Propickup Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/93729
TIRETEST By Bruce W. Smith F orty to 45,000 miles on a set of tires pushes the safe limit for most pickups used in the construction and contract- ing world. By then the top of old Abe's head is probably showing, and what used to be sharp blocks of tread are now just rounded nubs that have lost their tractive abilities. If this describes your truck's tires, one replacement worth considering is the LT "E" version of the Toyo Open Country A/T. This is an all-terrain with an "E"-load rating and a 40,000-mile tread-wear warranty in the 16- and 17-inch rim sizes. We slid a set of OCs on Project Bedrock's 17x8.5-inch Vision V-Tec Warlord wheels to see how they fared compared to the Cooper Desti- nation S/T MAXXs that we'd been running. The LT265/70R17E Toyos we selected were an inch shorter and 10 pounds lighter than the LT285/70R17E Coopers and a little less aggres- sive in the tread design. Hence, we gained a little in some areas and lost in others. In-cab noise levels at 70mph on smooth pavement were 1-2 dBa lower than the old tires. The Toyos also lacked the high-pitched whine from the competitor's more aggressive tread. The Toyo A/T seemed more sensitive to Toyo's venerable all-terrain light-truck tires thrive in the terrain their name implies… rougher asphalt than the tire we took off , bumping in-cab readings from 68 dBa to 73 dBa when we subjected them to an old sec- tion of interstate. This is probably because the Toyos have more tread on the surface. Ride quality, especially when hitting expan- sion joints and road cracks or driving over 2-inch-minus road beds felt very similar to the Coopers – and very typical of "E"-rated LTs – slightly harsher than the traditional light-duty SUV/pickup tire found on street vehicles. Toyo adds an extra nylon cap across their "E"-rated tire's caps, which accounts for a 38 PROPICKUP August 2012 OPEN COUNTRY