Tars

[BarryBobPosthole]

I’m gonna have to spring for new tires for my pickemup. Need some suggestions.

The truck came with Bridgestone Duelers which are a passenger tire. I want an AT type tire with more aggressive tread that also handles well on the highway.
I’m almost at 70k with the current tires and they still have decent enough tread I wouldn’t hesitate to take off for Canada again on them. So its not an immediate need but soon!

Birddog swears by the Cooper Destinations ATs. They are prcied right and seem to have good reviews.

BKB

[Thumper]

I’m as brand and model loyal to tires as I am vehicles. Whenever I’d buy a new truck, the first thing I’d do is tint the windows and swap tires. The only tire I ever ran on was Michelin LTX A/T 2’s. They’re not super aggressive, but are more than a street tire. They’re a little noisier on the highway, but that’s to be expected with a more aggressive tread pattern. They ARE A/T’s, so don’t expect an “off-road” tire. They are a bit pricey but wear forever! I think they’re something like an 80K tire, but I’ve put over 100K on a couple sets. ‘Course, I’m also religious about checking tire pressures and rotating every 6-8K miles.

[BarryBobPosthole]

I’m amazed at tire technology. I remember running $10 recaps on my old hoopies when I was a kid. You might get 10k on them.
BKb

[Chicken Dinner]

I put the Cooper AT’s on my Tundra last time around and they’ve been a good compromise between on and off road use. I can’t tell you how well they wear as I just don’t put many miles on that vehicle.


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[Thumper]

I’m amazed at tire technology. I remember running $10 recaps on my old hoopies when I was a kid. You might get 10k on them. BKb

Yeah, really. I remember trying to run my Corvette through a car wash way back in the 90's. Ha! Those tires didn't even come close to fitting between the guide rails! It still had the factory tires and I was curious as to the width. I took a yardstick to them (rears) and they were each 18" wide! Dang! I remember in my teenaged street racing days, I was running 8-1/2" tires and a 10" tire looked like a steam-roller! 'Course, I saw 187 mph on the street a couple times, so I was glad I had the latest technology under me! F60's on the front and G60's on the rear.

In h/s I had a '60 Pontiac and had a GTO engine in it. The trunk was as big as an Olympic swimming pool! I started making runs to Ft. Worth Texas (where I knew a guy who would sell to me as I was underaged). I'd load that sucker down with Coors beer and run it back to Memphis (an EXACT 1000 mi. round trip) to sell at a tidy profit! And this was in the late 60's (Smokey & the Bandit didn't come out until 1977!). I was a little broke in H/S, so I was running recaps on that car, but they were brand new. I was running at my normal cruise speed on the way to Ft. Worth (prolly 90+ in 110-degree heat) and threw a tread. I put the spare on (a worn but non-recapped Firestone 500). I hit the road and soon threw the tread off another recap! Dang! No spare! I limped into a gas station and bought an old carcass that was the closest to the right size I could find and had 'em mount it. Just outside Ft. Worth, I threw a big chunk of tread out of ANOTHER recap, but limped it on into town where I had another junk carcass mounted.

I loaded that car down with beer and headed back to Memphis, this time sticking pretty close to the speed limit. Somehow I made it back with no tire problems. I pulled into the tire shop where I bought the recaps and told them what a POS those tires were that they sold me. I had THREE tires stuffed into the backseat (two tires with the tread peeled off as well as one tire and wheel, also with a treadless recap). The car itself had ONE recap (that somehow stayed glued together) plus three junk carcasses and I don't think any two tires on the ground were the same size! They actually gave me my money back! I sold all the beer and bought a brand new set of Uniroyal Tiger Paws for my future boot-leggin' runs!

Man-o-man, those were the days.

[Thumper]

Wow! You got the old memories stirred up Posthead. I mentioned the F60/G60 tires on my street racer above. I used the Pontiac for bootleggin' runs because of the massive trunk, but I continued my bootleggin' in college with my little street racer. I went to UT (Martin) and the school was in a dry county, but it was exactly 10 miles to Fulton, Kentucky where booze and cigarettes were dirt cheap. I had a fake ID in college and made many runs to various liquor stores in Kentucky to haul back to school for sale at a nice little mark-up. One of those 187 mph (my top end) runs was with that car on the way back to school after a Kentucky cop figured out what I was doing and gave chase. It was also homecoming weekend so I had every square inch of that car packed with booze and cigarettes. It was a straight 2-lane road back to school and I was hoping to outrun the police radio. I had a buddy with me (Dennis D) whose family practically owned the town of Ripley Tennessee (his dad owned the Chevy dealership). Anyway, I noticed a semi headed toward us and I was wondering what it was going to feel like when we passed (I was doing 180+ and who knows how fast the combined closing speed was). All of a sudden the windshield blacked out! It was barely raining, but at that speed it was like an Oklahoma gully-washer! I let off the gas and flipped the w/s wipers on .... BUT ... they were suspended about 8-10 inches off the windshield just running back and forth in mid-air! (air pressure had them pulled away from the windshield!) About that time, we felt that truck go by! WHOA! That was a rush! I get 'er whoa'd down and the w/s wipers slowly laid back down onto the windshield. I pulled off on a little side road and my buddy and I took a couple minutes to clean our pants out.

