Tire surprise

[SDrake]

Turns out my recently acquired truck has another surprise. It has Wild Country Radial XTX tires on it. Although I was unfamiliar with that tire when I bought the truck I assumed it was suitable for the truck. They had a nice looking All Terrain tread about half left so I thought no more about it until I started airing them up. Turns out they are max psi of 44. Max load 2240 lbs or so.



I initially pumped them up to 65 Psi per the door panel and about a thousand miles later got to thinking that I wanted to lower the pressure a little and that is when I noticed the situation. I immediately lowered the pressure to 44psi.



I think I am OK running around empty but do I dare hit the road with the trailer and all my camping gear including generator, tools etc loaded up?



Is this going to only be sloppy handling or do I have a fourmla for disaster. I would buy new tires immediately except I am still trying to figure out what size I want to put on there to compensate for being a 4. 10 to get me where I wanted to be ---- at 3. 73 with stock tire kind of setup.



I am thinking about michelin 285/70r/17 LTX ms/2 tires which get me about halfway between the effective ratio or stock 3:73 and stock 4. 1. Any comments?

 

[Regcabguy]

I had a near catastrophic blowout with D rated Bridgestone AT's. Camper and truck almost went over a cliff. $3300 damage in seconds to my truck. I've been running E's ever since. No more sway,blowouts or flats.

 

[seafish]

D rated tires are likely fine for a 2wd runabout truck, but for any serious hauling or towing, or offroading, E rated tires are the way to go. Can't go wrong with Michelins either !!

 

[SDrake]

Thanks: -- I believe in E rated. I don't think these tires are even D rated. there is no letter rating on the tire. I am sure it is crazy to be pulling anything with them or hauling any weight. Just wondered about actual experiences.

 

[steved]

44psi? That's not even a truck tire, its a P-series ("P" as in PASSENGER CAR). They did the same thing on the previous 99 I owned... I popped one on a tree limb, and they found the other front tire full of rubber dust indicating that tire was about to catastrophically fail. Your best bet is to buy new tires and sell those P-series on Craigslist or eBay.

D-rated 315s have within 100 pounds of the rating of an E-rated 265... at least the one's I've seen. D-rated tires are a max 50 psi inflation typically. I have ran a bunch of D-rated tires on my 2500s, never had an issue trailering or hauling.

 

[JerryNelson]

I have ben running a D-rated 315-70-17 BFG for 120000 miles. and no truble with a 5re or my slid in camper.

 

[TimothyLong]

44psi with a max load of 2240 is not even close to a D rating. I run D rated 285's with no problems, but then I don't do any serious towing either. I have a 4. 10 and the 285's work out well for me.

 

[MChrist]

I bought my truck with 315/70/17 BFG and they worked great, looked great, had no problems towing. I think they were D rated, as weight rating was similar to stock 265 E range. I then went to 285/70/17 Nittos and love them, too. With the 4. 10 rear, I may go with the 315s.

 

[SDrake]

I bought my truck with 315/70/17 BFG and they worked great, looked great, had no problems towing. I think they were D rated, as weight rating was similar to stock 265 E range. I then went to 285/70/17 Nittos and love them, too. With the 4. 10 rear, I may go with the 315s.

What width rim is needed for the 315? I did not look at them too seriously because I thought I would need to get new rims. the 285s will fit the stock rims as far as i can tell.

 

[Prairie Dog]

285's fit but per BFG, the 315's require a wider rim.

 

[EDankievitch]

315's work ok on the stock rim. Bridgestone and Firestone both offer them in a E rating.

 

[Cosmo]

I ran 65-70 psi while loaded heavy towing a ~14k+ trailer on a 4800+ mile trek with no problems on the load range D tires that came on my truck. They were likely brand new when I bought the truck, or put on just prior to it getting traded in. I'm not sure who sold them and who bought them, but none of those people was smart about it. If the vehicle tire placard calls for higher pressures than the max pressure on the tire, it's not the right tire.

I wonder if I'd have a case against the dealership I bought it from if there was a catastrophic tire failure, since they sold me unsafe equipment...

 

[steved]

285's fit but per BFG, the 315's require a wider rim.

315s fit the SLT aluminum wheels fine... they are right at the narrow side of the recommended wheel width, but they work well.

 

[SDrake]

315s fit the SLT aluminum wheels fine... they are right at the narrow side of the recommended wheel width, but they work well.

Mine are the Chrome 17x8 rims. Are the aluminums the same.

 

[TimothyLong]

285's fit but per BFG, the 315's require a wider rim.

I have had BFG tell me this too about 315's, but steved is right. The 315's are just on the narrow side of recommended width. It all depends on whether or not you care about the tire warranty.

 

[TimothyLong]

Mine are the Chrome 17x8 rims. Are the aluminums the same.

Yes, the aluminums are the same size.