Help with front tire selection

[Tom]

Mods- feel free to move this if you feel it belongs in a different forum

I put kumho ecsta's in 255/45/17 on the front of my 98 the same time I put nitto nt450 275/50/17's in the rear. The kumho's are already badly worn out and need to be replaced. Granted they are in front but the nittos in the rear look brand spanking new [this is about 20,000miles and 2yrs] and have a lower tread wear rating of 300 vs 330 for the kumho's. Yes I had my alignment done Did the rims/tires/suspension/alignment all at the same time. Both my 78 [5/5 drop] and my old 79 [5.5/7 drop] did not have this problem. Is it just the kumho's or will all tires wear like that when they carry a similar wear rating on these style trucks? Anyone have a better option?

[Tom]

Anyone?

[babyblueoval]

Tom,

I can't give you a definite answer but the way the UTQG rating has been explained to me is it is just a guideline and really only compares tires from the same manufacturer.
You can't always compare tires from 2 different companies and get a true difference.
I've had poor wear from some brands with good ratings and great results from some brands with mediocre ratings.

Not the best answer but maybe it sheds some light.

[Tom]

Actually it answers alot. If thats the case then what types have you guys had good results with?

[bodydropped]

im runnin 245/45/17s on my 96 and i got the tires in dec and i put about 20k miles or so and 2 are wore out i had road hazard and i killed 2 tires and i was told im runnin a car tire on a truck and that wears them down more but unno

[babyblueoval]

Originally Posted by bodydropped

im runnin 245/45/17s on my 96 and i got the tires in dec and i put about 20k miles or so and 2 are wore out i had road hazard and i killed 2 tires and i was told im runnin a car tire on a truck and that wears them down more but unno

I'm thinking the next question will be: What tire are you talking about?

Tom,
I'm sorry I can't be much help on giving you examples of the tires I've used. They've all been "little" tires (by comparison) for my 325i bimmer. I actually had good luck with a tire that I would never have thought would do well at all, but it's only made in sizes for the tuner car market.
The tires I have mounted on my 20s for my truck are Yokohama Parada SpecX. 275/45x20 It's a new tire that has a decent UTQG rating and came with a pretty good recommendation from both The Tire Rack and Discount Tire.
I haven't started the truck build yet so I won't be able to give any kind of feedback on it for quite a while.
Give Jim at the Tire Rack a call and ask him what he thinks. He, and all the staff there are very knowledgeable and they test drive most of the tires they sell.

Hope that helps a little.
Jim

[Alex Hayley]

I have used Kumhos previously on a car. I was not impressed. They did not last long before wearing out and were very noisy.

[bedsled71]

i have kumho ecsta spt on mine.. 245 35 20 and havent had any wear problems.. from what i have seen working at discount tire is that no tire last forever.. all depends on driving conditions. air pressure. balancing. rotations. and loose suspension and steering parts
when you have smaller front tires then the rear. you still need to rotate them by moving them side to side or fliping the tires.. if you never rotate them then they start to cup out and get flat spots..and the load rating of a tire should match your vehicle

[Cannon007]

I have had 275/40/17 Kumho tires on the front of my 2000 Z28 for about a year now and they are doing just fine, plenty of tread I only got them cause they were about the cheapest tires for that size and since it was just my fronts i needed money for the rear tires which i got some Nitto 555r drag radials in 315/35/17 which are great, i think they reason urs wore so much is cause a truck's weight balance is a lot more front than rear, like 58% front 42% rear (guessing) and if you dont do many burnouts then stearing takes a lot out of them with a heavy truck