Benefits of light truck construction

[Gary_Prado Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Gary_Prado]

I am trying to decide what tyre to purchase - trying to do research on the many forums doesn't seem to be getting me too far though. So many differing opinions. But what I would like to know at the moment is what the benefits of light truck (LT) construction are. I thought it was for puncture resistance, which seems to come up a lot on the forums, but the dealers tell me LT really only means that they have a better load carrying capacity. I am keen on puncture resistance, but don't want to pay extra if they don't actually provide that.

Any thoughts?

Gary

[D4D-GXL Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D-GXL]

Hi Gary, I googled a few sites and came up with this LT Tyre Construction site. Hope this explains a little.

From my interpretation - I deduce that LT basically means Light Truck tyre.

Here is some text from the site to help.

READING THE SIDEWALL

Tyres come in three types of markings essentially:
IMPERIAL

The Imperial system comes to our shores mainly from America. This is how the system works -

31 Overall diameter in inches
10.5 Tyre width in inches
R Means Radial Ply construction
15 Tyre diameter in inches
LT Means Light Truck designation
109 Is the load index which equates to 1030 kgs for a single wheel
S Is the speed rating of 180 kph


METRIC
Metric markings are found on tyres arriving from Japan and some European manufacturers -

LT Means the tyre construction is Light Truck designated
235 Relates to the section width of the tyre, in millimetres
85 The Aspect Ratio of the tyre, being 85% of the section width of the tyre at the correct pressure

R Means Radial Ply construction
16 Diameter of the tyre, in inches
115 / 113 This is the Load Rating and depends on whether a single or dual tyre application is used. 115 equates to 1215 kgs
N The Speed Rating, equal to 140 kph

ALPHA NUMERIC
We still see some of these markings around and it works like this -

G The code for maximum load
R Radial Ply construction
78 This is the Aspect Ratio
15 Rim diameter in inches
LT Light Truck construction

[Grandeman Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Grandeman]

In my travels I have discovered that the LT designation usually brings with it:

1) Thicker construction
2) Better puncture resistance
3) More weight because of 1) above

There may be other benefits as well, but I am not a tyre expert.

A few of those guys here can, no doubt, add to the above list.

[9W6VX Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 9W6VX]

Seconded!

Cheers

[Gary_Prado Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Gary_Prado]

I guess I was wanting to know, do I bother with the LT construction? Should it really be in the equation when I am choosing a new tyre?

Gary

[Gary_Prado Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Gary_Prado]

Cheers. We are doing a trip outback next year. LT should probably the choice then.

Gary

[Grandeman Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Grandeman]

Nice avatar there Matt - no secrets, eh?

[Damien Parker Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Damien Parker]

Bloody unreal rubber those...

[Jacto Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jacto]

I am going to throw my two bob's worth in and comment on this:

I will be replacing my absolutely fantastic high tread life/mileage Grandtreks with light truck construction tyres.

The main reason I will be moving this way is that off road they are a lot more forgiving at lower tyre pressures when carrying heavier loads, as opposed to a "normal" passenger tyre construction tyre, which may suffer from significant overloading when the tyre pressure is reduced. The light truck tyre will provide better load carrying characteristics at lower tyre pressures when the tyre pressure is reduced as opposed to the passenger constructed tyre.
Contrary to the belief of many tyre users, a 10 ply rating tyre does not necessarily have 10 plies in the carcass. It is only a tensile strength related back to when tyres were first made with 10 actual plies of cotton in them and may not mean that the casing is thicker and therefore more puncture resistant. A 10 ply tyre might only have 4-6 actual nylon or other type of material as its plies.

Again, what a light truck tyre may allow us to do though is run the tyres at an even lower pressures under all conditions therefore offering a more comfortable ride as opposed to having to operate our Grandtreks at 36psi and being subjected to a harsher ride.

Being in the tyre industry for thirty five years though I cannot comprehensively say that "because it is a light truck tyre, it is going to be more puncture resistant" as you would all be aware, it doesn't matter what tyre it is, it can still be staked. My son in law staked a near new Cooper ATR (non light truck) beyond repair a couple of weeks ago in the Watagans and we weren't even in "off road" conditions, he had reduced his pressures to 24psi though in readiness to go off road.

Pete S recently went North up the Gibb river road on his Grandtreks, looked after the pressures impecably and didn't destroy a tyre. It really comes back to how much you want to pay for what you want to do and how much valour takes over from common sense.

I do not think there is any right or wrong tyre construction, we all have tyre problems at some stage and when we do, the tyre is the biggest piece of crap on the vehicle. I make my decisions on what I want to do with the vehicle and the loads it has to carry - my two bob's