x4 tows with Toyo A/T III's of which wear out the rears much faster than our Toyo C/T's do. I don't have any such issues.
 
OK. Thanks for your history and info. My two questions summarized are these however:

1. Which specific tire options would people recommend I consider? Not general types of tires, but specific make and model.

2. Does anyone do the method I saw in a couple RV forum threads.... no rotating rear to front? And then just replace the rear tires more often than front.
 
1. Which specific tire options would people recommend I consider? Not general types of tires, but specific make and model.

For towing and no need for the traction of an AT I’d look at the Cooper HT3. It’s the tire I have in my 5th wheel and I think it would make a good non-AT tire.

Another tire I’d look at is the Falken HT02.

2. Does anyone do the method I saw in a couple RV forum threads.... no rotating rear to front? And then just replace the rear tires more often than front.

Never heard of that and wouldn’t do it myself. I want my tires to all be about the same age and wear for uniform traction.
 
As a highway towing tire?
Its design purely as a HD truck tire for towing as designed, but with exceptional off-road capability baked in. Insanely strong, long life. Despite this I run them on everything now. Is it the best on ice? Maybe not. Is it better then a M/T or A/T off road, hard to say, the compound is pretty stiff. But I did do some serious wheeling in Moab, and they are not much worse for sure. In typically mud, snow they are incredible.
 
Its design purely as a HD truck tire for towing as designed, but with exceptional off-road capability baked in. Insanely strong, long life. Despite this I run them on everything now. Is it the best on ice? Maybe not. Is it better then a M/T or A/T off road, hard to say, the compound is pretty stiff. But I did do some serious wheeling in Moab, and they are not much worse for sure. In typically mud, snow they are incredible.

Yes it’s definitely marketed towards that utilization, but that’s not the use the OP is looking for.
 
Well something happened that has me rethinking the idea of getting a highway only tire that wears great for towing but is not good off the pavement! We have had a bunch of rain over the past month. I backed up the truck to my old 1950s era pickup bed utility trailer which was loaded with branches and yard debris. Hooked up and the truck tires just slowly spun in place on the wet grass and soft earth. Even in 4 X Low it would not grip enough to move the trailer. I had to unhook the trailer and slowly inch out of the field. Then I moved some 3/4 minus from the driveway to the mess I made at the front of the trailer. Hooked up again and it was enough traction to get me moving with enough momentum to cover the 50' of so to our gravel driveway, but with the truck swimming slowly like a snake in water. Then when at the landfill compost area emptying even though the area was paved, it had enough wet debris over it that when backing up, the truck was slipping sideways a bit pushing the trailer. On top of that when I emptied and had the trailer loaded in another area with 2 yards of wet compost, it almost got stuck pulling it out of the unpaved, potholed yard the compost is stored in. I had done this in similar conditions many times with my 2001 F350 with no trouble but that truck had better Michelin tires on it. Can't remember which ones, but they worked well. I know part of the issue this morning was the Firestone Trans on the truck, but it got me thinking. Even though 90+ percent of my driving is on pavement towing the TT, that other 10% is important too and even if only 2% is in conditions like this morning, or snow or ice, maybe I will be better off with a compromise rather than a pure highway tire.

edit: I think the tires I had on the F350 were Discover Mud and Snow. I *think* those were discontinued and replaced by the Defender LTX M/S? I wonder how they compare.
 
Last edited:
I had Michelin LTX(?) tires on my '04 2500 - 2wd, LWB, CC, Cummins. While I loved them on the pavement, I had the same issue as you on wet grass and mud. Not much snow to deal with here. Went through a few brands of AT tires; Goodyear, Yokohama, BF Goodrich, and my favorites were the Toyo Open Country AT.

Enjoy!
 
I’ve got the Transforce A/T’s on mine. They still have a good amount of tread but after reading so many negative reviews on them I’m wondering how they are going to do at wet boat ramps this spring and summer. Thinking hard about switching them out to a set of Bridgestone Dueler A/T Ascents. I just had them put on my sons RAM 1500 and they seem like they are really good.
 
