[everiklevine]

Hi All,

As I mentioned in the last post I wrote, I had a flat tire yesterday just as we were about to head out of town (does it happen any other way?). I have the stock General Tire Grabber HTS60 All Season tires.

Two days ago I took our Lightning on it's first off-road (well, more like rugged dirt fire roads) adventure while on a local Search and Rescue call out. I'm sure that parts of the roads also had some granite rock fill, which I probably picked this chunk up from. I picked up a number of other small rocks in other treads, too.

I didn't get a picture of the rock in the tread, but it was located inside one of the outward facing horizontal grooves. Below, though, is a picture of the tread with a plug that the good people at America's Tire put in for me.

Question: are these just cruddy wimpy tires that should have withstood a sharp piece of granite, or was this just bad luck?

BTW, in looking at the tire warranty, they are NOT covered by road hazards including punctures, so I am sure that Ford would not have been as nice as the folks at America's Tire.
My local Ford dealerships were also useless in my calls. The first I called (where I bought the truck from) was only able to get a sales person who then tried the service department. She left them a message for me, and to no surprise, they still haven't called me back.... I also called a closer Ford dealership, but no-one ever answered the phone. I'm really wondering what the benefit of a dealership service department is.... I'm sure that I would have just ended in an argument of whether a $90k truck should be completely disabled by a 1/4" rock.

 

[BertJ]

Wish I could side with you on this one, but no tire is immune to nails, screws or even a sharp granite chip that gets lodged in the tread with the sharp point in the wrong direction.

 

[R.I.P.]

I have heard of a seemingly inordinately high number of flats with the lightning. I am assuming it is due to a lightweight tire they are shipping with. Can anybody who took delivery of a unit with the AT tire upgrade weigh in on how durable those tires are?

 

[WWISE]

Just my two cents worth and that is probably what it's worth! LOL. 2022 F-150 Lightning Lariat ER owner. I did a lot of research on these tires as I have always been a big Michelin Defender LTX fan. I decided to keep the General Grabber HTS60 tires for now to see how they performed. I suspect they were chosen by Ford for 2 main reasons... Cost and rolling resistance for the best range. My go to guy here at Discount Tire in Texas suggested I give them a try. In my opinion so far so good. They are very quiet. They handle well. They don't hydroplane easily. All tires are susceptible to sharp objects in the tread at the wrong place at the wrong time. Very pleased with the performance of these tires so far. Thanks, Walt

 

[everiklevine]

Thanks for the comments so far! Yes,
I’m very pleased with the rolling resistance and quietness of the tires. Maybe it was bad luck. Once I get to having to replace these, I’ll do some more research. Hopefully that won’t be for a long time!

Agree with @R.I.P., I would like to hear how those folks with the All Terrain tires have fared.

 

[Phil Usher]

I had to replace my two rear tires two weeks ago.

The left rear “General” failed, the inside sidewall became cut and went flat very quickly. This occurred on the freeway. The spare is an 18” BTW. I replaced both on the axle with Khumos and kept the one reusable General as a potential spare.

The incident was odd as I didn't see or feel anything to account for the failure.

This was a $600+ incident, making me wary of the General tires.

 

[greatbreweh]

I have been researching tires for this beast, I am just looking to keep best range I can with a tire choice when these wear but that will be sooner then later for me. I watched this guy very interesting I had not realized there were EV tires but it seems there is not many or any I have found that are EV truck tires thus far.

 

[everiklevine]

I have been researching tires for this beast, I am just looking to keep best range I can with a tire choice when these wear but that will be sooner then later for me. I watched this guy very interesting I had not realized there were EV tires but it seems there is not many or any I have found that are EV truck tires thus far.

@greatbreweh Thanks for that post and the link to the YouTube video. I learned something today! I've never owned Hankook tires, but impressed that they have put this much engineering into them. I imagine other manufactures have them or are working on them. The video was very good at explaining the specifics needed for an EV tire. Will be interesting to see how others report their experience with various tires on this forum.

Yep, something to study more for the future for when these GTs get voted off my truck.

 

[KElkhorn]

Add me to the list of flats on the all season tires.

 

[ChasingCoral]

You're not alone:

First Lightning with a Flat tire?

