Are LT Tires Really Necessary?

kansadobe

New member
I will soon have to replace the tires on my 2008 2500 170" passenger van. The ID plate specifies LT245/75R16. We do not carry any heavy loads on this van. It is only used to haul our dogs for training classes and to dog shows and trials so I think it should be acceptable to use regular 245/75R16 tires? They are the same size and only a slightly lower load rating. Doe anyone know of any issue I am overlooking that would require the heavier tires?

Thank you for your responses.
 

sailquik

Well-known member
kansadobe,
The short answer is YES!! (Emphatically).
Running tires that have less than (<) the placarded weight rating for your vehicle (any vehicle...not just Sprinters) has some potential legal ramifications for a start.
Why put safety of your family and your dogs at risk to save a few $$?
You may save a little by purchasing lower rated tires, but will they wear as long?
Will they provide the same sort of traction?
Will they work with your Sprinters ASR (Anti-Skid Recovery) and ABS (Anti-lock Braking) systems in the same way that the OEM recommended tires have been engineered to work?
What tires do you have now.....Continental Vanco Four Seasons??? or something else in the LT245/75R16 size range?
How many miles did you get from your OEM set of tires?
You may be overlooking a lot of issues here.
If you purchase tires with a lower rating, and have to replace them 2x or 3x more often, where is the savings?
If the under rated tires blow out and you crash, possibly hurting someone in your family or your pets, or someone who
was just driving along and happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, the fact that you have under rated tires
could set the stage for an expensive lawsuit and increase your culpability significantly.
There is the potential for your insurance company to use the "modified vehicle" clause and make you "uninsured" when you
need insurance the most.
Try a set of the best (IMHO) Michelin LTX MS2 in the LT245/75R16 size, maintain the air pressure at the placard listed pressures,
rotate the tires @ 10k miles as a part of your routine maintenance and you will have the best possible combination of ride quality,
tire wear and traction.
Hope this helps,
Roger
 
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Old Crows

Calypso 2014 View Profile
Kana adobe, In a word....Yes! You need a LT275/R16 to be safe. Aside from SailQuick's response, there is another reason. Sprinters are real fussy about tire sizes. The ABS, transmission shift, ASR, stability control and engine management electronics may get wonky when they recognize there's a wrong size tire.

LT because it is a "light truck." Tires have to be matched to the maximum rated weight of the vehicle for safety.
 

david_42

Active member
Yes, I suspect your "slightly lower load rating" is a "C", which cannot handle the 55 psi recommendation for the front end of a Sprinter without any cargo.
 

Graphite Dave

Dave Orton
Kana adobe, In a word....Yes! You need a LT275/R16 to be safe. Aside from SailQuick's response, there is another reason. Sprinters are real fussy about sizes. The ABS, transmission shift, ASR, stability control and engine management electronics may get wonky when they recognize there's a wrong size tire.

LT because it is a "light truck." Tires have to be matched to the maximum rated weight of the vehicle for safety.
My 144" 08 works fine with the next larger size tire. LT265/R16. Handles a bit better, looks better,appears to get about 1/2 mpg better fuel mileage. I keep accurate mileage records based on miles driven and gallons added. Tires changed at 38,000 miles. Current mileage is 49,000 miles.
 

chris118

Member
For what its worth, my van had load "b" tires on it when I got it used. They were scetchy, but worked for the two years I road on them.
Then I upgraded to load "c" tires BFG all terrains for about 75,000 miles.
Did 2 trips to Alaska, went from west to east coast, down into mexico and a lot of time aired down in the Mojave desert.
They did fine, they were just really loud.

BUT, I just got load "d" tires perrelli a/t scorpions and it truly feel like I got a total suspension upgrade. Way less of "a ship in stormy seas" feeling.
Took me a while to learn, but I know understand the importance of the right load rating!
I have the smallest sprinter made, if it was a talller one I imagine load rating is eaven more important.:2cents:

Also I upsized the tires at 140k and it has done fine with no problems with transmission shifting or any of the built in safety stuff.
A patched tire blew out on me at 70mph and the van handled really well to get me to the side of the road.
Oh yeah, avoid patched tires!
 
