Nate08

Anyone running load range "E" tires? My friend has some E's on her Ranger (REVOS) and has had them for 3 years with still about 10/32's left. I think E's would last a long time on a 4Runner. Trying to decide between D's an E's in my next Nitto set...

4rx

my destination m/t tires are load range E. No problem whatever on my 4Runner. It has been on for one year now and still lots of treads left. The key is keep rotates the tires every 5,000 miles or so.

gametom

i hear it's a stiffer ride

Maj

Don't confuse load range with tread wear rating. Load range is the tires capacity to carry weight - it is not a yardstick for tread life. The higher the Load Range rating, the stiffer the tire. High Load Range ratings are not the best choice for wheelin' since the stiff tire has trouble conforming to the surface (especially rocks and the like) when aired down.

ozziesironmanoffroad

yeah E's are very stiff. not reccomended for wheelin

emptypockets

My old 265's were load range C and my new 285's are load range D. I can tell a difference in the ride as the D rated tires are definitely stiffer. Unless you do a ton of towing, I'd avoid an E rated tire because of the poorer ride and as mentioned above, lack of off road ability.

X-AWDriver

D is as high a load rating you want to go on a 3rd or 4th gen Runner since E is way overkill and designed for trucks weighing another 1500-2000lbs and you pay more for the E rated tires.

masterwacker

Bogus, the ride is the same. I have had Ds & E's of the same tire (BFG A/T) and they ride the same. The E's are just lastin longer. I have 32k miles on them and they are roughly half tread. The D's had 3/32 on them when I took them off at 43k miles.

masterwacker

The difference in price between an E and a D load tire (BFG & Nitto) is $4 per tire. Not much difference, but the E's last longer IMO.

masterwacker

Now that I agree with even though I do have more miles on the E's than the D's. If you do plan on wheeling it go with the D's since they will conform better than the E's. Good post Maj

X-AWDriver

4Runners ride rough anyway and I don't need the extra miles on a tire dealing with the rougher ride and yes,I've driven a couple of 3rd gens with E load rated tires on them and the way I drive the E slide too much vs the D rating which has better dry grip due to a little more sidewall flex.

Nittos now have a 50k warranty so it mileage issues don't bother me plus it takes almost 5 years for me to hit 50k miles.

Nate08

I'll probably be on the highway more than anything else; however, I'm gonna wheel any chance I get.

skjos

I had "E" BFG A/T KO's for about 700 miles and then had Discount Tires change them to "C".

Small plug for Discount Tires, I simply let them know I wasn't satisfied and they changed the tires out for just the remounting charge of $12 a tire.

Anyhow, with the "E" rated tires the bumps felt much sharper (if that makes sense); the bumps are still there with the "C's" but the hit is a little smoother.

Gas mileage is the same, and on road traction seems no different, I've done no wheeling so nothing to report there.

BajaRunner

I got load range E MT/R's and they are uh... well, I donno any difference.

I'd imagine they would be better for offroading because they have thicker sidewalls, no?

4rx

I have done air down in the 10's psi. The load E CAN wheeling.

hross14

I ran E's also and they seemed to do just fine aired down. You are also able to run less air pressure because the side walls are stiffer. Aired down and wheeling over rocks i never had a side wall tear (Nittos). I am not sure what i am going to do when i go 35's but...i will cross that bridge here shortly

Maj

Thanks. I was trying to scratch up some UTQG data (tread wear) for the D vs E on the Bridgestone website and there was none given for the E load range. Hmm, so I looked at the BFG website to see if they had UTQG data for their D+ tires and came across this:

Government UTQG Ratings do not apply to light truck sized tires.

Not sure what a "light truck sized tire" is but it looks as though some manufacturers are providing UTQG voluntarily. UTOG ratings aren't much good when comparing brand vs brand (due to non-standard testing procedures) but are really beneficial when comparing tires from the same manufacturer.

It would kind of stand to reason that a tire designed to carry a heavier load would have a harder tread compound otherwise wear might be less than acceptable. Increased tread life almost always comes at the expense of traction (which is why performance tires don't last for squat), so me thinks the Es might not yield as much traction as lower load ranges.

If manufacturers are making load range E tires that ride as good as Bs then I'm impressed. My limited experience with E vs C is night and day.

Mr.Dabadina

If I'm not mistaken the light truck size tire is the LT before the tire size. Example I've got LT265/75/16s wrangler at/s. This is still my first set of tires I put on since I got the vehicle used. Since this was my first tire suv/truck (had a civic b4 this) I don't have any comparisons. They have lasted well over 60,000 miles. But I will need some new ones by spring/summer.

ciscojay

On my second set of BFG ATs 265/75/16s. The first set was a D rated tire and lasted an awesome 65k miles. Went to discount about a month ago and they only had E's in that size, so I went with em...they're noticeably stiffer. They recommended airing down 5 psi or so and see if it makes a difference...I may try that for a bit.