Help Choose Highway Truck Tire - 17"

[92saturnsl2]

Have an '01 Frontier 4x4 needing new tires, preferably 275/60/17. I saw two tires on Tirerack that caught my eye. The BF Goodrich Long Trail T/A Tour, and the General Grabber HTS, both highway tires that look fairly similar in characteristics. Both are new offerings, so not many reviews to go by, but look excellent so far. Anyone tried either of these? Any other suggestions for tire brand / model? I'm not looking for extreme performance, just something all-season that has a good ride, handles well, and lasts a long time. TIA

 

[Jimmy9190]

 Originally Posted By: 92saturnsl2

Have an '01 Frontier 4x4 needing new tires, preferably 275/60/17. I'm not looking for extreme performance, just something all-season that has a good ride, handles well, and lasts a long time. TIA

Michelin LTX M/S will do very well, if they have them in that size. Best tires I ever had on any truck. I have a Dodge Dakota, similar in size but maybe a little heavier than your Nissan. I have over 50,000 miles on mine and still have over half the tread left, but I rotate them often, at every 6,000 miles and I got a lifetime balance/rotation policy when I bought them. When I need tires again, I'll buy another set of Michelin LTX. A really good ride quality and quiet running tire. Expensive but well worth it.

 

[TLAR640]

These are not carried by Tire Rack, but take a look at the Toyo Open Country HT or AT. I have the HT, and they are smooth, quiet, grip well, etc.

 

[bretfraz]

I have Firestone Indy 500's on my truck in that size, but they are performance all season tires and don't appear on the Tire Rack listing any longer. I'd second the Michelin LTX mentioned above but they don't seem to be available in that size. Beyond that and their steep price, they're probably ideal for your needs. Another tire to consider is the Continental ContiCrossContact LX. Comes with a 65K tread life warranty which is pretty good in this category. Can't offer an opinion on the two tires you mentioned but hopefully someone out there has tried them. Both look pretty good for their price point, might be a coin toss between them.

 

[01rangerxl]

Firestone Destination HTs are decent. Mine have about 13,000 miles on them with no rotations and they are wearing pretty good. They look about like they did when they were put on the truck. Wet and dry traction is the best of any of the tires my truck has had.

 

[kkreit01]

I would agree with others on this. I'd stay clear from Generals in general. The BFGs may be OK , but they are too new to tell. Check the ratings/reviews of the old Long Trails. They were not well liked. I would stick with proven models: Destination HTs, LTX M/S, or Cross Terrains to name a few.

 

[Drew2000]

 Originally Posted By: kkreit01

.... I'd stay clear from Generals in general.

Why? General is owned by Continental and their new tires especially ones like the Grabber HTS seem to be a well designed tire at a good price. Firestone's truly lousy quality record over the past 30 years should factor in to any decision. Drew

 

[N3OO]

My dad just put Grabber HTS's on his Chevy PU.....loves em....and he is picky LOL. This new HTS is wayyyyyy different from the old GRABBER series.

 

[92saturnsl2]

Price is a major concern, I've always been able to get a great set of tires by doing the research vs paying top dollar for brand name. Ideally I'd like to stay < 150$ per tire. The feedback has been most helpful, the CrossContact LX looks promising. I'm not opposed to Firestones, as the OEM tires for the truck are Firestone Firehawks, which performed well (just too expensive). If I could find the Indy 500's in this size, I'd be sold. I wish I could find a pic of the white-letter Grabber HTS's. Does anyone know of any promotions / rebates? That might be the deciding factor.

 

[01rangerxl]

 Originally Posted By: Drew2000

Firestone's truly lousy quality record over the past 30 years should factor in to any decision.

They definitely used to make some [censored], but they have made big improvements. The Destination series replaces the Wilderness series, and I think they went to great lengths to make sure they didn't have problems again.

 

[mrsilv04]

 Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl

 Originally Posted By: Drew2000

Firestone's truly lousy quality record over the past 30 years should factor in to any decision.

They definitely used to make some [censored], but they have made big improvements. The Destination series replaces the Wilderness series, and I think they went to great lengths to make sure they didn't have problems again.

A little late, though. Not only the Wilderness, there's the Radial ATX/ATX II There's also the Radial 500 (remember that mess...14.5 million tires, and even more deaths?) Plus, there have been a number of documented failures of Steeltex tires as well. They're just not worth it. Trust is something that some companies just don't know the value of.

 

[01rangerxl]

Yeah, when your tire has a failure rate that is close to 600x that of horrible Goodyear Wrangler tires (as was the case with OEM Explorer tires), you know you [censored] up. That said, the Destination line is a big departure from what they used to make. I have not really heard any bad things about them, and none of the three trucks I have had with Destination tires have had any issues.

 

[Gillsy]

 Originally Posted By: Drew2000

 Originally Posted By: kkreit01

.... I'd stay clear from Generals in general.

Why? General is owned by Continental and their new tires especially ones like the Grabber HTS seem to be a well designed tire at a good price. Firestone's truly lousy quality record over the past 30 years should factor in to any decision. Drew

I'm not a General fan, but they do seem to last a good long time. The last General truck oem tires ran gave me 45k of trouble free miles. The Bridgestones on my GMC Sierras last only 25k. I like 45k better.

 

[Eric Smith]

Got a set of BF Goodrich Long Trail T/A Tour's for our Escape couple months ago. Granted their still new.. but handling in rain is excellent and extremely quiet even on rough surfaces. They seem to handle gravel roads without much sliding around. I'm hoping these will last as long as the last Long Trail's I had on my F150.. about 75k.