Will_4R
Member
After much thought and research I have decided to upgrade tires from the Michelin Cross Terrain to the Good Year Wrangler Silent Armor in a 265/70R17. I was going to do this a few months ago, but waited since thery are suppose to be on sale at the local tire shop in early April. With April approaching, I am getting ready to make the leap (and drop the cash). But do I want P or LT (load range C)?
Most of my driving is long distance highway driving, often in rain and sometimes snow in the mountains. I do a fair amount of gravel roads, sometimes even rough gravel road driving, and once a month of so of more challenging offroading. I would like to minimize any negative effect on breaking, accelerating and general handling.
I decided going up a size is a worthwhile comprize for offroad (ground clearnance mainly), but to keep tire weight to a minimum am considering going with the P-series. The Ps are 3 pounds each lighter than the Cs.
From my research on here, there seems to be a precevied benefit to the added sidewall strength on the LTs for offroad, but nothing really measurable. In my experience with the Cross Terrains, the Ps are pretty tough and have held up much better than I anticipated with the type of driving I do.
I understand the real benfit of LTs is for heavy loads, which doesn't apply to me. I also realize that they need to be run at a higher pressure than Ps to achieve the same or higher load range, and that running them at a lower pressure (even if you don't need the added load range) can acutally weaken and deteriorate them from heat (this is a concern for me since i do lots of highway driving and probably don't want ot run them at 60 PSI all the time). Funny thing is that the SAs (C-) actually have a lower load rating than the Ps at their max PSI according to Tirerack, which sort of makes them seem pointless from a load range point of view.
My conlcusion is that overall the P is probably better overall for my application. Do you guys agree with my reasoning? The GYWSA with it's Durawall should be a step up in sidewall durability from the CTs right?
Most of my driving is long distance highway driving, often in rain and sometimes snow in the mountains. I do a fair amount of gravel roads, sometimes even rough gravel road driving, and once a month of so of more challenging offroading. I would like to minimize any negative effect on breaking, accelerating and general handling.
I decided going up a size is a worthwhile comprize for offroad (ground clearnance mainly), but to keep tire weight to a minimum am considering going with the P-series. The Ps are 3 pounds each lighter than the Cs.
From my research on here, there seems to be a precevied benefit to the added sidewall strength on the LTs for offroad, but nothing really measurable. In my experience with the Cross Terrains, the Ps are pretty tough and have held up much better than I anticipated with the type of driving I do.
I understand the real benfit of LTs is for heavy loads, which doesn't apply to me. I also realize that they need to be run at a higher pressure than Ps to achieve the same or higher load range, and that running them at a lower pressure (even if you don't need the added load range) can acutally weaken and deteriorate them from heat (this is a concern for me since i do lots of highway driving and probably don't want ot run them at 60 PSI all the time). Funny thing is that the SAs (C-) actually have a lower load rating than the Ps at their max PSI according to Tirerack, which sort of makes them seem pointless from a load range point of view.
My conlcusion is that overall the P is probably better overall for my application. Do you guys agree with my reasoning? The GYWSA with it's Durawall should be a step up in sidewall durability from the CTs right?
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