Tires for Towing (yes, another tire thread)

[NorZeman]

Background first: 2019 1500 Classic Crew Cab, 4x4, 6'4" bed, 5.7L Hemi, 3.21 gears, Hellwig Sway bar, Airlift 1000s
Trailer: 28' box (35 tip to tail), 72-7300lb loaded, Equilizer WDH dialed in for my current setup

The truck/trailer combo pulls fine, sway is minimal for a 1/2 ton pulling that large of a wind sail.

Problem: Still have the stock 275/60R20 SR-Ass on it. They handle like crap when unloaded when there is even the hint of rain or high humidity in the air, let alone the snow here in MN. I don't fully trust them with the truck/camper loaded up ready for a long weekend to grip/hold up/keep the truck pointed in the right direction. I've had enough of them after 14-ish months and (almost) 14k miles.

I've always run P-rated tires on my trucks, even when towing and have not had issue, but I hadn't tried this large of a trailer until last season. I'm very conflicted on which direction to go on tires, whether to stick with my P-rated tires or step up to a D/E rated just for the piece of mind. Deep down, I know the load rated 115 tires that I'm looking at would be more than enough weight capacity, but the extra sidewall on the D/E-rated wouldn't be a bad thing either.

I'm struggling to justify to myself and the Mrs. about spending $2-300+ more for a set of LT tires that will (theoretically) get worse gas mileage and be a rougher ride for something that I pull heavy with usually 16-20 (8-10 camping trips) times a year and is my daily driver. I'm fairly confident anything I get will be a (much needed) improvement over the SR-Ass on there currently.

Question: Help me spend my money. I know in other parts of the forum, members have said they love their Falkens, but have you towed heavy with them in stock size?

Want to stick with stock size tire on the stock 20" rim
Currently looking at
Cooper AT3 4S (P-rated) @$826
Cooper AT3 XLT (LT, E-rated) @$1063
BFG KO2 (LT, D-rated) @$1150
Falken Wildpeak (P-rated) @$906
Firestone Destination XT (LT, E-rated) @$1296

 

[Ohio5pt7]

Just a FYI you won't necessarily get worse milage. If you are sticking to a stock size the weight will be the only thing that changes. If you are worried a out mileage get the lightest one that will meet or exceed your needs. I can't comment to which ones because my set up went from stock 72lbs to about 120lbs. However if let's say I went with a amp Mt in the size I did it would have been about 140lbs .

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[Ohio5pt7]

Looks like toyo AT2s are pretty lite for what they are. They are 43lbs

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[NorZeman]

@Ohio5pt7, Yes the weight difference was what I was referencing as far as mileage difference between a P and a LT tire. For example the Cooper 4s is listed at 45lbs while the XLT is listed at 57lbs.

I don't think it's outside of the realm of reason to believe this 12lb increase would make a difference in MPG due to the truck having to work harder to get it to spin up. I didn't get my truck for MPG, but I'm not going to complain if it gets good mileage either..
Also another thing to consider would be that the rotational force would be increased due to the added weight, adding stress to the braking system as well to get the hog stopped..

I might be overthinking this new tire thing

 

[2003F350]

I have never put P tires on a light truck. I did buy one with P tires on it, and almost immediately swapped them out for LT tires.

My wife did have a Durango once, years ago, with P tires on it. When it was time for new tires, I went with an LT rated tire. The mileage difference was, honestly, negligible. I think she may have lost .1-.2 mpg. Maybe.

I'd make the switch and never look back. P-rated tires do not belong on a light truck.

 

[rule18]

Looks like toyo AT2s are pretty lite for what they are. They are 43lbs

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I run 285/70R17 Toyo Open Country A/T II E, they weigh in at 51lbs. Light for an AT E for sure.

 

[pacofortacos]

I have run both.
LT E load Michelin Defenders
P X load General Grabber HT60
Actual load capacity between the 2 was only 1-200 pounds But read below
Michelin Defenders - 285/70/17 on stock 17X7 wheels
General HT60 - 275/60/20 on stock 20X9 Longhorn wheels.

