My rig is at the tire shop getting new shocks, leveled, and an alignment. When I pull the trigger on the wheels and tires will be determined a lot by how it looks and rides after today, mainly because I hate to leave good rubber on the tires that are on there. I put them on at about 55k and they are the same tire that came on the truck, and I'm at 95k now. So, even though 2 of the tires have some cupping, they still have some life left in them.

However, I did ask for some pricing on the tires I want. I also let them price the wheels for me. I can buy the wheels, online, for $145 each shipped to my door, but that doesn't include valve stems or lug nuts. They quoted me $700 and change for the set, including everything (lugs, stems, tax). 63T mentiones special lugs above. What's special about them and how much are they if bought separately?

As for the tires, he quoted me $263 each for the 305/17/70 and $248 each for the 295/17/70. That doesn't include mounting and balancing however. With tax and the extra stuff, a set of 305's is going to come pretty close to scaring $1200 out of my wallet and the 295's wouldn't be far behind that. However, of the 3 brands/models I asked him to quote for me, the Nitto's were the cheapest.

He pushes Duratracs really hard so it was no surprise when he started in on me for those. He is a Goodyear and Michelin dealer, primarily, so it stands to reason that he'd rather sell me those brands first. A set of Duratracs in a 295/17 came in at about $305 each. I told him I had read that they may not hold up as well on heavier full size trucks as they do on the smaller trucks/SUV's. He pointed out to me several people that we both know that have them on full size trucks and love them, including my neighbor, who tears up the roads all day and is now on his 3rd set. Just for grins, I also asked for a quote on some BFG KO AT's. I've had several sets of them in my life and was always happy with them. But I was shocked that they came in at the highest price of $315 each (I don't love them that much).

I like the Nitto's the best, so does my son, and our minds are pretty well made up. But my tire guy's argument against them is "they do very well for the first 25 to 30% of the tread but then they become impossible to keep balanced". As usual, he tells me he can and will sell and install anything I want, but his "professional advice" is to go with the Duratracs.

I have 2 4runners and am a member of a 4runner forum site. I have a set of Duelers that came stock on my 2011 4runner and some BFG KO's on my 2000 4runner. But everytime a tire thread comes up on that forum - Duratracs seem to be the overwhelming favorite. However, I don't really care to invest more in a tire that I don't like as much.

Has anyone been running Nitto's long enough to dispell this talk about them being hard to keep in balance after some significant treadwear?

 

Greg, in my post couple weeks ago, I had these rims put on my truck. Although I have not driven it much, I really like them. That said, before I bought I scoured the Internet for the best price on them 17x9 with -12 offset. Best deal I found was at rimzoneonline.com. Free shipping and not tax at 136.99 each. Knowing I needed them mounted and all, I printed that out from online and went down toDiscount Tire also known by Americas Tire in some places. Showed it to them, and they very reluctantly agreed to match the price. I say that because it was 30 dollars above their cost. But they figured they would make a new customer etc, so they did it. I ended up paying 16 a wheel for mount and balance with chrome stems. And 45 for a chrome gorilla lug nut set. I didn't ask for them, just what they ordered. Special? I don't know, but I like them. They also tried to charge me tax, but I refused because online there was no tax, so they discounted that out too. All in all rims, mount balance, lugs out the door was 656.96.

 

Jesus! I paid $127.50 for the 265/70/17 Terra Grapplers on my Grand Cherokee in '09 at a local chain tire store. I still have the bill because of the warranty and lifetime rotation and balancing which came to $580 after mounting and tax. Have they gone up that much since then???

As for the Duratracs - they are ALWAYS the preferred tire on the Wrangler forums as well but even guys who own Jeeps AND full size pickups won't put them on their pickup trucks and most who have - have horror stories about them.

I have a hunting buddy with a Ford diesel in south Georgia who had a set and would just about fight ANYONE who mentioned anything about the hundreds of online posts about sidewall failures on heavy trucks UNTIL he blew a sidewall on I75.

It's a shame they don't beef up the sidwall because I love the tread pattern, like my FCIIs it's a great A/T-M/T hybrid pattern...

 

Yeh, Hammer, I was a bit sticker shocked as well but all tires have gone up dramatically. They say it's due to the price of oil being so much higher. I could kick myself for not switching to 17's the first time it was time for new tires.

I do like the tread pattern/sidewall look of the Duratracs and if they were cheaper, it would be harder to argue with the guy, though I still would. My neighbor is on his second set on his F150 and he had a set on his heavy assed F250 Diesel before he traded it. He says he loves them - then again, he does drive a Ford. He piles on the miles and is in the timber business so he is off-road quite a bit, but he never tows anything. I don't want any potential sidewall issues because I do tow now and then and wouldn't want that to stress weak sidewalls and have a blowout.