Tire choices, real world experience please

I expect 40-50k out of my Cooper's with regular rotations, and so far as I can tell I shouldn't expect any less.

 

Note on treadlife.

Longer is not always better.

Given the same quality of tire, hard compounds (high sidewall treadwear numbers) also have lower pavement grip, wet and dry.

Lower treadwear numbers should show higher traction grades.

No, you don't want race compound. But I don't think that 60k compounds are always #1 choices either.

Also keep in mind that grip degrades with time as compounds break down. After 2 years, you hit the downhill slope, and after 3 years the slope isn't even linear.

So a reasonable practice for a street tire is to pick one that you'd expect to be worn well down, based on the mileage you drive, in 3-4 years. About the time decent grip is gone anyway.

Note on my notes. I'm talking pavement grip. Not off road. While compound matters off road for certain terrains, tread pattern usually matters more, especially combined with prudent air pressure adjustments.

When I specify given the same quality of tire that is almost with in a brand. Because while the numbers are supposed to be consistent across manuf., they aren't. Some are close. Some not so much. So you can compare across brands, but do so with caution. For example, Chinese produced tires, which many are today, never seem to be up to snuff, at least in the competition world.

 

Agreed on that.

I do 12-16k miles a year, so I don't buy tires with any plans to run them longer than 3 years or so.

 

That's all very true and I do agree as well.
I drove 39k miles on my 2012 Mazda3 that I bought new in Dec 2012 until June of 2016, it got new tires around March of 2016 with about 32-34k miles. Comes to roughly 10k a year.
Maybe I'm better off with a 30-40k tire. Still hard to swallow and justify the expense IMO.

Is it obvious that I hate depreciable/replaceable neccessities throughout life? HAHA

 

OP, I'm not saying you're doing anything wrong, but I have the same truck and drivetrain a year newer with nearly the same use and about 29k miles and my Dunlops aren't even close to worn out.

 

I don't know, I bought it this way and haven't done a thing. Tires seems to be wearing evenly at least. Yeah, I drive my vehicles like I have somewhere to be, that's the intended purpose. But I'm no racer haha. It's a 4 banger Toyota!
The 300B compound used to make them, imo, has more to do with it than my drive style.

 

Mine were 3/32" at 21k miles of highway use and a completely stock truck with no additional weight.

 

This makes me want to go measure my tread depth...

 

It was shockingly quick.

My first year of ownership was 17k miles.. so I got about 14 months on my set!

Loved the MPG they gave me, but everything else was a disappointment.

 

I have 47,000 on my Cooper A/T3's and expect at least 5000 more. They are rated as a 55,000 mile tire and I have no doubts I could go that far if I chose to. I stayed with a P series, but went up to 265/75/16 and saw no difference in fuel mileage or power. Traction in rain and snow has been excellent. I've not been in a lot of deep mud, but they have done surprisingly well in the mud where I've been. I think that size is perfect on an unlifted truck.

The only negatives. The tires rode near perfect for the 1st 40,000 miles. But at this point I'm getting more road noise and the last 2 rotations required a re-balance which never need to be done before. But considering I bought them with an $80 rebate I only paid $470 OTD for everything after rebate. Even though I've still got enough tread to safely get me through winter, I could replace them now and feel like I got my money's worth.

 

Anyone else have some input?
I'm putting the cart before the horse a little, but I like to plan ahead at times.

 

do yourself a big favor and get Michelin MS2 245/75/16 at the big box store like Costco or BJ wholesale , I got a estimate from BJs Wholesale for my truck for a total of $659.07 w/tax NJ, for the BJs version called Michelin LT2 same as the MICHELIN Defender tire, these are p245/75/16 with free rotations and flat repairs for life, 70k miles wearout, pay the extra its worth it.

 

Michelin make good tires and have great features and warranties, agreed. But surely you mean the Michelin LTX AT? Because the MS2 is a straight up radial I'd expect to see on a minivan.

 

no the Michelin ms2 is an all season light truck tire, I had the Michelin at2 on my 1st GEN v6 truck and they were an outstanding tire too, what you have to remember is that you have a 4 cylinder truck and tire weight is an very important factor in its performance, the more unsprung weight you push the less performance you get. the weight of stock dunflops is 32lbs., Michelin ms2 is 35lbs., Michelin at2 is 37lbs, in stock size, each increase in weight even a few pounds=less performance and mpgs important if its a daily driver

 

Has anyone ran Firestone Destination AT's? I know the company got a bad rep several years ago, but I'm sure they've changed. I mean, I eat at Chipotle again lol.

 

Take a look at

$241+ Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza Plus Tires

Bridgestone Dueller Alenza H/L Plus. 80k mile warranty (best out there I think. Could be wrong), got pretty rave reviews on tire rack and Costco has a screaming deal on them every other month at $113 a tire + rotations and road hazard.

 

Costco is mentioned a lot. We don't have that new fangled progressive shit here in Appalachia! lol

 

Closest one is Lexington and I'm not a member.
However, my mother is a member at Sam's club about 15 min away, when I'm ready to buy, I'll check them first.

 

Okay...
So I have a lead on some 31" 10.50's on 15" wheels. Wheels n tires for $400, good price as long as the rims aren't . Going to assume the wheels are factory from earlier gen Tacoma, as I'm told the wheels came off a Tacoma. I found that the 15" rim off a first gen has offset of 10-15 and my 2014 16" wheel is 30.

Those tires only have 400 miles on them, not sure what brand/model of tire or wheel yet as I haven't laid eyes or hands on them. This is only an option, not a definite solution.
What kind of problems could/should I expect on the fitment issues, if any, if I pull the trigger?

 

IDK for sure but I'm pretty sure that 15" wheels won't clear the calipers of a 2nd gen taco