Well something happened that has me rethinking the idea of getting a highway only tire that wears great for towing but is not good off the pavement! We have had a bunch of rain over the past month. I backed up the truck to my old 1950s era pickup bed utility trailer which was loaded with branches and yard debris. Hooked up and the truck tires just slowly spun in place on the wet grass and soft earth. Even in 4 X Low it would not grip enough to move the trailer. I had to unhook the trailer and slowly inch out of the field. Then I moved some 3/4 minus from the driveway to the mess I made at the front of the trailer. Hooked up again and it was enough traction to get me moving with enough momentum to cover the 50' of so to our gravel driveway, but with the truck swimming slowly like a snake in water. Then when at the landfill compost area emptying even though the area was paved, it had enough wet debris over it that when backing up, the truck was slipping sideways a bit pushing the trailer. On top of that when I emptied and had the trailer loaded in another area with 2 yards of wet compost, it almost got stuck pulling it out of the unpaved, potholed yard the compost is stored in. I had done this in similar conditions many times with my 2001 F350 with no trouble but that truck had better Michelin tires on it. Can't remember which ones, but they worked well. I know part of the issue this morning was the Firestone Trans on the truck, but it got me thinking. Even though 90+ percent of my driving is on pavement towing the TT, that other 10% is important too and even if only 2% is in conditions like this morning, or snow or ice, maybe I will be better off with a compromise rather than a pure highway tire.

edit: I think the tires I had on the F350 were Discover Mud and Snow. I *think* those were discontinued and replaced by the Defender LTX M/S? I wonder how they compare.
Are you aired down at all. If you're still running the 80ish psi in those tires, you might as well have drag slicks for tires.
 
I put 24K miles on the transforce crap. I never rotated them for the same reason you state. They SUCKED on wet roads.
Were pretty damned good on dry roads though.

I was in the market and doing research when I traded it in.

I also drag a 5th wheel around. I am full time in mine. Remote work is f'n awesome!

I was looking for something that will get me off wet grass atleast, so NITTO and Falken were high on the list.
The new 2024 was upfitted with Falken Wildpeak R/T 01 and are rated pretty high on the payload. They claim around 50K mile life span.
They are pretty quiet, ride nice and no humming through the seats.

NITTO claim similar


Both are around $400 ish installed, as is every other tire these trucks run. $400 a tire is about my patience amount. LOL
 
I’ll address the easy question first - the only time fronts are rotated and rears aren’t is on duallies. You rotate the fronts side to side and leave the rears alone unless there is unusual wear present.
I had and F350 dually that I used to deliver RVs around the country. Using the above method I averaged 80,000 miles per set (six tires). They were Michelin ATXs.
Any high mileage AT tire is going to have relatively poor wet traction and even worse mud/wet grass.
On my Toyota 4Runner I’ve got Falken Wildpeak that do very well in all conditions. I’m not thrilled about the road noise and I don’t know what kind of mileage to expect from them but I do know they are a tremendous improvement over the TransForce tires.
 
IRT the travel trailer tires....I rotate the tires on my TT at least once a seaon. For some reason the rears wear more than the fronts on mine as well even though it looks perfectly level as I tow. Maybe being farther back, they drag more around corners? IDK I can't really see a reason not to rotate, and if I didn't, my fronts would age out before they wore out. It's just easier to get them all new at the same time. I save my pennies when I know it's coming.
 
Are you aired down at all. If you're still running the 80ish psi in those tires, you might as well have drag slicks for tires.
Maybe not enough for when in the mud and wet grass. When not towing the TT I have them at about 60psi.
 
Maybe not enough for when in the mud and wet grass. When not towing the TT I have them at about 60psi.

Have you weighed your truck?

35 psi is enough for a 4K RAW.

I often only need 60-65 psi for towing my 5th wheel.
 
Maybe not enough for when in the mud and wet grass. When not towing the TT I have them at about 60psi.
I'm around 50 f/r when not towing, but these stock tires are horrible for traction anywhere other than nice dry, clean pavement. I drive my 1500 out on the beach to clam and surf fish all the time. Granted it's got Hybrid tires and a lift, but it gets around just fine in the sand, wet or dry. So I thought I'd take MegaRed out for a trip. I pulled up to a fishing spot and fished for a while then decided to move. Nope, buried it to the running boards. It's amazing that for having no traction they sure make a hole quick. I ended up digging for about an hour and was able to 4xLow crawl out of the hole and drove immediately to the exit from the beach. I'll keep MegaRed off the beach until I upgrade tires. Looking at Mickey T Baja Legend EXP's right now.
 
Have you weighed your truck?

35 psi is enough for a 4K RAW.

I often only need 60-65 psi for towing my 5th wheel.
The truck is right about 10,000 Lbs. (5,500 RAW), when loaded for camping and towing the TT with its about 975 lb. tongue weight. I have never weighed it empty or empty and hooked up to the @ 3 yard utility trailer. But subtracting the tongue wt. and camping stuff, I guess right about 4-4.5K RAW would be a guess?

Is it really safe to run an E rated tire at 35 psi at highway speeds?
 
Last edited:
Back
Top