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Whether you use your truck to work hard or play hard, its tires take a ton of abuse. If you’re lucky, they’ll last four to five years or around 60,000 miles. Keeping up on replacing worn tires plays
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Whether you use your truck to work hard or play hard, its tires take a ton of abuse. If you’re lucky, they’ll last four to five years or around 60,000 miles. Keeping up on replacing worn tires plays an important role in your truck’s handling, safety and efficiency. Choosing the right tires can even improve its performance.
Of course, there are many options. Selecting the right tires means narrowing down the features most valuable to you. Do you need all-season tires to withstand carting tools and supplies on country roads and interstates? Or do you need a tires designed to withstand heavy hauling? If you’re an off-roader, you might be looking for optimum traction over diverse terrain. Perhaps you need a multi-tasker designed to handle all types of driving styles.
It’s not uncommon to consider an upgrade to your tire’s size or tread at replacement time, but it’s important to weigh how the change will impact your truck’s driving personality. A larger tire can improve looks and performance, but can affect the accuracy of a speedometer and odometer if it goes over a certain height. Wider tires can affect handling and steering response and cause more road noise. Increasing both the width and height will decrease fuel efficiency. And the bigger you go, the more money you’ll spend.
Beyond size, consider tire type and load capacity. A “P” on a tire’s sidewall denotes a passenger tire, which are built to serve as a multi-purpose option for cars, SUVs, crossovers and light-duty pickup trucks. Light truck tires are marked with an “LT” instead of a “P” and achieve higher load ratings.
If you use your truck primarily for basic street or highway driving, think about your factory-equipped truck tires. If they were passenger tires, stick with a similar P set. If you use need your truck to tow, navigate off-road obstacles or explore rugged terrain, a LT tire is worth the investment. Whichever you choose, the tire should be the same size diameter as the wheel: 16-inch tires should be mounted to 16-inch wheels. If you are unsure of the size or type of tire, check what’s currently on your vehicle or the owner’s manual.
In researching our tire choices, we’ve set the default vehicles to the Ford F-150 and Honda Ridgeline. Most of our choices, however, are available for a wide range of SUVs, trucks and vans. Without further ado, here’s our list of the best truck tires for 2021.
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Whether you use your truck to work hard or play hard, its tires take a ton of abuse. If you’re lucky, they’ll last four to five years or around 60,000 miles. Keeping up on replacing worn tires plays an important role in your truck’s handling, safety and efficiency. Choosing the right tires can even improve its performance.
Of course, there are many options. Selecting the right tires means narrowing
...Read More
Whether you use your truck to work hard or play hard, its tires take a ton of abuse. If you’re lucky, they’ll last four to five years or around 60,000 miles. Keeping up on replacing worn tires plays an important role in your truck’s handling, safety and efficiency. Choosing the right tires can even improve its performance.
Of course, there are many options. Selecting the right tires means narrowing down the features most valuable to you. Do you need all-season tires to withstand carting tools and supplies on country roads and interstates? Or do you need a tires designed to withstand heavy hauling? If you’re an off-roader, you might be looking for optimum traction over diverse terrain. Perhaps you need a multi-tasker designed to handle all types of driving styles.
It’s not uncommon to consider an upgrade to your tire’s size or tread at replacement time, but it’s important to weigh how the change will impact your truck’s driving personality. A larger tire can improve looks and performance, but can affect the accuracy of a speedometer and odometer if it goes over a certain height. Wider tires can affect handling and steering response and cause more road noise. Increasing both the width and height will decrease fuel efficiency. And the bigger you go, the more money you’ll spend.
Beyond size, consider tire type and load capacity. A “P” on a tire’s sidewall denotes a passenger tire, which are built to serve as a multi-purpose option for cars, SUVs, crossovers and light-duty pickup trucks. Light truck tires are marked with an “LT” instead of a “P” and achieve higher load ratings.