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d_bertko

Active member
Kana adobe, In a word....Yes! You need a LT275/R16 to be safe. Aside from SailQuick's response, there is another reason. Sprinters are real fussy about tire sizes. The ABS, transmission shift, ASR, stability control and engine management electronics may get wonky when they recognize there's a wrong size tire.

LT because it is a "light truck." Tires have to be matched to the maximum rated weight of the vehicle for safety.
I upsized my tire diameter some when I swapped my 15" rims for 16" rims on my 02 T1N.

Our expert technician SprinterGuy Carl reprogrammed the van for the new size when I had it at the dealership for service. Seemed reasonable to not to mismatch the computer's expectations.

Dan
 

220629

Well-known member
Potential handling issues aside, given the weight capacity of the Sprinter you really should go for the LT tires no matter what your anticipated personal plans are now. Many (most?) businesses will not even mount passenger tires for you if they are aware that they will be used on Sprinter. That is for safety and liability reasons.

:2cents:

vic
 

Cole

OUTLAW SPRINTER!!!
I'm going to buck the overly conservative trend here for a moment.

Of course the easy answer is, yes. But the real answer is "sorta" or "maybe not". What load rating is on the tires you are looking at? Phone much does your van and your heaviest load weigh? The factory is always going to overrate the tires for the max possible load capacity of the vehicle. Which may not be idea for a specific use. Here is an example.

I built Jeeps and big 4x4 trucks for magazines for about 10 years. Where we were constantly putting much larger tires on all sorts of things! These larger tires often came with load ratings much greater than the weight of the vehicles we were putting them on. Imagine 40" tires on Jeep Wrangles and the like.

Getting tires to handle well and wear well often required drastic changes in tire pressures. The load on the tires was way lighter than the tire was designed for. This caused the tire to always act over inflated. (Run hot in the middle, reduce tread contact with the ground, etc) getting some of these tires to wear evenly on a light rig sometimes required pressures as low as 15 psi. We could get a big tire to wear well at 15psi and provide proper traction but then the sidewall can start to get squirmy at speed. Also really depends on the tire itself.

I'd take a good look at your current pressures and the way the tires have worn with the loads you carry. Its possible that having a tire with too great of a load rating will not be the ideal performer for your specific needs. You may actually get better life, mileage and handling with a lower rated tire if it truly fits the loads you carry better.


....but the easy answer is to just put the heavier rated tires on!
 
My vans are commercial, so we probably are loaded more than yours. But, even empty, my vans handle horribly with D rated tires. I use only E rated tires. The difference in cost is minimal, the difference in safety is enormous. Get the better tires, and protect your family and other vehicles on the road.
 

Cole

OUTLAW SPRINTER!!!
A heavier load rating isn't automatically a "better tire". Otherwise all tires would just have heavy load ratings.

So much more to a tire the just the heaviest load rating. An "appropriate" load rating is more important than simply the "most"
 

pfflyer

Well-known member
Would a shop put or sell a lower rated tire on a vehicle than the manufactures specs? For liability reasons if I owned a tire store wouldn't touch it with a 10' pole.
 

flman

Roadrunner, Genius of Birds ALWAYS WINS! NO FAILS!
I would just get the tire that can handle the load you are physically carrying. You do not need LT if you are not carrying the amount of weight that requires them. I have seen passenger tires hold a lot more weight then the rating.
 

Cole

OUTLAW SPRINTER!!!
Can you expand on this...as I'm having a difficult time connecting the dots. :idunno:
Already explain the other posts. :idunno:


Basically, if you're driving an empty 6k lb van 100 of the time then you may get better wear and handling characteristics from tires rated for this load instead of ones rated at 11k lbs.
 