The Generals far out handle the Michelins in my usage BUT the Michelins were on 17" wheels the Generals are on 20 X 9 Longhorn wheels.


The E load Defenders do not have a stiff sidewall - they do ride nice, quiet, long life and deep deep tread. But 285/70/17 tires on a stock 17 X7 wheel makes very poor handling in bends at speed.

The Generals 275/60/20 are quiet, wear decently and handle well - they are not great in mud though.

Both of the above are NOT off road tires by any stretch.

 

[Elevated 2013]

Take a look at the ProComp Sport AT2 tires. They’re cheaper than most of those tires, E rated, LT, and they work great year round in Chicago as well as towing. They also ride smooth and are pretty quiet. I had the BF Goodrich AT KO2s for a while and they ride and handle and are better in snow than them and they’re cheaper. They sell them at 4 Wheel Parts.

 

[chri5k]

Don't neglect the tires on your trailer. TBH, they are more liable to give you trouble on the road that the tires on your truck. Most trailer manufacturers put the cheapest tires they can find that meet the minimum specs on trailers. Not sure what rims are on your trailer but if it were me I would get tires with the most number of ply's you can find, preferably all steel, from a quality tire manufacturer.

I took the almost new 10 ply polyester Goodyears off my new horse trailer and replaced them with Carlisle 16 ply all steel tires. Yes they are heavier and yes they are stiffer but I want the peace of mind that I have best tire I can afford when going through downtown Atlanta on I-75 at 2:00AM pulling a trailer load of horses. Trailer tires rarely blow out in front a tire store in a nice quiet suburban neighborhood at 1:00 PM. A trailer tire mishap will ruin your trip just a sure as a tow vehicle tire mishap. Also, don't wait until the tread is worn to the wear indicator bars unless you tow often. Sun and weather usually kill trailer tires long before the tread wears out.

 

[corneileous]

First off, I don’t believe you need to believe in this hype about having to have an eight ply or 10 ply tire on a halfton just to tow anything. I mean sure, if you towed a big old heavy camper all the time – which in my opinion would make me think that you would need a three-quarter ton instead of a half-ton, you don’t need anything heavier than what came on your truck.

Lemmie tell ya; when I left Colorado to move to Oklahoma, I pulled the largest enclosed trailer that U-Haul had that was fully loaded.... it was pretty heavy. I had the back loaded down to, and I did that 750 mile trip with my old 1500 and the original, four-year-old, half-worn Goodyear SRA’s that came on the truck from the factory and I didn’t have one single problem. Never even bothered to air the back tires up to the maximum pressure just to get a little bit more stability and less rolling resistance out of them and I didn’t even pull this trailer at 55 miles an hour. Me and this trailer for a lot of that trip down here, it was 70, 75 mph so again, don’t feed into all this hype that you have to have a 10 ply tire to pull a trailer behind your 1500.


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[NorZeman]

First off, I don’t believe you need to believe in this hype about having to have an eight ply or 10 ply tire on a halfton just to tow anything. I mean sure, if you towed a big old heavy camper all the time – which in my opinion would make me think that you would need a three-quarter ton instead of a half-ton, you don’t need anything heavier than what came on your truck.

Lemmie tell ya; when I left Colorado to move to Oklahoma, I pulled the largest enclosed trailer that U-Haul had that was fully loaded.... it was pretty heavy. I had the back loaded down to, and I did that 750 mile trip with my old 1500 and the original, four-year-old, half-worn Goodyear SRA’s that came on the truck from the factory and I didn’t have one single problem. Never even bothered to air the back tires up to the maximum pressure just to get a little bit more stability and less rolling resistance out of them and I didn’t even pull this trailer at 55 miles an hour. Me and this trailer for a lot of that trip down here, it was 70, 75 mph so again, don’t feed into all this hype that you have to have a 10 ply tire to pull a trailer behind your 1500.


