Tires for Yukon XL (Suburban)

After only about 25K miles, the tires on our 4 X 4 are making noise. The reason is that I waited until 15K to rotate, which is a no-no with these trucks. The tires were already starting to make noise at the time. Rotating helped some, but now its getting louder again.

Anyway, while the tires look OK, the noise is annoying and I want to change these tires out. I'd like to get some recommendations for replacement tires. The tires on the vehicle are Firestone Wilderness LE P265/70R16. The tread is strictly highway, sort of a sideways "W" pattern. I really like the truck, but have never liked the looks of these tires.

I'm partial to Michelin, but I want a tire that looks sort of "trucky" but has car-like ride and handling characteristics, plus is a quiet tire.

Any recommendations?

I just recently got new tires for my Chevy K3500 Crew Cab. I too never liked the original tires, but waited until I got my use out of those until buying new ones.

After seeing some of the prices of the All-Terrain tires I ended up getting some LAREDO® AWT tires at BJ's Wholesale. The truck rides better than I thought they would, and looks so much better.

Here are two pictures of the truck with the tires right after I got home (not washed yet):

Photo 1 | Photo 2

Alan,

Check out TireRack They are good about reviewing tires etc. Even if you don't buy from them, good source of info. They often "partner" with a local place to do the install for you.

We've bought several snow tires from them over the years. Also they were able to find a previous model year tire when I got a flat on a highway with NO breakdown lane (got to love Mass) & had to drive it to an off ramp. Ruined the tire. I wanted to match the others as they only had a couple thousand miles on them.

My two cars before my truck had michelins. Can't say enough good things about them. My mom's tahoo has BF Goodrich long trails. Nice ride, quiet. Not very rugged looking. A buddy's truck has the BF goodrich all terrains. Bad ride, LOUD, very RUGGED looking. It is always a comprimise.

Those are nice looking tires. The tread looks fairly aggressive. Do they make any noise to speak of?

This is what shocked me -- it runs quieter than the tires that I had on it originally (Highway tires). Now, it could be that the original tires at the time I had them replaced were not as quiet as when I bought them, but I am extremely happy with the lack of noise, as well as the feeling of the truck feeling more solid.

<font color="purple"> Here are two pictures </font color>

Dave, what is that interesting looking ornament/welcome sign. It's backwards in the corner of the picture. A bumble bee on it? and what else?

Haxmat - thanks for the Tirerack link. I looked around in there and it looks like Michelin LTX or Cross Terrains might be the way to go. The CTs have great reviews, but boy are they pricey!

It's backwards because I am standing behind it -- but it says Welcome with a bumble bee on it. The straight bar below the Welcome holds those flags (Halloween, Easter, Flag, etc.)

There was no flag on it at that time. [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

I ran a set of Michelin LTX A/T tires on my Suburban. They had over 30k miles on them when I sold it and looked as though they would never wear out. They were very quiet and smooth on the road, with plenty of bite for general off-roading. I would buy them now for my Excursion, but they aren't offered in the right combo of size &amp; load rating for my needs. I have BFG T/A ko on my 4Runner and have been very pleased with them. I may try them on the Excursion.
Terry

I strongly support the recommendation for The Tire Rack. I have bought several sets of tires from them and have been very pleased with the entire transaction.

As for your tire needs... I recommend the Dunlop Rover AT. I have them on my Ford Excursion and I am very pleased. They have a tread pattern that will work well in the snow, yet are not too noisey on the highway.

I bought a set of tires and rims from Tire Rack -- tires on the rims arrived at my door in a couple days. Very cool and got a great deal!

Remember, if you order just tires, you will need to find someone to take off your old tires and put on the new ones. Some places charge quite a bit if they are tires you did not buy from their store. I would advise you to find out where and for how much it will cost you before deciding on a Tire Rack purchase for tires alone.

The stock tires on my1 ton PU were real ragged in 10K miles. I'm running Michelin mud and snow now as a compromise between highway tread quiet but low offroadability and aggressive off road poor riding and short life. They sing a bit on the interstate with volume dependent on road surface. They are smooth riding considering their strength and the vehicle. I have over 50,000 miles on them and still have over 2/3 of the tread left. I'm waiting to see what happens first; will they wear out or rot off? They are 7.45 width 70 profile 19.5 inch. They are the kind of tires that the brown two ton trucks use (UPS). Not cheap but the tires are clearly stronger than the axles (4500 lbs per tire with 4 in the back and two in the front on rims rated at 6600 lbs each so I don't worry so much about my tires when carrying a large camper and towing my due buggy while keeping up with most of the traffic on the interstate.

Patrick

I'm on my second set of BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A's on my 4x4 Suburban and when these wear out I'll buy another set! They're great in snow and ice, mud, and the street, wet or dry. I don't know what you consider noisy, but these don't make any noise to bother me. You're not going to get tires that provide great traction without a little noise.

The only tire I would buy besides these are the BF Goodrich Mud Terrain T/A's, but they will make some noise and are for serious off roaders and/or for looks. I'm hoping to get a set for my Jeep CJ-5.

