Tow Truck Tire Recomendation

[DLHarrison]

I need some advice and recommendations on tow truck tire recommendations. I recently picked up a low mileage 2004 Silverado Extended Cab Truck. The truck comes with 4 x 4 (Z71 Off Road Package), 3.73 gear ratio, 5.3 liter engine and towing package. The listed maximum towing capacity is 8,500 pounds. I use an E2 WDH. The truck has Bridgestone P265/75R16 radial tires which I need to replace.

The travel trailer is Heartland Mallard M231 which is 26 foot with a dry weight of 5,040 pounds. The travel weight, after loading with all the stuff is will be around 6,200 pounds. The tongue weight is less than 500 pounds.

I need advice on tires. The P265s have got to go. Do I need D or E rated truck tires? I found several truck tires in town but it is somewhat confusing which tires to purchase.

Thanks for your help.

[DLHarrison]

Hi Guys - sorry that I haven't responded sooner - Thanksgviving dinners, relatives and football. In response to comments regarding the tires on the Silverado, I checked the sticker in the drivers door and the sticker cites that the OEM tire on the truck is indeed 265/75R16 tires. Possibly due to the Z71 option on the truck. I have looked at 245/75R16 tires in load rating D and found that they are more plentiful and cheaper than the larger size tires. I will be stopping by several local tire shops and look at the options.

Thanks for the help -

Dave

[HuckleberryHunt]

I had a 2003 Silverado 1500 with the same specs as yours. I pull a TT that's about 6k loaded. The stock 265x75 r16 P-rated bridgestones did the job but were soft. When it was time to get new tires I did my research and went with LT tires. I bought Toyo Open Country A/Ts in the same size, but load range D. When not towing or carrying heavy payload I'd run them at 40-45psi (42 usually). This made for a softer ride and even tread wear. Still stiffer than the p-rated tires, but not horribly so. When loaded or towing I'd run them up to 60psi. The difference when towing or hauling was night and day. No more tire squat or spongy feeling under load.
They did decrease my mileage by about a mile/gallon, either due to the heavier weight or more aggressive tread, but I never regretted that decision. They had more than 85,000 miles on them when I sold the truck and still had a little tread life left.
I did have them siped when I both bought them and routinely had them rotated, so that may have contributed to their longevity.

Oh, and if you do take the advice of previous posters and consider C rated LT tires, examine the weight capacities. During my research I found that the C rated LT tires I was looking at had a lower capacity than the stock P rated. That's part of the reason I went with the D rated. I wanted more capacity, not less. They might have been overkill as the tire capacity was greater than that of the rear axel, but I never had to worry either.

[JBarca]

DLHarrison wrote:
I recently picked up a low mileage 2004 Silverado Extended Cab Truck.

The truck has Bridgestone P265/75R16 radial tires which I need to replace.

The travel trailer is Heartland Mallard M231 which is 26 foot with a dry weight of 5,040 pounds. The travel weight, after loading with all the stuff is will be around 6,200 pounds. The tongue weight is less than 500 pounds.

I need advice on tires. The P265s have got to go. Do I need D or E rated truck tires? I found several truck tires in town but it is somewhat confusing which tires to purchase.

Thanks for your help.

Hi DL,

I have a few things which may help you as you sort this out.

1. Something is not right with a 500# tongue weight on a 6,200# camper. That is 8% tongue weight per a gross weight of 6,200#. That low of a tongue weight can cause trailer sway easily given the right conditions.
Check those weights, if they are correct, that is problem 1.

You need to shift gear in the camper to get the loaded weight up into the 12 to 15% range per gross trailer weight to have a stable towing camper in a wider range of towing conditions. 10% is the bottom end recommendation and for a TT where weights can vary from trip to trip based on gear taken, the 12% and up recommendation is better. This needs to be fixed first. Even the right LT tires will not fix a low TW camper stability issue.

2. Tires, Yes tires can make or break the stability of a TV. I have run into this myself on my prior K2500 Suburban and helping some other camper friends sort out their rig.

