Tires for E350 van

My van needs some new tires soon. The factory size is 245/75-16, but I think I would prefer 215/85-16 (although that limits my choices)

This van is 80% daily driver, 20% tow mule. E-range a must, F-range considered but not needed.

I want them to wear long. Snow traction not an issue because I have some snow treads for winter. Key things will be wet traction, noise, treadwear.

Rib style maybe?

I think the Michelin's are the best choice, but they come at a price. I opted for the BFG Commercial tires for my Dooley. I'm running the Traction ones in the rear, and these up front: http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/tire-selector/category/truck-tires/commercial-t-a-all-season/tire-details

For me, they're fine, but I won't put enough miles on them to ever come close to wearing them out. The tires they replaced were on the truck when I bought it over 10 years earlier.

I have Mastercraft Courser HTRs on my work van. I've put about 7,000 miles on them and they have been pretty damn good in the wet. Realize I have about 1000 lbs of equipment and tools in back at any given time, but in emergency stops in the wet has been significantly better than the factory Bridgestones and astronomically better than the General Grabbers the Coursers replaced.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSearchResults.jsp?skipOver=true&width=245%2F&ratio=75&diameter=16

The Duravis is on sale and ratings look more favorable than the Michelins. Any experience with them?

I just put Mastercraft Courser R/Ds on my F350. They've been on there for about 1000 miles. So far so good. I couldn't justify the price for Michelins on a truck that spends most of it's life sitting in the yard.

Looking through the reviews, some (many) people had well over 200,000mi. On the Michelin Ribs!

In the past I've driven Ford, sprinter, Chevy anf GMC heavy duty work vans. They are always loaded to the max. Michelins were far and away the best truck tire ive ridden on. Firestones were probably the worst (they were very soft and bouncy like the side walls were thin).

Granted, I was never the guy writing the check to pay for them.

I just had new coopers put on the chebby 3/4 ton express pedovan last week.....thus far they are good, but its only been a week. Decent tires for the $490 it cost the company.....

The only thing I can add is everything I've read about the E-series TTB front suspension is cheap tires don't seem to last well while good tires do, so it may be a false economy.

I've never heard of anyone regret buying Michelins for a truck they drive every day.

I've had Michelin XPS ribs on a motorhome. I don't recall anything spectacular about them but it was also the first set of Michelins I had and its hard to compare "handling" when you have a 26' Class C.

The only thing I can add is everything I've read about the E-series TTB front suspension is cheap tires don't seem to last well while good tires do, so it may be a false economy

That is mostly true, but not because of the suspension design, more because they wear out without much indication. A properly maintained I-beam wears tires just fine. The three that I've owned show no issues. I have a super-cheap set of generic tires on it now and they just suck. They cupped badly for a while but evened themselves out. My I-beams show just a wee bit of negative camber so I might invest $20 in the eccentric bushings so I can set camber before investing in good tires.

curtis73 wrote:

The only thing I can add is everything I've read about the E-series TTB front suspension is cheap tires don't seem to last well while good tires do, so it may be a false economy

That is mostly true, but not because of the suspension design, more because they wear out without much indication. A properly maintained I-beam wears tires just fine. The three that I've owned show no issues. I have a super-cheap set of generic tires on it now and they just suck. They cupped badly for a while but evened themselves out. My I-beams show just a wee bit of negative camber so I might invest $20 in the eccentric bushings so I can set camber before investing in good tires.

Actually, all of the TTB/I-beams are that way. They travel through a wide arc and not just up and down in a tighter arc like a mac strut or double a-arm. Watch an I-beam Ranger go down a rough road, you will be seasick watching the tire oscillate through its travel.

As for alignment, I prefer 0 to negative camber if you live where the road isn't straight. I have stock specs on my F250 and living in MI was fine. Moved down here to where roads stay straight for all of 10' at a time and the outer edges are to the cords. At the time I had an easy 40k on the fronts before moving. It only took 10k-ish for the cords to show. The inner edges show a good 4-6/3-32's still.

LTX M/S2's. Done.

Rib style would wear longer, but gives it up in other areas to get that wear rating.