What Are The Best Tires For Hauling?

Everything You Need To Know About Tire Load Rating

Having a complete and total understanding of everything relating to your truck tires' performance capabilities, especially when hauling heavy loads, is crucial for arriving at your destination safely. So, with that said, how do we know which load rating is best for our particular driving applications?

There's only one way to find out - today, we'll take you through everything you need to know about how tire load ratings work, and how you can use this information to find the best one for your needs when you need to haul large loads wherever you go. Let's take a look!

Table Of Contents

-What Is A Tire Load Rating Index and How Is It Calculated?

-Typical Load Ratings For Each Tire Size

-What Do Tire Load Range Rating Letters Mean?

-Tips For Maximum Load Capacity On Your Tires

-How Do Tire Ply Ratings Impact Load Index and Load Rating?

-How To Find The Best Load Carrying Tire For Your Off-Roader

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What Is A Tire Load Rating Index and How Is It Calculated?

Basically, a tire's load rating directly impacts a vehicle's carrying capacity. Passenger tires and light truck tires have different load ratings based on a combination of factors like size, construction, application, and inflation pressure. In the US, the Tire and Rim Association (TRA) is the standardization organization for tires, and it publishes an annual yearbook with load and inflation ratings for each tire size and load rating, plus the tire's maximum air pressure, which is also listed on its sidewall.

Load and inflation standards have been developed over the years, taking into consideration the size of the tire's air containment chamber, inflation pressure, and tire usage. Additionally, load provisions are specified for tires designed with reinforced constructions, typically described as XL (extra load) tires for passenger vehicles, and higher load range symbols for light truck-designated tires.

Typical Load Ratings For Each Tire Size

Tire size is another major factor in determining the load carrying capacity of the tire itself. When you're searching for different tire sizes in our store, you'll probably notice that there are three different size designations - tire sizes that are used on OE (original equipment) tires for light duty trucks are P-metric, LT-metric, and Euro-metric. Many quarter and half-ton trucks will use the P-metric and Euro-metric standards, whereas three-quarter ton and one-ton trucks will use the LT-metric sizes.

P-Metric

In addition to being used on light duty trucks, P-metric is a global term and is used around the world. The P stands for "passenger" and is found on sedans, coupes, minivans, small SUVs, CUVs, and some lighter duty trucks. P-metric tires are often broken down into additional categories: Standard Load (SL) and Extra Load (XL). Standard load tires are intended for normal, everyday use and will either be marked with "SL" after the tire size or not marked at all - extra load, or XL, tires are designed to be able to carry a higher load than standard load tires.

LT-Metric

LT-metric is also pretty common, and will have the letters "LT" in front of the tire size molded on the sidewall. These tires are most commonly found on pickup trucks - light truck tires can carry heavier loads due to a higher maximum inflation pressure, which varies depending on the load range, and will also have a different construction than P-metric tires, including a deeper tread depth. Trucks or overlanding-type vehicles that will be carrying a bunch of extra weight will require tires with a higher load range in order to handle all that extra weight.

Read More: What Are The Best Do-It-All Off-Road Tires?

What Do Tire Load Range Rating Letters Mean?

The load range is an indicator of a tire's strength and defines the tire's load carrying capacity and inflation pressure with an ascending letter of the alphabet - the most common ratings you'll find are B, C, D, E, and F.

It's also important to ensure that the maximum gross vehicle weight rating, or GVWR - referenced on the vehicle's place card or in the owner's manual - is less than what the tire's load range weight rating is. If the tire size changes, the new size must have an equal or greater load carrying capacity versus the original equipment place card size. If that's the case, the TRA goes so far as recommending you to contact the vehicle's manufacturer for the weight carrying guidelines with the new tire size.

Tips For Maximum Load Capacity On Your Tires

Another thing to note with weight carrying capacity is that the maximum load capacity is only that if the tire is inflated to its maximum air pressure. The maximum inflation pressure listed doesn't necessarily mean it's the recommended inflation pressure, though. For example, most P-rated tires have a maximum inflation pressure of 44 PSI marked on the sidewall. However, this may not be the inflation pressure needed for the vehicle, as it may only need 32 PSI.

Now, let's say that we're looking at a load range D tire in the light truck category, and it's a 265/70R17 at 65 pounds per square inch of air pressure. That tire has a maximum load capacity of 3042 pounds - combine that tire with three more, and now with those tires, your vehicle can carry a maximum of 12,168 pounds with all four tires set at 65 PSI.

Read More: Best Off-Road All-Terrain Tires For 2022

How Do Tire Ply Ratings Impact Load Index and Load Rating?

Tire ply ratings are a throwback to the old system when bias ply truck tires were prevalent, and measured a truck tire's carrying capacity by the number of plies in the carcass or body of the tire. Now it's just a rating, and not the number of actual plies - or layers - that the tire is made out of.

A higher numeric rating or ply count identified on tires will feature stronger and heavier-duty construction - today's radial truck tires will only have one steel ply in the carcase, but it's still used as a measure of their carrying capacity. 12-ply rated tires carry more weight than 10-ply, and an F load rating will be equivalent to a 12-ply rating. An E load is 10-ply, and on down the list it goes.

However, the most accurate measurement from an engineering perspective is the load index. The tire's load index is relative to the maximum load carrying capacities allowed at the maximum-rated speed of the tire, indicated by its speed symbol, and should be referenced when applicable, as load and speed index values are more typically used in Europe and sometimes in Canada.

How To Find The Best Load Carrying Tire For Your Off-Roader

To sum it all up and find the best load carrying tire for you, you'll need to first know how much weight you're gonna be hauling, including the weight of your vehicle. Then, you'll want to make sure that the load range of your tire adds up to be more than your total amount of weight, or the GMVR. Also, don't forget to add the tongue weight of your trailer onto your gross weight as well if you're gonna be hauling.

Read More: All-Terrain vs. Hybrid Tires - What's The Difference?

Shop Aftermarket Tires For Your Truck or SUV at TrailBuilt Off-Road

We've made it easy for you to find the perfect set of tires to haul whatever you need to bring along for the ride. When you're in our store searching for tires, you can folder down by the load rating or load index value - this'll make it much simpler and faster to find the right set for your needs.

With all that in mind, head over to our store and pick out the tires that are best-suited for your build. Let us know if you have any further questions, and as always, we'll see you out on the trails!