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OrioN

2008 2500 170" EXT
Already explain the other posts. :idunno:


Basically, if you're driving an empty 6k lb van 100 of the time then you may get better wear and handling characteristics from tires rated for this load instead of ones rated at 11k lbs.
Are you referring to the post about a jeep (off-roading scenarios & considerably lower centre of gravity) and now your above statement, and based on lots of 'speculations', that reference a scenario that running LT's on unladen Sprinter is possibly a performance (handling & wear) and teetering on a safety issue? And that a solution to this is to run a downgraded & non-MB spec'd tires?

If so, can you post some links, documents, studies, test that entail some 'physics' here, to back your 'opinions'?


For starts... I'm finding it hard to accept that NON-MB Specification modifications will not introduce issues, such conflicts with the ASR and the parameters that the ASR were designed, tested and certified for.








.
 
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sailquik

Well-known member
I'm with OrioN on this.
Running less than fully loaded, handling and tire mileage can easily be adjusted with air pressure changes.
So, you buy the cheaper not LT rated tires, pump them up beyond the stated maximum on the sidewalls, so you can carry the
occasional heavier load?
Or do you have 2 sets.... Non LT rated for normally unloaded driving and a set of full vehicle weight rated tires for when you want
to do some heavy hauling.
And change them out to accommodate the current load you will be carrying?
Saving a few $$ on something this important to your personal and passenger safety and the safety of any people/vehicles around you when you blow an under rated tire is simply not cost effective.
Increasing and decreasing the air pressure in your tires, to suit the load you currently have in your Sprinter, makes the most sense.
You can find load vs inflation tables for most tire brands and often for a specific tire.
If you want the best mileage and most safety, if you are going to change the amount of load in your Sprinter significantly, run it
across a set of scales and adjust your air pressure accordingly.
Cost to weigh a Sprinter.....< $10.
Cost to replace a blown tire.... ~ $150-200
Cost to replace a totaled Sprinter..... $40,000-$50,000.
You do the math....I've already done mine.
Roger
 

hulagun

Haulin' A** since 1974
Cole, I suspect you and I have similar experience with motorcycle tire debates. Assumptions get made, and there's always someone who wrongly insists the factory original tire is best and any variance is a death sentence. It sounds like you are doing your homework like I would, and not just accepting the factory gospel.

My sense is that my own 118" cargo van headed to a race track, with 2 occupants and maybe another 3/8 ton of gear and bikes, does NOT have to run the SAME tires Mercedes specified for a 158" wb van designed originally to be loaded to the gills with shelving, pallets, and heavy packages. So I'm satisfied I can safely run high quality pickup truck tires on my little van.

That said, I believe that vans and cube trucks do get more wind and other levered side forces acting on tire sidewalls compared to a lower profile vehicle... which like a motorcycle really affects handling which can affect safety. So the factory tire spec is likely designed with that in mind. For this reason I would NOT be happy w "soft sidewall" passenger vehicle tires on a van, even my little van. If I had a larger and longer van like yours, I'd definitely do the homework and match the tires sidewall strength to the van's heaviest anticipated FORCE load, regardless of the tires rating.

As for any possible liability issue, to me that's just another small factor to consider, it wouldn't drive the final decision.

:thumbup:
 

westyventures

In the Oregon Outback
I can't believe I am reading about this same 'tired' subject here that is constantly hashed over on the various VW van forums.
P-rated or passenger car tires, per industry spec, are de-rated 9% from their max load rating and often have insufficient sidewall strength for heavy/tall van or truck use. Manufacturers spec tires for a reason - and unless you are a tire engineer (I know a career tire engineer personally) don't start cheaping out and installing under-rated tires - no matter what the load is. Remember you are not the only one on the road, and your cheapness may take out someone else too. In my 30 years of import auto repair, I've seen my share of incorrect tires and resulting failures. The only exception here are tires with a higher rating, which I will often recommend and personally install.
 

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