Something that stuck out on your 2004 truck Silverado, the tire size, P265/75R16. That does not sound like the OEM tire size that came on that 1500 truck. My K2500 Suburban came with LT245-75R16 as OEM. The point being the 245 width in place of what you have is a 265 with on a 1/2 ton truck. Did someone up size those tires in width to make it look cool? If they mounted 265 width tires on a rim made for 245 width, that can be a problem as the sidewalls do not line up with the rim width and can add to extra side wall wiggle. Look on the driver side door pillar column for a tire load rating sticker. It will show the tire size GM put on from the factory. 265 width may be correct but that sounds wider then needed for the loads of a 1/2 ton truck.

Switching to LT tires over P tires. As the other posters are saying and your looking for, LT tires offer much stiffer side walls in many cases pending the circumstance. I have had a few buddies switch from P tires to LT tires on their 1500 GM trucks and they learned a lot from this the hard way.

In order to gain the stiffness you are trying to get, you have to run the tire pressure higher to get it. A LT tire under low inflation may be more soggy then your P tires at max side wall pressure. It all depends on the tire brand, make up of the tire and the weights of your rig. There are too many brands of LT tires to know if they will solve your issue, but the point is, you are going to have to use higher air pressure in the LT in order to gain the stiffness. Expect a tire pressure experiment coming.

You need the tires stiff enough but not so hard the truck bounces real bad on the front end. On the front, if the front of the truck feels like it is jumping to the left or right going over a bump at speed when hitched to the camper, then that is too much pressure, back down 5 psi and try again. You basically go as high in pressure as you can stopping at max side wall pressure but not create bouncing stability issues. This may take many trial and error settings on the front. Suggest starting out enough pressure to handle the full front axle rating and add 10psi. Then try it. Keep up'ing 10psi until you find it jumping on a bounce and back down 5 psi to find the sweet spot. You need to find the edge of too low a pressure and too high a pressure and be inside that range.

The rear of the truck most times can handle the pressure better as it is not a steering axle. The concept is the same for the back in pressure setting. It is an experiment. Odds are high the back will be higher then the front in pressure or equal to the front when you are all done. The rear axle normally carries more weight and needs the more pressure. I have not yet seen where the back is lower the then front and everything else is correct.

Before doing tire pressure tweaking, Get the camper tongue weight balanced correctly first. Make sure the WD hitch is setup correctly. And on your GM, correct means the front end fender height is at or slightly above unhitched height when all hitched up and WD is engaged. Not below unhitched height. (see page 4-88 in the 2004 Silverado owners manual). Check the truck axle weights at a scale and make sure with the camper loaded, hitched, the truck bed with gear and the WD hitch adjusted correct, you are not over any axle rating or the GVWR. If you are over and axle rating, you need to remove weight. The truck suspension needs to not be overloaded.

The rear fender heights at the wheel well of the truck will squat some, 1.5 to 2" can be common. Make sure the camper tires at at max cold side wall pressure. Then for last, do tire pressure tweaking.

Now to what brand and what load range. I have seen when going all the way to E load range created a situation with the owner had to run close to 80 psi to get the tire stiff enough. And this created a rough ride situation. Ford has on some of their 1/2 ton pickups offered in a D load range LT tire option. It gives a weight rating step up, stiffness step up but not overdoing it. In your exact case, I cannot give you a hands down tire brand and tread that will work. What works for one RV'er may not work for the other as tires are only 1 factor in the stability of a towing rig.

I would estimate a D load range LT of the correct width to align with the rims. The tread pattern to be an all season M/S radial. I would stay away from heavy lug off road treads.

I did recently learn a new way to help sort out which brand tires have stiffer side walls. This is a big problem for RV'er towing campers when needing new tires. There is no side wall stiffness rating we can go by, and I'm talking between brands of LT tires.

This I can say, the Michelin LTX premium tires will have the softest side wall of most. Even the new A2 LTX. If you get them, you will need to run them very high in pressure. Now to how to help sort out one brand verses the next. A very good well seasoned (experienced) tire manager at our local NTB tipped me off on this as I need new LT tires for my F350 and the OEM tires are being discontinued/hard to get. So her I am in the same boat. Which LT tire brand do I go with?

