cosway

My door sticker calls for LT tires but this truck I just got has brand new P tires. Have any of you towed with both and noticed a big difference?

I'm towing 5000-6000 with weight distribution.

thanks.

EcoboostKev

I towed our 7500lb travel trailer all summer on the P rated stock 20" tires. I pumped them up to there max when towing and honestly didn't have any problems with them. But they are the same tire i had on my 07' F150 and are HORRIBLE in the snow. So I'm replacing them with Toyo AT2's 285/55/20 10 ply very soon!!

willieboy

P tires can be very capable towers. Until two weeks ago I had never towed on anything but P-rated tires. The new truck has LT tires. I can tell you one thing, once you tow with LT tires, you will never go back. While on P-rated tires, I would have sworn up and down that they were perfect for towing. Now, I am not sure I could go back to regular towing on the P-rated tires, the ride is so much more solid and sure footed feeling with the LT tires.

cosway

Willieboy
What tires did you install?
I'm leaning towards Michelin LTX I have P's on my others vehicles now. Thinking Michelin LT for the F150

kepcv6871

I'll be interested to see others experience with the Michelin LTX for towing. I changed to them for my SUV and former truck and they are great tires for normal running. Very long wearing, good ride, and very good in snow.

willieboy

Well, I changed trucks. I had been towing with a Tundra most recently. But have towed with a Suburban and a couple others prior. All on P-Rated tires. I have towed with Brother in laws truck which has the stock P-rated 20" for the F150 (2012). All of those trucks/SUVs seemed to tow just fine. It was not until I pulled with the new truck that I noticed the difference; 2013 F150 with stock LT BF Goodrich Rugged Trails.

Those Michelins have some very good ratings. If you go look at the snow birds as they tow their mobile Castles from the great white north down to TX/AZ, I would bet 50% of them tow on those tires. I have an Uncle and Grandparents that both swear these are the best highway/mild off-road tire built. They have very good loaded and unloaded road manners, and apparently have some great treadwear as well. They will quite likley be the tire I use to replace the BF Goodrich I have now (whenever they wear out, or can't be balanced anymore).

Just as a note, BFG tires are notorious for being hard to balance, and it gets worse the more wear they have on them. I dealt with the balance issue on the Tundra with brand new tires. They were able to get them to balance, but it took about three trips back to get it right. The guys at Discount were telling me they have considered stopping the sale of BFGs because they are so hard to balance. The BFGs on the F150 seem to be good for now, but I suspect they will not age well...

cosway

I'm going to take these new BFG "Rugged Trail" off and sell them local and get me some Michelin LTX

brulaz

I swapped out the OE Pirelli Scorpion STR P275/55R20 111T all-seasons this summer for Michelin LTX MS/2, LT245/75R17E all-seasons on Ford's 17x7.5 alloy rims.

These Michelins are a great tire for towing. Very precise, a bit stiffer and noisier on cracks but I'm ok with that. And no tire squirm when loaded if you've got the pressure right. I'm running the rears at 55psi when loaded.

A surprise is the improved mileage. Following the same route to Florida this Fall, I'm consistently getting ~11% better mileage. Michelin does rate the LT-metric version of these tires as "GreenX" so I guess they're doing what they're supposed to do.

The only problem so far has been with the higher pressures and TPMS. The dealer only filled the Michelins to 35psi, what it says on the door sticker for the P-metric Pirelli's, which is nonsense for an LT-metric tire. But after pumping them up to 50-55psi the TPMS system keeps giving me a fault message. Not sure, but I think the truck's computer and TPMS system has to be told about the new tires. The dealer didn't have a clue. So one of these days I'll have some Floridian Ford dealer look at it.

cosway

Why does your sticker call for a P tire and my 2004 calls for LT with PSI set to 40

brulaz

Depends upon what gets installed at the factory. Most F150's come with P-metric tires these days. But if you get the HD Payload option you get LT-metrics, or you can special order LT's from the factory.

If you change tires from P to LT or back, they don't change the factory sticker, at least I've never heard of anyone doing it. It would make sense to change it, but ... ???