Nimrod

Has anyone found a 17" studded snow tire 10ply load range E for the 03 dodge. I need a towing winter tire. I preferr a toyo but not available yet.

1sttruck

I've only seen two 17in load range E tires so far; the OEM Michelin LTX A/S and the Goodrich Rugged Trail T/A. In spite of the complaints about the Michelins the Goodrich seem to do much worse in the LT Highway All Season tire survey at Tirerack; http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey.../highwayas.jsp

I have Michelins, have hand siped them in an attempt to get better traction, and may modify the tread blocks next. The Goodrich appear to have more of an A/T tread so siping those might work well enough until something else becomes available. With either having chains might be prudent for snow and ice, something else that I'm looking at.

Nimrod

Thanks for the input, how did you sipe your oem tires? This will be my second winter on these michelin tires and when towing in winter conditions I really like those studs. But like you say this my get me by till toyo makes the tire I want.
Truck on, Nimrod

VPI

Interco Super Swamper makes a radial in a load range E you may be able to put studs on it. I think it is the Trxus but I am not sure. I do know it is not much diffirent from a BFG MT, Good Year MT/ Cooper Mt as far as noise and aggressiveness goes. May not be what you are looking for but it is my $.02 http://www.intercotire.com/html/trxus_mt___sts.htm

tarpilot

I did a monthlong EXHAUSTIVE search on the phone, web, etc., and we had a few threads going here a while back. There is nothing out there as far as any of us had found, except the BFG T/A, which is a D rated 8 ply. I put a set on the morning of our first big storm and drove through a wide range of snow conditions. It's a real nice tire, and seems every bit as sturdy as my Michelin OEM's. they're 285's though which look great on these rigs. Pisses me off that Dodge didn't make sure we had options. Toyo makes the Open Country A/T in a D rated 265, but they supposedly wear like heck.

Raspy

Hey Guys,

Why do so many of you keep refering to these tires as 8 ply or 10 ply? That went out years ago with the old bias ply tires. And even then they were rating them as 8 ply rating with 4 actual plys.
These modern radials only have a 2 or 3 ply sidewall design and steel belts. They all are similar in design. It's the rating were interested in. Load range D or E or (heaven forbid, "standard load" which means B, eeeek). Can't we just say load range D or E like it clearly says on the tire? They don't have 10 plys.
Sorry if I offended anyone.

Wetspirit

tarpilot

Mine have 8 plies, it says so right on the sidewall, which has 3. And I'm pretty positive my OEM michelins have 10, and say so. I agree though, it's the rating that counts.

bulabula

[quote author=tarpilot link=board=49;threadid=23569;start=0#msg222412 date=1071200718]
I did a monthlong EXHAUSTIVE search on the phone, web, etc., and we had a few threads going here a while back. There is nothing out there as far as any of us had found, except the BFG T/A, which is a D rated 8 ply.[/quote]Does DC have a monopoly on the BFG Load Range E's thats on the truck now? Is it not possible to replace them with the same thing when they wear out? That would bite.

1sttruck

From what I've figured out so far the load range, D vs E for most of us, is more important than the maximum load that a tire is rated for if one will be hauling/towing heavier loads. The load range E tires seem to max out at 80 psi while the load range D max at 65 psi. For lighter loads and especially for extensive off road use it doesn't seem to make as much difference, but some tire review comments suggest that load range D with heavier loads can result in relatively short tire life, complaints about bouncy or squirmy handling, sidewall cracking, and repeated leaks. It seems to be a list of symptoms similar to too low of a tire pressure, which a lot of people also seem to run.

As an example, when trying to figure out what tire pressure I should run per the Michelin tire brochure that came with my truck, I need to use 80 psi on the rear with a maximum load and I also need to add 10 psi for driving over 65 mph, so it seems that 65 mph is the maximum speed that one can drive with a mximum load as 80 psi is the maximum tire pressure. For driving over 65 mph one shouldn't be more than about 2/3 loaded with 80 psi in the rear tires, but a lot of people state that they run 45 to 55 psi.

RamDan03

[quote author=bulabula link=board=49;threadid=23569;start=0#msg222530 date=1071235181]Does DC have a monopoly on the BFG Load Range E's thats on the truck now? Is it not possible to replace them with the same thing when they wear out? That would bite.
[/quote]

Nah. The stock BFG Rugged Trail tires on our trucks are widely available. Most of the major tire chains stock them or can easily order them.

tarpilot

Tell me about it...although a few people have told me they go for 40 to 50k, so mile for mile maybe they're not such a bad deal. And they do look REALLY cool. ;D

1sttruck

On siping tires.... I had the shop sipe the tires on one our sedans as it was only $10 a tire, and unlike with the truck I wasn't worried about ending up with small sections of tread block that could rip or chunk out. The siping increased traction on the long life all season tires a lot as they didn't have much siping to begin with. I used the Michelin LTX M/S as a model for siping my Michelin LTX A/S tires, where there is more siping, it extends all the way across the tread blocks, and the grooves on the edges extend all the way across the blocks. I'm guessing that the reduced siping on the A/S reduces noise, as do the narrow ends of the tread blocks, but both features also reduce traction.

For hand siping I used a utility knife with the break away tips, specifically a Great Neck Speed Feed which was about $5. I wanted to want to cut the siping a bit less than the existing siping on the tire, and found that I needed a bit more depth than the stock knife offered so I belt sanded the blade holder back a bit. I used a white china marker to mark each cut as they're hard to see, and just cut around the tires as much as I could, rolled the truck back a bit, and finished the job on all of the tires.

On the edge blocks I cut a sipe across the block from the end of the groove towards the inside, but people who are on rock a lot may want to skip siping the edge blocks to minimize the chance of chunking. The tread blocks on the three interior rows vary in length, and there are three basic sizes:

short ones where you just complete the siping across the block

medium ones where you complete the siping across the block and add one new sipe

longer ones where you complete the siping across the block and add two new sipes

Go slow, use two hands on the knife for better control, and avoid cutting into the other block when you complete a sipe. I highly recommend using the short tip knives to avoid slicing deep into the tire, where you might end up having to buy a tire that you didn't really want to begin with. Like they say in medicine; first of all, do no more damage :^)

Since siping the tires the rear end doesn't break loose in the lower gears, go into the slow power slides in the higher speed turns, and doesn't wander in the rain when driving on roads with the water filled ruts cut by the studded tires. I haven't been in any snow to speak of yet , or ice.

tarpilot

DF5152

not sure of load range but http://www.nokiantyres.com/index_en.html