All terrain tires for towing.

In a fairly near future I will need to replace the tires on my Sequoia tow rig, And because it tows a rally car and is often in very muddy paddock areas it needs a fairly decent all-terrain tire. The last two sets I've used were Bridgestone dueler Revo 2 , but I have not gotten nearly as many miles out of them as I expected, so looking to try something else. I like the General Grabbers I have on the raider but those are on a much smaller lighter truck that is not towing so I don't know how they are at heavier loads.

Obviously the BF Goodrich AT KO is a popular choice but what else? Oh and they need to be four season all terrains since we also go to Winter Rallies. 

Suggestions welcome especially things that might go on sale at tire rack lol.

I love Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs

Been using ko2 to tow 10k miles a year 

I had wildpesks and ko1 before. Ko2 is my go to choice 

Firestone Transforce ATs are good.

My Suburban 2500 is used almost exclusively as a tow pig, 20' enclosed trailer mostly, but also some smaller ones.  It runs E rated tire stock, I have some Hummer H2 wheel so run LT265/70/17.   I had some General Grabber AT2 which were good, but eventually just wouldn't stay in balance by about half tread wear (30k miles).  I replaced them with some Falken Wildpeak AT3W which have been excellent for 2 years (18k miles) so far.  I basically never need 4WD in the snow or any dirt I've been in, they are wearing quite well and start with nearly 1" of tread.  They have a pretty aggressive tread pattern for an A/T which would be good for muddy road use, and they are only slightly louder than the Grabbers were.  I'd recommend them, and in fact I have, and a race team mate has them on his Titan as well and also is very pleased.  

Any thoughts on whether to go with LT or load range E tires, assuming the same tire is available in both?

Sonic said:

My Suburban 2500 is used almost exclusively as a tow pig, 20' enclosed trailer mostly, but also some smaller ones.  It runs E rated tire stock, I have some Hummer H2 wheel so run LT265/70/17.   I had some General Grabber AT2 which were good, but eventually just wouldn't stay in balance by about half tread wear (30k miles).  I replaced them with some Falken Wildpeak AT3W which have been excellent for 2 years (18k miles) so far.  I basically never need 4WD in the snow or any dirt I've been in, they are wearing quite well and start with nearly 1" of tread.  They have a pretty aggressive tread pattern for an A/T which would be good for muddy road use, and they are only slightly louder than the Grabbers were.  I'd recommend them, and in fact I have, and a race team mate has them on his Titan as well and also is very pleased.  

Yeah, I've considered the Wilkpeaks several times for this and the Raider, but I really prefer to buy from Tire Rack (for a variety of reasons) and they're not a Falken dealer. Not saying I wouldn't buy elsewhere, but I like to support businesses that have consistently treated me well!

That said, damn those things are inexpensive. I may have to make an exception this one time for a vehicle that doesn't get driven all that much.....

I have falken wildpeak at3w on my truck in load range E.  The truck weighs about 8500 pounds with me and some tools in it(3500 crew cab diesel ram).  I replaced the original crap bald firestones at 28k and am now at 70k having towed probably 90% of those miles including 2 trips to Florida with loaded 28' enclosed trailer.  They are at about 40% life left after 42k miles and one rotation because I'm really bad at remembering to rotate them.  I can't recommend them enough, I've never been stuck with them.  
 

the E range tires were $10 more each in the same size 

Volvoclearinghouse has the Hankook Dynapro ATM on his K3500 towpig. I had the same tire on my XJ for 5000 miles and I was pretty happy with the noise for an AT tire. I really dislike loud tires.

irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:

Any thoughts on whether to go with LT or load range E tires, assuming the same tire is available in both?

For me its always load E. I have gotten saved by the 10 ply more than on one occasion. YMMV

I have Wildpeaks on everything. Suburban, Silverado, and XJ. They are outstanding. 

Sumitomo is Falken, sort of. If you want to buy from Tire Rack, the Encounter AT is probably the same carcass with a different tread and name. 

https://www.moderntiredealer.com/1870/why-the-falken-and-sumitomo-brands-are-sold-separately

Edit to add: I'm running Sumitomo Encounter HT on my Motorhome. I have been very happy with them as well. Sumitomo and Falken are my go to brand for almost everything. 

I'm running the Cooper discoverer AT3 XLT on my Fi50 in an e rated tire. This is the most aggressive tire in the line, and it is smooth, pleasant, and quiet on the interstate. It tows great. We tow a 3k lb boat about 4 hours each way to the coast several times a year. This tire has handled that easily without even raising the pressure above my normal street fill of 50psi. 
 

