Give Me Some Advice

[Boomer]

I have a 4 wd Nissan Frontier with OEM tires that are Goodrich Long Trails. Nice and quiet, reasonable wear but lousy traction in the snow and off road. I'd like to move up to something more aggressive but still in a P265-70R-16 size. I don't want to go to LT tires as the ride will be too harsh and I don't need the weight carrying ability. After looking at local deals here in central PA, I've come down to a Cooper Discoverer ATR and a General Grabber AT2 (kind of a Goodrich All Terrain look-alike but less expensive.)

Any thoughts or experience on either of these tires. Traction (wet, dry, snow/ice), wear, noise, etc? Thanks in advance for your input, guys (and gals).

 

[dtt004]

You can try the Rugged Trails. I think they're a beefed up version of the Long Trails. However, you'll probably give up that nice and quiet feeling with the Long Trails.

 

[dparm]

Ever consider dedicated snow tires? The different rubber compounds and special tread designs make a world of difference.

 

[rpn453]

I don't think you could go wrong with either. I think the ATRs are a little more wet/dry pavement-oriented, while the Grabbers are more off-road/snow-oriented. I think both would be dramatically better in winter than the Long Trails.

The Grabbers have the snowflake rating, so they're certainly good on hard-packed snow. Probably not as good on ice as a dedicated winter tire though. My buddy uses them (studded) on his Tundra as winter tires and likes them.

I've had three different sets of good Coopers, and I like the tread pattern of the ATR. They have nice, big, full-width channels for clearing water and digging into snow or dirt. I tried to get a set for my Pathfinder a few summers ago but they were out of stock, so I ended up waiting until fall and getting some studded Discoverer M+S for winter before selling it in the spring.

 

[Boomer]

Thanks for the input so far. I use this truck for hunting so it sees some back woods dirt roads, sometimes snow covered, sometimes with a thin coating of mud. Also gets driven across some "gnarly" fields in turkey season or when we go to our hunting club for pheasants. Also, the roads here can be a bit snowy with some wind driven snow until the plows push it off. So I'm not looking for a snow tire per se but rather a good higher traction year round tire that can also run on the highway for some trips up to 150 miles one way. I don't like the Rugged Trails as I have seen too many wear away at low mileage.

 

[WishIhadatruck]

I know two people that happily use the Cooper Discoverer ATR on their 3/4 ton trucks. They have run both 245/75R16E or 265/75R16E at different times and both like them. Good snow traction, acceptable road manners, and ok off road ability. One of them uses it on home construction sites regularly and both use them for hunting with mild off roading.

 

[Mr_Joe]

I use Forestone 'Destination ATs' on my Tacoma, no problems. I put 2 'Winter Deullers/Blizzacks' on all our vehicles in the Winter. Once you use a quality dedicated Winter tire it's hard to go without them.

 

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: Boomer
I don't like the Rugged Trails as I have seen too many wear away at low mileage.


Those and the Long Trails are intended to be OE tires; never a good thing for tire wear or traction!