Tire Ratings

[Jeepwalker]

You could get a Tradesman in all the normal colors. But seems like a lot of the Regular Cabs are/were corporate/fleet trucks and white is a common fleet color. And also ...I could be wrong on this, but I thought I remembered that years ago, any color other than white and black were a $300 charge. But, I 'Might' be confusing that with the Ford online configurator ...I've configured a lot of trucks in the last several yrs ..just going off memory here. But I think now there isn't a color charge other than special colors. Pretty sure there used to be though.

 

[mtofell]

What does that have to do with what color a given truck is built? And though mine isn't a tradesman edition, but an slt. Even if it was a tradesman edition, was that the only color they came?

Large companies buy the bulk of the work trucks and, for whatever reason, want them to be white.

As for the OP - I'm a bit lost with some of the responses and dialogue but the tires on a truck should always meet or exceed the door jamb ratings. So, "downgrading" tires to a lower range is an incorrect practice. Sure, it's your truck and you can do what you want but when business refuse to do something to protect us from our own ignorance we should probably listen.

 

[EdGs]

I ran no-name 113's on my truck for several yrs (installed by former owner). Regular cab long box. I hauled ...did regular light-duty truck work. It ran great with them for several years. I replaced with Cooper A/T's, load range 115T. I really can't feel a difference. The Coopers run out great. Didn't take much weight to balance out which says they were made pretty well.

If yer still shopping 'deals', These Coopers @ Walmart for $119 is what I bought last yr for a Land Rover. Same price ...or maybe they were $114. Walmart mounts them for free, $3/ea disposal, free shipping. Balance is extra but reasonable. I paid xtra for Road Force Balancing though. I ended up buying three sets of Cooper AT's last year (one a 10-ply rated set). They're running great. Don't regret it.

If you like Coopers, add up all the tire/mount&balance cost from Walmart. I don't think there's a better deal on tires when they have them on a serious sale. They have different Cooper models, ratings, etc. But it depends on the tire/truck/needs, etc.


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I have Cooper Discoverer AT's from WalMart on my 2015 Ram SLT QC 5.7L 2WD. LT265/70R17 118/121S Load range E.

Absolutely love them. $700 for the set, mounted, lifetime balance and road hazard. Never had to rebalance them, rotated myself at each oil change. Have 76k miles on them as I write this.

Since CrapYear bought Cooper, I believe these tires are no more. Hope I am wrong, because I would love another set.

 

[GTyankee]

I know that the State of California & the City of San Diego used to buy Orange pickups & all larger trucks that they use.
They both buy from Fleet Services.

More recently, they buy White cars & trucks
Then they have their own equipment shop use either tape or wrap to make it stand out

Caltrans newer street sweeper, being followed & protected by older trucks with crash cushion mounted on the rear


newer 10 yard dump truck


city of San Diego Public Works


It must be cheaper to order white vehicles

 

[John Jensen]

Did not know they had there own brand of tires

Sorry, I misspoke.
Talked to my brother and my local Costco Tire guy. The tire is not a Costco brand, It is a Costco exclusive, a Michelin X LT A/S. My Costco guy said it is a copy of the Defender LTX M/S
Costco Michelin X LT A/S compared to Defender LTX M/S

 

[gofishn]

Sorry, I misspoke.
Talked to my brother and my local Costco Tire guy. The tire is not a Costco brand, It is a Costco exclusive, a Michelin X LT A/S. My Costco guy said it is a copy of the Defender LTX M/S
Costco Michelin X LT A/S compared to Defender LTX M/S

For price difference, rather have LTX Defender M/S.
Really did not liek tread patern on the X version

 

[Jeepwalker]

I suspect the tire mfgrs give their 'large' retailers like Costco & Walmart a unique tire model number, like the Cooper A/T's at Walmart that they can sell the heck out of at a lower price. It makes it harder to cross-shop the exact same product with local dealers which would expose how much more expensive local dealers are. That would be a real good way to anger the local tire shops and get them to promote other brand tires.

 

[lpennock]

It must be cheaper to order white vehicles

It is. If you go to ram site and build a truck you will find that White is a $0 option while most other colors add $ to the price. I think there is also a red that is $0 and there may be a couple others.

 

[lpennock]

As for the OP - I'm a bit lost with some of the responses and dialogue but the tires on a truck should always meet or exceed the door jamb ratings. So, "downgrading" tires to a lower range is an incorrect practice. Sure, it's your truck and you can do what you want but when business refuse to do something to protect us from our own ignorance we should probably listen.

Due to liability issues the big chains will not install a tire that has less load rating than the OEM tire. Some will also require the size to be at least as large as the OEM tire but the ones I have had dealing with, were only concerned with the load rating.

The same liability issues has also stopped them from working on vehicles that use wheel spacers rather than wheels with the correct offset even if the spacers are fully billet Aluminum or Steel.

 

[62Blazer]

Certain corporate tire operations, mainly big box stores, will not change tire specs for liability reasons. When it matters enough I have worked around that by taking loose wheels in and telling them it’s a trailer or a farm vehicle.

Tire specialist stores generally don’t care what you put on.

Agree. The big corporations are just afraid of liability. The other part is, and I apologize for anybody that works at these places for saying this, is that they often hire people with very little experience, knowledge, or common sense in this big chain store shops. The policies are strict to prevent them from doing something stupid, and you can't have any exceptions to the policies or they will get broken. Basically you have to tell them yes or no.......you can't have a policy that says "well, sometimes this is okay and that is okay" because it would actually require some knowledge and common sensor to implement.

 

[2Tallguy]

I have the Falken WildPeak A/T3W - 265/70R16 115T looking to replace them and noticed there is a 112T version of this tire for less money. I don't haul much more than 800lbs would the 112T be adequate for this weight? Will I be able to notice any difference performance wise between the two?​

Those are passenger tires just like the ones most 1/2 ton trucks have standard. It's a light truck. I don't know how the manufacturers get away with not putting an LT on there?

 

[7thday]

Thanks for the replies. The Falkens were installed by the Dodge dealer in place of the original Goodyears. Decided to try something different so went with Pirelli Scorpians AT from Sams Club hope they turn out to be as good as the Flakens. Tire prices here don't vary much at all between the tire shops but the mount and balance fees are quite different.

 

[Jeepwalker]

I had Pirelli Scorpion AT's (load range D) which I removed from my H3 before going to the Hankook AT's. I really liked the Pirelli's. They lasted a long time. I drove them pretty much till they were about bald!! LOL. IDK if yours are the same as what I had. ..mine were a 33" tire. What I liked is, they had a deep rim-protecting bead which gives them a square-shoulder look, and also does definitely protect the wheels, esp off-roading in rocks (which you probably won't do).. They were very smooth running (didn't take many weights), and relatively low noise. They drove out great ..the handling was very good.

The downfall is they are better on the pavement than in deep snow ..which for me, where I live and the rural winter roads, I needed. You're not going to churn through meaningful depths of snow with them. But they are fine for most wintery roads that are decently maintained even with some mild slippery spots. The second thing I didn't care for is when they get to about 1/2 tread or a little under that, they appear kind of 'bald'. A lot of the treads and none of the sipes, they don't go down to the carcass. So when the tire gets partially worn, you lose treadblocks, and the traction suffers. You'll see. But on dry or even occasional wet roads they were great ..even supreme. If I lived somewhere else in the country, I would have bought another set for sure.

But overall they were a great tire, well made and wore like iron! As long as you don't live in N. MN ....good choice!