If you use your truck primarily for basic street or highway driving, think about your factory-equipped truck tires. If they were passenger tires, stick with a similar P set. If you use need your truck to tow, navigate off-road obstacles or explore rugged terrain, a LT tire is worth the investment. Whichever you choose, the tire should be the same size diameter as the wheel: 16-inch tires should be mounted to 16-inch wheels. If you are unsure of the size or type of tire, check what’s currently on your vehicle or the owner’s manual.
In researching our tire choices, we’ve set the default vehicles to the Ford F-150 and Honda Ridgeline. Most of our choices, however, are available for a wide range of SUVs, trucks and vans. Without further ado, here’s our list of the best truck tires for 2021.
Cooper’s Evolution H/T tires are designed for a smooth, quiet ride and year-round traction. This tire is manufactured in sizes that will fit most light trucks, vans, SUVs and crossovers. A two-ply polyester casing lines the inside of the tire and high-strength steel belts increase resistance to punctures and stabilize the tread. Each tire is molded to a symmetric tread design to promote even wear, a quiet ride and long tread life. The high-silica all-season compound is grippy enough to handle wet roads and light snow, while the tread pattern features grooves to evacuate water to prevent hydroplaning.
With 424,425 miles reported, Tire Rack survey stats confirm these tires have excellent wet and dry performance, a long tread life, and provide a comfortable ride. Winter and snow performance are rated just slightly lower, so if you need a tire to get you through deep snowy tundras, you may consider an all-terrain or snow tire instead. When it comes to mud or sand, however, these tires lack the bite needed for optimum off-road performance. A handful of drivers reported that the tires tend to get flat spots when the vehicle sits for more than a couple of days, but that the flat areas go away with driving. Take that as a good reminder to regularly monitor tire pressures if you don’t use your truck every day.
All terrain tires are popular with overlanding and off-road enthusiasts, but are also favored by drivers of work trucks who need reliable traction regardless of conditions. The General Grabber A/TX tires blend brawny strength with comfortable on-road use, but they’re also capable of serious traction. Sporting a deeper tread depth and larger tread blocks than all-seasons or highway tires, the A/TX is even designed to accept optional metal studs to enhance traction in severe conditions.
The Grabber A/TX utilizes General’s DuraGen Technology which includes an internal construction of ultra-high-strength steel belts and a robust two-ply polyester casing. The sidewalls and tread pattern are cut and chip resistant, and the latter features deep treads and multi-angle blocks to grip loose terrain. Even more notches and sipes provide the additional bite needed in dirt, sand or snow. The A/TX’s deep treads can grip and fling rocks, but the tread design prevents them from damaging or drilling into the tire. The result is a durable and grippy tire with a long tread life that most reviewers rank as the best off-road rubber they’ve used. Tire Rack customers have notably racked up 2.4 million miles on A/TXs.
Because of the rugged compound from which they are molded, these tires are reported to offer a firm ride and hit the road a bit rougher than highway or all-season tires due to the larger tread, but they are surprisingly quiet on the pavement for this type of tire. A/TXs are heavier than your average factory all-seasons and the additional weight could sap fuel economy.
If you live in an area where navigating through deep snow, slush or icy roads is a regular occurrence, the Blizzak’s enhanced grip in snow, slush and ice is hard to beat. Bridgestone’s adaptive NanoPro Tech Multicell compound the Blizzaks to remain flexible in below-freezing conditions, wick off packed snow and water, and provides good grip even on Zamboni-smooth glare ice. The compound is molded into a directional tread design with aggressive block edges and wide lateral and circumferential grooves to channel any water, slush or snow away from the contact patch, and three-dimensional zig-zag sipes aid traction.
Like many tires, in order for the Blizzaks to provide the best handling and performance, Bridgestone recommends purchasing all four tires for a complete set. The Blizzak DM-V2 meets the industry’s severe snow service requirements and is adorned with the three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) symbol. As an added bonus, a depth indicator in the tread will let you know if the tire is reaching the end of its ability to provide confident snow traction. The Blizzak DM-V12’s status as the leading snow tire is backed by a mountain of positive reviews and 2.3 million logged miles by Tire Rack customers.
