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Old 10-30-2008, 04:52 PM   #52 (permalink)
CapriRacer
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tony Raine View Post
all i have to add are my own experiences.

2001 ford explorer sport, 2 sets of 31x10.5 generic mud tires

1st set:
-don't remember how many miles i got out of them, but it was quite a bit for mud tires. maybe 35,000 or so
-tire pressure kept at ford specs religiously (35 front, 30 rear)
-tires rotated every other oil change (every 10,000 miles)
-the tires in the front cupped pretty badly, thought it was an alignment problem.
-lots of body roll and bounce getting on the highway.

2nd set:
-10 to 15,000 miles so far, very little wear
-about to do first rotation (im due to change my oil)
-45 psi all 4 corners for most of those miles
-tire cupping is non-existent (and i never got an alignment)
-handling is very noticeably improved (its still a lifted suv, but its much better than even bone stock)
A couple of thoughts:

First, Tire Guides - which summarizes the vehicle placards, says that 2001 Ford Explorer Sports all had P metric tires originally and all used 30 psi. I'm going to assume that this vehicle came with the P235/75R15 tires, since the tire sizes indicated was 31X10.50.

Assuming that what I looked up is correct, to get the same load carrying capacity as the original tires, a 31X10.50R15LT would need to be inflated to ...... drumroll, please ......... 45 psi.

That means the 1st set were UNDERINFLATED - so there is no surprise that there were tire wear problems!!

It also means the second set were PROPERLY inflated - per the vehicle placard if you count the change in tire size.
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