[Mistral150]

Hi !
I'm about to buy my new summer tires (In Canada) and I'll be towing a camper this summer.

What tire should I look for between LT & P ?

:thx

 

[Chickenhawk]

There are lots of threads on tires in here, as I am sure you have found.

In our sizes, you do NOT need to go to an LT (light truck) designated tire unless you are carrying serious weight or are into serious off-roading. A P (passenger) rated tire works just fine. In any of the stock sizes, if you check the specs, you will see that P-rated tires can easily support far more than the weight of our truck plus its load, right up to gross maximum load rating, meaning the weight of the truck plus all the options, fluids, contents and passengers.

LT tires are made with much stiffer sidewalls. The advantage is that you can air them up to their maximum psi rating for carrying very heavy loads and air them back down to door stickers recommendations for normal driving. The down side is that you have to live with the stiffer sidewalls ALL the time.

For hard core off-roaders, this is an easy tradeoff. They can air them WAY down for maximum traction and least environmental impact in soft conditions. But for others who use their trucks primarily on the street, the ride will not be as nice.

 

[Mistral150]

Thank you ... You gave me the explanation I needed.

I like you :crazy: because in only ONE reply you give me good information to my questions.

I tought It would be better to have LT tires to be sure I wont have any BLOW OUTS (appened one time) as I'm a bit unsecure.

:thx:thumbsup:

 

[bstromback2002]

One thing to remeber when looking for tires is pay attention to the load rating on the tires cause there are a few tires out there that really are not rated for how heavy are trucks are plus a trailer and a higher load rating will also make the overal tire a little stiffer and help take away some of that trailer sway you may experience. How heavy is your camper??? That's one question you should ask yourself when tire shopping. Chickenhawk is right you probably don't need lt tires, but you don't want to buy a cheap lightweight p tire.

 

[Mistral150]

I'll be pulling 3500 Lbs (I guess it's POUNDS in us).

:thx

 

[Chickenhawk]

Don't forget that your tires aren't pulling that load; the engine and drivetrain are. (And the braking system has to BRAKE that load.)

That is an easy pull for the Trailblazer. Just read the many towing threads in here and be especially conscious of your tongue weight. Keep 10 to 15% of the total trailer weight on the tongue to reduce trailer sway. Also, tow in "3" not "D" and you'll do fine.

The best thing to do is to check the specs on the tire you like. It will tell you the maximum load it can carry. On my Michelin LTX M/S tires (which are probably the best tires you can get on our platforms, by the way) the max load is just under 2000 pounds. If you add up the total weight of the vehicle, the fluids, the cargo, every passenger PLUS the tongue weight of the trailer, you can see that you are still WAY under 4 times 2000 pounds.

If you consider only the back two tires, even when pulling a heavy trailer and with three hefty folks in the back seat, that is still lots of leeway.

With a fully loaded truck plus the tongue weight of the trailer, handling is not your priority; safe load-carrying ability is, so I would pump the rear tires up to very close to their max. rated psi as listed on the sidewall of the tire.

Hope this helps.

There is a lot more to tire pressures than most people realize. (Just don't get me started on nitrogen-filled tires, though!)

 

[Mistral150]

Thanks. For towing I have ALL it needs to tow and even more that I should, I was just woundering which one would be the best before I buy them but after the support of this forum, I'll stick to "P" like I always had and keep the air up to the max allowed pressure when towing and down to comfort zone the rest of the time.
The only thing now that is missing, is a tranny cooler that I forgot to remove from my Chevy Venture 1998 :bonk:

Thanks to all of you. :thumbsup: