Need tire advice for a 2003 diesel F250 with Mickey Thompsons

[drodio]

Hi everyone, I've been lurking for a while and finally bought a truck to begin exploring with!

It's a 2003 Ford F250 with a 6.0L diesel 6spd manual that I affectionately call "Tonka". It has a 4 inch lift. You can see pics of it at http://go.danielodio.com/tonka

The previous owner also put some really big tires on it -- Mickey Thompsons, 325/65 R18 tires. Here are pics:

http://drod.io/1l1f3D001u0N411X443j
http://drod.io/3v0c3S2l2d3G2h142u2f
http://drod.io/060O0H183Q0g130R2J30

I"m looking for some tires that are more long-distance travel friendly. These might be great in the mud, but they're not great everywhere else. I'm planning on putting a pop-up camper on the truck, so I figure I'll probably need E-rated tires.

These are my priorities in tires, from most important:

1) Best possible highway travel (handling, gas mileage, road noise) while still somewhat capable offroad
2) Lifespan of tire
3) Cost of tire

Here are some tires I was looking at -- does anyone have any suggestions about these or other tires? I'd like to buy them at Sam's Club or Costco if possible but I'm open to others.

Oh also, I don't really know exactly what tires will fit on the vehicle... I know they're 18" rims, but I'm not sure how narrow or low/high profile I can go. For example, if I went narrower, say 275 instead of 325, should I keep the same "65" height? Or would some variance in either direction be OK? Any advice there would be appreciated as well.

265 width (is this too narrow considering I have 325s on right now? ... the stock F250 tire is a 235/85 R16!)

BF Goodrich Rugged Terrain T/A P265/65R18 (I can't tell what load rating these tires have): http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/pr...218&navAction=

275 width:

Rugged Terrain 275/65 R18 http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....A&tab=Warranty

All Terrain KO http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....=765R8ATAKORWL

Dueler AT Revo: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....765SR8REVO2OWL

DuraTrac (might be too hard-core offroa for my needs?) http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....tnum=765QR8WDT

Any other suggestions? Any advice is MUCH appreciated!

DROdio

[redthies]

Best possible highway travel (handling, gas mileage, road noise) while still somewhat capable offroad

Based on the last three words above, I would go BFG ATs. Some people on here will trash talk them, but I think they are still the best bang for buck in an all terrain tire. I would also look at getting some stock alloy wheels off Craigslist. They run anywhere from $200-$400 for a set. You could go to 16s and get tires waaay cheaper. 255/85R16 or 285/75R16 are great sizes. They will give you clearance off pavement, and good fuel economy on the long hauls.

Looks like a nice rig!

[TrekAdvisor]

I was looking at the "rugged terrains" not the "all terrains" -- I was looking for something a *little* more road friendly than the ATs, as I'll be doing mostly highway miles. Here's the http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/pr...195&navAction=

What do you think about that tire vs the ATs?

DROdio

[redthies]

I know. I had "RuggedTrail" TAs on my Dodge diesel from the factory. Crap, crap crap.

[jrose609]

I had those BFG Rugged Terrains on my F250. They are an all-season tire. Crappiest tire I've ever had in even the mildest offroad conditions. Good highway wear though.

[FishAll50]

drodio,

I have a 04 F250 CC 4x4 KR. I'm running 295/70/18 Nitto Terrain Grappler which gets you an ~ 34" tall tire about 11.5 wide - OEM rims. The ride and handling is excellent - very highway friendly tread - decent offroad - wear appears great so far. No lift so I get a little rub on front fenderwells but no major contact. You obviously would get no rub or could go bigger with your lift.

About $1200 drive out from discount tire.

Attachment 107381SANY1600.jpg

[Fish]

Pretty damn happy with my Revos.

Here's the rub. You already have a lifted truck. Putting a smaller tire on it is just going to perform poorly and look silly.

If you're going to keep the lift, I'd look to a tire around a 285/75. That's around a 33" tire. Shorter, but not by all that much.

[Madmaxwell87]

Few thoughts- Those look like some wide wheels since they don't look much narrower than the 13" wide mickeys. Id guess a 10,maybe even 12" wide wheel. So if you want anything skinnier than that you'll new new wheels. Second- Those are 35" tall tires and with the 4" lift anything shorter will look funny with that big tall truck. Since you can fit a 16" wheel on there stock I'd take the truck back down to stock height and put some 285/75/16s(33x11.5) on stock wheels and move on. Its an awesome truck and I'd love to own it but it sounds like you need a stock setup truck. Plus you might be able to get into parking garages in the city with it at stock height.

[Regcabguy]

Nitto Duragrapplers 305-70-18. Insanely high load capacity and would look good with your lift.

[redthies]

Nitto Duragrapplers 305-70-18. Insanely high load capacity and would look good with your lift.

Nitto makes a great tire, and although I didn't love the Terragrapplers in our snow conditions, but the Duragrapplers do look good...