You are doing the right thing here. Research.

This tire thing is getting completely out of control. Price pressures and constantly changing products allow a lot of inferior tires to come to market.

I see more and more tires break cords and become un-useable while still having plenty of tread. A lot of tires are not even round. Issue after issue, some up front and some later on down the road.

I change a lot of tires for my friends and neighbors. Last week a neighbor brought me a new set of Kumhos that he wanted put on his Dakota. They were the same size as the Uniroyals that he was replacing, but the tread surface was 1 1/2" narrower. He was unhappy.

Last February, I put new set of BFGs on a buddie's TrailBlazer. We changed them off a couple of weeks ago after only 31,000 miles. They were worn out. He uses the 'Blazer for his sales job and usually gets 50,000 to 60,000 miles out of a set of tires. Not this time.

Do your homework on tires. It is a jungle out there!

And don't get me started about valves stems. I'll just say that many people are much better off keeping the old ones rather than installing new ones.

Have you thought about calling the local salvage yards to find a good used set? Often $125-$200 buys a nice set of tires. Of course you have to have someone that can mount and balance them. Just a thought.