Tires...E versus D versus C

[miketx]

Hi folks... I have a '16 Rebel, and it's almost time to replace the OEM tires (at 50k miles....tread left, but hard as rocks).

Any thoughts on E versus D versus C? I realize the big difference is off road endurance. I love E rated tires, but they are damn heavy, and that weight impacts mpg a little. But E rated also does well with towing (stiff sidewall). I do go off road a few times a year, but most of my miles are city/highway. Just curious if anyone has downgraded from E (stock Rebel tire) to D or C.

I don't need recommendations on tire brands.....I have my own thoughts on that.

 

[HDGoose]

How much towing do you do? I would match my tires to accommodate the heaviest load I move. Or buy another set of rims for different tire situations?

 

[miketx]

I tow a camper (pretty light...3k lbs) 5-6 times a year. I also off road at my destinations (mostly Colorado). But otherwise, it's city driving. Not interested in getting another set of rims...keeping this truck stock (lifetime warranty). I love E rated tires...great for towing (stiff sidewall), but they are damn heavy, and it does impact mileage by 1-2 mpg....had that happen on another truck when I switched to E rated.

 

[OC455]

It looks like there is only a 1 or 2 pound difference between D and E rated tires, so I doubt there would be any real fuel economy gains going from the E rated to D rated.

Some of D rated tires are heavier than the stock ones.

 

[corneileous]

Hi folks... I have a '16 Rebel, and it's almost time to replace the OEM tires (at 50k miles....tread left, but hard as rocks).

Any thoughts on E versus D versus C? I realize the big difference is off road endurance. I love E rated tires, but they are damn heavy, and that weight impacts mpg a little. But E rated also does well with towing (stiff sidewall). I do go off road a few times a year, but most of my miles are city/highway. Just curious if anyone has downgraded from E (stock Rebel tire) to D or C.

I don't need recommendations on tire brands.....I have my own thoughts on that.

What kind of off-roading do you do? I see you go to Colorado a lot; I lived most of my life down in the southwestern part near Durango/Silverton so I know little about their scenic roads but what part you go to when you go off-roading up there? Are you taking your truck up fairly serious Jeep trails?

If you’re going up those kinds of roads where there’s a ton of sharp rocks that would eat up most highway tires, I’d at least keep the tires up to a LT but you don’t necessarily need 10-ply 80-psi tires. That’s silly. For no more than that halfton can handle, an 8-ply load-range D tire is more than plenty for what you need. Hell, probably even a good 6-ply would do ya good unless you’re taking some fairly serious four-wheel drive roads.


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[Truck Fun]

Not sure there are many D tires available. Seems that C or E are the main options.

 

[corneileous]

Not sure there are many D tires available. Seems that C or E are the main options.

Yeah, I’m looking on tire rack and there’s only three they have in that size that are 8-ply. The Pirelli Scorpion All Terrain Plus and the Goodyear Duratracs are the only two I’d recommend. A 305/70/17 is about the closest being only about .8 inches wider But there was only like one tire and I don’t think he’d be interested in that one. The only other choice that would be close to stock size in a load range D tire would be a BFG All-terrain in a 34/10.50/17 that’s just a tad taller than stock but a little narrower. He might have to stay with an E unless there’s other online retailers that offer more tires than tire rack.


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[ram1500rsm]

Your factory tire load index is more likely 114. This number is prob the most important one to look at at least when it comes to load index. Your new tires should be the same or higher.

From there look at the tires load range and see what fits. i think most C load range tires in the small sizes seem to fit around 111-113 load index, so that will be less than factory. I'd guess you could be able to run for example BFG KO2's C rated at 113 load index in 315/70/17 which is the Raptor spec KO2, but i don't know if a reputable tire shop will sell them to you. That leaves you with a more safe D rated (118 load index) or E (121 load index) as your best choices.

I'm running BFG KO2 in 37x12.5x17 D rated, 124 load index. More than enough load rate for my truck. I'm running at just 34psi daily. And i literally can't feel the road beneath me. Suspension accounts for a lot of that though. Not running 34psi to make them softer but just because that's where my tires make a nice contact patch.

Any D Rated tire will be more than enough for your truck when it comes to towing and D will have better sidewalls for comfort and still have more than enough strength for offroad tasks when needed.
I had Nitto TG's 315/70/17 D rated in my Jeep Wrangler Unlimited and i used to rock crawl with those without any issues. I've put my truck in the rocks with confidence with the KO2's D rated i have as well granted I'm not in any way running the same trails i did with the Jeep in this truck, but if you're familiar with Socal offroad trails you'll know sometimes there is no escape when it comes to rocks and they come in all flavors little sharp or big sharp ones and the trail only moves one way unless you want to go home early so you better don't have ***** sidewalls around here

Have fun.

