couple general questions

Cheekster96 · August 10, 2005

howdy hoe everyone....nice balmy 90F outside with only 80% humidity...no A/C here in the house...NICE...lol

wonder if some of your can help me....

i commute about 45 miles (all turnpike) to work one way and set the cruise to 65 mph. im not in a hurry to get there and i dont see much difference (except in gas mileage) to go 70.

my temp gauge stays at 210F and sometimes, while travelling at speed, will dip down to 185-190 and stay there for a couple of minutes before goin back up to 210. it might do this once or twice during my commute. I havent had any service done to the cooling system and there are no leaks. any thoughts?

Why do dealerships put on passenger tires on trucks? Is a cost savings for them? You would think a truck would have a light truck tire???

When i got my 03 Sierra (used), they had fairly new GoodYear Wrangler Ats (P tire) and Kelly Safari AVRs (again, P tire). Both sets of tires have what i would call, "dents" in the sidewall. The tire is not perfectly round. They are small...Traction, dont know, havent taken the truck in the mud and snow season is still far off. The treads look like a typical car tire though. they do their job, are quiet on the highway and have since held up well. When the time comes, I will switch over to some Light Truck tires. Not sure yet what brand yet, still time to decide.

My 87 K20 has the GoodYear Work horse tires. The are light truck.

Which brings me to my next question...Why do manufactures use both the metric (245/65/16) and the standard sizes (31x10.50x16)? is their a calculation to see what the metric sizes translate to the other configuration?

for example...what would 245/65/16s equal?

235/85/16s are on the 87 K20.

lastly, one more tire question..since my 03 Sierra has the 245s installed, how do i determine if 265s will fit. I have seen them on many other trucks and they look ALOT better. I am not sure of my rim width. If you increase the width of the tire, does this throw off the speedometer or does that only go towards the diameter?

sorry for the long post, hope i didnt bore you all.

later and thanks alot....

Lee

BRZ71 · August 10, 2005

P metric tires ride better, that is what most people want when they buy a truck.

265's will fit.

Ape0r · August 10, 2005

A half-ton pickup can't carry the amount of weight that would mandate light truck tires anyway. 265's will fit, as mentioned.

asilverblazer · August 10, 2005

What are "P" tires weight ratings, I have yet to see a 7-10k pound car.

03GMCSierra4.8L · August 10, 2005

P series tires (std load) are not designed to carry the load that LT series tires are. Also 1/2 ton trucks arn't either. If your towing a Fifth Wheel or carrying a Truck Camper then its 3/4 ton truck min and LT "E" load rated tires. I tow a Travel Trailer with ours and P-series tires are more then sufficient as the weight distributing hitch only allows a couple of hundred pounds to be applied to the rear suspension of the Truck.

Another point, not all P series tires are equal....original set of Goodyear ST's on my truck sucked more then I can express! Road like a log wagon and had tread fractures at 25K miles. Replaced them with Michlens and its a whole new ball game. And get rid of the OEM shocks at first chance if your doing any work with the truck at all.

2270 lb weight rating per tire on the Michlens LTX x 4 is sure more then the 6400lb GVWR pkg of the truck.

Ape0r · August 10, 2005

What are "P" tires weight ratings, I have yet to see a 7-10k pound car.

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The OEM Goodyears on my truck are rated at a touch over 2200 lbs each at 44 psi. The rear end weighs in around 1800 pounds, and the RAWR is around 3600 pounds, can't remember exactly.