We made it back to school, took the haul into the dorm for delivery, then hopped into my buddy's brand new Monte Carlo (this was 1970, the first year of the Monte Carlo) and decided to head to his home town of Ripley to let things cool down a little. Of course, we drank about a case of beer on the way and probably never got under 70-80 along hwy. 51 (twisty, country, 2-lane hwy). We came around a long sweeping bend and noticed the highway completely blocked by patrol cars with lights flashing. There was no way to get that sucker slowed down and we left the road and plowed about a 1/4 mile path through a dang cornfield! I could see people running toward us with flashlights. All I could think to do was open my window and start chunking empty beer bottles as far as I could throw them. A cop finally made it to Dennis' window and I was sitting there waiting for them to throw the cuffs on us. The cop took one look at my buddy and said, "God Damn it Dennis!!! WTF are you tryin' ta' do, kill us all???" They had been there working another wreck and the tow truck hauled us out of the cornfield, then the cop told us to go STRAIGHT home and he didn't want to see us again that night! My heart finally slowed down to a normal beat and we headed on into Ripley. Just as we hit the outskirts of town, Dennis pulls into a bar parking lot and says, "Lets shoot a bit of pool!" We went in, ordered a couple of beers and started a game of pool. Of course, that didn't last long. I all of a sudden heard some dude holler those golden words, "God Damn IT Dennis! I thought I told you I didn't want to see you again tonight!" He grabbed us by our collars and shoved us out the door. We went to Dennis' house and crashed for the night. We were awakened the next morning by his dad screaming, "God Damn It Dennis!!"! (I heard those words a LOT that weekend) We went out and that brand new Monte Carlo was covered with mud and had pieces of corn stalks sticking out of every orifice on that car! Grille, fenders, hangin' from the bottom ... it looked like a frigging duck blind on wheels! He told us to take the car down to the dealership, drop it off and pick up something else, then get our asses back to school! We did as he said ... and what do you think we picked out? A brand spankin' new 396 Chevelle SS! I'd tell you what happened to THAT car when we skipped school and went to New Orleans, but this is already a Thump post. (lets just say, we had to hitch a ride home)

My h/s & college street-sleeper hooptie: (notice the Tennessee licence plate)


1965 Corvair with a blueprinted LT1 Chevy stuffed into the back seat. Manley sodium filled valves, (custom) Crane roller cam/rockers, high-rise Edlebrock with an 850 cfm Holley ... well heck, a goodies list as long as your arm. (Oh, and those big ol' F60's/G60's!) At 2800 lbs, that thing would haul ass! With the rear engine cover, it looked stock at night and you couldn't even see the roll bar ... the ultimate sleeper. I definitely made more $$$ street racing, but the boot-legging was an exciting little income boost. Man, these days, they'd have me buried UNDER the jail for most of the crazy shit I did as a kid.


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[BarryBobPosthole]

Damn, boy. I’m gonna have to get a samwich if I’m going to read all that. Back at ya in a little bit!
BKB

[BarryBobPosthole]

A good friend of mine had a Corvair Spyder Turbo. We had many many good times riding around in that car. They were very well designed cars for their era. Its a crying shame they got Naderec.

BKB

[Thumper]

Yep, Nader killed 'em. Actually, the rear suspension on the early model ('60-'64) was the same as a VW and the Renault (?) and most of the handling issues were a result of the public not being used to a swing axle design. Tire pressures were VERY important for example. They actually improved handling with the '63 & '64 with a sway bar that transferred weight to the front on hard turns as well as a rear transverse spring to limit rear wheel movement. Then in '65 (the year my car was made), they completely redesigned the whole car. The rear suspension was actually changed from a swing-axle to a fully independent suspension (the same design as the Corvette) and it was actually a really great handling car. But, the damage had been done by Nader and the new design only lasted from '65-'69 when they canned the Corvair for good. I bought mine from a used car lot in early '69 for $700 and since I knew my plans for the car, I drove it like I stole it and actually found out I loved that little car! The summer of '69, I pulled the engine and sold it to a dude for his dune buggy. I sold the wheels and (new) tires, seats, a few other pieces here and there and pretty much made back the original purchase price of the car! I started working on that project the summer of '69 and first drove it out of the garage the summer of '70. I took it to Memphis Speedway and clocked an 11:65 on street tires and a closed exhaust! ANYTHING on the street in those days that would run the 1/4 in under 12-seconds was a frigging monster (plus I still had a bit of tweaking to do)! That was the only time I ever took it to the track other than as an extra in the movie "Two-Lane Blacktop" (James Taylor & Warren Oates) and since they did so much filming (of me) during a whole week, I thought I was going to be a star. But, due to the magic of editing, I ended up on the cutting room floor and was only able to spot the tip of my hood behind another car in the pits (for about 1/100th of a second). At one point during filming, they even had about 4-5 of us driving around in circles around a microphone, revving our engines for sound effects. It was fun and I got to rub elbows with James Taylor, but I didn't need to hire a Hollywood agent afterwards.

