Had the LE3s for 4 years on my escalade driving up and down the mountains and road tripping western US. A great tire, I took it through highway, pothole city, rain, snow, ice and even sand.
The rugged-looking alloy wheels of the prototype, shod in General Grabber A/T Sport tires (275/60R18), sound like a fitting choice for the production model.
I have been using this specific tire below for almost 20 years. Had my 2006 for 11 years and now my 2017. They have great wet road handling. Excellent tread wear. I get about 70K miles a set. Not sure what your price range is but don't skimp on tires, especially on a truck. You want that wet road grip.
I currently have Firestone LE3's on my 14 Explorer. They have a little over 26k miles on them. 255/50/20's for $930 mounted/balanced back in 2021. Overall pretty good tires, especially for the money. Smooth, good traction in the dry/wet and pretty good in the snow. They did seem to get louder fairly quickly, but I don't think they've really gotten any worse over the last 15k miles. Wet roads seem to exacerbate the noise. Last time I looked at them (few k miles ago), they were wearing really well. I can't say I'd buy them again yet, but if they get us another 26k miles without getting significantly louder, they (or their successor) would be on the list. In the past I had OE Hankooks (good dry/wet, excellent life, absolutely terrible in the snow) and Michelin Premier LTX (good in all conditions, short life, overpriced for what they were).
Update 6 months later: I haven't gotten a chance to test them in snow despite getting them in January. It was a very mild winter. But I noticed immediately how much better they handled in the rain. Compared to those these made a real difference and I felt safer. I don't notice any more noise with these.
Basically, both are pretty good tires and at an equal price or a little bit more, I'd take the Generals...
Firestone has Suredrive tires that are basically rebranded Kuhmo Solaris TA71s right in your range. Good reviews on Reddit. I just bought a set today. Seem quiet.
Went with the Generals and have been getting anecdotally very good efficiency.
I had them on my excursion and while they do ride nice and look cool they will be a hit on mpg, as all AT tires will. And this is where you have to be honest with yourself, we all want to pretend that we take our SUV, off-road, and have adventures with it but, if I’m being real with myself, 95% of its time on road and that other 5% of the time is not a trail that would require an aggressive tire. I saw a decrease of 15% on both of the SUVs I traded a highway oriented tire for an AT tire. And in all honesty it’s definitely not worth that fuel economy loss. Yeah sure they look cool but now in my jeep grand Cherokee V6, I struggle to get 21 miles per gallon on the highway when on the OE tires I could easily get 25. That really adds up to a lot of Extra fuel
These tires are terrible. I’m in MA and they struggle in light snow. Mine only have 32k miles but I’m replacing them asap because they are actually dangerously bad, even in 4WD
Write your review
Help others - share your experience with this part.
