New tires for the 450

[FordTechChase]

No experience at all in 19.5 tires. What I do know is it looks like most all the tires are pretty highway oriented. Truck will not see offroad conditions much but it needs to not get stuck in the yard/pasture hooking onto the camper, horse trailer or other trailers.

Truck is my fiance's daily. So I don't want them to be to aggressive but it needs to be able to go in the snow when need be. Last winter we had tons of snow, this past winter we never got anything worth mentioning.

Looking at tires on trucks that come threw our shop Roadmaster by cooper is about the most common for a more aggressive tire. Not sure if it is a lack of rotating them or they just wear horribly but the fronts are always so bad you can't stand to drive the trucks hardly. Is there anything better than the HDR that comes on the trucks for life? Truck has 149 and this is the end of its second set from what the previous owners told me so the seem to be decent at 75k a set.

If I run a set of HSR or other highway type tires on the front how do they usually do in the snow? May run something more aggressive in the rear and keep the stock type up front. Just worry about the inside/outside edges wearing off due to lack of getting put on the back to wear down flat.

Also is there anything to be gained by stepping up to a 245/70/19.5?

 

[Geralddunbar995]

The continental HDR didn't last well on my F550 service truck. At 41k, they were nearly bald and I rotated them every 7,500 and kept air in them. I got Michelin XDS2 tires for the drives and the XZE for steer tires. I had them on my last F550 and they wore great. Somewhat noisy, but they work well in snow and mud.

 

[benjamindurtka]

I am a commercial tire tech and I would second the Michelin. As far as wear and quality go I haven't seen anything that matches Michelin on or off road. Highway or earth movers.
They are however very pricey and there are other brands that are good.
Second choice would be Dunlop. Sp464 for the drives and sp348 for the front if I'm remembering correctly.
That's what our local cat service trucks run and they have been happy with them.
I don't own a dually our use a service truck like yours, from what I've seen they are notoriously hard to keep even weight distribution. Local service guy took a tape measure and measured his clearances on each wheel, then added some spacers to bring everything level and that fixed his wear problems. He did previously work on a suspension shop so what he did was with experience. Obviously alignment and steering components/ball joints will play into all of this.
Good luck.

2001 F-250 cclb
7.3l 4x4
forged rods,
ebpv, muffler, dp80hp dd.

 

[Geralddunbar995]

Yeah. The weight distribution is definitely uneven. Viewin my truck from the rear on level ground makes it obvious. They won't allow us to change anything, so I just rotate them and keep air in them. I work at the local CAT dealer. They are pricey, but it's another "get what you pay for" situation.

 

[FordTechChase]

Michelin does look like w decent tire. Price isn't so decent at 500 a pop. I know the ambulances I work on all run Michelin but they are highway tires and the have auto tire chains for snow. Dunlop doesn't make the above tires in anything but a 22.5. Truck is just a 450 pick up so weight distribution isn't much of an issue. It'll be on the pin or just normal pickup weights in the bed. It's main daily duty is haul the wife and kids around.

I do see service trucks especially ones with booms come in all the time leaning badly.

Another question since I'm new to commercial type tires here...can drives not be ran on the front for 4x4? The front still needs some kind of lugs or else it'll be worthless anywhere but on the pavement. I see everyone suggesting different fronts. I'd really like to have 6 of the same thing on the ground.

 

[Geralddunbar995]

You can use the same all the way around. All of our service trucks are 2wd and most of the other ones around probably are as well, which is more than likely why everyone including myself suggested steers and drives be different. As long as they're rotated and balanced regularly with proper alignments, I dont see an issue.

 

[FordTechChase]

Ok cool. I see trucks that have drives on the front and suspected it was the case just didn't know.

Since you brought it up about rotate/balances and alginments...Those issues are not a problem for me but what are you guys doing to get decent life out of your tires? 5, 7.5 or 10k mile rotations? Using normal hammer on weights or balance beads? Seriously considering those so I don't have to hammer on weights on the polished wheels.