Consumer ratings match Goodyear’s claims about their Wrangler Duratrac tires. The Duratrac’s rugged traction busts through mud and over dirt and gravel with confidence while still offering on-road versatility. Performance in heavy rain and flooding seems to depend on the driver, road conditions, and potentially the tire’s PSI, because a select few buyers do report unsatisfactory rainy weather performance. The big tread blocks allow for more grip over rough terrain, but increased wear could occur if you’re mainly burning up miles on the highway, perpetually wearing them down. When the roads are dry, you may also hear a bit more road noise than you’re used to.
The DuraTrac features a tread compound that’s resistant to tread block damage, even during heavy towing or loading jobs. The self-cleaning tread design is symmetric with large shoulder blocks and angled center tread blocks to enhance traction. Goodyear’s TractiveGroove technology provides thousands of biting edges to battle through deep mud, sand and snow. A rim lock prevents wheel slip and a built-in rim protector defends your wheels against rocks and debris.
Pros & Cons
Excellent traction
Meets severe snow service standards set by the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association
Cooper’s Discoverer Rugged Trek tires are an aggressively-styled all-terrain tire rated for exceptional extra load (XL) capabilities with a load index of 2,806 pounds per tire, just in case your rig weighs up to five tons. Built for drivers of pickup trucks, full-size SUVs and crossovers, the Discoverer Rugged Trek tires have an aggressive off-road look while still retaining a smooth, comfortable ride on highways and streets. These tires have excellent ratings for dry, wet and winter conditions, including light snow. Cooper also offers some personalization with these tires by allowing drivers to choose their look based on which side of the tire is mounted outwardly on the wheel: One side features a “knife-edge” style with straighter lined shoulder elements, while the other shows off jagged elements resembling rugged mountain peaks.
The Discoverers wear evenly and have a longer tread life than many traditional off-road tires. Omni-directional, micro-gauge siping enhances grip on pavement and rough surfaces while Whisper Grooves help dampen noise and increase road comfort. This tire is hydroplane resistant thanks to the deep, high-void tread pattern. Since this tire’s main focus is longevity and comfort with a high load rating, its performance, particularly in deeper sand, mud and heavy snowfall, is rated lower than other all-terrain tires. Some buyers reported flat spot vibrations after their vehicle sits overnight, but that this smooths out within the first five miles of driving.
Highway truck tires are specifically developed for superior highway performance, long wear, low noise and ride comfort, and Firestone’s Destination LE3 tires are some of the best on the market. Many users rate the LE3 very highly for performance on wet and dry roads, comfort and long tread life. They even perform well in light snow, and can make it through deep snow on four-wheel-drive vehicles. Gas mileage is typically better than all-terrain tires, as you’d expect from this smoother on-road optimized tire. However, if you’re looking for more off-road adventures or regularly drive off the beaten path, the LE3 probably isn’t the right choice.
Most consumers who’ve used the LE3s agree that these tires provide a quiet, comfortable ride. The internal structure is built for durability and high-speed stability using a polyester casing mated to two steel belts and a nylon reinforcement. The symmetric tread design consists of an advanced rubber compound molded to support precise handling and limit road noise. Firestone incorporated their TractionTech package into this tire for full-depth tread even as the tire wears. Firestone’s anti-hydroplaning and wet-weather optimized Hydro-Grip technology is also built into the LE3.
Designed for cars more than trucks, the Sumitomo HTR A/S P03 is a great budget option for use on light sport trucks thanks to its high-performance handling and stability.
Mid-price All-Season Street Tires for Compact Trucks
Mid-price All-Season Street Tires for Compact Trucks
Another leading brand in the tire industry, Pirelli designed the Scorpion All-Season Plus 3 to be quiet, comfortable and stable, prioritizing a smooth ride and long tread life.