But, I only drove it for a year before I went into the military. I stored the car at my parents house and when they moved from Memphis to Tulsa, my dad hauled it to Okieland for me. When they left Tulsa for Los Angeles, it was a problem and dad asked if he could sell the car. I agreed and he sold it to a Chevy dealer in Tulsa who wanted to display it on their showroom floor to draw in some lookie-loos. I have no idea whatever happened to the car after that. I stayed overseas until late 1975. I'd love to search for that car, but I don't have the VIN and don't even know what Chevy dealer he sold it to. I'm sure, by now, somebody salvaged the motor and sent the car to the crusher somewhere along the line.

[DeputyDog]

I had Goodyear Wrangler Trailrunner AT’s on my 2014 Ram police truck. They did really well in the snow and ice and I didn’t notice any extra road noise from them. They handled the high speed aggressive police driving well too.


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[DeputyDog]

I also had a ‘63 Corvair convertible. That was a fun little car to cruise around in.


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[Penguin]

Posty: I am getting ready for a new set of winter tires myself. I would recommend Firestone Destination AT but they are replacing it with the AT2 ... which I'll end up buying in a month or two. The Firestone Destination AT has been my winter tire for.... hell I don't know. 10? Maybe 15 years? something like that. It is good in snow but still gives good mileage and I have run in all year long some years.

thumper: Back in those days all the boys around here drove Remington XT-120s... unless they had big bucks and could afford BF Goodrich.

Will

[Bwana]

I have put two sets of Hankook AT's on my 2500 and had pretty decent luck with them. Not the best on ice but a good compromise otherwise. I've gotten about 55k off of each set which I didn't think was too bad for a 10-ply tire on a 3/4-ton pickup.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Willy, I went through two sets of Firestone Wilderness ATs and was pretty happy with them but they weren’t much punk off road. I don’t want an off road tire but I do want better traction than the average bear. are the Destination more/less aggressive than the Wilderness AT’s?

Bwana, thanks. Hankooks are on my list. From the reviewsI’ve read they’re in the top 3.

BKB

[Thumper]

Posty: thumper: Back in those days all the boys around here drove Remington XT-120s... unless they had big bucks and could afford BF Goodrich. Will

Ha ha! In those days, I thought Remington only made electric razors!

I had a leg-up with tires. I was working at the Cadillac dealer in Memphis as a kid in H/S and got to know one of our tire suppliers pretty well. Our Firestone rep agreed to sell me a set of Firestone 60-series "Wide Oval" tires at cost, so that made my decision for me! Of course, it took a little bit of work to squeeze them into the wheel wells as the stock Corvair came with skinny little 13" tires. I cut out and reshaped the wheel well OPENINGS (no tubs or alterations to the stock well) and installed the 15" tires on stock Corvette rally wheels.

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[Penguin]

No, to be honest they have fairly similar tread patterns. I wouldn't expect the Destination to be any better than the Wilderness.

To get a better off-road tire I'd switch to the BF Goodrich All-Terrain. It was a great off-road tire but it cut my mileage. For the driving I do the Firestone was better all around.

Will

[Trav]

Barry,

I just put new tires on my truck and went with the Nitto Ridgegrappler, they are a hybrid between a trail/mud tire and A/T. I think you would be happy with either them or the new Toyo Open Country R/T which is also a hybrid. I drove to Norman last week for the game running about 80mph and no road noise to speak off and then plenty of traction at my lease on the Caney River which is a soupy mess right now on Sunday.

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[BarryBobPosthole]

Didn’t you have Nittos on it originally? How did they do as far as mileage? I’m seeing estimates of 40-50k miles? for the price, Seems like they’d be better rated than that.

BKB

[Trav]

I had the Nitto Terragrapplers on my 2010 and they wore pretty well I got about 40k before I rolled it but they were like your Duelers, not much punk off road. I had some some Toyo Open Country A/T’s on the 2016 & 2017 and those I got about 60k on but again even though they were rated as an All terrain they were pretty much passenger tires.

[Big Muddy]

Like Thump, I've pretty much been a Michelin guy.....however, my F150 Platinum came with Hankook AT's, and I really like them.....at 27K miles, they barely show any wear, and are really smooth riding.

[johnboy]

Michelin all the way. I've tried other brands but have always been disappointed and went back to Michelin.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Thanks guys! The Hankooks are getting a closer look!

Trav, I’ll price the nittos but the prices i’m seeing online are pretty spendy. like $250/tire.

BkB

[Trav]

What are you expecting to pay?

[Thumper]

P-hole. I’ve only used them twice and it was years ago, but have you checked TireRack.com ? Granted, I had a buddy who would mount and balance my tires for free, so that has to be taken into account. But at the time, they gave me the best deal I could find anywhere else.

[Trav]

Try Scotty’s Tire & Muffler on main st in Collinsville, great prices and service.

[BarryBobPosthole]

The Coopers I’ve been looking at run about $200.

BkB

[Thumper]

Go all the way with the Cooper DISCOVERER AT3 XLT (not the 4S).