Here is a tip to help in comparison. You will need a store tire manager who can help you through this as this is an unusual request. Go to the tire store room and in the size and tread you want, start comparing brands. You will take the unmounted tire and pull on and feel the side wall flex. Grab the bead at the rim area and pull it out several inches. Feel that amount of flex and how hard it is to pull. Then go to the other brands and feel the same thing. You can compare this to the P tires you have now if they have that size/brand in stock. This will help weed out which brands are softer and which have a chance of working.

In my case, my Continental Conti-trac TR works well on my truck. I had a flat tire and they de-mounted the tire to fix the flat. Now I had something I knew worked, and needed to find a brand that felt like the Continental. So off in his back tire room we go, feeling tire side walls in my size. In my case, BF Goodrich Commercial TA all season aligns the best with the Conti-trac TR. I'm going to drop over $1,000 on tires, need to help make sure I picked the right ones and he worked with me. Maybe you have your spare tire demounted to use as a comparison when you go in to get the tires. Your spare needs to upgrade anyway.

And make sure you put in high pressure valve stems. They cost almost nothing over the standard, but you want the high pressure stem if you are going up in pressure. Even D load range of 65psi.

Hope all this helps

Good luck and let us know how you make out

John

[ktmrfs]

you'll probably find most LT tires that aren't P rated are either a C (LT) or E rating. D isn't as common in the size your looking at.

My choice would be a C rated LT tire over an E rated tire for your application

[ken56]

I just replaced my P rated tires with LT. I pull my 6800lb trailer fine now. The P were not sufficient in the sidewall and I got a bit of wiggle out of them. The ride is stiffer somewhat in my truck now but its a truck, not a passenger car. LT with either D or E rating will do you for those weights.

[APT]

You only need a C rating LT tire, but most tires are not made in Passenger, LT C, D, and E for the same tire size. Pick the tire model you like best in any LT rating. I recommend a relatively light one in the size of your original truck's tires. I ran LT tires on my half ton pickups at about 40psi unloaded and 50psi loaded/towing. 80psi is overkill and rough. I don't even run 80psi in my 3/4 ton Suburban as GM recommend 50psi front an 60psi rear. I bump both by 10 when towing my TT.

[Grit_dog]

You can likely run ok on P or XL tires, but for the minor cost difference, if using it like a truck, get truck tires.
Any D or E rated tire will suffice. Personal preference on brand and tread.
Never seen a problem with the rims being rated for 80psi. Done it for 25 years on every brand of half ton out there.
You need to put the right pressure in the tires though. You don't need any more air than you need currently with the P tires for normal driving. If your loading the back down, increase the pressure accordingly. Don't we where you'd need more than maybe 45-50psi rear if you are using a wdh the rear axle isn't carrying a lot more weight.

[Second_Chance]

DLHarrison wrote:
Sorry - I left off "1500" from my posting.

Load range E LT tires typically have a max inflation pressure of 80 PSI and a load capacity between 3,000 and 3,400 lbs. On a typical 3/4 - 1 ton SRW application, the front tires are inflated to 65 PSI while the rear tires are inflated to 75 PSI (I keep the rears at 80 PSI as the truck spends 99% of its in-motion life with the fifth wheel on it). LT tires will give you much better handling characteristics as mentioned above, but you need to make sure your rims are rated for the inflation pressure and load capacity first. Replace your P tires with the same size/diameter LT tires to keep your gear ratios and speedometer the same.

Rob

[DLHarrison]

Sorry - I left off "1500" from my posting.

[WNYBob]

I would go with 'E' tire, as they will give you stiffer side walls and therefore less sway.

That's what I have on my TV, see my profile. I do not have a WDH!

[Dick_B]

I just put on a set of Bridgestone OEM tires. Don't normally use Bridgestone but I got 69K on my original set so figured I could not go wrong. They are not on the Bridgestone website. The dealer had to order them. $$$

[corvettekent]

Is your truck a 1500 or 2500?