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I agree with ya, they aren't a requirement for our 1/2 tons. As I said in my original post, I've always had P metrics on my trucks. Have lived with the stock SR-As pulling this camper for a season and a half now, and they do fine. I just hate the SR-As and looking to spend my money as wisely as possible

Side note: How the heck did you get 4 years out of a set of SR-As? mine are down to around 6.5/32 (Started at 11/32) after 14 months and 14k.

 

[corneileous]

I have never put P tires on a light truck. I did buy one with P tires on it, and almost immediately swapped them out for LT tires.

My wife did have a Durango once, years ago, with P tires on it. When it was time for new tires, I went with an LT rated tire. The mileage difference was, honestly, negligible. I think she may have lost .1-.2 mpg. Maybe.

I'd make the switch and never look back. P-rated tires do not belong on a light truck.

I heavily disagree. I mean, on your truck, you do whatever you want but there’s nothing in the rule books that says P rated tires don’t deserve to be on a half-ton. The only time anybody would ever have to have a tire that heavy is if you’re doing off-roading in places where that P rated tire would get ate up and punctured by rocks or if you drive anywhere where there’s potential for a lot of flats.

Since I don’t off-road my truck at all, I will never run anything more than a P rated tire on my half-ton, never ever again. Although I never did buy my truck for gas mileage, I still do like my gas mileage and my ride comfort so that’s all it is for me.

I also have no doubt at all that my P rated Michelin defenders can pull safely and securely everything within the limits of my truck.


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[duckman631]

Background first: 2019 1500 Classic Crew Cab, 4x4, 6'4" bed, 5.7L Hemi, 3.21 gears, Hellwig Sway bar, Airlift 1000s
Trailer: 28' box (35 tip to tail), 72-7300lb loaded, Equilizer WDH dialed in for my current setup

The truck/trailer combo pulls fine, sway is minimal for a 1/2 ton pulling that large of a wind sail.

Problem: Still have the stock 275/60R20 SR-Ass on it. They handle like crap when unloaded when there is even the hint of rain or high humidity in the air, let alone the snow here in MN. I don't fully trust them with the truck/camper loaded up ready for a long weekend to grip/hold up/keep the truck pointed in the right direction. I've had enough of them after 14-ish months and (almost) 14k miles.

I've always run P-rated tires on my trucks, even when towing and have not had issue, but I hadn't tried this large of a trailer until last season. I'm very conflicted on which direction to go on tires, whether to stick with my P-rated tires or step up to a D/E rated just for the piece of mind. Deep down, I know the load rated 115 tires that I'm looking at would be more than enough weight capacity, but the extra sidewall on the D/E-rated wouldn't be a bad thing either.

I'm struggling to justify to myself and the Mrs. about spending $2-300+ more for a set of LT tires that will (theoretically) get worse gas mileage and be a rougher ride for something that I pull heavy with usually 16-20 (8-10 camping trips) times a year and is my daily driver. I'm fairly confident anything I get will be a (much needed) improvement over the SR-Ass on there currently.

Question: Help me spend my money. I know in other parts of the forum, members have said they love their Falkens, but have you towed heavy with them in stock size?

Want to stick with stock size tire on the stock 20" rim
Currently looking at
Cooper AT3 4S (P-rated) @$826
Cooper AT3 XLT (LT, E-rated) @$1063
BFG KO2 (LT, D-rated) @$1150
Falken Wildpeak (P-rated) @$906
Firestone Destination XT (LT, E-rated) @$1296

I pull a 30ft 6800lb loaded tt with stock size falken wildpeak at3 and no issues. I love the tire and just ordered another set shipping out today. The current have about 50k on them and still a little meat left but definitely time to replace without pressing my luck

 

[corneileous]

I agree with ya, they aren't a requirement for our 1/2 tons. As I said in my original post, I've always had P metrics on my trucks. Have lived with the stock SR-As pulling this camper for a season and a half now, and they do fine. I just hate the SR-As and looking to spend my money as wisely as possible

Side note: How the heck did you get 4 years out of a set of SR-As? mine are down to around 6.5/32 (Started at 11/32) after 14 months and 14k.

