10-19-2019, 01:36 PM
I have some fairly aggressive tread all terrain tires, Cooper AT3 in LT30x9.5x15, which is a light truck tire.
Light truck tires, opposed to passenger tires, have stiffer sidewalls, and need to be inflated to higher PSI to carry the same weight and will have a 50 PSi max rating instead of 41, at least on a 15 inch rim.
Light truck tires are derated weight wise, but passenger tires are not, but need to be when installed on a taller vehicle which can exert more weight on the outside tire when turning.
Passenger tires ride much smoother, but are more prone to sidewall punctures should offroading occur.
Passenger tires are a bit lighter, and this helps increase MPG's a smidge to a few smidges.
My AT tires are kind of loud, I got to keep them close to max inflation or they get ridiculously loud at certain speeds, like 45mph being the worst. They have knocked at least 1/2mpg of my highway MPG maximum average, compared to my previous AT tires of the same size.
I did have some wider tires in the rear for a few months, but both those tires had tread separation issues in Baja a few months later, and I decided to always stay with 4 equal size tires from then on, as switching tires around to keep the drive axle tires the same was a pain in the butt.
One does not want to run tires of different diameter on the drive axle for very long.
Only Once, in the 2 years since I have owned these latest AT tires, has an AT tire been desired over a Non all terrain tire, And the Non all terrain tire would likely have been fine on the Titus Canyon track in Death Valley.
I like the look of the AT tire on my Van, I don't like the loss of MPG, nor their noisier nature, and this might be my last pair of AT tires, though I will likely stick with Light truck tires instead of passenger tires with an XL( extra load) rating. The 30x9.5x15 size is slightly bigger than 235/75-15, and my Speedometer reads dead perfect at 60mph with the larger tires, and reads too fast with the 235-75-15 tires it came from the factory with.
AT and Light truck tires might not have any tread life warranty.
Do stick with name brand tires, don't buy the no name tires which the purveyors will say are 'Made by Michelin' or some other known quality tire maker.
Discount tire will match any online tire price with shipping, just print out your desired tire from cheapest online purveyor including shipping.
Tirerack.com has lots of tire reviews. I bought some Kumho SATKl61 based on its good reviews and being rated #2, but a year later the same tire was ranked near the bottom amn the tire on top was still on top Firestone destination AT. Those tires at 6 years of age nearly exploded driving through the desert in August, despite having lots of tread, but were good tires for the 5.5 years previous.
Light truck tires, opposed to passenger tires, have stiffer sidewalls, and need to be inflated to higher PSI to carry the same weight and will have a 50 PSi max rating instead of 41, at least on a 15 inch rim.
Light truck tires are derated weight wise, but passenger tires are not, but need to be when installed on a taller vehicle which can exert more weight on the outside tire when turning.
Passenger tires ride much smoother, but are more prone to sidewall punctures should offroading occur.
Passenger tires are a bit lighter, and this helps increase MPG's a smidge to a few smidges.
My AT tires are kind of loud, I got to keep them close to max inflation or they get ridiculously loud at certain speeds, like 45mph being the worst. They have knocked at least 1/2mpg of my highway MPG maximum average, compared to my previous AT tires of the same size.
I did have some wider tires in the rear for a few months, but both those tires had tread separation issues in Baja a few months later, and I decided to always stay with 4 equal size tires from then on, as switching tires around to keep the drive axle tires the same was a pain in the butt.
One does not want to run tires of different diameter on the drive axle for very long.
Only Once, in the 2 years since I have owned these latest AT tires, has an AT tire been desired over a Non all terrain tire, And the Non all terrain tire would likely have been fine on the Titus Canyon track in Death Valley.
I like the look of the AT tire on my Van, I don't like the loss of MPG, nor their noisier nature, and this might be my last pair of AT tires, though I will likely stick with Light truck tires instead of passenger tires with an XL( extra load) rating. The 30x9.5x15 size is slightly bigger than 235/75-15, and my Speedometer reads dead perfect at 60mph with the larger tires, and reads too fast with the 235-75-15 tires it came from the factory with.
AT and Light truck tires might not have any tread life warranty.
Do stick with name brand tires, don't buy the no name tires which the purveyors will say are 'Made by Michelin' or some other known quality tire maker.
Discount tire will match any online tire price with shipping, just print out your desired tire from cheapest online purveyor including shipping.
Tirerack.com has lots of tire reviews. I bought some Kumho SATKl61 based on its good reviews and being rated #2, but a year later the same tire was ranked near the bottom amn the tire on top was still on top Firestone destination AT. Those tires at 6 years of age nearly exploded driving through the desert in August, despite having lots of tread, but were good tires for the 5.5 years previous.
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