Truck tires that don't suck?

I know a bit about car tires and feel confident reading about them and evaluating them based on their reviews and numbers and such. On truck tires, I'm lost. I have a 2008 silverado 1/2 ton crew cab that needs tires for the second time and I haven't been happy with either the stock tires or the Khumos that I put on it at 50K. Size is 245-70-17. Road feel sucks, especially cornering. I've put sway bars as thick as my arm both front and rear on the truck and I love them. The truck is also wearing Camburg coilovers and upper control arms in the front. Another huge step forward for the truck.
Anyone have recommendations for tires that don't suck? The truck is driven on road 99.9% of the time with at least one cross country trip a year. Not much towing though that's always subject to change if a new project pops up. I'm not looking for sports car feel out of truck tires but am I cursed to live in a world where I have to drive around on marshmallows if I stay with a 70 series tire?
Help?

MY 06 Crewcab came with the same size. I bumped up to 265/65/17 Kumho KL51. We've gotten 35k miles on them since and lovethem still. I may have to replace 2 because of the front's preopnsity to eat the corners and my laziness in rotating them as often as I should.

But with 11k miles on those tires, the truck was fun to drive up through the 2 lane twisties of northern Arizona, Southeast Utah and western Colorado.

EDIT: Our truck is a 2wd, so the driving feel is a LOT differnt than it's 4wd brethren.

In reply to mazdeuce:

Haven't had a truck in awhile but the last set I had were BFG All Terrain TA KO on my FX4 L2 Ranger and they were great. I only put 20k on the truck before I got rid of it and they barely had any wear. You can't go wrong with biting the bullet and buying Michelin's. My dad's SUV had them and they were amazing. They lasted 60k and rode great. Road feel is going to suck with any tire that has a 8in tall side wall.

Bob,
My truck is also 2wd and the camburg upper arms cleared up that whole tire eating issue. They're expensive enough that they'll never pay for themselves, but I still love them. No more rotations every 5k! Yay!
Keep the suggestions coming, I'm making a list.

if you're looking for responsive handling, 70 series tires are not going to cut it. i autoxed my reg cab f150 back in the day on stock suspension, on video you could see the suspension barely working and most of the body roll was in the tires.

what size wheels are you running now? maybe look into some of the factory 20" takeoffs that someone's replaced.

Get real truck tires not car tires. Me personaly i've had great luck with Hercules tires in the past they used to come in two configurations a 5ply sidewall and a 8 ply with 10ply rating. I allway go with highest ply rating There not easy to find last set i had to get from a "truck" repair shop (18 wheeler and HD dump truck garage)

In reply to 44Dwarf:
The trucks I've driven with real truck tires (1 ton Ford diesel and 3/4 ton Dodge diesel) have both sucked to drive as well, except now the ride sucked in a straight line as well as around corners. I know that real truck tires have their place on real trucks, but really, this is not that truck. It's used like a big car with a huge trunk 99% of the time.
Strizzo, I've thought of the 20 inch thing, but even takeoffs are so damn expensive. They go for around $1000 a set here in Houston. At least the prices of 20 inch tires have come way down. Maybe I just need to bite the bullet and do it.

Road feel in a truck?

I think you'll likely have better luck if you change your expectations.

DaveEstey wrote: Road feel in a truck? I think you'll likely have better luck if you change your expectations.

Indeed.

I run 265/70-17 W965's on my Cummins and have been surprised at how well it grips when called on. Still, I wouldn't say the "feel" is great. It's a truck, not a car.

My other choice would be Michelin LTX A/T's.

Michelin LTX. They've got a stiff sidewall, as they're a real truck tire. Run 'em at high pressure (I used to use 70 psi in my Tundra, the Dodge wants 60-70 depending on the load) and they'll give remarkable steering feel...for a truck. My boss ran a similar Tundra with a BFG AT and it was like driving a marshmallow with a quarter the tire life. The Michelins last pretty much forever. I was really happy to see my Dodge came with them from the factory.

I'd recommend highway tires instead of A/T ones.

If you're concerned about ride quality, pull a leaf spring out of the back and put in some air bags. I love my air bags.

