Mesa A/P vs Hankook Review

[1971Blue390]

Hey there, it's been a while since I was last here, but I thought I'd share some things I've learned about tires.

When i first bought my truck it had some really worn out 20 ply something or other tires from the 80's. They were replaced by a set of 235 75 r16 Mesa A/P tires. they felt great, now the truck didn't bounce going down the road, and actually had a little traction on snow and ice. But whenever it rained, or there was any ice at all on the road the tires felt like roller skates. I had to very, very carefully push the gas and pump the brakes to avoid swinging the rear out. driving the truck was always a nightmare on any sort of road besides dry. i once got stuck trying to turn the truck around just a few houses down the street because it couldn't crest the slightly raised street when it was icy. After 8 years of this, I noticed that the tires while not being completely worn in tread (22,000 miles in 8 years isn't much) had very poor looking sidewalls. About 3 days ago a sidewall failed and thankfully I just pulled the truck over only a few blocks from my house. It was time for new tires. I probably should have replaced them sooner...but hey money is tight on $10 an hour.

So after much research I decided to go with Cooper AT3 tires. they had great reviews. Only problem is that none of the local shops had them, and then the ones that did, suddenly mysteriously had to wait a week to get them in. So I ended up with a set of Hankook Dyna Pro ATM's and I couldn't be happier. I was thinking of selling the truck, but these tires have possibly convinced me to keep it, they've made such a huge difference. I paid $857 out the door with them, for 4 tires. Somewhat expensive, but I really needed to get the truck back on the road. I decided to get some wider tires, hopefully to improve traction and braking, so I got some 265 70 r16 and they look and feel great.

On snow and ice the truck now very reliably stops and goes. Even panic stops don't bring the rear around, but pumping is more effective. Starting on ice, at the bottom of the driveway is no problem now, and neither is getting through the ice gutter at the end of the street(forms there every winter). The Hankook tires are a little louder, but not really noticeable over the headers and wind gaps in the firewall, so it's not a big deal.

I've only had them 2 days, so i can't report on the wear patterns yet, but I heard that they wear good.