Top-tier All-Season Street Tires for Compact Trucks
Top-tier All-Season Street Tires for Compact Trucks
Michelin’s Crossclimate2 is optimized for cars and crossovers, but meets industry severe snow service requirements. It’s designed to be a one-tire solution for drivers in environments that experience all four seasons, but don’t receive enough snowfall to require a dedicated winter tire.
Falken’s on- and off-road Wildpeak A/T Trail tire is a quality option for drivers who seek adventures over rugged terrain but also require enhanced on-pavement grip.
The Geolandar A/T G015 is a hybrid of on-road and off-road tire specifically designed or light trucks and SUVs. This durable tire isn’t too harsh on road, but provides enough grip and bite to earn the tire industry’s severe snow service certification.
Continental’s TerrianContact A/T tire withstands off-road use while offering excellent on-road dry and wet traction and cornering stability. It’s also relatively quiet and civilized on the pavement for an all-terrain tire.
Budget All-Season Street Tires for Full-Size Trucks
Budget All-Season Street Tires for Full-Size Trucks
Kumho developed the Crugen HT51 tire specifically for on-road all-season capability in large trucks and vans. It’s a durable tire that offers comfortable ride quality at a reasonable price.
Mid-price All-Season Street Tires for Full-Size Trucks
Mid-price All-Season Street Tires for Full-Size Trucks
Continentals TerrianContact H/T tire balances on-road performance with confident all-season capability, providing plenty of grip wet or icy conditions but quiet operation in daily driving irrespective of the season.
Top Tier All-Season Street Tires for Full-Size Trucks
Top Tier All-Season Street Tires for Full-Size Trucks
Michelin’s Agilis CrossClimate tires are designed to endure high-stress use and heavy loads while providing excellent dry and wet road traction with a long tread life.
Pirelli’s Scorpion All-Terrain Plus tires provide off-road confidence blended with on-road civility. These tires are meant to be grippy and durable under harsh conditions, but despite their stout construction they aren’t too noisy on the highway or harsh on the ride.
Kumho’s Road Venture AT51 delivers good year-round traction in all terrains and all seasons, even in light snow. They’re a good choice for drivers who really want adventuring capability on the weekend but still need an all-season ride Monday through Friday.
Firestone’s Destination A/T2 tires rate high for performance on wet and dry roads, light snow or off-road. They’re as optimized to provide superior overall ride comfort and reduce treadwear on pavement.
Class-leading performance in the mud and snow, with an angled chamfer that creates hundreds of gripping edges, and a deep, tapered tread block that promotes self-cleaning.
Engineered for a quiet, comfortable ride, with a symmetric tread design and variable-pitch tread blocks to reduce road harmonics.
Excellent grip and stability in heavy weather, with deep central grooves to channel rain and snow away quickly.
In order to select the top truck tires in the market, Forbes Wheels studied and compared a broad range of expert reviews and customer ratings for truck tires available for sale in the U.S. With this knowledge combined with decades of personal automotive maintenance experience, we chose the best tires known for providing reliable traction, long-term use, and the most comfortable ride for a variety of use cases. Durability, affordability, and overall value were also considered in these ratings.
How often should you replace your tires? Can tires last 100,000 miles?
How often you replace your tires depends on several factors, including your driving style, how the vehicle is being used and the consistency in your tire pressures. Too much or too little air in your tires will cause uneven or excessive tire wear over time. Not getting the wheels aligned regularly may lead to uneven or excessive wear. A standard set of tires should last for 60,000 to 75,000 miles, or about four to five years. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recommends that tires be replaced every six years regardless of the number of miles driven. At that point, exposure to sunlight and airborne pollutants may weaken the rubber in the tire.
What is my truck’s tire size?
