Tire load ratings-HELP, I am confused

[JasonBrown]

I have been looking at tons of tires. I am looking for an aggressive tire, a little larger than stock for my '05 QC SRW 4x4. I mostly drive on highway, but need something better off road than the stock Michelins. I pull about 11K occasionally and about 6K regularly.



My question is that I have seen several tires in the manufacturer's spec pages on their web sites that will have a Load range E tire and a load range D tire but the weight rating will be the same. That is confusing to me. Can anyone shed any light on why this is? I have read a lot of the tire threads on here and it appears that I definitely want to stay with an E load range tire, but what is the difference between an E and D rated tire with the same weight rating?

 

[RustyJC]

I have been looking at tons of tires. I am looking for an aggressive tire, a little larger than stock for my '05 QC SRW 4x4. I mostly drive on highway, but need something better off road than the stock Michelins. I pull about 11K occasionally and about 6K regularly.



My question is that I have seen several tires in the manufacturer's spec pages on their web sites that will have a Load range E tire and a load range D tire but the weight rating will be the same. That is confusing to me. Can anyone shed any light on why this is? I have read a lot of the tire threads on here and it appears that I definitely want to stay with an E load range tire, but what is the difference between an E and D rated tire with the same weight rating?

The same size (e. g. LT235/85R-16) tire in a load range D and a load range E will have the same load rating at the same inflation pressure. The difference is that the construction of the load range E tire allows it to go up to 80 PSIG, while the load range D tire can only be inflated to 65 PSIG.



For reference, I just picked the Michelin LTX because it's available in so many sizes. For the LT235/85R-16 tire I mentioned above, the load ratings are as follows:



Load range D - 2623 lbs @ 65 PSIG



Load range E - 3042 lbs @ 80 PSIG





Rusty

 

[NoSeeUm]

Look on the side of the tire, the load rating will usually be imprinted for single and dual applications. The load rating may or may not be the same for identically sized tires, so don't just look at the size. This load rating is, as Rusty says, for a given inflation pressure and speed rating.