Light Truck Tire Selection | Emergency Preparedness | Forums

Tire load range

You may have asked yourself “Why is it when I shop for new truck tires, I find two sets of tires that look identical except the price?” The answer is most often load range. The tires may look the same on the outside, but can be completely different animals on the inside. If you never leave clean paved surfaces, you should stick with original equipment spec tires, most usually load range C for half ton trucks and SUV’s. If you’re going to be doing any heavy towing or off pavement driving then a load range E is a must. What’s the difference you ask? Well its load range. The load range E tire will have a much higher load bearing ability at a given PSI than the load range C tire. It has to do with the how the tire is built and the amount of material in the tire. The load range E tire is generally much thicker and better constructed.

To be honest I don’t know how they are built or what makes them so much better, I just know they are. As an example, when my wife and I purchased a new Tahoe a few years ago it came with factory OE load range C tires. We live just about three and a half miles from the closest pavement and have a half mile gravel driveway. Two weeks after bringing it home it suffered its first catastrophic tire failure. One month later we had a second one. Off to the tire store to replace them with mud and snow load range E tires. Two years later and still no tire problems with the load range E tires.

Another example took place on the Golden Road in Northern Maine. The Golden Road is a huge private logging road that is primarily gravel with lots of ledge and is known for chewing through tires. If you ever watched the reality show about Pelletier Logging in Maine, the show revolves around wood harvesting on the Golden Road. A group of us went to a friend’s camp off the Golden Road for a fishing trip. One of the guys had just purchased a fancy new half ton pickup and couldn’t be talked out of bringing it. A few of us tried to explain to him it wasn’t a good idea to travel those roads without the right tires. You guessed it, catastrophic tire failure on the way in to camp that evening and the second one on our way to the river the following morning. He destroyed an aluminum rim limping it to a safe place off the road. I have several more similar examples, but I think you get the idea.

I can’t say I have never had a flat tire with a load range E tire, but never anything I couldn’t fix with a tire plug and an a 12v tire pump. Problems generally present themselves as an easily fixed slow leak from a carelessly discarded nail or screw. I have discovered some pretty massive gashes in my load range E tires that looked horrible but never leaked and the tire continued to wear fine.

If your bug out plan includes four wheels or you have an off pavement homestead in your future then load range E tires may be worth the extra money. During a mass emergency no one will be clearing any debris out of roadway. Consider investing in a 12v tire pump and a tire plug kit. You may find they are worth their weight in gold when you need them. If you have never used a tire plug kit, learn. Regardless of what load range your tires are it could be a lifesaver to have the kit and a tire pump handy in an emergency.

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