My Nitto grapplers have developed some cracks in all four tires, and now that I've noticed small cracks developing the sidewalls I'm thinking of pulling the trigger on some new tires. First question though, these tires are only 5 years old (made in 08, may not have even been installed until later) and have at least half their tread left. Is this normal and do they need to be replaced?

As for replacements, I would like to stick to ~$200 a tire, while still retaining that aggressive look and performance of the Nitto's. My Nittos were 285/75 R16's on stock rims, and only rubbed on the front of fender well under very tight cornering.

Currently, Cooper has an $80 rebate, Hankook has a $40 rebate, and General has a $70 rebate on their A/T's, so I was considering the Cooper Discoverer AT3's, Hankook DynaPro ATM RF10's, and the General Grabber AT2's. Any thoughts or other recommendations? After rebate, the Coopers would be $600 (without alignment or balancing), which looks pretty tough to beat, although they don't look as aggressive IMO.

When you say Grapplers...are they Terra, Trail or Mud? EDIT: Ah, you've added a pic...ya that seems normal on a 5yr old tire that has been used.Depending on the care of the tires, I can see some showing some wear after 5 years.

As for replacements, all three mentioned above are nice and have good reviews from members. May also look at Falken Rocky Mountains. Discount Tire Direct has them with free shipping and tax free. They come with a 50K warranty from the manufacturer for tread depth, so if this happens again, you could possibly get them replaced free of charge. They are a D load, which I find to be more comfortable than E load.

With Discount's replacement certs (cover everything from sidewall to treads) they are $705 shipped to your house. Any local Discount will mount and balance for free (lifetime).

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...yp=Truck%2FSUV

Plus, I like the way they look.

I have run on some old BFG 33x12.50x15 that were probably 10 years old and pretty darn rotted, but all of them held up to abuse. I would expect some cracking after 5 years, but not quite that bad.

The coopers are a great value and I have had good luck with mine so far, but keep in mind their 285's are not true to size, they are SMALL. My 285/75r16's barely measured over 32". They are about the same size as my buddy's 265/75r16 Duratracs. Just something to keep in mind. (This is for ATP's, not sure about ATS or AT3).

They are Terra Grapplers. Those tires do look pretty good...

These are what I run and they are $144/tire, I know its a retread but they are awesome and at the price you cant beat it. I was able to get almost 50k miles on my last set.

https://www.treadwright.com/p-115-28...m-t-b2b-d.aspx

What is your current impression of the Falkens? Not a bad deal.

If I went with the Coopers (been hearing great things about them), what size should I order since they run small?

Has anyone had experience with the General Grabbers?

Thanks for all the info! Deciding on tires can be tough...

I love mine after having them for close to a year. They are extremely quiet on the road. Here in Indiana we have everything when it comes to weather, and they've gotten me through it all. I have plenty of traction when it rains, and had no problems through a few inches of snow last year.

Off road they got me through everything except thick, deep mud..but most ATs will be the same.

My dad has run them on his Jeeps the past 3 or 4 years, and never had complaints.

They are a tad heavy, but having a D load keeps them comfortable...I had 265s in E load and they were harsh. The other choices you have are E load in 285s. Almost all 285s are around the same size, give or take. There are some, but most aren't a true 33" tall. Your next size in Coopers is a 305...slightly bigger and you'd probably rub more with stock wheels.

For me, the price, 50K warranty, and looks pushed me to the Falkens over the other choices.

Yes, that is typical. That's why it is recommended to closely inspect tires that are that old, and replace them if their deterioration is found to be unacceptable.

On the (dubious) bright side, that tire is a perfect candidate for Treadwright to buff off the remaining tread, and attach a new rubber tread cap to the old, ready to be recycled carcass.

To answer your question, I had some General Grabber AT2's. They had good traction in dry dirt, snow and rain, but high rolling resistance on the road for an A/T tire.

What are your priorities for new tires?

Looks?

Off-road performance, and if so in what type of terrain?

On highway performance?

Snow traction?

What is "high rolling resistance? I've been looking at some GGrabbers myself.

I am running Michelins (LX-Rs, I think). I just looked at the receipt last week. I put them on in October of 2002, at @35k miles. They are now at @105k.

Nothing harder than fire roads, and the 4Runner is stock, so not a lot of weight, but still; there isn't a crack or bit of dryrot on these tires. The last place I took the truck in (Costco, for the free re-balance) said he wanted to tell me to replace them due to the age, but he couldn't in good conscience do so; they were in great shape.

As I move my truck to a dual-purpose wheeling/DD rig, I think I am going to buy some cheap rims and just keep two sets of tires and wheels. And the DD set will for sure be the Michelins.

I'd like a tire that performs well off-road, in essentially everything but "muddin" conditions. I'm located in the Finger Lakes area of New York, so some snow performance would be nice.

As for highway performance, as long as it isn't incredibly noisy I'll be happy. I've sound deadened the doors and floors so noise isn't as much of an issue. As long as it drives true and steady.

For looks, I just want something that looks equally or more aggressive than my current Nitto's. Granted, they don't look like they did when they were new, but still look pretty good imo.

The Coopers are looking really good to me right now, $170 a tire from discounttire (after rebates) with great reviews and a 55k mile warranty...so they really run almost a full size small?

I agree. They do look good. I'm actually getting ready to pull the trigger soon on either Coopers or Terra Grapplers. Let us know what you go with.
With pics of course.

I'm guessing high rolling resistance means that it's "harder" for your truck to turn, i.e. more resistance, so it will likely lower mpg and acceleration a bit.

I'm a big fan of Michelins as well. If your priority is good DD tires with excellent life, plus decent occasional off-road and snow performance they can't be beat. I got over 70k on my Michelin Cross-Terrains that replaced the POS stock GY Wranglers, and am now running the LTX/MS2's. (They stopped making the Cross-Terrains in my size.)