I would recommend going e-rated if you can. I found no difference in comfort over the p rated tires that were on the truck when I bought it. At 50psi they handle my little boat with no bulge, but you can go up to 80psi if you need to for heavier loads. The higher psi definitely gives you more stability when towing. 

ultraclyde (Forum Supporter) said:

I'm running the Cooper discoverer AT3 XLT on my Fi50 in an e rated tire. This is the most aggressive tire in the line, and it is smooth, pleasant, and quiet on the interstate. It tows great. We tow a 3k lb boat about 4 hours each way to the coast several times a year. This tire has handled that easily without even raising the pressure above my normal street fill of 50psi. 
 

I would recommend going e-rated if you can. I found no difference in comfort over the p rated tires that were on the truck when I bought it. At 50psi they handle my little boat with no bulge, but you can go up to 80psi if you need to for heavier loads. The higher psi definitely gives you more stability when towing. 

Interesting....I'm used to being around 40psi on my LT tires (about 35 when not towing). I'm towing about 4500lbs tops (plus another few hundred in the truck), so not terribly heavy, and never had an issue. Do the E-rated tires inherently NEED to be at higher pressure like 50+? Or do they simply "allow" it? This truck is used probably 75% of the time for towing and the other 25% for general Home Depot runs or deep snow days.

I've always heard that E-rated tires have harder rubber (for longer wear) and so are not as good in snow/ice/frozen conditions - is that the case?

I've been happy with the grabbers on my 5700lb f250. They are load range E and have handled pulling a car trailer just fine. I only have 2000 miles on them though. I run them at the recommended 80 psi for my truck. Mud and general slop on some of the local gravel/dirt roads haven't slowed them down. 
 

biggest complaint I found when looking into them was uneven wear. At 200 bucks a set less then mastercraft courser axt2 I figured it was worth a shot.

disclaimer though I've towed with a truck running bias ply super swampers so my tastes may not be as refined as some of you 

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

My experience is that e rated seems happier about 10psi higher than the P but it's probably a function of individual tire and vehicle. I think the "recommended" pressure on mine was 45 unloaded on a near 7k lb truck, but I found the extra 5psi gave me back a little of the mpg I lost going from a light weight p rated highway tread to a heavy e rated knobby. The tires did cost me a solid 1mpg  around  town but I think that's not bad for adding 20lbs per wheel. 
 

although I like the tires and I feel like they're the right choice they do have some penalties. In addition to the mpg drop the increased weight takes an edge of the acceleration and you can feel it working the shocks more. Still worth it though. 
 

Being in South Georgia I have no experience with snow. I suspect that is more an issue with highway treads than ATs. I know some of them have the snowflake rating. The Coopers have a 60k mile warranty and with normal rotation are wearing great at about 10k miles

We use Cooper Discoverer ATP on all our work vans. We had one guy who lived an hour up a dirt road on top of a hill and that was the best tire we found for his van. Everything else we tired had a ton of flats. I have them on the van I tow my car with and I really like them. 

Patientzero said:

I love Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs

This.

They get a little noisy (but nothing like most M/T tires) when they get some miles on them, but work great in pretty much all conditions, including snow.  They are much better in snow than the BFG options.

I've had good luck with Sumitomo and Falken. Decent tires for not alot of coin.

This thread is relevant to my interests as I apparently just bought a new tow rig that needs E range tires. 

BFG All Terrains in a Load Range E - white letters out.

/thread

93gsxturbo said:

BFG All Terrains in a Load Range E - white letters out.

/thread

Hard pass for me. I hated the BFGs I had. Crap for ride and after 30K they were almost as loud as mud grips. 

I put Michelin Defenders on my wife's GX460. Not as AT as the BFG TKOs I've had on previous Jeeps, but much quieter on the road. 

I have duratracs on my 4runner and they are annoyingly loud.  I am going to replace them with a set of KO2's in the near future.

Patientzero said:

I love Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs

Yes,  I run these on my dually, Suburban,  and g550.  Love these tires.

Has anyone tried the really cheap options?

https://simpletire.com/atturo-lt245-75r16-tbati0041289-tires

https://simpletire.com/westlake-lt245-75r16-22275035-tires

They both seem to have similar tread and would save a couple hundred dollars over a set of something like the wildpeak. 

I haven't had any complaints with the Ironman tires I bought for my truck but I was dumb and didn't get the 10-ply version.