My heavier landscape trailer has the typical Load Range E 235-80-16 tires. I've probably bought a dozen sets in my landscape career. But they live a hard life for the most part. This trailer sometimes sits for a month or more underneath a shelter but when I need it, it works hard. Today as I prepared to head out with my tractor, I noticed one tire was out of shape. I checked all my air pressures and they were pretty good. I brought them all up to 80 psi. But I was thinking that one lame tire had busted a belt or something. Once I got going, it was clear it probably wouldn't make it through the day. It was so out of balance, it would vibrate the truck. Sure enough, after about 35 miles of hauling, it went flat. My spare was pretty good so I was able to continue on for the day. So now I'm on eBay and I'm wondering if I should go to F rated tires. I think G rated tires are way overboard for this application. 10,000 lbs, including the trailer, is the rare maximum these tires will ever have to carry. Not to mention the price of Gs are far more expensive. But I have two questions.1. F rated tires have a max. pressure of 95 psi. I know G rated tires have such a stiff sidewall, that if you let the air pressure get really low, it could damage the sidewall. Are F rated tires the same?2. Is this even a good idea or a waste? They're only $10 more per tire. But I just don't want to have a tire that may not be more durable in this application plus I can't run a tire that's prone to sidewall damage just because it sat underneath my barn for a couple of months and maybe a minuscule leak caused it to drop 50 lbs. over that time.

You kind of left out the key component, how long have E loads been lasting?A dozen sets, assuming you mean on the same trailer, either means you've had good tire life and the trailer is 40-50 years old, or you've not had good tire life if you've replaced them even every couple years.Knowing a bit about how lansdscape and construction equipment gets used, unless you think you are getting good tire life, bump up the capacity. It hauls trees and tractors, not pillows and gray water...

You don't say that your tires are ST235/80/16 E rated, but I am guessing they are STs. So at 80 psi, with the E-rated you have a 3,420 lbs of capacity. So times 4 tires makes it 13,680 lbs capacity. Then carrying 12-13 percent on hitch, means you have way more than enough tire capacity, you do not need F-rated.Even LT truck tires may have enough capacity, if you wanted to go that route.Jerry

On my last 2 trailers one equipment dump, our 14 yr 5er camper, , the 235/80/16 E 's were a joke, nothing but blowouts and poor wear. Stepped up to 14 ply rated Korean made 235/ 85/16 G 's running at 90 psi, 20 psi below their 110 psi rating all steel ply radials. Fantastic differance.in wear and no troubles in a dozen or more years and over 100k miles. I have seen F tires rated for pressures and speed comparable to G , do yourself one better the few $ for the heavier tire run at a lower pressure has given us great service. Its no brainer

Yeah, the 10 ply/E rated 16" LT tires I have on my truck can carry 3,417 pounds so easily enough for the load described and from everything I've seen LT tires are made significantly better than ST tires.

lawnspecialties wrote:So now I'm on eBay and I'm wondering if I should go to F rated tires. I think G rated tires are way overboard for this application. 10,000 lbs, including the trailer, is the rare maximum these tires will ever have to carry.So you are saying that F is already more tire than you need should you UPGRADE to G? ... Uh.. WHY? I'd only upgrade if I needed the carrying capacity?

Load Range F Tires | Good Sam Community

17 Replies

Grit_dog
Navigator
Sep 28, 2022
SDcampowneroperator wrote:
On my last 2 trailers one equipment dump, our 14 yr 5er camper, , the 235/80/16 E 's were a joke, nothing but blowouts and poor wear.
Stepped up to 14 ply rated Korean made 235/ 85/16 G 's running at 90 psi, 20 psi below their 110 psi rating all steel ply radials.
Fantastic differance.in wear and no troubles in a dozen or more years and over 100k miles.
I have seen F tires rated for pressures and speed comparable to G , do yourself one better the few $ for the heavier tire run at a lower pressure has given us great service.
Its no brainer

Full agreement. Those that are recommending against upgrading as being overkill or whatever are likely also those that believe that door sticker payloads are also very important and likely have no context of equipment that is used commercially.
Gdetrailer
Explorer III
Sep 28, 2022
lawnspecialties wrote:

So now I'm on eBay and I'm wondering if I should go to F rated tires. I think G rated tires are way overboard for this application.

:h

The text I put into bold is your problem, not the weight rating.

So, I guess you don't believe in "quality" if you are buying the junk huckstered on Ebay?

Couple of yrs ago, had a belt break on a tire that came with my 10K flatbed trailer with a under 2K load.. Trailer and load combined was just under 5K.

That original tire was 10 yrs old at the time and a off brand made in China.. I am still running the three other now 12yr old tires on that trailer since I typically don't tow it more than 50 miles one way each time.

That same tire endured many heavy overloads when I would go for a load of firewood and carry my tractor with FL and BH.. Two cords of green wood = nearly 7K plus tractor of 3K plus empty trailer weight of 2.7K = 12.7K or a bit more.. Have hauled cars and pickup trucks on that trailer, longest single trip was 1800 miles round trip.

Quit buying surplus tires off of Ebay and you will find the LR E will be sufficient.. Spend a couple of bucks more at your local tire shop, it will vastly improve your odds of getting fresher and better quality tires.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Sep 28, 2022
lawnspecialties wrote:
So now I'm on eBay and I'm wondering if I should go to F rated tires. I think G rated tires are way overboard for this application. 10,000 lbs, including the trailer, is the rare maximum these tires will ever have to carry.

So you are saying that F is already more tire than you need should you UPGRADE to G? ... Uh.. WHY? I'd only upgrade if I needed the carrying capacity?
afidel
Explorer II
Sep 28, 2022
Yeah, the 10 ply/E rated 16" LT tires I have on my truck can carry 3,417 pounds so easily enough for the load described and from everything I've seen LT tires are made significantly better than ST tires.
SDcampowneroper
Explorer
Sep 28, 2022
On my last 2 trailers one equipment dump, our 14 yr 5er camper, , the 235/80/16 E 's were a joke, nothing but blowouts and poor wear.
Stepped up to 14 ply rated Korean made 235/ 85/16 G 's running at 90 psi, 20 psi below their 110 psi rating all steel ply radials.
Fantastic differance.in wear and no troubles in a dozen or more years and over 100k miles.
I have seen F tires rated for pressures and speed comparable to G , do yourself one better the few $ for the heavier tire run at a lower pressure has given us great service.
Its no brainer
MFL
Nomad II
Sep 28, 2022
You don't say that your tires are ST235/80/16 E rated, but I am guessing they are STs. So at 80 psi, with the E-rated you have a 3,420 lbs of capacity. So times 4 tires makes it 13,680 lbs capacity. Then carrying 12-13 percent on hitch, means you have way more than enough tire capacity, you do not need F-rated.

Even LT truck tires may have enough capacity, if you wanted to go that route.

Jerry
Grit_dog
Navigator
Sep 27, 2022
You kind of left out the key component, how long have E loads been lasting?
A dozen sets, assuming you mean on the same trailer, either means you've had good tire life and the trailer is 40-50 years old, or you've not had good tire life if you've replaced them even every couple years.

Knowing a bit about how lansdscape and construction equipment gets used, unless you think you are getting good tire life, bump up the capacity.

It hauls trees and tractors, not pillows and gray water...

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Load Range F Tires

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