Hey all have a question regarding Load Range D and Load Range E tires. I bought the X with Nitto Terra Grapplers 285/75/16's Load Range D. I tow a 28' WW Toy Hauler with a tongue weight of 1050lbs. I found that it quickly wore out the D's in the rear. So with near-bald tires in the rear, I needed to remedy the situation. Not to sound cliche or typical of what is going around - but in today's tight financial crunch, I could only afford to change the rear tires out. So I matched the tire size and brand - just opted for Load Range E's instead (to better handle the tongue weight) - fully intending on doing E's upfront in the near future. The guys at Discount Tire assured me that it would be fine. Well, in a nutshell, the ride home was flat out scary! All the old wandering characteristics came back with a vengeance! Rear was all over the place. So when I got home, I checked air pressure. Was in the 70's. So I lowered them. So far the best combo I can find is 65 in the rear, 55 up front. Has anyone else done something like this and expereienced a similar result? I also thought the problem could be attributed to the springs. I do have the RAS on it and have a set of V&B's (maybe X code) in my garage - just no tme to install yet. Do I need to replace the blocks when doing the rear spring upgrade?

 

I have Ds and Es on my Ex. I had all Es for the winter but it always tracks well no matter what pressures etc.

 

The E's have a stiffer sidewall and a higher max pressure rating. The air pressure may land in a different place, but once you dail that in I would think ride wouldn't be much different???

High/low air pressure makes either of my PSD's kinda squirrelly. I'm running 70psi all the way around the Ex right now, but all stock (incl. shocks) with 200k miles I can't say it drives like I'd like it to. It doesn't currently tow anything though.

1050lbs of tongue weight is ALOT for an Excursion! We've been considering trading the 5ver for a toy hauler TT, but thinking strongly about using a 'trailer toad' to eliminate the tongue weight issue. Anybody here got one of these on an Excursion? http://www.hensleymfg.com/

 

New tires can be at bit greasy at first and cause some squirm at speed. It should pass wit time.

 

Well I dont know what else could of made it that bad - but it did. It wasnt all over the place before the change. BTW, it towed fine (with the old D's) and the Equalizer Hitch - http://www.equalizerhitch.com/support/instructions.php - and was a lot less expensive than the Hensley.

 

VR6

In support of what Duck says, on another forum I read testimonials of a number of people saying that their new tires were squirrely for awhile, then settled down. I had never heard of this before. Personally I have Mich 285/75/16's, D rated. I recently had a flat while towing my 9K lb. TT and put on my spare which was a Stampede of the same size and rating. It was new. I have a Hensley hitch and thought I had all my sway problems solved, but with the spare on I found myself being pushed around by semi's again. I don't know if it was because the tire was different or the newness may have been a factor. I believe max pressure for most Load range D tires is 65PSI.

Ben

 

Wow, first I've heard of the "new tires are scary" and will improve !!! Wish I had heard this before my last trip on new tires

All I know is I went back to Discount after a long scary, white knuckle trip with the "Sure they will work 285 D's"
and made them swap them out... and the New 'new' tires in the proper size and load range did not do the same scary things....

all I know is I am staying with the 265 E's from now on.... 82K out of the original BFG's should make this second set about do it