What To Look For When Buying The Best Tires For Chevy 2500HD?
Aside from existing alignment and suspension issues on your truck, here are a few different checkpoints to make before clicking the checkout button:
Treadwear warranty
Read the fine print before buying. You’ll notice that all-season road tires have a better mileage warranty than all-terrain/mudding tires.
Also, keep and eye out for tire rebates.
Road hazard protection
When dumping a chunk of change on a set of tires, it’s nice to know that they’re protected against nail punctures, and that’s where you benefit from buying the tires from the right place.
You’ll notice that sites like Tire Rack offer 2-year hazard protection on Chevy 2500 tires to help relieve you of unwanted costs.
Type of tire/Tread pattern
Double check that the tread pattern you’re buying matches your driving style. I’m typically always looking for a great mix of on-road/offroad performance when buying for a truck.
One of the biggest mistakes I see from pickup truck owners is buying mudding or offroading tires when they do only 10% of their driving offroad.
The best tires, like Toyo Open Country listed above, have versatile performance. Regardless, here are a few different types of tires to be aware of before buying the right new set:
- All-terrain tires
- Mud-terrain tires
- All-season tires
- High-performance road tires
- Snow tires
- …etc
Be selective about which tires you pick for your Chevy.
Load rating
Don’t mount up some random tires on your Chevy 2500 HD before checking the load rating. One time I bought a truck and drove it home and one of the tires popped on the way.
Turns out the owner had mounted some rancid looking tires that weren’t made for the weight of a 2500 truck… needless to say, it’s not fun losing a tire at 75 MPH on a scorching hot 100-degree summer day.
These Chevy 2500 HD trucks deserve the best when it comes to tires because they’re literally the best truck you could have in this size range, in my humble opinion.
How Much Do Tires For Chevy 2500HD Cost?
Spending less than $200 per tire for your Chevy 2500HD will likely result in premature tire blowouts and spending more money in the long run.
Then again, spending more than $300/tire is a bit overkill. Keep it right between that $200-$300 price range if you’re on a budget but still want quality.
Four New Tires
Between $900-$1800 installed and ready to rally.
Two New Tires
Between $450-$900 installed and ready to rally.
Single Tire
You might pay anything from $200 per tire for Sumitomo Encounters all the way up to $450 for a set of 20-inch Toyo Open Country R/T.
The Chevy 2500 HD 4×4 must have tires replaced in pairs.
What Tire Size Is Best For A Chevy 2500HD?
Stock wheel sizes for newer Chevy 2500 HD come in 17, 18, and 20-inch diameters. From my experience, smaller wheels may not look as cool, but they ride smoother and allow for a larger sidewall aspect ratio (more suspension from the tire).
Smaller tire sizes also cost less I’ve noticed. You might pay as much as $500+ more if your Silverado has 20-inch wheels mounted up compared to a 17-inch diameter size.
How Long Should Your Chevy 2500HD Tires Last?
It all depends on how aggressively you like to drive your Silverado.
Silverado tires should at least last 30-40 thousand miles of driving, if not something more like 60 thousand when well maintained and driven on conservatively.
Hey kids, if you want to waste money, I suggest you buy a really nice set of tires and then go smash them up at high speeds on the gnarliest roads possible!
When To Replace Tires On Your Chevy 2500HD?
Check the tread depths from inner, middle, to out on all four tires. If one of the tires is down to 2/32” (1.6 mm) tread depth, I’d say it’s time for new tires.
Most Silverado owners replace tires when the treads start to chunk off or wear unevenly.
I always encourage properly recycling your old tires.
Does The Brand Matter For A Chevy 2500HD When Replacing Tires?
Tightening up the lug nuts with a torque wrench matters more, but from my experience, brand doesn’t matter if you’re being recommended tires from someone who knows what they’re doing. Tire Rack, for example, doesn’t typically list crappy tires, which is why I like their selection and pricing.
You might also go for tire brands like Goodyear Wrangler, Cooper Discoverer, Firestone Destination, BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2, Nitto Grappler, Bridgestone etc.
There are plenty of tire brands out there that make decent tires.
What you don’t want is off brand tires that don’t meet the specs of the vehicle. I’m not going to bash Chinese tires, but they don’t have a good track record.
There are some Chinese tires that rock for sedans, but I personally don’t go with anything other than American, Japanese, or European-made brands for trucks.
Does the Year of Your Chevy 2500HD Matter When Buying New Tires?
Both the year and trim package matter when buying new tires. The surefire way to buy the correct set of tires is by knowing how to read the tire size info on the sidewall printed on your existing tires.
The easiest way is to plug in your Chevy year and model into reliable tires sites.
What Are The Biggest Tires I Can Put On A chevy 2500 HD?
The Duramax forum references 35 inches as the biggest tire you can put on a Chevy or GMC without a suspension upgrade.
My answer is that 275/65/-20 is the largest stock wheel and tire size.