When I look on Tirerack the LTX seems to have two different specs. Some sizes are specify a max pressure of 80 psi and others 44 or so. I assume I'm looking for the ones at 80 psi, yes?
Ride quality on the truck is fantastic how it is, but like all of us, I want things to be better than they are. I would gladly trade some of the fluffy ride for better overall handling.

this run was done on michelin LTX M/S in 265/70-16 look at the suspension arms in relation to the body roll at the end coming back down the slalom.

http://s271.beta.photobucket.com/user/bryanjstrong/media/Bryan-FordF-150-Pass3.mp4.html

what part of houston are you in? i'm on the west side around hwy 6 and westheimer

I'm north of Kingwood a bit. Would have loved to trade places with you driving back and forth to the rallycross last weekend. Nothing like getting back to Houston and still being an hour away from home.
Thanks for the video. Do you have any idea if those are the higher pressure LT tires or the ones run at more normal car type presures? I'm wondering if it might be worth it to try the higher pressure stiff ones. The problem is that if they truly wear well but ride poorly then I'll probably be stuck with them for a decade. Gah, I both love and hate buying tires.

I've had great luck with Michelin LTX M/S's on our old exploder. The ride well and corner well for what it is, they also have FAR better feel than the other brands I've run on the same truck. Been on there almost 10 years now (it's not a full time driver) and I'm just getting close to the wear bars.

But a 70 series tire won't handle like a 35 series. And a truck won't handle like a car. I'll trade some flex for the ability to soak up some abuse any day on a truck.

mazdeuce wrote: I'm north of Kingwood a bit. Would have loved to trade places with you driving back and forth to the rallycross last weekend. Nothing like getting back to Houston and still being an hour away from home. Thanks for the video. Do you have any idea if those are the higher pressure LT tires or the ones run at more normal car type presures? I'm wondering if it might be worth it to try the higher pressure stiff ones. The problem is that if they truly wear well but ride poorly then I'll probably be stuck with them for a decade. Gah, I both love and hate buying tires.

i think they were P tires, not LTs. they rode great, balanced well and wore like iron- i got 50-60k per set out of them, it was on its 3rd set of LTXs when it got sold, but high-grip sporty tires they were not.

Michelin LTX AT/2s on my '01 Tacoma 3.4 2WD Prerunner.

Love 'em.

The tires in question

I'm asking this out of complete ignorance (which I'm sure is going to be quite clear in about two seconds), but what about the wheels & tires they put on the police Tahoes? The weight involved must be at least in the ballpark of a half-ton pickup, and they seem to handle pretty well.

If 20's are what you are interested in, my father is looking to getrid of his 20's off his Tahoe. GM 5-spoke 20's, he wanted $400 for them, shipping might hurt a little though because they're so friggin heavy.

DaveEstey wrote: Road feel in a truck? I think you'll likely have better luck if you change your expectations.

Then you've obviously not driven a 2wd GM truck built since the late 80's. The newer R&P 2wd trucks from the General have pretty good road feel with real tires on them. With the OE Generals on it, the truck sucked balls.

Bobzilla wrote: If 20's are what you are interested in, my father is looking to getrid of his 20's off his Tahoe. GM 5-spoke 20's, he wanted $400 for them, shipping might hurt a little though because they're so friggin heavy.

Sent you a message Bob because I'm a travellin' man and I like buying stuff.
And you're right, the newer 2wd GM trucks are fantastic, but they could be better.

Without a doubt, ANYTHING can be better! But out of the box, stock for stock before mods they are one of the best driver's out there. Before I bought the vette, it was the flattest cornering vehicle I owned.... including my "auto-x Elantra".

i like the 265/75/16 Transforce AT's on my truck... they are said to last pretty much forever and they make even my solid axle 87 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 ride nice with decent steering response for an ancient truck. they are a load range E tire and they barely droop at all with 2 tons of scrap in the back.

Based on a (CR?) review, I bought Bridgestone Duelers for both the truck and Exploder and was very happy with them. Granted, this was going from total E36 M3 tires on both vehicles, so ymmv. They were a little noisy, but handled well, and wore really well for the price.

Thanks to,everybody. I've got a good short list of tires to check out and a line on some potential new wheels. I really love the GRM community.

BFG All Terrain TA on my Ranger, I have 55k miles on them and will get another 15-20k easy. Best tires I've had on my truck as far as grip and low road noise BUT they are a solid block design so they don't shed water as well so you do have to be more careful in the rain (only slightly).

I started with Goodyear Wranglers or some such and they sucked. High road noise, poor grip in dry or wet conditions (worse than the BFGs) and only lasted 35k miles