I'm looking to get my first set of new tires. Keep in mind my gearing is different than most stock trucks (4.10's), and that I currently have a 17 inch rim.

I want something that will be decent for on-the-road driving (wear decently), but can still do the job in the snow, as well as the mud on occasion. Good mpg wouldn't hurt either, but I know it's a truck and I don't care all that much.

I'm getting recaps. The highest they go is 265/70/17 or 16, or 31/10.50/15.

So I was thinking either..

A) Stay with my 17s, get the 265/70/17s.
B) Get new cragar soft 8s in 16s, get 265/70/16s
C) Get new cragar soft 8s in 15s, get 31/10.50/15s

I would like to get new rims (so that tires are cheaper in the future), so I'm more-less debating between the 15 or 16s. I would like your opinions.

Also, if I get a new rim, would a 15x8 or 16x8 work fine? If not what size do I need? How much backspacing?

 

15s wont fit on our year, found out, our 01s have bigger brake calipers than the rest, they started using the dual pistons on ours. 16 will fit, thats what i have is 16s, but its not gonna save ya any money on tires really. so id say stay with the 17s u got and maybe later on get different ones if you want. so i gues then what im sayin is go with the 265/70/17

 

Check out these guys. They go larger.....

 

Keep your off-road wheels and get 285/75/17 tires. Those look the best on Off Road trucks.

 

Yeah, but I gotta add $150 for shipping. I've looked into them.
They don't make that size, or that's what I'd do for sure.

 

Get different tires then!

 

God, please don't add another dimension of complexity to your daily driver. I wouldn't trust a cheap tire as far as I can throw one. And that isn't very far.

 

Semi's run retreads......

Military runs retreads......

Aircraft run retreads......


"Cheap" has a couple different dimensions. There is poor quality, and then there is inexpensive. I don't need to spend 250 bucks for a tire, to know if it is good quality or not. Doing a bit of research on your prospective tires, and see how they fare in reviews is one of the easiest ways to tell if you are getting junk, or just inexpensive. Not everyone has a six figure income, so they can just run out to the tire store and buy whatever they want. If you operate on a limited budget, then spending less, and still getting good quality makes sense.

If you don't want to run "cheap" tires, and have the budget to support that, then that is your choice to make, and more power to you. But, for those of us that aren't quite in the same position, we do what we can, with what we have. Please don't make judgments on something based soley on price.

 

I'll judge tires all day long. I build vehicles that race for a living. I have more real world experience with tires than a good percentage of the users of this forum. I didn't say a word about retreads, what I said was aimed towards cheap tires.

Treadwright tires are cheap tires, plain and simple. Your vehicle is only as good as the rubber it sits on. And cheap tires on a large vehicle is asking for trouble. Not only are you putting yourself at risk, you're risking others on the road. If you can't make concessions and buy a good set of tires, your vehicle shouldn't be driving down the road. It's as simple as that.

 

Aren't retreads the reason that so many semi's tires blowout while driving? It's fine when you're in a semi with so many tires, but on a truck with 4 tires, if 1 blows out, you're screwed.