I ordered the lower two and right upper moog parts and ordered the lh upper from Ford. Tie rods will all be fresh and the ball joints the previous owner said are near new and they do appear fresh. Trackbar ball joint and bushing are also in the back seat to be replaced before truck actually starts getting used.

 

[Golddigger]

http://www.tiresdirect.net/Assets/images/Product_Images/Standard_Images/M608Z_standard.jpg
These are what I run on my F450 4x4 M608Z.

 

[Geralddunbar995]

We do rotate and balance every service at 7,500. We use hammer on weights because our trucks have steel wheels. Have no input on the balance beads. Some people love them , some people don't.

 

[benjamindurtka]

Beads work. Nice to not have to re-balance. I don't remember the numbers for the Dunlop in 19.5" but I can put them up when I get to work on Monday. Michelin does wear better then other's but if you can't get the truck weight distributed you will likely have wear issues regardless. Imo and experience.

2001 F-250 cclb
7.3l 4x4
forged rods,
ebpv, muffler, dp80hp dd.

 

[FordTechChase]

Added Toyos to the list of possibilities. Not stupid expensive but substantially higher than the Roadmaster RM253, almost double now that I actually did the math.

I would like to have the dunlop numbers.

Anyone stepped up to the 245/70? Not sure if their would be enough gain to go up but thinking anything to fill the wheel wells some more would be nice and maybe slow the engine down just a touch.

 

[AllGo'N'Show]

Subscribed to see others results.

I ran Michelin XDS2 and got ~100k km this last winter on them and they still have some life left but not much. I was very happy with their winter performance on snow and ice for the most part and never had an issue in light offroad use with them either. They do chunk on gravel roads if driven regularly I have heard, most of my use is pavement.

I hate my HSR's, the rears have some wear but I have a heavy right foot, the fronts are like new so they need a rotate. But they are HORRIBLE on anything but pavement, and in the wet they leave a lot to be desired, the rear walks out in the rain if you are trying to climb a hill and she downshifts, not a good feeling with high value loads behind you knowing the tires aren't really suitable for even rain.

Been eyeing up 22.5 conversion already have the adapters so I can get into some better tires for year round on the 22.5 setup.

 

[FordTechChase]

Just did some more digging and think I found them. sp461. Good middle of the road pricing aswell.

Side rant for the day is having to go to the commercial sites to find tires lol. Guess most guys don't buy them to haul the family around in I suppose.

 

[benjamindurtka]

Those would be it. F bags of equal balance and 6 of those rotated regularly and you should be all set. I would think that 245/70r would help with traction and stability but I can't say that I have personally known someone that switched. I've never liked how skinny they were on such a heavy and wide truck setup.

2001 F-250 cclb
7.3l 4x4
forged rods,
ebpv, muffler, dp80hp dd.

 

[psduser1]

I have Michelin xdz? 245/70s on my dually in the avatar. About 70k mi, and guessing they are still about 80%.
All six are the same, and yes, they are slippery, lol. However, with some attention, they are manageable.
4x4, no external weights. Maybe beads, maybe just an extremely good balance job, I'm not sure, as I bought them already mounted.
I'd definitely buy them again, for a highway truck.
Tire pressure is going to affect the ride, mine are set at 70 in the front, 60 in the duals.
Never been rotated, but this isn't a service truck, and load on the pin is pretty equally divided.

 

[ThreeBigFords]

I didn't have much luck with the Toyo M608's, couldn't get them to balance, even after replacing two out of the 6 new tires, horrible tire squirm, very loud, rough ride, heck...even smelled really bad. The only redeeming feature was the look.

And I'm a HUGE Toyo fan.

The stock Conti HSR's are HORRIBLE traction wise as stated.

So I paid the upcharge and swapped the new 608's for the Michelin XDS2's, and have been VERY pleased. Well worth the money. Time will tell on longevity, but the only category that these fall short on compared to the Toyo's is in the overall look. Not quite as aggressive looking.