Highway tire recommendations?

[ctb]

Go with the Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac...when Sporty was being fitted with 4x4 at Quadvan, I asked jon what he road on (he is a van owner, well at that time a E350 decked out). He asked our application expected and we also stated mostly on pavement, then dirt roads, then drivable beaches. He said he ran on Goodyear Wranglers for their quiet smooth on the the highway, ability to air down to 10-15psi for sand, and great traction in mud or snow. The only drawback was they were "softer" than other brands that would result in more wear/earlier replacement (older tires get stiffer/louder). So far, they have been awesome. Just as he stated, we have driven on lots of beaches aired soon LOW with no problems. Wear seems to be better than expected, but I have always replaced tires before stated wear, but we are hard on all our vehicles tires. We are on our second set, we just turned 89K on our trip over north shores of the Great Lakes...probably another 10-20K and I will be buying another set...

[REF]

CTB, the GY Wrangler Duratrac has been my tire of choice as well, for the last 4 sets on the rig, 3 peak rated, very good in snow and wet conditions, wear really well(better than the 2 sets of BFG A/T’s I had) and pretty quiet for a more aggressive hybrid A/T tread.
While I think it’s a great choice to throw into the mix, it might be a bit more aggressive and not as high mileage wear than the OP would want for mainly running highway miles with occasional dirt or forest service roads?

[FarmHand357]

It used to be that you often saw BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 LT tires for all around use, including boondocking. Are they no longer a standard of excellence?

[bobthecow]

Originally Posted by sbgrimm

No, those sizes you referenced are 4 ply versions with max of 50 PSI, not suitable for heavy vans like SMB's. There are only 2 LT (light truck, 10 ply) rated Defender LTX M/S tires and both are larger than I want to put on my stock van.

I was going to recommend going up to 265/75 or 285/75. Maybe it's a good excuse to make your van not stock anymore

[bidgoodr]

Originally Posted by bobthecow

I was going to recommend going up to 265/75 or 285/75. Maybe it's a good excuse to make your van not stock anymore

We’ve got Michelin Defenders on our 2017 Transit 250 SMB and love them! We’ve put 88,000 miles on the van and 50,000 of that are on the Michelins which still have plenty of tread life!

[sbgrimm]

I haven't pulled the trigger on new tires yet. I'm intrigued by the Continental TerrainContact AT. According to the reviews it has excellent highway manners while being a lightly aggressive AT tire. Sounds perfect for our needs, if it lives up to that hype.

While we really liked the Michelin Defenders for highway driving, we did get seriously stuck deep in a National Forest in the back of beyond, just on wet grass on a slight incline. An AT tire might have helped out there.

Anyone have experience with the Continental TerrainContact AT?

[REF]

Originally Posted by FarmHand357

It used to be that you often saw BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 LT tires for all around use, including boondocking. Are they no longer a standard of excellence?

They are still considered a “go to” A/T tire of choice for many, and still one of the top choices. Since the BFG’s came out, there have been a lot of other manufacturers coming out with their own A/T tire design with different characteristics to suit a variety of terrain conditions and needs. It’s just that there’s a bunch of other options to choose from now.