I guess it’s possible that one of the two previous owners of that old ram I had could have replaced the tires early but since it was only less than two months after I bought it when I made that 750 mile trip to my new home but at four years old when I bought it, the truck only had 29,000 miles on it and judging from the fact that the tires were just a little bit over halfway worn out that I just had a really good feeling that the tires that was on it was more than likely the factory original tires. And not only that, I would think that if the tires were replaced that they would’ve gone with something else instead of what came on there originally.


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[NorZeman]

I guess it’s possible that one of the two previous owners of that old ram I had could have replaced the tires early but since it was only less than two months after I bought it when I made that 750 mile trip to my new home but at four years old when I bought it, the truck only had 29,000 miles on it and judging from the fact that the tires were just a little bit over halfway worn out that I just had a really good feeling that the tires that was on it was more than likely the factory original tires. And not only that, I would think that if the tires were replaced that they would’ve gone with something else instead of what came on there originally.


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You probably are right, they likely were original.. I haven't exactly treated these factory tires the nicest, and their wear shows it.. so I'd have a viable excuse to convince the Mrs. that I needed new tires. Don't tell her that though.

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[corneileous]

@Ohio5pt7, Yes the weight difference was what I was referencing as far as mileage difference between a P and a LT tire. For example the Cooper 4s is listed at 45lbs while the XLT is listed at 57lbs.

I don't think it's outside of the realm of reason to believe this 12lb increase would make a difference in MPG due to the truck having to work harder to get it to spin up. I didn't get my truck for MPG, but I'm not going to complain if it gets good mileage either..
Also another thing to consider would be that the rotational force would be increased due to the added weight, adding stress to the braking system as well to get the hog stopped..

I might be overthinking this new tire thing

I don’t know, I guess it could’ve mostly or partly been because of the more aggressive tread on those BFG all-terrain’s I once had but they sure hurt the fuel mileage on my truck.

I can’t vouch for a ten ply version of my p rated Michelin defenders I’ve got on my truck because I’ve never ran anything else that heavy.


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[corneileous]

You probably are right, they likely were original.. I haven't exactly treated these factory tires the nicest, and their wear shows it.. so I'd have a viable excuse to convince the Mrs. that I needed new tires. Don't tell her that though.

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They probably aren’t too bad brand new, which is a matter fact, I know they weren’t because when I bought my brand new truck I only ran on the factory original goodyears for around 1500 miles when I decided to pull them off and make the switch to those eight ply BFG‘s that I talked about. I knew where those factory tires were headed to because on my old truck, they were OK on dry roads but once you got them in any kind of ice or snow or even a real heavy wet road from a downpour, they weren’t worth a **** so I got rid of them and made some of my money back on them to go towards my new tires.

Then I ended up having to ditch my new BFGs almost 10 months later because they ate my fuel mileage and once I was told to inflate the tires up to at least 50 pounds, they still ate my mileage but then they made my smooth-ridin’ air ride truck ride like a damn tank.


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[Neil E]

If you tow a little bit, p are fine. But if you tow a lot, I would upgrade to LT.

 

[69GWC]

I am on the side of P rated tires should not be on a full size truck, hated the ones that were on my truck and they handled the weight poorly IMO.
D or E rated are the wsy to go for a truck thatd going to do work.

 

[NorZeman]

If you tow a little bit, p are fine. But if you tow a lot, I would upgrade to LT.

Haha, could you define "a little" and "a lot"? [emoji3] I'm not disagreeing with you on the statement, just very subjective limits.

I wouldn't really consider pulling heavy 20-ish times a year often, but about 20% of my miles have been pulling so guess maybe I do?..

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