Hey guys, a little less than a month ago I got a 4 inch lift, 35x12.5x20 Mickey Thompson ATZ's, and Moto Metal 20x12's. I was underneath the truck earlier today and glanced at the backside of one of my tires and noticed a 4-5" cut in the sidewall. I checked the backside of every tire and each of them had similar cuts. If the cuts would've been continuous they would have made a perfect circle around the sidewall. Only two of the tires so far have cuts on the outside but all of them have cuts on the inside.

I immediately took the truck to my local Discount Tire to have someone with more experience look at it. They told me that my tires are a Load Range E2 which has a max of 65 psi. My truck calls for 55 PSI front and 80 PSI rear. They said my current E2 tires can't handle the weight of the truck and that I need tires with a Load Range E1 that can be aired up to 80 PSI.

All my tires were inflated to 65 PSI and they told me to drop it down to 55 front and 60 rear to help relieve some of that pressure. They said for right now it is only cosmetic damage and I shouldn't worry about it but that I should look into getting Load Range E1 tires in the very near future.

Can anyone confirm that what the guy at Discount said is true? Or was he incorrect? What I'm having trouble understanding is that I see guys with diesel trucks all the time that have the same size tires as me and don't have any issues with their tires not being able to handle the weight of their trucks. If someone can help me make sense of this, please do. I will get pictures of the cuts tomorrow.

Thanks,
Josh

 

as long as your staying in the range of weight marked on your side walls,then your tire choice is not your problem,but I cant get away with those tires due to slide in camper.

 

Did you get the tires from the same place you took it back too? I wonder if you actually got a set of tires that were not properly stored and are a few years old. Some off road shops and tire shops are bad about installing tires that are really old, but have never been installed. I don't know if there is any regulation against it, but it can leave you with what seems as premature dry rot. But it really isn't so premature if the tires have been sitting on a rack in the weather for the last 3 years.

 

Sorry I forgot to mention that I bought them used from an acquaintance of mine. He was the second owner of them and only sold them because he got a bigger lift and therefore needed bigger tires. He said after he took them off they sat in his garage for about 3 months.

 

If I remember correctly, the DOT on them is May of 2012.

 

Tell your tire guy he does not know what he is talking about. Load range E1 tires are usually an 80psi tire and an E2 comes in around 65psi: however, the E2 tire is designed to hold the same weight ratio of the E1 tire because its wider and distributes the weight to carry the load. If you have brand new MT tires and they are splitting in less than a month I would be demanding replacements (cosmetic my ***). I use to run BFG's and they would start showing side wall splitting at around 25k so I went with Pro Comps and I have not had any splitting issues. Splitting can also be caused by not driving the tires and they dry out just sitting around but yours are brand new and should not be splitting IMHO. Now are these splits slight lines in the rubber or cracks you can put your fingernail in? Just FYI, my tires are rated to 50PSI cold and I run them at 48 psi.

EDIT: After I posted I see the others that got in before me. I know some would just drive on them until they got bad but I would be looking at getting them replaced soon

EDITx2 - replacing those tires will run you somewhere between 1,600-2,000 depending upon what you want

 

SARDiverDan - These are cracks that I can put my fingernail in; not just weather cracking. I have been looking at Toyo M/T's and Nitto Trail Grapplers. I was kind of confused because the guy at Discount told me I could go with the Toyos but I looked them up when I got home and they also had a max PSI of 65. I also work at Discount Tire so I can get the Toyos for right under $1600.

So I'm guessing I shouldn't sell these tires after I get new ones as these are no good, correct? Or would they possibly be okay to use on a lighter truck? I'd really like to get some money out of them but unlike a lot of people in our world today, I have morals and could not live with myself if I sold potentially dangerous tires to someone. If you think these are no good to sell please let me know. Thank you for your help.

 

Don't get hung up on the psi rating as each tire is different. While stock tires may be filled to higher PSI, larger AT or MT tires are usually much lower PSI rating but that does not mean they can't be used on the truck. Load range E is load range E regardless of how much air is in them from one manufacturer to another, just fill them to the tire specs, not what is printed on the door panel of the truck. Like I said, I run 48 psi in my 37's and they have a max psi of 50 cold and I carry all kinds of stuff, even a cord and half of wood does not squash them down a bit

You might be able to sell them to somebody that either needs tires badly and can't afford any or someone may buy them as a strictly off-road tire and will use them until they fail. I don't like going down the highway at 70-75 mph with tires that are splitting to the point they need replaced. Having a blowout on 35's is a lot different than stock tires at stock height.

 

My tire lawyer buddy could give you a list of names of dead people who bought used tires.

Unless you know someone who will only use them on a farm or short off road use, use a hole saw through the sidewall when you pull them.

It's not just the guy in the vehicle with the blowout who eats %^&* when there is a blowout. Think about your family driving next to him or meeting him in a curve when it happens.

 

why so much air?
i run 55 lbs front and 30 rear on my 02 diesel.
i run a chalk line across the tire, then drive it easy around the block.
look at the tire and see where the chalk line is wore off and where it is not.
wore off the edges but not the center is not enough air.
wore off the center but not the edges is too much air.
wore completely off is proper air.

 

Here are some pictures. I checked the DOT and it's the 51st week of 2012, so right over a year and a half old.