Positraction

[Vic Vega]

WEll I've had a truck for a few days and i have been driving in the rain for most of it and i was starting to think that i really should have gotten positraction as well as 4 wheel drive. I mean I am never going to use 4 wheel drive unless there is snow right but i live in upstate Ny and it rains ALL THE TIME. I know i can retrofit it and i am pretty sure that it will fit even though I have a manual but is it worth the $$ and is it worth it time wise(plus I d have to do it myself cause I am now broke) or should i just learn to deal with tire slippage?

[texasblueline]

What kind of tires are on it?

I was kicking myself after I bought my used '02 Z71 because of all the tire spin on dry and (especially) wet pavement. I didn't want to drive around in 4-Hi whenever it was raining so I just dealt with the tire slippage and squealing. Then, on a whim, I decided to get rid of the Firestone Wilderness AT tires that were on it and got some BFGoodrich All-Terrain TA tires of the same size, mainly because of the more aggressive off-road look of the BFGoodrich tires. But it turned out to make a world of difference in on-road traction too. Sure, I can still break the back end loose on wet pavement without too much effort, but these BFGoodrich tires have been a lot better at not losing traction under normal driving, whether it's wet out or not.

You may want to look into different tires before you shell out money elsewhere (honestly I have no idea how much it'd cost you to retrofit your truck, if you're even able to). Often the original equipment tires are great for treadwear but horrible in terms of wet and dry traction (I know the Firestone Wilderness ATs are).

[bim]

Are the BF noisier than the Firestones?

Do they wear the same as the Firestones?

This is something I may be very interested in, however I don't want that noise driving down the highway from off road tires.

[texasblueline]

Originally Posted by bim

Are the BF noisier than the Firestones?

Do they wear the same as the Firestones?

This is something I may be very interested in, however I don't want that noise driving down the highway from off road tires.

I haven't noticed any more noise from them than I got from the Firestones, but then again I haven't really looked for it. I just took a highway trip the other day and nothing caught my attention as far as road noise. They're really not as off-road capable as other tires, I think they're intended to fall between basic all-terrain tires and true off-road tires, so they're not that knobby. In terms of wear I haven't had them long enough to be able to tell, but I'm guessing they'll wear a little quicker than the Firestones. I think less treadlife is the trade-off for the better traction, but from what I've read from others they still get 70-80K miles easily. They may not be for everyone, but I figured since I had a Z71 and wanted the ability to do a little light off-roading I'd go with the BFGs, plus I like the way they look (check out the pics below), and the improved on-road traction was a nice surprise.

If those aren't for you check out what else is out there. I wasn't trying to say you had to only get those BFGs to get better traction, just that the original equipment tires aren't usually anywhere close to the best choice. Check out http://www.tirerack.com, that's where I did a lot of my research and reading on tires. They've got ratings and reviews from people that've used the different models of tires (the BFGs were rated towards the top of their category, ranked 4 out of 24, while the Firestones were towards the bottom of theirs, 54 out of 67). I'm sure there are road tires for the Silverado that have good wet traction, it's probably just a matter of doing a little looking. A quick browse through the Highway All-Season category (which includes those Firestones) and I found that the top three are Yokohama Geolandar H/T-S, Michelin Cross Terrain SUV, and Goodyear Fortera HL Edition, all of which were much higher rated than the Firestones in terms of traction (wet and dry). I'm a newbie here, but I know there's a "Wheels and Tires" section to this forum, so you may try asking for recommendations over there too in case there are some tire experts that frequent it.

I just figured it'd be cheaper and easier for Vic Vega to get some better tires first and see if that doesn't solve a lot of his traction problem.


And now the pictures :




This one I borrowed from tirerack.com's website, it shows the tread better than my pics do:

[bim]

Hey, thanks for the info. Much appreciated

[Musial-6]

I recommend the Nitto Terra Grappler. They are the best tires out there I think. They are nice and mean looking, and have given me great results. Have a great day!