Tire Load Range Advice

TOTALRECALL · February 6, 2007

Have a 2002 1500 Silverado base 4X4 with 35,000 miles and original Firestone Steeltex tires. Bought truck used a few years ago. Lots of tread left, but some wear and lots of shoulder wear. This truck came rated and with Load Range C tires. Truck rides well to me, but please note my previous vehicle was a 1995 F250 Diesel with E rated tires and Ford's even heavier duty 3rd front leaf springs installed.

So, I see lots of e-rated tire deals on E-bay. For a 1/2 ton truck, would E rated tires hurt the ride that much, given that I have C- rated tires already. I see on e-bay lots of $100 tire deals and that seems ok to me. At least one with shipping included? I thought if this worked and since I have the base steel rims, maybe I would look for a set of upgraded rims also.

Oh yes, tire size is 245/75/16. I don't really used the truck other than running around on the weekend. Probably could get away with no load rated tires, but would rather not.

Thanks

Mike

ATMINF · February 6, 2007

E-rated tires would be fine for your truck, but instead of inflating them to 70-75psi, I would just inflate them to 45-50psi unloaded, and when you load up the rear bump the rears to 70-75psi and the fronts to 55psi. hope this helps.

Shaners · February 6, 2007

That's alot of tire for your truck!! More than you could ever safely use without grossly overloading your truck.

There is no reason though that you couldn't run them especially if the price is right!!! It's definatly a good thing to have more than you need... You ride might suffer some but keep your inflation down and it might not be too bad.

A 265/75/16 "D" would have about the same carrying capicity as the 245/75/16 "E" tires, and they would look better in my opinion... but then again, if the price is right and you don't mind the smaller tires then go for it!

TOTALRECALL · February 6, 2007

Like you are saying the price seems to be right and they are listed on ebay as new. Looking around - to get no load rated tires is 85-100 dollars anyway. And the name brand stuff in load rated as most of you know is a little over 100 - 150 dollars per tire plus shipping for C, D or E. So I may consider these E rated ones since they are a set of 4.

The truck came with the 245's - for what I use the truck for, I could get anyway with anything that would fit on the rims, but would like to stick with some sort of load rating, C at least.

Thanks for the advice

Mike

Billdog350 · February 6, 2007

Like you are saying the price seems to be right and they are listed on ebay as new. Looking around - to get no load rated tires is 85-100 dollars anyway. And the name brand stuff in load rated as most of you know is a little over 100 - 150 dollars per tire plus shipping for C, D or E. So I may consider these E rated ones since they are a set of 4.

The truck came with the 245's - for what I use the truck for, I could get anyway with anything that would fit on the rims, but would like to stick with some sort of load rating, C at least.

Thanks for the advice

Mike

On a side note, I went from LR E 245's which were rated for 3000lbs per tire single and my LR D 285's are good for 3300lbs per tire single! Load ranges are only applicable within a given tire size...otherwise you're better off looking at the weight capacity. Also, in many cases the load range seems to be linked to inflation pressure (same tire and size LR D will be 10-20psi lower than LR E). If you run that tire at less pressure I would guess the ride would be very similar.