Quote:
Originally Posted by Hersbird
In order for the Post Office's smallish mail trucks to have a 1000 pound cargo ability, they need LT tires. We tried to order snow tires for them and the only available tires in the size were P series and thus would be under the weight capacity by 30 pounds per tire. So no snow (pun intended) tires on the 300,000 mail trucks in the US. Those smaller tires, in this case a 14" wheel, really aren't that high of a rating when going to LT, and the mail truck is basically a Chevy S10 with an aluminum body on it. Oh and the dedicated snow tires cost 1/3 the price of the LT tires we buy (Goodyear Wrangler almost $300 each because why wouldn't a government agency use a tire size/spec nobody else on the planet is using?) Even better we get to run chains in the winter that cost $75 a set and last 2 weeks tops tearing up the roads.
On a side note, I don't think the LT tires are necessarily that much worse RR, but by far most LT tires also add aggressive tread designs which will be bad for RR.
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This is the government we're talking about, I doubt that they
need LT tires. Even the itty bitty 12" tires on my Geo are rated for 908 lbs a piece, and going up to a reasonably large 14" tire I'm sure you would be in the 1,600 pound range on a passenger tire, and those mail trucks can't be all that heavy.
A quick google search for P205/70R15 shows that they are usually rated for between 1,600 and 1,800 pounds, so about 3,200-3,600 on the rear axle, and you'll not convince me that the rear half on that S10 weighs more than 2,200 pounds. For that matter, My 4X4 F150 doesn't have that much dry weight on the rear axle.
OP, unless you are crazily overloading that S10, you will be just fine with a P designated tire.