Difference between "Load Range E" and "Load Range D" tires?

Lethalweapon100 · Mar 8, 2015

Hey all, im looking at new tires for my truck. 1997 Ram 2500 V8. It currently has the stock 245 (29-30"s) tires on it which i intend to replace with 285 (33") tires. But heres the thing, the tires on my truck now read "load range e" on them. The tires im looking at read "load range d". After googling, all i took away was "tire can self destruct" and "something something PSI". Can anyone explain what the difference is, and if its safe to replace E tires with D tires? I don't usually haul much in the back, just a few dirtbikes, dirt, and firewood usually. Not all in one shot though. [emoji3]

14hemiexpress · Mar 9, 2015

A D range tire is 8 ply and Max psi is 65. The load E tire is 10 ply with a max psi of 80. Every tire is different and has different "safe weight ratings" from the few tires I have looked up the E range tire can handle around 600lbs more per tire, D tires are 2600-2800 and load e are 3400-3600 lbs each average. What you'll knowtice in the real world is the 10 ply will have a lot less sidewall flex vs the 8ply tires meaning once you load up with a good amount of fire wood your tires would flex a lot more with the d rated tire giving you the sponge effect and in bad cases cause your truck to sway. I would personally stick with the load E tires it's a safer tire to run and that's the place all the half ton guys ***** about is our 4ply car tires even though they are rated to handle the weight they still flex really bad. On normal day to day unloaded driving a D tire won't come apart hell you could even run a 4 ply tire with no issues but the time you load up 1500-2000lbs of fire wood you will be wishing you had the E tires

regularcab2500 · Mar 9, 2015

Nuff said up here lol...i suggest looking at tirerack.com, they will have all of that info on all sizes per tire and more.

Lethalweapon100 · Mar 9, 2015

14hemiexpress said:
A D range tire is 8 ply and Max psi is 65. The load E tire is 10 ply with a max psi of 80. Every tire is different and has different "safe weight ratings" from the few tires I have looked up the E range tire can handle around 600lbs more per tire, D tires are 2600-2800 and load e are 3400-3600 lbs each average. What you'll knowtice in the real world is the 10 ply will have a lot less sidewall flex vs the 8ply tires meaning once you load up with a good amount of fire wood your tires would flex a lot more with the d rated tire giving you the sponge effect and in bad cases cause your truck to sway. I would personally stick with the load E tires it's a safer tire to run and that's the place all the half ton guys ***** about is our 4ply car tires even though they are rated to handle the weight they still flex really bad. On normal day to day unloaded driving a D tire won't come apart hell you could even run a 4 ply tire with no issues but the time you load up 1500-2000lbs of fire wood you will be wishing you had the E tires

Ah...crap. Thats kind of not what i wanted to hear. Interco super swampers are $166 a tire for 33" D range, but are $350 a pop for 35" and i imagine they're E range. That explains the price jump.

Edit: sure enough, 315/75/16R tires are 3-hunna a pop. E Range 10 ply. Thanks for all your help.

1500ram12 · Mar 9, 2015

Check the manufacturer's site for spec's. I've seen a few d rated tires that had the same load range as a e rated tires. A lot of diesel guys run d rated tires. But if you tow at all i wouldn't suggest it even what the load range is.

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk

dodge dude94 · Mar 9, 2015

I might add that Swampers will wear out fast....

Lethalweapon100 · Mar 10, 2015

dodge dude94 said:
I might add that Swampers will wear out fast....

Good point. That was kind of a random decision on my part. I've decided to go with Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac after reading a ton of reviews and narrowing down from a ton of other tires.

Lethalweapon100 · Mar 10, 2015

I have another question. Whats the difference between tread with and section width? I want to know the width of the very outer part of the tire.

regularcab2500 · Mar 10, 2015

What you are looking for is section width..it is measured from the widest part of the sidewall to the other.

dodge dude94 · Mar 11, 2015

Section width is the contact patch of the tire. Aspect ratio is the percent of the width of the side wall relative to the contact patch.

regularcab2500 · Mar 11, 2015

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=200

dodge dude94 · Mar 11, 2015

^Or there's always that.

Difference between "Load Range E" and "Load Range D" tires?

Lethalweapon100

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