I'm shopping tires for my 2012 Toyota Tundra. It came new with 18" "P" passenger tires. It's 4x4. Factory tow package. Not raised or anything. And it tows my 21ft boat no problem.
I trailer up and down the east coast. Would light truck "LT" tires help improve handling in anyway? Would they make the ride stiffer? I appreciate any recommendadtions from experience.
Phoenix 921ProXP Mercury 250 ProXS
Absolutely. The stiffer sidewalls will handle better, get less flats, and likely have a higher load rating. They will ride slightly firmer if inflated to the same pressure. If the load rating is significantly higher you may be able to run less pressure to get some of that ride back.
I would never put a set of P-metric tires on a truck unless it was used exclusively like a car.
I went to LT-285-65-18's on my 2010 Tundra. Had stock size Michelin LTX AT2's on it when I bought it. Got 55,000 miles out of those, so I bought the same tires in E-Rated this time. I'm only lifted to the '"first notch"(Bilstien 6112's) in front, so my 'lift' really made no difference in handling. I like the extra 3/32nds of tread depth on the E-Rates too. I run 'em at 50 lbs and have over 20,000 miles on them so far. My Tire Guy says he's just now able to tell they've been used. He tells me 65-75,000 miles should be no problem, if we rotate them when we should.
LT only
Load rating is up to you.
P tires don't have a strong enough side wall
You'd be okay with either. My LT tires are pretty beefy in the sidewalls and might take tougher conditions if you ever put the tire off road, etc.. The P tires might get 1 mpg better, and I would think they'd give a superior ride..
You are correct sir. My LT's did cost me a MPG and the ride isn't as smooth as before. We vacation in Canada every year.Towing the boat nearly 500 miles each way, with a bed-load of gear and 3 or 4 adults in the truck, the E-Rates were the right choice for me.Originally Posted by Bamaman
Tread style will matter as much as anything on the Tundra with its 4.30 final ratio on mpg. It's not great on gas mileage anyway. I got 15 average with my factory Michelin AT's and about 13.5 with my E load range KO2's. Those KO's are WAY more aggressive! So, do you really take your truck off road or haul loads bigger than your bass boat much? If so then the E-Load range may be for you. The AT2's did everything I asked of them. The KO2's were brutes! They looked better and I can't imagine where I would have been able to take that truck with them. I had the TRD-Pro.
Made a couple 2,000 mile round trip pulls with the Michelins without any issues. One 2000 mile one trip pull with the KO's and when I hooked up the boat the mpg were the same.
You can get road pattern LT tires. They don't have to be AT or MT treads.
Considering the input here, I'm looking at Sumitomo Encounter HT's and I got a good price on Toyo Open Country HT's in LT275/65R18. 90+ percent of my driving is on pavement, so, no I'm not looking at aggressive tread off road type tires.
The Sumitomo's have better reviews and are priced good. Good dry and wet road handling. Decent ice/snow dusting control. I believe LT's even come with 60,000 mile warranty. But the Toyo's are a better deal. And good reviews too. They might even have 50 to 60,000 mile warranty too.
Everything else I researched reviews on are comparable in performance but these two brands are a better deal.
Phoenix 921ProXP Mercury 250 ProXS
PM Sent
I have zero experience with Sumitomos but you will be hard pressed to find a bad review of a Toyo Truck tire. If they are cheaper I would not even think about choosing anything else.
I had Toyo Open Country A/Ts and They lasted 40k miles. Little rough after awhile at freeway speeds. They were about as good as the 2 sets of Firestones I had gone through earlier.
I'm now running the Michelins mentioned above and they were well worth the $25 difference per tire on sale at Costco. They don't show any wear so far.
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