fallsrider
Raleigh, NC
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I want to ask advice on what to consider for tires on my '05 Suburban.
Details: '05 Suburban with 10-year old Cooper Load E truck tires (quite a bit of good tread left, but several years on them, and a total of around 37,000 miles on them)
The backstory....We left Saturday around noon for a 3-1/2 road trip to the Williamsburg, VA area for a two night camping trip with our son, my MIL, and my sister-in-law.
I started noticing a vibration that gradually got worse. I pulled off 30 minutes or so from home. I couldn't see anything wrong. Finding a repair shop was proving to be difficult on Saturday afternoon, but we finally found a Meineke that would look at it back in the direction of our home. We limped there. While I was waiting for the Meineke guy to come out and take a look, I started running my hands over the tire treads. Found my right rear tire had a broken belt. He agreed, and after I unhooked the trailer, they put it on the rack. The bad tire was very obvious on the rack. They had one tire of the right size, but it was a P tire, but also an AT tread. They moved the right front tire to the rear, and put the new tire on the front. They also aired down the existing left front tire to 44 psi to match the new P tire. We continued on our journey and it ran smooth as always. We're back home safely as of this afternoon.
Question....my three existing tires are 10 years old. They are at the end of their life as far as time goes, so I need to consider all new shoes. I could go back to P tires, but I always felt more comfortable with Load E tires on there while towing. It does make for a rougher ride while solo. Would you go back with Load E tires? Or put Ps on there? One thing that made sense to me was that a rear tire broke a belt while towing but still held together. I'm not sure a P tire would have done that, but maybe so. I don't know.
If it matters any, we mostly use the Suburban for towing and as an errand runner on some weekends. We've driven 37,000 miles in 10 years, so that tells you how much we use it.
Thanks.
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ktmrfs
Portland, Oregon
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Personally I'd never run a P tire on a burb, full size van, or pickup. Yes, they may ride better, but they won't handle the "squrim" with a loaded vehicle or towing near as well as a E rated LT tire.
When we bought our full sized 3/4 ton van in the mid 80's I didn't put 10K miles on it before off came the P rated tires and on when LT 15" tires. Much more confident handling.
My S-10 also came with P rated tires and they didn't stay on long either.
My $0.02 worth
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Grit dog
Black Diamond, WA
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Depends how much weight you’re putting on the tires.
Considering you aren’t taking advantage of the greater treadwear capability of a E tire it doesn’t make sense for miles.
If you’re hauling a popup camper and some camping gear in the back you have no real use for a LT tire (presume your burb is a 1/2 ton one). If you have significant weight on the rear axle, the LT will handle it better because it’s rated for higher psi/greater load.
However saying a LT tire rides tougher than a P is largely false. Largely meaning how compliant a tire is is largely related to the pressure in the tire.
If you run the proper pressure for the weight, a LT will be largely as comfortable as a P tire.
And then there’s XL tires if you’re looking for a tweener rating.
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JRscooby
Indepmo
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My '05 1500 Dodge came with P rated tires. 2 sets have aged out, 3rd will be mounted soon.
Maybe they squirm when loaded to rating, but when loaded I expect not to do any sports car snot.
About half the time I drive pickup, I'm towing the camper. Once in a while, I tow heavier trailer, and sometimes load the bed. (Need a ton of gravel for driveway? Air up 10% over sidewall. Get it done).
If I was going to be loaded every day, might mount truck tires. My use, or use the OP describes? Nope.
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fallsrider
Raleigh, NC
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ktmrfs wrote:Personally I'd never run a P tire on a burb, full size van, or pickup. Yes, they may ride better, but they won't handle the "squrim" with a loaded vehicle or towing near as well as a E rated LT tire.
When we bought our full sized 3/4 ton van in the mid 80's I didn't put 10K miles on it before off came the P rated tires and on when LT 15" tires. Much more confident handling.
My S-10 also came with P rated tires and they didn't stay on long either.
My $0.02 worth Thanks. That's probably a good way to look at it.
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NamMedevac 70
Reno
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For many years I have used only LT tires on 3 Dodge Ram 1500 and 2500 towing a 28 foot TT. Tires were goodyear, BF Goodrich and Michelin.
Now I run Hankook Winter Pike P275/60/R20 116 XL with T speed rating on a 2014 Ram 1500 4x4 that is heavily loaded with full camper shell heavily loaded and there is no squirm at all from the tires in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and even in recent harsh winter snow ice slick road conditions on steep up and down grades and sharp curves. Speeds between 55 and 75 mph. I would feel very comfortable towing a small TT with these tires.
Hankooks are great and Walmart gave them to me (set of 4 plus new full size spare) for 400.00 because original customer would not wait for store delivery. My good fortune. I also still have the new all-purpose tires that came with the truck with only 4 or 5K miles on them. Life is good.
* This post was
edited 06/13/23 04:14am by NamMedevac 70 *
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phillyg
SWFL
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I would only use E-rated tires on that vehicle.
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fallsrider
Raleigh, NC
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NamMedevac 70 wrote:For many years I have used only LT tires on 3 Dodge Ram 1500 and 2500 towing a 28 foot TT. Tires were goodyear, BF Goodrich and Michelin.
Now I run Hankook Winter Pike P275/60/R20 116 XL with T speed rating on a 2014 Ram 1500 4x4 that is heavily loaded with full camper shell heavily loaded and there is no squirm at all from the tires in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and even in recent harsh winter snow ice slick road conditions on steep up and down grades and sharp curves. Speeds between 55 and 75 mph. I would feel very comfortable towing a small TT with these tires.
Hankooks are great and Walmart gave them to me (set of 4 plus new full size spare) for 400.00 because original customer would not wait for store delivery. My good fortune. I also still have the new all-purpose tires that came with the truck with only 4 or 5K miles on them. Life is good. Thanks for the info. I've never bought Hankook tires, though I'm aware of the brand. I'll have to look into them.
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fallsrider
Raleigh, NC
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phillyg wrote:I would only use E-rated tires on that vehicle. There seems to be a consensus on Load E LT tires. Thanks.
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wanderingaimlessly
Kerr Reservoir
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Another option gaining popularity are Falken tires, Put a set on my Jeep GC last year, loved them, even put new Falken 191's on the Winnebago.
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