So TK quoted me $817 (not sure if that's with road hazard or not); Kaufmann wants $834, with, and assures me the difference between 109 and 106 load rating is immaterial for my truck.

And TiresPlus, which used to be a Goodyear-specific dealer, wants $865 without roadhazard, and gives me nebulous warnings about dry rot and recalls; I'm assuming they're just the overpriced ****** they always are...

You guys who buy them online? What shipping and mount/spin charges are you paying extra?

 

I paid $15 per tire for mounting and balancing with new valve stems. Tire rack and discount tire direct have installer directories on their website.

I ordered my tires from DTD and shipping was free.

 

So, at $15 a tire for mounting, and $15ish a tire for shipping, the mailorder place has to beat the local place by $120 bucks. Can they push it that far? It's been a wash, any time I've looked.

 

I have been using the Michelin LTX in the size listed below for going on four years. This will probably be their final winter.

I will buy them again only in a larger size since I've recently added 2" with the OME MD springs. The 65 no longer looks right but I'm not going to toss them till they are done.

I don't know that I need more width and have not recently compared all of the options in the price range.

That all being said, there is a very good reason why I'd get them again. Great tires for exactly what you describe. Plus I've taken mine on sandy beach, muddy beach, snow and ice, as well as the usual washboard forest road. No rock climbing. The tires are great. Only now are they starting to slightly hydroplane on the ever wet Pacific NW freeway.

The combination of quiet on the freeway with capable and durable in the mentioned conditions...

I will buy them again.

 

So your opinion, Dave, is that the guy who told me load range 106 is fine, is right? :-)

 

DTD has free shipping, no? Maybe it's only on certain models...

My local guy charges $15 per for mounting and balancing, or a slight bit more for road force balancing since it takes a little longer.

 

I dunno; I was looking at Tire Rack, who charge separate line items for road hazard *and* shipping.

 

Sorry but I don't have an opinion on the load rating as I run the M/S with the higher rating and have no experience with the others.

As for tires I have experience with (having had a 04 Disco and an 05 LR3 for work vehicles in the past) I personally would not buy any Goodyear or TOYO tire for a Disco. The Michelins are far superior in every way. I learned this by letting someone else buy the tires while I got to put them through their paces on everything from freeway to forest road. When I bought my 03 (at 38k) it still had the factory issue Michelins on it, which i replaced with the mentioned LTX M/S's. So yes, AFAIK, 140k and two sets of tires.

I would have to do the research on the load rating, which actually you should be doing, let us know what you find out.

 

I did.

And what I found out was this:

The M/S isn't available in the factory 255/65R16 size, you have to go to 275.

The M/S2 is available in 255/65R16, but only as a load rating 106, which is ~2000lbs per tire instead of the 255/70R16's load rating 109, which is ~2200lbs per tire.

In short: you can't get the 255/65 in the factory 109 load rating, they don't make it. The 106 load rating they *do* apply to that tire, though, is likely plenty for the Disco II, since the GVWR is slightly over 6000 lbs, and 4 106 rated tires are good for slightly over 8000.

 

I wonder what the accepted practice is for a safety margin in tires. My LR3 has a gvwr 7121, and each tire is XL load rated at over 2400.