Hi: TumaloKeith... The tire ratings now has to do with how much "Liability" the tire maker wants to "Ass Ume".
Dieseldragon North shore of Lake Erie.

 

They do list the load weight, but I want to know if its a 4 ply tire...you know the ones that almost always get a flat driving on a gravel road.

The days of cotton layers or plies forming the internal construction of tires are long gone, so the ply rating no longer has a direct connection to a tire’s construction and number of layers.
Tire manufacturers have been using the letters to designate a weight capacity of a tire. It sorta goes without saying that a tire capable of carrying more weight have a more stout construction.

 

Yup, that all makes sense. But the tire dealers sure know what to sell you when you go in and ask for a 10 ply truck tire.

 

Ply count has not been used for 15+ years it's based off load index and rating now. Load range C is equal to old school 6 ply. Load range D is equal to 8 ply. Load range E is confusing but its equal to 10 ply, E1 is at 65psi and E2 is at 80psi. That being said E2 might only have 4 plys but be way stronger than a old 10 ply. When you see P and XL that is tires that dont have a LT rating.

 

Hate to beat a dead horse, I usually only beat live animals. I just wonder how the average Joe, Jane or Them is going to really know what to buy for an SUV or LT with some light towing. Sure, the tire store is supposed to help you figure this out. It was so easy to just replace the cheap B rated 4 ply on a lite truck with 6 ply C rated tires. Now we have a meaningless term SL for Standard and average person will just say "oh, yea, put them on, they are Standard".

My hunting buddy now has a 1 ton truck, but he went thru 3 models of the 1/2 ton Ford and each one came with 4 ply tires. He put a lot of miles on his truck, and every year he would get a flat while we were hunting and every year I'd say something stupid like "ya otta put some C rated 6 ply tires on your truck". (I have E rated 10 ply). Years ago I had a 1/2 ton Chevy with their vaulted Z71 off road package, it came with ....yes... 4 ply tires. I had it a month and took it fishing off a gravel road. You guessed it... I got a flat tire on a one month old truck. Put some decent Cs on it and have never had a problem since.

But, back to the future! I wonder what the XL (extra load tire is). I mean you can get more load with a larger size tire... and it can still be a piece of sh#t.
Here is a picture of my current truck tire. It's almost one year old. For some strange reason it still says: 10 Pr (ply) and E (E load) and still lists 2 steel + 3 poly + 2 nylon and 3 poly sidewall = 10 ply. I wonder how that got one there. Must have broken some laws doing that?

 

... some more info relating to my original post about trying to find info from the web site for Tire Rack. As I mentioned, they only list if a tire is SL or XL and provide no other useful information.

Here is info from the link below:
"If you don’t see a Load Range or Ply Rating, you might find the letters P (passenger rated, which is 4-ply rated or lower), LT (light truck, which is 6-ply rated or higher), or XL (extra load is typically 4-ply rated with a higher-than-standard Load Index) stamped on the tires. "

Notice the XL comment....typically more load but still the equiv of a 4 ply tire.
If they still listed LT for light truck tire that would inform the buyer that's the equiv of a 6 ply tire!

How to understand tire ply ratings and what they mean.

 

You can compare the SL & XL load ratings on Tire Rack. I've been looking for tires for my JGC. IIRC, the XL is ~300 lbs higher rating. Not sure what the ply difference is.

 

I tried to order it in next picture.
XL/reinforced/extraload did not fit in the systems, so called it B+ load and 5PR. In blu is what I made of it, could not find officiall info. But if you read AT xxx psi on sidewall that is the Pr is referencepressure
Referencepressure or maxloadpressure is the pressure at wich the maxload can be carried upto reference-speed of mostly 160kmph/99mph, withoutoverheating any part of tire-material, wich is the main goal of pressure determination and determining maxload of tires.
On normal car tires and XL only max allowed cold pressure is given of between 44 and 51 psi, and an ocacional XL// 60 psi.
Diference between maxcold and maxload-pressure is used for highening up the maxloadpressure for higher speed and camber angle more then 2 degr ( alignment wheels like this on axle /-\ instead of this |-|).
From C-load/6PR maxloadpressure is given on sidewall. Continental groop in european system, often also gives " max inflation pressure on sidewall of 10 psi higher then maxloadpressure. Is also cold pressure.

 

Nice chart, very good info.

Whenever I go off road I'm still very interested in how Durable a tire is, that's why I was interested in the C rating or ply equivelant. The new system XL for extra load doesn't say anything about how tuff a tire is, just that it can carry more of a load. As mentioned in the link I posted from a tire company, most XL tires have a higher load rating but are still the equivalent of a 4 ply tire---not what you want for an off road tire. The searches I did looking for tire for by bro's Jeep only showed SL and XL tires and gave no info anywhere easily found if the tire was a C rated or 6 ply equivalent. If it said LT (Light Truck) it would probably be a 6 ply equivalent. In my opinion the new rating system sucks and think the old system of B, C, D, E and LT rated tires is much more useful to a buyer.

 

I understand what you're saying, but unfortunately it's impossible to judge the "toughness" of a tire by rating. Example: BFGoodrich KO2 tires have 3-ply sidewalls, Falken A/T3W tires have 2-ply sidewalls. Yet the Falken sidewalls are thicker, stronger, and are widely known to hold up better off-road.

Best I can tell you is to use the load index chart that is listed numerically. Here's a good one, scroll down:

All About Load Range E Tires

A tire's load pressure durability and tire ply rating go hand in hand. When looking for new tires, often getting the higher load capacity tire might seem like a good idea. But, is that really the case? Often purchasing the old reliable load range is bett

www.prioritytire.com