Well, I really didnt like the guy and he lived on the other side of town so I knew we wouldnt be passing each other much and for $25 a pop...he's on his own!!

Wish I had those tires right now...

 

I have noticed many aftermarket tires on 3/4 and 1 ton trucks in larger sizes such as 285 and up, that have a higher weight rating than than the OEM tires, but are a 'D' rated tire. In my mind, I can't see that removing a 3100 lb 'E' tire and replacing it with a 3400 lb 'D' tire is compromising safety.

 

And Costco won't mount a larger than stock tire on your vehicle. Does that make larger tires unsafe?

Big O tires won't do a brake job without flushing your brake fluid either, even on a 2008 model vehicle. Does that mean it's unsafe to have year old brake fluid stopping your car?

 

I don't blame you for getting rid of those Firestones at that time! It was a scary deal, especially when you are worried about your little one.

I just wanted to point out that some Schwab's will apparently put whatever you ask for on your rig! I have some 305/45R22 Toyo Proxes STII's on the Duramax that my wife drives. They are rated for 2910 lbs. (XL) a piece which is easily a capable load rating for that truck (at least just to run around on anyway). If I wanted to really haul something with it though I would take them off and throw on the 315/70R17 BFG AT's that are the winter tires for that rig.........and they are only a D rated tire! I will say that if I were to tow heavy all the time or even frequently I would have an E rated tire on that truck.

I stick with E's on my Dodge, and try to get as high of a load rating as I can. Just for a little extra insurance.

While we squabble ever D vs. E, I have another question. How many guys who worry so much about the load rating ever ponder the speed ratings of these tires? I'm no innocent in that regard, I have been known to blast up to 100 or so on occasion.

Anyone else drive too fast

 

Ditto (except my toyhauler is 10K).

"D" is all they had when I bought them. Time for new ones though, probably Hankook "E"s...if I can find them. Everybody seems to be out of stock all the sudden.

 

I haul a triple axle dump and gross about 18 to 28k for 145k miles now and all on 6 sets of bfg d rated tires. Half was 285 and other was 315. Went back to 285 because of price, fuel milage, and i think 315's pulling that kind of weight is just harder on the truck. Never a prob......Not to mention going in the dump 3 to 10 times a week. I have had 2 sets of the new bfg km2's in a row and no prob with them either. 4 mud and 2 at. 1st gen km's do get better milage for me even know they are louder than km2's.

 

My Dura Grapplers are class D. They were the only size that would fit at the time. Been good to 50k. Got tread left for another 15k, but I think its time for a new look. Dune Grapplers or trail grapplers. Cant complain about the Duras though.

 

Horses for courses. Run what you want, personally I dont care. The OP asked for opinions and I gave mine.

 

92000 miles on my truck now, 90000 with D range BFG 315 AT/KO's. I got about 55000 miles out of the first set, the second set looks to be holding up just as well. Normally I don't tow heavy, 5000-6000lbs on most dune trips, but I have pulled as much as 9K with no problems. Never any problems with either set of these tires, no hint of DW, no balancing issues, nothing. I keep them at 50 psi on the road, and check my tire pressures regularly. They're really good in soft sand, especially aired down (usually about 15psi front, 12 rear).
if I were regularly towing 8K plus, I'd look at something in an E range, but as things stand now, I have no complaints about the BFG's, and in all likelihood my third set of tires will be BFG's as well.

 

No problems here with my D's ran em for the last 40k or so. Would buy again worn and handeled well on my truck quite a bit of off road and rough back country. Held up real well to some abuse. Dont really see any differences from my E's.

 

I hated the stock E-rated BFG Rugged Terrains. No offroad traction, picked up pea gravel, etc. I found a deal on a set of used Cooper ATR's in LT315/70R17. D-rated but the same load rating as the stock E's. They worked fine for the 35000 miles I put on them (remember, they were used to start with). This summer I wanted new tires to pull my Haulmark into Colorado. The Coop's were getting thin and I wanted to go down to 285's for better pulling (bring up the R's little). I really wanted E's for a bit of peace of mind, but I ended up with Firestone M/T's in 285. Again, they're D-rated but the same weight rating as stock. They did fine in Colorado and across the plains in August, and were MUCH less expensive than any E-rated 285. In fact, with my father-in-law's retiree discount they were half the price.

An E rating just gets you 80 PSI capability. My D's are rated at a 65 PSI max. Sure, an E would probably flex less at 80 than my tires do at 65, but I've had no problems and I have no regrets.

 

I have been running H2 take offs (wheels and tires) for 10000 miles with no problems. I make several trips to the dunes each summer and the softer side walls work wonders, the flex I get at 15 psi lets me tow all my toys through even the softest sand.

I had Les Schwab pull the tires (so I could paint them) remount and balance them with no questions asked. In fact one of the employees said he was thinking about doing the same thing to his truck.

The load rating for the bfg a/t is 3195lb @ 50psi, and I think the oem tires are 3195lb @ 80psi.

 

As did I!

 

I've been running the BFG AT's for 90k. First set were 285's, second 315's. Got the DW on the 315's. Any way , I tow a 12k tt toy hauler and have had no problems. Almost time for a new set and am looking into the Hankooks. Discount Tire had them for 175.00 ea for a short time. Now they're 200.00.

 

Thanks for all of the replies fellas! I've decided that if I can find a D with the same weight rating as the E for less then thats probably what I'll do....To me weight rating is weight rating; if they're rated for 3200 pounds then whats the BIG deal if it's a D or an E tire.
I don't feel like I'm giving up safety or piece of mind by running a D thats rated for the same weight as an E, and for the record MY familys safety is not the only safety I worry about...Believe it or not the safety of each and every vehicle I meet is important to me;after all every car has someones family in it! So for the guys that act like I'm commiting some huge safety foul you're very wrong....A few of the comments saying "oh well I didn't like the guy that much anyway thats why I sold him my old tires" really disturbs me!
On a slightly different note, sandoholic made a GREAT point about the speed rating of a tire; it's very seldom cosidered...Well that got me to thinking; many of the guys that SWEAR by an E rated tire for safety sake think nothing of GROSSLY overloading their factory reciever hitch, so what gives? Overloaded is overloaded right?