Michelin tire blow out!!
On a recent trip to the Western end of the Florida panhandle, we had a blowout on the right rear inside tire. Luckily it was on a straight section of Interstate Hwy with very wide and flat shoulders a...
Forum Discussion
Tireman9 wrote:
The idea that a higher "Load Range" means thicker or stronger tread or sidewall is not always supported by the facts.
Testing for Load Range includes a variety of tests. Sometimes there may be no difference in either the tread area or sidewall construction of two given tires and the only actual difference is the number of strands of wire in the bead bundle. This difference allows a higher "burst" pressure which is one of the tests a tire must pass.
Other tires may get a change in the steel in the tread area but no change in the sidewall. Each design is unique so no generalization can be made.
Thicker is also more likely to generate more heat at the same deflection and since heat the the major killer of tires, that can make thicker tires more prone to certain weakness. Again you can not make broad generalities that apply equally to all tires.
Intrinsically, I'm assuming that whatever it takes to make burst pressure higher will also make the tire "stronger" in at least some respects. The two seem to have to be related, although certain strength related criteria - such as perhaps puncture resistance - may not improve with higher burst pressure construction depending upon the design techniques the manufacturer uses. Remember - my Load Range upgraded tires in the past did not get stressed by higher pressure because I didn't use that in them ... all their improved construction had to do was provide more toughness from objects outside the tire.
Hence I shoot for higher Load Ranges for higher strength in at least some areas, if available.
I actually prefer the old "number of plies" approach to the manufacture of tires. As I remember it, oftimes one could buy a variety of tires - all built for the same rim size - but of different ply counts. This made it possible to "tailor" how reliable you wanted your tires to be - independent of needing any change in load carrying capability but depending only upon how much money one could afford to spend for the higher ply tires to gain tire ruggedness.
I've even seen in the forums mention of routes to certain RV spots requiring that one's RV tires be of a certain minimum ply count!