Most truck tires are sized in a similar format to passenger cars. When you look closely at your existing tire’s sidewall, you may see a number and letter sequence that looks something like this: 235/70R16. The first number, 235 for example, is the tread width in millimeters, “70” is the aspect ratio of the sidewall, and “16” is the tire diameter, which should match your wheel’s diameter. If your truck is fitted with floatation tires, you’ll see a different sizing formula displayed on the sidewall. Unlike the about standard size that uses metric measurements, flotation tires use inches. Most flotation tire sizes have a metric tire size equivalent. For example, a metric tire size of 235/70R-16 has a flotation tire size equivalent of 29x9.5R-16. The “R” in both size formats stand for radial, which is the design of the tire’s overall construction. Virtually all modern vehicles are equipped with radial tires. Other construction designations include “D”, which identifies a tire with bias-ply (diagonal) construction, and “RF” which adorns tires that have a self-supported Run Flat construction.
How do I change my tire size and what benefits are there to changes?
Improving handling or altering a truck’s appearance are the two primary reasons drivers alter tire-and-wheel sizes. Most trucks, SUVs and crossovers have adequate clearance to take the tire size up a notch, but any change in tire or wheel size can have positive or negative effects on steering response, handling, stopping power and gas mileage.
Lower profile, meaning smaller sidewall, tires increased better grip but generate more noise and transmit more vibrations. Tires with taller sidewalls can offer a smoother, quieter ride and keep wheels safer over severe potholes.
Smaller wheel and tire combinations typically provide better gas mileage, acceleration and a quieter, more comfortable ride. But if you go too small or for too short a sidewall, you’ll have less stability around turns and a stiffer ride. Installing a taller tire can help to reduce fender well gap, increase ground clearance and even provide a softer ride if done correctly. But size adds weight, and altering the diameter of your wheel and tire combination by too much, smaller or larger, will make your speedometer and odometer readings inaccurate.
Wider tires provide a greater contact patch with the road for more grip. Wide tires can also reduce a vehicle’s turning radius depending on the clearance between the tire, and the vehicle’s fenders, bump stops and suspension components. The wider the tread, the more road noise you’ll hear, and the extra unsprung weight from a larger tire can translate to a rougher ride.
When increasing or decreasing both the wheel and tire size, keep in mind that wheel and tires must always have the same diameter. For example, a 16-inch tire should only be mounted to a 16-inch wheel.
If you're upgrading to a larger size wheel, you'll need to reduce the size of the sidewall to keep the overall diameter of the wheel and tire constant, otherwise your speedometer and odometer readings will be inaccurate. As a general rule of thumb, every inch of wheel you add drops the sidewall aspect ratio by 5 to 10 millimeters. A 235/70R16 tire on a 16-inch wheel will have a 29-inch diameter. On a 17-inch wheel, you'll need to use a 235/65R17 tire or a 255/60R17 tire to get the same diameter. Online calculators can help you figure out these exact conversion measurements.
After reviewing the above, it goes without saying that a tire that’s either too large or too small has certain consequences. Sticking as close as possible to your vehicle’s manufacturer specifications will have you riding in comfort.
Do I need to buy the recommended factory replacement tires?
The tires that came on your truck new from the factory were tested and designed to encompass the vehicle’s load and tow ratings and how it might most commonly be used. Factory tires are capable of doing many things well, but aren’t necessarily the best for any one use. If you desire a tire more custom to your lifestyle, whether it's off-roading, heavy-lifting, or just a quieter ride, you might consider looking beyond a factory tire replacement and into a quality passenger or light truck tire like those on the list above.
How do I know which truck tire type I need?
Tires with “P” and “LT” designations are the most commonly used tires for trucks, and they stand for “Passenger” and “Light Truck.” The P and LT designations usually appear on the sidewall before the tire size. Passenger tires are designed for passenger vehicles such as cars, SUVs, minivans, and light-duty quarter-ton or half-ton pickup trucks. Passenger tires are well-suited for luxury or sports trucks, or trucks used mostly on pavement. If you use your truck for hauling heavy loads, or going on backcountry or overlanding adventures among other types of rugged use, LT tires are worth the investment. LT tires achieve higher load and ply ratings than passenger tires and are made to withstand riding over rough terrain and have heavier hauling and towing capabilities. This usually means a slightly harsher or noisier ride than Passenger tires. They are designed to fit light, medium and heavy-duty trucks from three-quarter-ton to 1-ton capacity, and also larger SUVs and full-size vans. If your truck was equipped with LT tires from the factory, switching to a passenger tire is not advisable and could be considered a downgrade. Your truck was designed around the original-equipment manufacturer, or OEM, tire specification in regards to load limitations. Passenger tires wouldn’t hold up as well. However, if your truck was factory-equipped with passenger tires, you could upgrade to LT tires to achieve the ruggedness you desire, so long as you keep your truck’s overall load limitations in mind.
