Hey guys,
Had a quick question for the tire gurus. Do I need an E rated tire if I don't plan on towing? I have to replace my tires, and I'm just curious as to how broad or restricted my options are.

Thanks!

 

I would personally, the weight of your truck alone is pretty heavy. An "E" rated tire is a 10ply tire, which means stiffer sidewalls and the rubber compound is harder which means longer tread life. I found the best deal at www.tirerack.com just put your truck in there and it will bring up all the manifacturers that make that tire. Just my .02

 

If you stay with the stock size, I would go with the load range E. If you go bigger in size, sometimes you can drop to load range D because they will have the same load carrying capacity as the smaller size.

 

D range tires were good enough for the old trucks when they were made out of heavier steel and a hlf ton reg cab in the 70s weight is proly equal to a late model quad cab so you be the judge

 

What he said.
My 285's are only D rated but have the same weight carrying capacity as the 10 ply 265's that it came with, I wouldn't put on 8 ply (D rated) 265's though.

 

Here's the deal guys, I bought a new set of Michelin's for the truck (LTX M/S). Their performance is unacceptable, I'm not talking wet grass, snow, wet roads...I mean DRY pavement. Tire pressure has been varied to see if that helps, it did a little, but still not where such expensive tires should be. I had better traction with the OE Goodyears when they were balding! How can I be so sure? Well, I figured the test with the least number of variables would be the track.

With the Goodyear's I could launch at 7 pounds of boost with just a tiny screech...with 10 pounds, I'd spin them a little longer. With the Michelin's.....7 pounds and I start fishtailing on the track, gotta left off, after a bunch of runs, I figured out I could only launch with about 3 pounds without getting TOO much wheelspin. Needless to say I'm really upset about spending so much money on these things for them to perform like this. I'll be contact the vendor whom I bought them from (Costco) and ask them for a full refund. Hopefully they'll be nice about it...otherwise I'll just have to call American Express and dispute the charge (and we all know Amex is pro-customer on these matters).

My current thoughts are:

Go back to Goodyear


Or try these Pirelli's


What do you guys think?

 

Go Toyo. There's plenty of info out there in regards to Toyo. I don't have them on my truck yet (soon). However, I do have them on my Subaru-WRX and I love these tires. I have the Proxes4. Judging by the photos you displayed, it doesn't look like you're going for an aggressive off road type of tire. Check out the Proxes for trucks. You cannot find bad review on their product.

 

I called Costco, and they are willing to give me a full refund, so I'm very relieved about that.

Now I have to find a replacement tire ASAP.

TurnerBurn, I'll look into those Toyos. My BIGGEST concern/want/need is traction. Don't need it for snow or off road..just street...I need a tight grip on that asphalt!

 

Ramirezh
a "D" load range [65 psi] would work if your not going to haul heavy. Truck tires carry a little harder rubber compound for better wear as they haul some heavy loads compared to a softer rubber car tire. Don't know what pressures your using but I use 55 front and 38 rear when empty. When I pull the 11200 lb 5er with 2200 lb of pin weight I use 75 rear and 65 front. These numbers work best for my truck usage.

JIM

 

Rammierezh what size tire you trying to run If staying stock go with the Bridgestone Revo Not overly aggressive bot looks nice rides good and quiet.

 

I strongly recommed the Toyo Open Country A/T. GREAT traction on pavement.

I will ALWAYS stick with E rated tires. I had 285 Goodyear wrangler MTR's that were D's and the sidewall wasn't stiff enough. You could feel it move side to side on the pavement...it was scary.

 

If you are staying stock, then get E-Rated. 265s that are D-rated mostly come with a low weight rating which is fine for a 1/2 ton but not these trucks.. For instance, my 285s are D-rated with a load rating od 3195 lbs which is about the same as stock. A 265 BFG AT w/ a D-rating has a much lower weight capacity somewhere around 2200 or 2500lbs. I wouldn't consider those....

 

That's because Michelin uses a harder rubber compound so they last longer, hence the reason Goodyear's make so much noise early on and wear out so soon (soft rubber). Just launch in 4wd if you don't want to spin.

D rating tires are fine for our trucks. Plus they ride better.

 

That's the other problem...I don't have 4wd

thanks for the replies guys! Please...keep 'em coming! I want to do plenty of research before making another purchase!

 

Ah, well I guess you do need a softer compound tire to drag race. In that case I would think a D rated tire would have a little more flexible sidewall allowing better contact with the pavement.