Firestone Destination M/T2 Mud Terrain LT285/65R18 125/122Q E Light Truck Tire

WOW! I read LOTS of reviews on various brands, before deciding to buy these Firestone Destination MT2s (285/70R17), but at first I thought I'd made a mistake. I work in residential construction and bought these tires so my diesel pickup wouldn't get stuck in the mud on jobsites and while moving a trailer around. However, I was greatly concerned about ON-ROAD performance, because this truck is my daily driver. Initially, it seemed they made the truck handle so poorly that I was going to have to take them back and swap for an AT tire, BUT I decided to change the air pressure first- HUGE DIFFERENCE! My truck had been handling "like a boat" on the trip home from the dealer, because the tech inflated the tires to max pressure (when I was NOT loaded heavily). At first, I was very disappointed; however, I read about proper inflation for mud-terrain tires- inflating to maximize the ground-contact patch along the width of the tire (Thank God for the internet!), so I reduced the (unloaded) air pressure to 60 lbs front and 45-50 lbs rear, per the vehicle manufacturer's guidelines for unloaded-inflation, examining the ground-contact profile concurrently, and the tires were no longer only touching in the middle of the contact patch (like a bike tire), but all across the tire's width. They were contacting the road properly, and the on-road handling improved to nearly that of my prior AT tires-VERY GOOD! There is a slight whine/whirr noise in the background that isn't even loud enough to be annoying; Noise doesn't become annoying until a bit louder roar develops at above 77mph, but even then, I find it acceptable and can still hear the radio fine or talk on the phone. Wet road traction seems to be about the same as my prior Cooper Discoverer AT3 tires. They balanced much better than my Cooper AT3 tires, so I don't have the annoying shaking at higher speeds like I did before- nice and smooth, all the way to 90mph (during my brief higher-speed test run). I haven't been in the mud yet, but I'm sure they will handle that chore as well as can be expected for such a heavy diesel pickup. Thus, I learned that PROPER INFLATION IS MUCH MORE IMPORTANT WITH A MUD-TERRAIN TIRE, so I plan to keep them inflated for the load I'm carrying, and I hope to enjoy these tires for many, many miles- without getting stuck on any more muddy jobsites. :)