How many miles do you get out of a set on your Suburban? The Excursion is alot heavier and may wear them out sooner, but I really like these tires and need to replace the Steeltex tires on my Excursion soon.
Thanks,
Terry

My 97 Suburban got 50K out of the Steeltex tires. The Firestones that came on the 01 Suburban started making noise at 15K, and I finally replaced them at 25K with Michelin Cross Terrains. So far I'm pleased with the new tires.

I think the tires that came on the new truck were sorry, plus, I didn't rotate them.

Terry - "How many miles do you get out of a set on your Suburban?" I'll have to get back with you on that one. I'll look it up when I get home tonight. On the first set, the fronts wore out quicker than the rears because the front end was out of alignment. The first set was not the new improved "KO" version. I got it aligned before I put the new ones on last time, about a year and a half ago. The new ones are the new "KO" version and are supposed to last longer. I'll look up the mileage I got on the first ones and what I've got so far on the new ones, which still look new even after a year and half. What does the Excursion weigh? My Suburban weighs 5700lbs.

<font color="blue"> Some places charge quite a bit if they are tires you did not buy from their store. I would advise you to find out where and for how much it will cost you before deciding on a Tire Rack purchase for tires alone. </font color>

If I remember correctly, the tire rack has set up a "partner" system. basically they ship the tire to a shop nearby &amp; the shop puts it on for you. In any case it pays to shop around. The tire rack isn't always the cheapest way to go.

A buddy at work has the Michelin LTX on his Explorer. He is very happy with them.

Michelin...

I have the stock Michelin LTX on my Dodge. 25k miles with good tread left. They are pretty wimpy on a 4wd, but do handle the road and a load very well. When I get new tires, I will give up some quiet for better traction. Probably still go michelin though...

We ran XGTV's on our IROC Camaro. Those tires stuck to the road, but wore much better than any performance tire I had used(Goodyear and BFG).

We have Michelins on the Jag right now; they are MUCH better than the stock Pirrelli's.

I will say though, on my last truck I had great luck with Big-O Bigfoot XT's. They rode rough, as a E load tire. But, the traction was pretty good, and they were quiet. I went with them specifically because they had stiffer sidewalls than my second choice BFG's(better handling with a camper).

The Excursion full of fuel (44 gallons diesel), very little cargo, and myself (190 lbs), CAT scales - 8,060 lbs! Great traction in snow as the balance is almost exactly 50/50 front/rear plus the shear weight of the rig and 4WD.
I have 34k miles on the original Firestone tires and could get a few more thousand out of them, but I'm not fond of shallow tread in water or snow!

Terry

Terry - I couldn't find the mileage I got on the first set, but I'll keep looking (I'm curious now too and I know I have it written down somewhere). The second set have 26k miles on them now and have 11/32" of tread left (they had 1/2" when new). The first set was the 33x9.5x15 size which was a little narrower than I wanted, but I didn't want to get the 12.5 wide ones. They came out with the 33x10.5x15 size 2 years ago, so I got those and they're perfect for a Suburban. I don't know what size wheels an Excursion has, but I'm sure they will have a size you need.

PS: I found the best price on these at Sears. They beat out everyone including Big-O Tire and Discount Tire.

Terry - I found the mileage I got on the first set and it was 42k. The fronts were bald on the outside edge because of the alignment problem, but the rears were still OK for a couple thousand more miles. I kept the rears as spares and keep one in the truck so I have a spare that's the same height as the rest of the tires. By the way, the second set have 26k miles on them in 2 years and 10 months (not 1 1/2 years like I thought originally). I haven't been doing a good job of rotating either, it's been 14k miles since the last rotation, so I need to do it. I used to keep up with this stuff very meticulously, then the twins came along and life changed!

Danny,

Thanks for the information! I also struggle keeping up with tire rotation - I wonder if having 7 children could have anything to do with that! [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]
I have been very impressed with the ride and quietness of the BFG T/A ko tires on my 4Runner - 7k miles so far and still look new. I'm about 95% sold on putting them on the Excursion - that other 5% is just my slow, pardon me, THOROUGH way of doing things! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Thanks again!

Terry

Alan
I have to agree with Mosey on the B.F. Goodrich. I have had at least four sets of em, 5 counting the ones on my daughters truck. I always buy from Discount Tire for warranty and rotation and price. I am running Pathfinders right now that have almost the same tread pattern as the B.F. but quite a bit cheaper. I have 7000 miles on them and they have been OK so far. I like these tires because of the tread pattern in mud and sand also the sidewalls are strong for towing and punctures from rocks etc. Good Luck on your purchase
Mike [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

I recommend a ture AT(all terrain tire). Not an all season or long trail or whatever gimick name they want to give them BFG are very nice tires. And the new KOs are better wearing and quieter than the previous ones. Myself... I find myself in sticky situations more often than most. And for that... there is nothing that compares to a true MT(mud terrain) tire. The ATs just gum up in the real sticky stuff. Then there are the true offroad tires such as SuperSwampers, but they are NOT a street tire. My daily driver and tow rig Suburban has BFG MTs on it. Most people get from 35-45k miles on them. I have about 50, but my fronts are toast.

Ken H.