New tires for a Suburban, looking for opinions

[Wild Bill]

It's pretty much time to buy new tires for our '97 K1500 Suburban.

Since we traded the conversion van in for my truck, the 'burban doesn't see any off road type use, so I don't need AT style tread anymore. Plus I'm wanting something a little quieter on the road, and a little more MPGs to add to the 17-19 it gets would be kinda nice too, since the 'burban is now the 'long trip family mobile'.

I'm looking at:
FIRESTONE Destination LE 2
UNIROYAL Laredo Cross Country
GENERAL Grabber HTS

Does anybody have either of those 3 on their Suburbans/full size SUVs/full size pickups/fullsize vans, if so, what do you think of them (wet traction, snow traction, noise, wear, etc)

Thanks!

[riesedesperado6170]

i like the bridgestone dueler at myself quiet good wear and got good mpg but of the three you got i go with firestones but that's just my 2 cents

[rmunro]

I have Hercules Terra Trac SUV on my 97 c1500. Terra Trac Ribs on my 91 R2500, and on a 05 Blazer, Terra Trac A/T. I've had good service from all, but prefer the AT. A little more aggressive, but quiet.

[cubby102]

I had a set of the uniroyals on my 88 suburban for quite a long time they lasted.very well and did decent enough in snow/slosh I eventually went to bfg a/t an and was much happier though

[Jeff in Pa]

On my 90 K1500 Suburban, I ran Pirelli's and got both great wear plus excellent snow/boat ramp traction. I had two sets I wore out. Had Generals, wasn't impressed at all.

On my current 01 Suburban K2500, I've had Bridgestone Deulers ( loved everything but the price ) , a set of OEM Bridgestones ( I couldn't wait for them to wear out- they were that bad ) and am currently running a set of Yokahama GeoLandars. Great in the snow, not much road noise and best of all, very inexpensive.

The oem tires on the 01 subarban were firestones. They were like driving on ice even with dry roads.

[Wild Bill]

We bought the 'burban with barely under 100,000 miles on it, and I hated the sissyfied Michelin tires, so I replaced them with Bridgestone Dueler A/Ts because I had read good reviews on them.

Was not impressed at all, had 1 that was essentially bald at under 40,000 miles and the rest weren't far behind.

I had a set of STAMPEDE Radial AT/S (Trail Rated 12 ply!) tires put on, and they have just under 60,000 miles on them now and a little less than 1/4" of tread left.(yep, 198,xxx miles on the truck ).... REALLY like the Stampede tires..rarely had to put the 'burban in 4WD...and have went through drifts that were up to the windows!! They were pretty quiet, but now that they are about shot, they are getting noisy.

Sadly, Stampede tires aren't made anymore.......

Firestone is made/owned by Bridgestone, so I'm kinda hesitant about buying them (even though Firestones used to be top notch)

I have Uniroyal Laredo tires on my truck (were put on new right before I bought it) They are quiet and ride nice, but they kinda suck on wet grass, etc, and I got tired of having to hit 4HI, so I bummed a grooving iron from a friend, and 'cut' them Now I have a lot better forward bite, with very little added road noise.

Thanks for the opinions and experiences so far, and keep the opinions coming guys. I appreciate it!

Forgot to mention, I only run LT tires, not P rated tires.......LT= Light Truck, P= Passenger car. P rated tires have a lot softer side wall....

[Jeff in Pa]

Originally Posted by Wild Bill

.........snip............
Forgot to mention, I only run LT tires, not P rated tires.......LT= Light Truck, P= Passenger car. P rated tires have a lot softer side wall....

The OEM Bridgestones I ran for bit had less than 3K on them ( purchased from a local GM-Truck.com forum member--saw the new truck they came on with the mileage). They just were mushy sidewalls and I hated them. Even towing a light trailer wasn't any fun.

[zippy1]

[QUOTE=Wild Bill;170355]It's pretty much time to buy new tires for our '97 K1500 Suburban.

Since we traded the conversion van in for my truck, the 'burban doesn't see any off road type use, so I don't need AT style tread anymore. Plus I'm wanting something a little quieter on the road, and a little more MPGs to add to the 17-19 it gets would be kinda nice too, since the 'burban is now the 'long trip family mobile'.

I'm looking at:
FIRESTONE Destination LE 2
UNIROYAL Laredo Cross Country
GENERAL Grabber HTS

I've got the Firestone Destination AT on my half a truck (GMC Canyon) and they seem to be wearing good, and great traction. I've got a snow plow on the truck and they work real well in the snow, and aren't very noisy on the road.

I know it's not one on your list, but thought I'd throw in my
(MY mistake, I meant AT)

[Oak]

Here's my opinion. Michelin tires kick a$$. I run them on everything. On my 3500 dually for work I get around 60,000 miles out of a set of tires and the same on our Savana vans and only rotate them about every 20k to 30k. It doesn't pay to rotate them more then that. I don't think I ever had a set last less then 50k on a vehicle. You pay more up front but they last. That being said, I live in the south where the roads are nice and not like the crap I use to drive on when I lived in PA. I have a bro up there that always buys some off brand and he's changing tires every 20 to 30k. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Wild Bill]

I just did a little more digging on the Firestone site...and the Destination LE 2 doesn't even come in an LT...P rated only So much for that.