JB.
New member
What are the most comfortable 31" all season tires that will most likely see 99% highway miles and maybe 1% light trails? I'm most concerned about having a soft ride and highway noise.
If you make sure to get passenger tires (P), that will take care of 98% of what you need to consider since comfort is mostly due to inflation pressure and passenger tires can be safely run at lower pressure than Light Truck tires (LT).
Since Tire Rack makes this harder than it needs to be by choosing to omit the P or LT prefix from the tire size listings, I'd suggest buying elsewhere. If you use the site for research, you can determine a P tire by looking for info in the UTQG column on the specs page. LTs will have "none" for an entry.
Any cons of a 30" tire besides ground clearance?
Assuming the same width, the most obvious con is somewhat abstract. Smaller tires have less load carrying capacity which means you'd be shrinking the load reserve safety margin of the OE tires. To get the same load carrying capacity, you'd have to increase pressure and that takes you in a different direction from your comfort goal. On the other hand, if you're sticking to the pavement, the lower ground clearance (center of gravity) could be considered a plus.