Another tire thread! 8-10 ply recommendations in a 20" rim?

bsnedeker

bsnedeker

WKR
Joined
May 17, 2018
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Location
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I'm due for new tires and want to upgrade to something that I can trust when driving mountain roads in Montana. I've read the past threads here on tires and unfortunately, my current vehicle has 20" rims which really limits me. I really liked what I've heard about the cooper ST Maxx, but they don't make them in my size (275/55R20). I talked to my tire guy and he recommended the following tires:

General A/Tx Grabber (8 ply)
Toyo Open Country C/T (8 ply)
Toyo Open Country M/T (8 ply)
Nitto Exo Grappler (10 ply)
Nitto Ridge Grappler (10 ply) - These look the most appealing to me, but as someone with ZERO experience with buying these kinds of tires I just don't trust myself!

If anyone here has any personal experience with any of these I would appreciate your insights. Other recommendations are welcome too of course! I'm moving to Montana in a little over a month so I really need to beef up my tires!

Thanks in advance for your knowledge!
 
I’ve been driving the mountain roads and goat trails of Alberta (basically North Montana hahaha) for 20 years.

Current truck has 18” rims after downsizing from 20’s on the previous one.

I’ve had no luck with Toyo’s particularly on ice and deep snow. No experience with Nittos. I’ve run the general grabbers on a few trucks and my Jeep. Probably the best performing for both on and off road use in my experience. Due to similar sizing experience I have BFG AT KO/2 on my truck now and they’re very similar. Great on road (truck is a heavy duty 3/4 ton and I do a lot of hauling and towing), awesome in the city, hiway, gravel etc and great off-road performance (mud, ice, deep snow).

The only complaint is that they dropped my fuel mileage noticeably.
 
Hmmmm...no Coopers, damn.

If forced into a Toyo it’d be the M55 for me. They lasted okay and never had a flat or sidewall problem and they did fine on FS and logging roads and were pretty quiet. I found them a bit lacking on wet pavement and in the snow and ice. I tried two sets and moved on.
 
You could easily run 285/55/20 if you wanted to run the S/T Maxx. Im sure you have plenty of clearance. Not much difference in size.
 
I thought the Toyo’s were 10 ply, at least the ones I’ve been running are, but maybe they don’t make them in 10 ply with the size of tire you’re looking at.
I just put another set of Toyo’s on my truck after getting almost 65,000 miles out of the last set. I have a 1 ton diesel that weighs almost 8000 pounds, and on my last set I ran a slide in camper quite a bit, which added another 3000 pounds to the truck. I’m absolutely sold on Toyo tires and probably won’t run anything else. Nitto’s are also made by Toyo.
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My buddy has the Open Country tires and really like them, he spends a lot of time in the Idaho mountains. Someone mentioned the Toyo MT55 which are tough we used them on work trucks driving on cinder and lava rock which trash tires pretty quickly and they held up well. i like the BF Goodrich TKO2. I've had them a couple of years and they work well for running around the mountains, I believe they come in the size you are looking for.
 
I have had bad experiences with TOYO open country, the AT 2 8 ply. I got a set and in a week on Montana forest services roads, had 3 flats on 3 different tires. None were nails, all rocks. I know it sounds crazy and maybe it was a fluke thing, but regardless it made for a frustrating week. And I don't mean rocks as in hitting big set rocks at high speed or something, just moderate speed in unloaded toyota 4 runner on forest service gravel. 2 of the flats still had the small rocks wedged in them, and one did not. Went to Lew Schwab in Butte to get them patched and he had never seen anything like it. Again, I know people that have had good experiences with TOYO, I just am not one of those people. If at all possible for your size limitations, I would try to get into BF goodrich.
 
Ridge Grapplers have been good for me. Gonna get over 60K on them. I've had BFG's that came on two separate vehicles that I bought and both of them had tread separation issues well before they were wore out. One happened going down the highway and caused $2500 in damage. Next set will probably be the Ridge Grapplers again or a set of Duratrac's from Goodyear which have also been great for me in the past.
 
I've had Toyo M55's, great tire for a construction truck, not what I'd use hunting per se. Last two sets on my Tacoma are the Cooper STT Pro (had 265's first, now 285/75/16). Depending on when you will be in MT and the conditions, they are great tires. They are a bit lighter than the Toyo MT's. Toyos wear great and last long...but higher cost. The tire weight was a significant factor for me (Toyota).

A mud tire will perform on hardpacked but an lesser tread fails in the mud. With the chance of mud/snow hunting I'd lean that way.

The STT Pros I'd rate as:
Mud: Awesome
Dirt forest serv. rds: Awesome
Deep Snow: Awesome
Hardpacked Snow/Ice: Mediocre as are most MT's.
Haven't aired down in the STT pro's...just got setup with a compressor/deflator etc so can't vouch for that aspect. I've always been a chains guy when it gets shitty. I think there is a time and place for both.

They are bombproof tires. I got 40K out of my last set and sold them at 50% (who wants a mud tire for the last 50% anyhow). I would also look into the goodyear wrangler duratrac's. I don't think they have the strongest sidewalls but they are supposed to be great in snow.

Ultimately my gameplan would be to have a set of mud tires for Late spring and early fall hunting, and a second set of studded tires (separate wheels) for late season when there is more frozen and hard packed. My "starting to wear down mud's" turn in to summer tires as I prefer fresh deep mud tires hunting as they suffer when they get to 50%. Another good idea is to buy 5 so if you get a sidewall gash you are not trying to mix new tire with old. It's more to spend but they go 20% longer til worn with 5 in the rotation.

I'd suggest buying a set of cheap wheels for a set of hunting season tires and use your big wheels for the road.
 
I have Cooper STT Pros in 295x60x20 on my Sierra. That’s a 34” tire in 10 ply. Have about 34k mile on them. Looks like I’m going to get 40k + out of them.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone, I went ahead and ordered the Nitto Ridge Grapplers. I'll let you know if I learn anything interesting about them this season!
 
Oops, too late.

I'm running 20" wheels with the Toyo MT's....I got about 75,000 mi out of my first set as I recall. I never get flats....unlike with my old BFG All terrain tires.

The Toyos are expensive...and heavy...becuase they have so much tread- beefy.

I don't get any of the rock pinch they warned me about when going to 20" wheels....probably because of the beefy sidewall that sticks out a little.

Oh, and FYI, the Toyos are quieter than the Nittos.

..
 
I had BFG’s LT285/55R20 on m’y last F150. On my current 2018 F150 I had to ask them to “downgrade” my wheels to 18”, running BFG KO2’s.
 
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