What’s a tire ply and load rating?
If you plan on doing any heavy hauling, towing or off-roading with your pickup truck, you’ll need to know about ply or load ratings. A tire’s ply or load range tells how strong the tire is—the higher the rating, the stronger the tire’s construction. Load range is the most commonly seen rating among modern day cars, since referring to the number of plies used to form the internals of the tire are considered old technology. Modern tire engineering and materials make it possible to manufacture stronger tires without adding layers.The load range scale includes letters “A” through “L,” but most lightweight truck tires will fall between “C’ and “F”. The further down in the alpha numerals, the larger the heavier the load capacity. The load range is most often shown adjacent to the tire size information on the tire’s sidewall. When selecting new tires, be sure to meet or exceed the load range or ply rating of the factory tires.
What PSI should my truck tires be?
PSI (Pounds per Square Inch) is a unit of measurement for the pounds of force per square inch. The sidewalls on automotive tires are marked with the maximum pressure measurement. For example, if a tire’s sidewall reads “Max. Press 35 PSI,” that is the maximum amount of pressure required to support the maximum load carrying capacity. Filling the tire to the max or beyond can cause a decrease in tread life, uneven wear, and a decrease in stability, traction, handling and control. Environmental factors will impact your tire’s PSI. For example, if you check your tire pressure in the early-morning and the temperatures rise exponentially come afternoon, the tire pressure will also rise. The surface you’re driving on also effects this measurement – the surface temperature of asphalt is hotter than concrete when exposed to full sun. Tires are manufactured to withstand these pressure fluctuations.Less pressure will decrease the amount of weight the tire can safely carry and generate more heat going down the road, but it increases traction while off-road or in the snow. Off-road drivers are known for deflating their tires to increased grip while crawling along the trails, then re-inflating when they are back on pavement so as to not overheat the tires. On newer cars, the recommended PSI for average, everyday use is listed on a sticker inside the driver's door. If it’s not there, check your owner's manual. Most passenger cars will recommend 32 to 35 PSI in the tires while cold.
What does XL mean on a truck tire?
Extra Load. If there is an “XL” indicated at the end of a tire size, this indicates that the tire is stronger and can withstand Extra Load. Trucks that are factory fitted with passenger or “P” tires commonly have the XL designation. If your truck has XL tires from the factory, it’s important to maintain that tire specification when replacing them. If your vehicle was not factory-equipped with XL tires, buying a set with that rating is considered an upgrade, if you don’t mind potentially higher fuel consumption and noise levels.
What are floatation tires?
Flotation tire technology stems from agricultural, construction and farm equipment, where navigating over loose dirt, sand and sentiment is a must. Today, this technology is commonly seen in off-road and all-terrain tires for trucks and SUVs. Flotation tires are wider and leave a larger footprint to minimize tire pressure to the ground, which allows them to “float” over the terrain.If a tire’s sizing specifications end with “LT”, the tire is a Floatation tire, typically for light trucks or SUVs capable of carrying heavy cargo.
A floatation tire does not mean your vehicle floats on water. It means the big tire contact patch (the part touching the ground), sometimes made wider by lowering tire pressure, lets it "float" (note the quotes) over loose dirt or sandy soil.
I am a content manager for Hagerty as well as a freelance automotive writer and photographer. I’m a car nut immersed in the automotive hobby, and I enjoy driving and wrenching on my custom 1961 Cadillac, 1963 Dodge 400 race wagon, 1988 Mazda RX-7 and 2018 Tacoma TRD Off-Road with Escapade trailer.
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