tire question

[sonofgun]

Newbie question so please be patient. Recently I purchased my first slide in camper, my Mrs wants to give it a go ? [I am a hotel type guy, but what he heck]We got an older (1988) northstar pop up for my tundra. I am going to install sway bars to tighten up the suspension a bit. My plan was to do a few short trips to get a feel and then maybe take it from there. It has been suggested to me that I should also look at a different type of tire, maybe something with a stiffer side wall. Currently I am running a Michelin P275/65 R18. They have a load rating of 2600 lbs
The camper should run about 1400 dry [I think]and I will be towing a quad trailer with about a 250 lb tongue weight

Question is, should I look at a higher load tire,
and if so can I just purchase two for the rear

thanks / Bobh

[bens170]

Did you weigh the truck at a scale without a camper on the back? Go with E rated or higher depending on the size of rims on the truck. The E rated tires has a stronger sidewall and the D rated tires. If you get the camper go with Torklift frame mounted tie downs. Then weigh the truck and camper.
Ben

[sonofgun]

thanks all
you have given me a lot to mull over
definetely a sway bar install first
a few short trips to guage ride and feel

Bobh

[RWDIII]

whizbang wrote:
Sonofgun your present tires have a load rating of 2601# ON A PASSENGER CAR. On a truck, your tires are downgraded to about 91%, or 2366#.

"E" rated LT tires at 3600# will make your truck drive like a rock. Not good.

A better choice, and what I did with my F-150, is light truck "C" rated tires at 2535# --- better load capacity without sacrificing ride comfort.

I did the same thing
LT C on rear,P series on front

[FreeLanceing]

A few years back, I bought a new 1/2 ton. I tried to get some E's put on right away but they were all backordered in the tire I wanted. I waited a while and drove the truck sparingly. After several weeks I finally gave in and loaded up my camper and went camping with the P tires. They held 44 lbs of air and had a decent load rating with maybe a 10% margin for my load. I remember both the tire guy and the truck dealer telling me those load ratings are for 100% running . If you are a little over once in a while no biggie. I only have my camper on about 10-15%. Anyhow I ran those P's for 50K miles untill I sold the truck. They still looked great and had plenty of tread. I am good at checking the air pressure and rotate every 10k. You do get a little more sway than an E with a stiffer sidewall. I would run the P's unless I was uncomfortable with the way the truck handles.

[rickeoni]

It is all about number of plys that a tire has. The safety margin becomes quite apparent when you add in side loading, heat is your enemy not weight on tire at rest. The add security for you and your loved ones dictates E range tires. When I added a TC to my F150 it was unbelievable how stressed the tires looked and how bad it drove.

[whizbang]

sonofgun, Your truck and camper setup should be no heavier than mine.

With a full camper, my rear axle weighs 4000#, or 2000# per tire. The LT tires have 500# of extra capacity or safety margin. It's enough.

My experience with stiffer "E" rated tires in that running the tires at lower pressures caused the tires to "cup" and wear prematurely on the outside edges.

The trick is to match the load to the tire.

[AH64ID]

whizbang wrote:
Sonofgun your present tires have a load rating of 2601# ON A PASSENGER CAR. On a truck, your tires are downgraded to about 91%, or 2366#.

"E" rated LT tires at 3600# will make your truck drive like a rock. Not good.

A better choice, and what I did with my F-150, is light truck "C" rated tires at 2535# --- better load capacity without sacrificing ride comfort.

Just because they are rated for 80 psi does not mean you have to run them at 80 psi. At the proper pressure for the weight the ride change will be minimal, at most there will be less sidewall squishing giving small bumps a bigger impact but also increasing stability when cornering.

Most complaints about rough tires have the same issue as rough airbags, too much air for the weight which makes the ride horrible.

Just a quick look at Toyo they have a LRC 2535lbs @ 50 psi and a LRE 3415lbs @ 80 psi. If you go to their Load and Inflation Guide (link below) you will see they are both rated to carry 2535lbs @ 50 psi, the LRE can just increase the load from there. If all you need in 2500lbs per tire then the LRC will suffice but is being ran at 98.6% of its rating where the LRE is at 73.2%, so which one do you think will handle it better?

