Silverado 1500, my recent experience

ken56 wrote:
I have a Coleman Explorer that weighs in about 6800lbs that I tow with my 1/2 ton Silverado, 2014 5.3 engine, 3:42 gears. It came new with P265-65-18 tires and when ever I pulled the trailer I always felt some wiggle in the back end even with the tires aired up to 45lbs. I just replaced those P tires with new Michelin Defender LT 275-65-18's. My god what a difference.

First tow with them on I went and picked up a trailer for a friend that's in the 8000lb range and it pulled it like a champ. No wiggle at all that I could feel and that was with the tires aired to 35 lbs. This was a 450 mile trip and I had plenty of time to see how things felt.

Now to speak of the truck I can't say that it was under powered or anything else bad about it. It handled that trailer just fine even on the grades. I got 22mpg out there not towing and 9.7mpg on the way home towing. This trip was straight up I-81 from east TN to east of Richmond VA.

Now I am confident that the new tires will definitely improve the towing experience with my own trailer.

That's excellent!
However, you shouldn't be towing with 35psi for any reason. I know it handled great but that is slack pressure that can cause some serious heat build up prematurely damaging your new tires. I'd say you should be at 60-65 at a minimum.