 

[miketx]

What kind of off-roading do you do? I see you go to Colorado a lot; I lived most of my life down in the southwestern part near Durango/Silverton so I know little about their scenic roads but what part you go to when you go off-roading up there? Are you taking your truck up fairly serious Jeep trails?

If you’re going up those kinds of roads where there’s a ton of sharp rocks that would eat up most highway tires, I’d at least keep the tires up to a LT but you don’t necessarily need 10-ply 80-psi tires. That’s silly. For no more than that halfton can handle, an 8-ply load-range D tire is more than plenty for what you need. Hell, probably even a good 6-ply would do ya good unless you’re taking some fairly serious four-wheel drive roads.


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I've wheeled the mining roads around Durango-Ouray, but did it in my former vehicle (FJ Cruiser). Some of those wouldn't be "wheelbase" friendly for a pickup, but those are the type of roads I enjoy in Colorado.

For folks that aren't familiar with the Rebel, it comes with E-rated tires from the factory (Toyo Open Road II). And for the 4th gen, the Rebel tire pressures are 55 front, 45 rear (and it's a good setting...makes a difference). Go lower and you get the TP warnings.

 

[ram1500rsm]

I've wheeled the mining roads around Durango-Ouray, but did it in my former vehicle (FJ Cruiser). Some of those wouldn't be "wheelbase" friendly for a pickup, but those are the type of roads I enjoy in Colorado.

For folks that aren't familiar with the Rebel, it comes with E-rated tires from the factory (Toyo Open Road II). And for the 4th gen, the Rebel tire pressures are 55 front, 45 rear (and it's a good setting...makes a difference). Go lower and you get the TP warnings.

Could you take a picture of your door stickers? That will show us if the gwvr is different. Also are you set on factory 285/70/17 size. ? The threshold can be lowered as needed with alphaobd assuming you want a bigger size.

 

[corneileous]

I've wheeled the mining roads around Durango-Ouray, but did it in my former vehicle (FJ Cruiser). Some of those wouldn't be "wheelbase" friendly for a pickup, but those are the type of roads I enjoy in Colorado.

Ah yes.... Ophir, Black Bear, Animas Forks.... all great places to be right about now.

For folks that aren't familiar with the Rebel, it comes with E-rated tires from the factory (Toyo Open Road II). And for the 4th gen, the Rebel tire pressures are 55 front, 45 rear (and it's a good setting...makes a difference). Go lower and you get the TP warnings.

So what exactly does the door placard say the air pressures should be on your tires, or is that 55 front, 45 in the back your actual low pressure threshold at which point will make the tire pressure monitoring system light turn on if you go any lower than that? On my non-rebel 1500, the air pressure on my 20s is 39 psi that’s written on the door placard but the low tire pressure warning won’t come on until one of the tires gets down to like around 33 or 34 pounds of pressure.

But yeah, since your truck came from the factory with those really heavy duty 10 ply tires and since those have to have much more air in them than normal tires, they had to set your tire pressure monitoring system up accordingly so yeah, if you decided t go with a much lighter weight tire that doesn’t require near as much air pressure, your low tire warning and be bugging you all the time which means that you probably have to talk to one of these gurus on here about that Alpha OBD thing and you can change that so that so that you wouldn’t have to be forced to run that heavy of a tire.


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[Neil E]

In the days when they were number ply tires, the C is equivalent to a 6 ply, D is equal to an 8, and E is equal to 10. The main difference is for load on the tire. Depending on what weight you are putting on the tire should depend on which you need. Like the previous poster said, D is a hard tire to find.
If I was buying them, I would go with the E and not look back. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[corneileous]

In the days when they were number ply tires, the C is equivalent to a 6 ply, D is equal to an 8, and E is equal to 10. The main difference is for load on the tire. Depending on what weight you are putting on the tire should depend on which you need. Like the previous poster said, D is a hard tire to find.
If I was buying them, I would go with the E and not look back. Better to be safe than sorry.

Yeah but, it’s a half-ton. If my P-rated tires on my truck are strong enough to handle anything that I should be able to throw at it load wise, you really don’t even have to have an eight ply or even a 10 ply tire. The only thing really those are good for is for off-road toughness.

And a load range D isn’t that hard of a tire to find, it’s just a little difficult to find in the stock tire size a Rebel comes with.