Good thing the Lightning comes with a real spare. I’ll start figuring out what happened tomorrow. TPMS warning came on and was losing air Glad I pulled into that farm we were passing. Jimmy who lived there had a floor jack and rechargeable impact hammer. Made that job a lot easier. He even did...

www.lightningowners.com

Flat tire. Fun

That was fun. Fortunately the tire pressure warning came on immediately and gave me time to get off the highway. As this is my first F-150 had to pull out the owners manual. No issues and thankfully we have a full size spare.

www.lightningowners.com

First Flat Tire

I never thought I would need the Owners Manual that is available on the truck big screen but it turns out that that was a great idea by Ford. I came out of the movie theater at 10pm last night to find my left rear tire was flat. I do have road side assistance but I also have a full size spare. I...

www.lightningowners.com

 

[Jkdfarmer]

I only got about 7500 miles out of those “General” tires. By that time I must’ve put 10+ patches in and ruined 2 tires with rocks. I didn’t expect much different as I drive around 50% of my miles on gravel roads. The only option my local tire shop had the day I had to have a new set was some Cooper “Discoverer AT3 XLT”. So far in 4k miles not 1 low tire…. yet… BUT I haven’t done any official tests and winter is upon us but it feels to me they have hurt my mileage around 10-15%. I’m running 60 psi does that seem right? I was doing around 1.7 - 1.8 m/kw and now with tires and winter I’m at 1.3-1.4. I’m hoping someone does a little research and finds a tire that doesn’t hurt the range as bad.

 

[WWISE]

Good to get all of this feedback on tires. I will keep a close eye on the General Grabber GTS. So far so good. Only highway driving so far no gravel or off road. 1st sign of a problem I will go to Michelin Defender LTX. Thanks, Walt

 

[jrmgkia]

My Ram 1500 came with Goodyear All Season 4-ply tires like these and I got 3 flats within a few months due to all the gravel roads I drive. I suspect I will have the same problem with these once spring rolls around and I'm regularly on gravel. What about the Hankook A/T tire that was an option? Anyone have good/bad to report from those? I really hate to lose 15% of my range by going to a non-EV tire but I can't deal with weekly flats either.

 

[hilltown]

Just put studded snows on my Lariat SR yesterday. While swapping them out, Mr. Tire (shop owner) mentioned how cheap and flimsy the stock tires were: "Look at this, four ply tires on a 6,000 pound truck. Ridiculous!" Sounds like he knows what he's talking about.

 

[greatbreweh]

hope this thread will help me find some tires as I am not likening what i am reading here on flat tires and prefer to be proactive.

Think I am going to order these and see how it goes they talk about low roll resistance... Hankook Dynapro AT2 41 pounds per tire, OEM tires are 34.3 pounds per tire, both 4 ply but clearly some thickness difference as seen in weight.

https://www.hankooktire.com/ca/en/tire/dynapro/at2-rf11.html

scratch those not seeing good reviews!!!

 

[WWISE]

Very good discussion so far on tires for the F-150 Lightning. I understand wanting to be pro-active...I am the same. My experience with flats over many years and many different trucks and tire combinations is that circumstances more often than tire choice are responsible. Mostly local and highway driving? Gravel and/or dirt or off/road driving? Job site or construction driving? Tread puncture or sidewall (non-repairable) flat? This is a 6000 pound truck and I agree tire choice is very important. Do you want to give up range for a more aggressive or A/T tire? If it proves out that the General Grabber GTS are more prone to flats than other tire choices I will be the 1st to switch to my favorite Michelin Defender LTX or possibly an A/T tire. So far they are satisfactory to me. Quiet, good handling, and little if any hydroplaning. I am in Texas so my situation is obviously different from other parts of the country. Look forward to hearing more feedback on tires! Thanks, Walt

 

[ChasingCoral]

Don't forget that EV tires are designed to be especially quiet. While they are well insulated, you don't have engine noise to mask the sounds from the tires.

 

[WWISE]

If I were going to go with an A/T tire my 1st choices might be the Continental TerrainContact A/T (Very Quiet) or the Michelin LTX A/T2 (Tread Life). The Hankook Dynapro AT2 are the Ford factory issue A/T tire. Any opinions out there? Thanks, Walt

 

[Mr. Mazak]

View attachment 5444
View attachment 5443

Did you install those mudflaps?

Were holes required to be drilled?

 

[Jkdfarmer]

Did you install those mudflaps?

Were holes required to be drilled?

Yea I installed those. I don’t remember drilling any holes. When I ordered they only offered flaps for the gas versions. They worked but I did have to trim a bit with the razor knife. I’m sure they don't help my range but hopefully it protects the paint from gravel chips a bit.