RoyJ wrote:
If your friend used the same OEM wheels, I wonder how much it was due to improper sizing. I'm guessing he went up in both diameter and width, which may be the reason for poor handling.
Not saying it's impossible for a particular D-rated tire to bounce more, just haven't seen that myself.
^This.
Load rating is load rating. Aspect ratio, rim width vs tire width, sidewall height and the type of load all factor in.
12V makes a good point, albeit not an argument against D load tires as much as matching the load rating and tire size/aspect/width/type to the type of duty it will be seeing.
Example,35x 12.50 wide tires on 16x8 wheels on one truck, great for soaking up bumps at lower pressures (e rated btw) and good off road performance, low likely hood of popping a bead and decent on the highway although they wander a bit at pressures that don’t rattle your teeth (lifted 1 ton truck basically).
37x 12.50 wide tires on 20x12 rims on the other truck. E rated 65 psi max for close to 4000lbs capacity. Even at 45 psi front and 32psi rear, they track straight as an arrow and handle like it’s on rails with a 6000lb 32’ trailer hooked up.
The 35s on 16x8 s would have to be rock hard to exhibit good handling characteristics and still would have a little wiggle at high loads like the rear with a 5ver hooked up.
The 37s on 20x12s while truck too tall to tow a 5ver unless I want to pretend I’m one of those Joe’s heading to the dunes in Cali with a brodozer nose to the sky, will handle MUCH better.
2 completely different examples and in the middle, some nice rock hard OE size tires with not so aggressive tread on the rear axle will likely do the best job of controlling a big pin load.