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[gofish101]

My Outdoorsman came with Yoko G015 LT265/70/17 E rated tires. Not once has anyone said the truck feels like a truck. In fact the opposite everyone is surprised at how comfy it is. I run them at 42 psi which certainly makes a difference. So in my case not only do I get a great ride I get all the added benefits of a much stronger tire. It sure is nice to know when I go to some of my fishing holes the tires aren't going to fail me or at least a real good chance they aren't.

 

[Neil E]

When I worked in a tire care center, we didn't keep D in stock, in fact, it was difficult to find D in any size 17 or 20, also.

Yeah but, it’s a half-ton. If my P-rated tires on my truck are strong enough to handle anything that I should be able to throw at it load wise, you really don’t even have to have an eight ply or even a 10 ply tire. The only thing really those are good for is for off-road toughness.

And a load range D isn’t that hard of a tire to find, it’s just a little difficult to find in the stock tire size a Rebel comes with.


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[miketx]

For a Rebel, the factory tire pressure spec is 55/45 (front/rear). It's on the door sticker. I realize I can change the TPMS settings via AlfaOBD (which I own...great tool. Used it to make new FOBIKs). I plan to stay stock size (285/70/17). I can find a few D range tires, but may just stick with E.

 

[corneileous]

My Outdoorsman came with Yoko G015 LT265/70/17 E rated tires. Not once has anyone said the truck feels like a truck. In fact the opposite everyone is surprised at how comfy it is. I run them at 42 psi which certainly makes a difference. So in my case not only do I get a great ride I get all the added benefits of a much stronger tire. It sure is nice to know when I go to some of my fishing holes the tires aren't going to fail me or at least a real good chance they aren't.

I’d be interested to know what the manufacturer says about what you should run those tires that, if BFG was just trying to be way too overkill with the all-terrain‘s that I used to have on my truck that were load range D that they said I need to be running at 55 psi with a minimum pressure of no less than 50. But then again, I don’t know if you’re 10 ply tires would require even a lot more pressure than that or not, or if you’re safe to run that lower pressure.

And as far as everybody saying your truck doesn’t ride like a truck with those 10-ply Yokohama‘s, I can tell you straight up that my half ton limited with those eight ply BFG‘s on there and air ride, they made my truck ride like a tank. I don’t know, maybe it’s because you have 17 inch wheels and I’ve got 20 inch wheels but even running those BFG is all the way down to 39 pounds of pressure right after I got them before I learned that was dangerously under-inflated, they still rode fairly smooth but they weren’t near as smooth riding as the GoodYear SRA’s or my Michelin Defenders I have on it now.


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[corneileous]

When I worked in a tire care center, we didn't keep D in stock, in fact, it was difficult to find D in any size 17 or 20, also.

I stand corrected. Just looked and even tire rack only had about three tires that were in a 20 inch rim that were eight ply 275/60’s. I don’t like to use that word assume but I just figured that because BFG makes them the factory 20 for our half tons in a load range D that there might’ve been other manufacturers that did the same but that doesn’t seem to be the case.


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[corneileous]

For a Rebel, the factory tire pressure spec is 55/45 (front/rear). It's on the door sticker. I realize I can change the TPMS settings via AlfaOBD (which I own...great tool. Used it to make new FOBIKs). I plan to stay stock size (285/70/17). I can find a few D range tires, but may just stick with E.

I really don’t think it’s necessary unless it just comes down to you not having as much of a variety in your tire size that is not a 10-ply.

When I was shopping for my new truck a couple years ago, the rebel was just not one of those I was looking at but if it would’ve been- and as soon as I found out what ply tires it came with, that woulda been the one time I would’ve made an exception and got a new set of wheels that would’ve allowed me to get pretty much the same size tire but in a size to where I could at least drop down eight ply, but that’s just me.


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[Ludville1]

I’d be interested to know what the manufacturer says about what you should run those tires that, if BFG was just trying to be way too overkill with the all-terrain‘s that I used to have on my truck that were load range D that they said I need to be running at 55 psi with a minimum pressure of no less than 50. But then again, I don’t know if you’re 10 ply tires would require even a lot more pressure than that or not, or if you’re safe to run that lower pressure.

And as far as everybody saying your truck doesn’t ride like a truck with those 10-ply Yokohama‘s, I can tell you straight up that my half ton limited with those eight ply BFG‘s on there and air ride, they made my truck ride like a tank. I don’t know, maybe it’s because you have 17 inch wheels and I’ve got 20 inch wheels but even running those BFG is all the way down to 39 pounds of pressure right after I got them before I learned that was dangerously under-inflated, they still rode fairly smooth but they weren’t near as smooth riding as the GoodYear SRA’s or my Michelin Defenders I have on it now.


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I have the BFG K02's, and that is exactly what the BFG tire rep told me to run for pressure.