I have been there for the last two years running my tires at 95-100% of load rating on nearly every camping trip. The tires do lose stability and generate a lot of heat when that close to max load. That's why I now run LRG tires at 65-70% of their rating and have a much more stable and comfortable ride while loaded, not to mention a much better safety factor.

http://toyotires.com/tires-101/load-and-inflation-tables

[Geewizard]

My Tundra came with D rated tires. With the TC on, the handling was sloppy. I blew one after hitting a deep pothole in Yellowstone.
I replaced them with E rated tires and really liked the handling and ride. Yes, the ride wasn't like that of a car without the TC on and especially at very cold temps in Alaska.
I liked the security of knowing the E rated tires would handle any and all loads on any and all roads I could encounter. And that was proven when I hit a HUGE pothole on the Alcan Highway. No tire or wheel damage at all but I had to rearrange the camper contents.....and my fillings.
I have run E-rated tires ever since 2004 and don't plan to change.
I've used Goodrich All Terrain T/A KO and Cooper Discoverer S/T tires. I like the Goodrich the best.

[whizbang]

Sonofgun your present tires have a load rating of 2601# ON A PASSENGER CAR. On a truck, your tires are downgraded to about 91%, or 2366#.

"E" rated LT tires at 3600# will make your truck drive like a rock. Not good.

A better choice, and what I did with my F-150, is light truck "C" rated tires at 2535# --- better load capacity without sacrificing ride comfort.

[AH64ID]

Reddog1 wrote:
With all due respect, a load capacity of a given tire is what it is, the load capacity. All load range "E" tires do not have the same load capacity, in different sizes.

No diaper spect taken, I know what you are saying and it's true if you are shopping for a specific capacity and don't care about size. Most people that have P tires just need a real truck tire in the same size. Getting a LRE in the same size as LRD will provide a stronger tire (even if the load capacity is the same). If a P rated tires has about the right capacity then you know the same size LRE will have adequate capacity.

By your argument of ignoring load rating and just going off capacity then his current LRB P tires are adequate, and I think most of us agree they aren't.

P tires are put on 1/2 tons to sell the ride and save money, IMHO they have no place on any pickup that will be used as a pickup and plaid the OP for realizing their shortfalls.

[fishfinder]

You don't need new tires for your light load. I have a similar camper & boat. Very happy with my P-metrics. In fact, I just replaced with the P-metrics because the load rating is much higher than my loaded axle weight. I got 50,000 from the original tires.

I did the load range E thing years ago on my F-150 and hated the ride.

[Reddog1]

So, does that mean the load capacity does not tell us how much load the tire will carry? My position is that if you have a given weight, only the stated load capacity will tell you if the tire will support the load.

I am sure we could discuss the differences in tires for different applications. We could go in to the compounds in a tires. But I think we are talking about a tire for a truck to have the load capacity for the TC. If this is true, why is the load capacity not the most important thing the OP should be looking at?

Wayne

[Super_Dave]

Wayne, that's not what he was saying. He said a "D" & "E" in the same tire size can have a very close or same weight load rating but an "E" will always be stiffer, take more air and handle better.

[Reddog1]

ah64id wrote:

Reddog1 wrote:
My suggestion is to ignore the "E" rating (load rating), and go by the load capacity. You can have an "E" rated tire in different tire sizes, and each will have a different load capacity, as I understand. The load capacity is on the tire, regardless of the tire size, the load capacity is the load capacity.

Wayne

E is the load rating, even if a LRD and LRE are rated for 3195lbs the LRE is a tougher tire and will almost always hold more air. More air means cooler rubber, more stability, and better war.

Load capacity is indeed important, but it's not too common for a LRD to have the same capacity as a LRE of the same size. It does happen, but not the norm.

With all due respect, a load capacity of a given tire is what it is, the load capacity. All load range "E" tires do not have the same load capacity, in different sizes.