How much air pressure are you running in those tires? Some people think that because E tires are rated for 80 psi they need to run that much air in them. I have E rated tires on my truck right now and I run about 40 to 45 psi and they are wearing very uniformly. There is no reason you could not run them as low as 35 psi if you wish.

I had a good conversation with a rep from Toyo a few years ago and he told me that the difference in C, D and E rated LT tires is all in the strength of the bead area, otherwise the tire structure is the same for the same tire series. By making the bead stronger the tire can handle more air pressure and more pressure equals greater load carrying capacity. Not really rocket science.

 

Just realized that there should be some Toyo tires available in that size as well. The M55 Toyos are great tires as long as you can put up with a little noise and some loss of fuel economy. These new F150's are so quiet that I find one can put up with what would normally be too noisy tires.

OK Tires is the best place to start for Toyos. I am sure there are a number of them in Edmonchuk.

 

Thanks for the heads up Big Dave

What you have said is what I have heard from shop techs, I am just a little precarious of running an E load tire at 40-45 psi, would this be an under inflated tire? If that were the case inner side wall heating and increased wear would happen. I thought that C, D, and E load tires have increased mass on the side walls? I know the Michelin LTX AT2 in a pmetric is almost 10 lbs lighter than the same tire with an E load rating. So the extra 10 lbs of rubber is in the bead? Also does anyone know what the safe PSI rating on an OEM 18 inch rim is?

 

My understanding is that the overall construction of the p-metric tires is different from the LT tires. For example, the tread depth is often less. This could easily account for the weight difference. I did not ask the Toyo rep about p-metrics because I really had no interest in them. I use my trucks as trucks at least some of the time and for me an LT rated tire makes more sense.

Actually what the Toyo rep also told me is that after I chose a tire, his or another brand, I could contact him with a vehicle weight and he would give me a recommended air pressure. In other words it is the weight of the vehicle that determines correct tire operating pressure, not the construction of the tire. The construction of the tire only determines the MAXIMUM allowable operating pressure (ie. 35 psi for p-metric, 50 psi for Load Range C, 65 psi for LRD and 80 psi for LRE).

The thing to remember is that those so called "ply ratings" are a throwback to the bias ply days when tires actually had 6 or 8 or 10 separate plies. Todays radials typically have 2 or 3 ply sidewalls with an additional 2 or 3 plies in the tread area.

I once had a cheap set of Load Range E tires with 2 ply side walls and 5 plies in the tread area on an old F250. Travelling down a gravel road one day at about 70 km/h I had a flat on a rear wheel. When I took it to get fixed the the guy put 4 plugs in a row into the leak and it was still leaking. When he pulled the tire off the rim there was a rock about the size of my thumb inside the tire that had punched a hole straight through the center of the tread. The rock was not round, but neither did it have any particularly sharp edges. So much for those "tough 10 ply tires" the salesmen will try to talk you into.

 

Big Dave,

Just to confirm, you run E load tires at 40 -45 psi on an F-150? How many miles do you have on them. I went for a ride at 43-44 last night and it rides pretty much like stock, if I take it down to 37-38 I imagine they'd ride even better than the stock rugged trail TAs, which ran pretty good but I don't trust them on the ice and snow although i haven't used them on either yet as I bought my truck this past spring. Either way I like the Michelins in the ice and snow. So when towing I think I'd take them up to 50-55 psi. Although I would never exceed the recommended GVWR I doubt I would ever need to take them past 55 psi.

Have you ever heard of super springs? I am putting some on my truck as well. I hate how the *** end sags even with an empty 16' trailer, or even when I have gear in the box that I know is no where near capacity, even 400 lbs will get her starting to sag. I have done some research on the SS and people who use them are more than satisfied with their benefits. I am towing a loaded 7x16 trailer approx 1600 km north of Edmonton in December. It'll be a good test, I'll let you know how she goes with the E loads and Super springs.

 

i just put the 305/65 18 BFG A/T's on my truck. they fit perfect with the 2" leveling kit. i do not rub at all full lock either direction and tehy look like they fit the truck, unlike my original 275's. paid 300 a tire mounted and balanced +tax

 

whats your truck triple8? how long have you had the leveling kit? what brand is it? thanks

 

i have a 2005 SuperCab 6 3/4 box 4X4 Lariat, bought new in October 2005. the leveling kit is a 2" Autospring. i had the kit put on at the dealer ( due to being lazy ) and had it realigned at about 1000 miles. the truck has about 38500 on it now and the stock Goodyears were down to running on stripes, due to a very bad tire design, there was still about 8mm of tread left. i kept the old tires rotated every 6000mile or so ( every second oil change ) and they wore very evenly. personally i would not go any bigger, some guys say you can run 325's but you really need to look at the dimensions. i only have about 12mm of clearance now to the upper ball joint from the inside of the tire.

i can shoot you a pic of how it looks if you like, send me a email.

to me the tires now fit the truck, the others alway looked too smal and i hated the nose down aditude it had stock.

 

A tire does not need max pressure unless you are hauling max load. Tire pressue should be adjusted to the weight of your vehicle. If you are hauling something heavy add more air.

 

Just got 4 new BFG Rugged Trail 275/65 r 18 from my Ford dealer, they matched the lowest price I could find on line ($175/tire). Mounting and balancing was an extra $70. Ford has a promo right now - you get a $50 gas card if you buy 4 Michelin or BFG tires. Think it ends this month (Nov).

JP

 

I never did end up getting tires. Got the tires shipped to the tire shop and canceled. I was going with the LT,AT2, 285/65/18. I noticed the tread was about 1/4 less then my factory wranglers new spare. Everyone that saw my tires laughed and said I have another year out of them. I will worry about tires next year. I think I will go with the P,AT2 or keep the factory wranglers. I know nothing about tires, well very little. I did look at the wranglers last number and they are a 113. The LT,AT2 are 124 Thats a big difference. The P,AT2 are 114 as mentioned. Like I said I'll worry about it next year and bring this thread back up. Sorry your not happy with them, tires for these rims are a small tough choice.