2009 Ford F-150 tire recommendation

[the ponz]

Originally Posted by TinLoaf

They were Cooper Discoverer ATR. I ran that exact tire on my old Excursion ...

I am currently researching new tires for my 2001 4x4 Excursion. I am thinking a stiffer side wall than the current Perelli Scorpions might be benificial.

How many miles did you get out of the Coopers?

[TinLoaf]

Originally Posted by the ponz

How many miles did you get out of the Coopers?

I was really hard on those tires. Never rotated them. I finally replaced them after 50,000 miles because they were getting loud, but they had a lot of tread left.

I think 50,000 miles is pretty good for an 8,000 pound truck used almost exclusively for towing.

A word of caution. I replaced them with Cooper Discoverer HT and those were not good. Although they were the same brand and the same load range, something was drastically different and I had a lot of difficulty with stability, even running higher tire pressure. After just two trips towing I took them back and replaced them with the ATRs, which were excellent. To this day I still can't understand why there was such a major major difference between the two.

[the ponz]

Thanks for the reply. 50,000 miles is an acceptable towing tire lifespan for me.

I would be willing to bet it is the sidewall stiffness that is different between the Discoverer and the ATR. In the reading I have done in my tire search, it seems that most all folks talk about is mud, water, and snow traction, along with straight highway and how noisy the tires are.

I have had a hard time finding information which specifically addresses sidewall stiffness/flex, as it applies to towing.

I love Michelines and have run several sets on my two Suburbans and K2500; I loved them. They are quiet and wear like iron. I got 88,000 miles out of a set on my wife's k1500 Suburban. However, I have it my head that a stiffer sidewall would be better on the Excursion. It might help make up for the loss I took in wheelbase when switching from the crew cab.