Toyota tundra tire advice

The only thing I might carry in the winter is a snowblower or possibly tow a small landscape trailer with a atv.

Are you towing in the winter with these tires? Normally I would go with the LT tires if you're towing, for the higher psi rating and stiffer sidewalls. If they are just for the winter and you won't be towing much with them I would go for the softer P rated tires. The P rated tires will stay softer in cold temps giving better traction and also keeps them form going square when parked. My current LTs are rough and vibrate in the cold until I've driven for a while and they warm up.

hedgehog48 wrote:
I have a 2011 Toyota tundra and I need to replace my stock tires. I don't load the truck to the max and I only occasionally tow a enclosed motorcycle trailer with it. I am looking at cooper discoverer at3's in the stock size 275/65r18. These tires are available in a P or LT load range C. The P rated actually has a 200# per tire higher load capacity than the LT version does. But the LT rated tire has close to 4/32's deeper tread. The tundra currently comes with P rated tires. There is only a $1 difference between the two tires. The P's are in stock and the LT's would be ordered. With that said, I am looking for advice between the two. I need new tires before the snow falls.

Had Coopers on my truck. 2601 lb rated. The tire will be stiffer, and carry more, BUT as it is a harder tire. It will have less traction, and not last as long.

I could not start from a stop sign with out spinning the tires, And If I ever really needed to go. The tires smoked. Now it could be the power of the 5.4 Ford, Or it could be that the Cooper Discoverer, Just didn't have grip. All I do know. I went to Michelins tires rated to 2275 LBS, and I have MUCH more traction. Lots less tire spin. And they have lasted almost twice as long.

The LT will have a stiffer sidewall. I have noticed recently that some tire companies are making a P rated XL tire that supposedly falls between a P rated and the LT tires. I personally like the LT on my 1500 and have found they ride just as well as the P rated that came on it.

According the the gvwr of my truck, both tires will exceed the weight rating of my truck.

I was a tire consultant for a number of years, specializing in tread designs. As for radial tires, they, for the most part offer all of the same advantages. The one difference between them is tread design. Now this relates to tires of the same quality...not, say comparing a Goodyear to one out of China.

The part of your thread where you mention the difference in tread depths of 4/32s greater between 2 tires is a false positive. Because it appears you put a bunch of miles on annually and run mostly unloaded, so pick either and don't second guess your choice. However...when choosing the deeper tread design in some cases it can work against you, and that would be if most of it was as loaded miles. That requires a in depth explanation...so to shorten it many years of research and data gathering was required, maybe some other time on that.

As for the BFG Rugged Trail...that is one of the better tread designs out there. I suspect because most of your driving in snow is unloaded and there for your traction issue has more to do with the truck and driver than the tires.

As an aside...I don't recommend buying any tire out of China...before finalizing purchase check the country of origin stamped on the sidewall.

One more thing, these stock wheels are only used as winter wheels. I have a set of nice wheels and tires I put on the truck in the summer but the rims are chrome so I don't use them in the winter. The stock rims currently have BFGoodrich Rugged Trails and they are horrible in the snow. I want a good tire in the snow that also rides nice.