What about load ratings?

[Jzsquared]

All this info so far is great but can someone who has owned a 2 door Rubicon in the past comment on whether an E rated tire would be just too stiff? All the 35” seam to be E rated and that seams like a lot for a sub 4000 lbs 2 door. I don’t want it riding poorly because I buy to stiff a tire. My rock crawling will be limited to once a year if I’m lucky living in Chicagoland so I don’t think I need a 10 ply tire seams overkill.

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[WranglerMan]

From my limited knowledge of recently getting with @TTEChris at Tankcustoms and reading on line once you get into the D and E rated tires they get really stiff and the ride becomes very hard so that’s why I am going with a C rated LT315/70R17 KO2 from BFG, according to Chris it will give me a much better ride than say the Goodyear Duratrac in a D or E rating.

 

[TTEChris]

All this info so far is great but can someone who has owned a 2 door Rubicon in the past comment on whether an E rated tire would be just too stiff? All the 35” seam to be E rated and that seams like a lot for a sub 4000 lbs 2 door. I don’t want it riding poorly because I buy to stiff a tire. My rock crawling will be limited to once a year if I’m lucky living in Chicagoland so I don’t think I need a 10 ply tire seams overkill.

On my 2 door JK I specifically went with a 15" wheel so that I had more options in a C Load rating. I initially had 35x12.50r15 STT Pro's and with my suspension setup they rode better than the stock Rubicon tires. Due to the size of the rotors on the JL I dont think fitting a 15" wheel is possible. The 315/70r17(34.5") BFG KO2's ride the same if not better than stock on the 4dr JL I tested them on. I wanted those tires for my wifes JL, but they were on nationwide backorder at the time so I settled for a D-Rated tire. The D Rated tire isnt bad, but I run them at a much lower pressure to get an even contact patch than the factory tires.

 

[Jzsquared]

Thanks for the comments, looks like KO2 are the winner unless I decide to go 37

 

[Waiting]

Thanks for the comments, looks like KO2 are the winner unless I decide to go 37

I'm in this same situation. K02 in 315/71R17 in the C rating (the 35x12.5x17s are load rated at E)? Or the the Trail Grappler in 35x11.5x17? I'm leaning more and more to the 315 KO2 due to it's on road manners compared to the Trail Grappler. I'll also be keeping the stock 7.5" wide stock wheels

 

[Sangiuolo11]

On my 2 door JK I specifically went with a 15" wheel so that I had more options in a C Load rating. I initially had 35x12.50r15 STT Pro's and with my suspension setup they rode better than the stock Rubicon tires. Due to the size of the rotors on the JL I dont think fitting a 15" wheel is possible. The 315/70r17(34.5") BFG KO2's ride the same if not better than stock on the 4dr JL I tested them on. I wanted those tires for my wifes JL, but they were on nationwide backorder at the time so I settled for a D-Rated tire. The D Rated tire isnt bad, but I run them at a much lower pressure to get an even contact patch than the factory tires.

I'm in this same situation. K02 in 315/71R17 in the C rating (the 35x12.5x17s are load rated at E)? Or the the Trail Grappler in 35x11.5x17? I'm leaning more and more to the 315 KO2 due to it's on road manners compared to the Trail Grappler. I'll also be keeping the stock 7.5" wide stock wheels

So I’m assuming that the C rated LT315/70R17 KO2 from BFG work with the stock 17 inch wheels that come standard on the JLU sport?

Or do I need to get new wheels as well?

 

[Waiting]

So I’m assuming that the C rated LT315/70R17 KO2 from BFG work with the stock 17 inch wheels that come standard on the JLU sport?

Or do I need to get new wheels as well?

I haven't found any manufacturer that indicates installation on a minimum wheel width as low a the stock 7.5" But, some shops will do it and 1,000s of JK owners do it. One shop told me they would do it. When I inquired why it wasn't recommended by the manufacturer, he replied that it has to do with how well the tire will remain seated to to wheel at an impact under speed. He gave an example of trying to jump a curb at 45 mph; most tires would unseat; more so with a 7.5" wheel. IDK, I'm at loss. Follow the engineers working for multi-million dollar companies and buy new wheels or, say F-it like so many others.

 

[mwilk012]

I believe one of the 35" grapplers has a D or C rated tire, but E and up will be very stiff.

 

[Waiting]

I believe one of the 35" grapplers has a D or C rated tire, but E and up will be very stiff.

Not for a 17" wheel, per the Nitto website. All are E rated.

 

[WXman]

Don't get caught up in load rating letters. C, D, E, P, etc. What you need to look at on a Jeep is the tire weight. The lighter the tire, the better it will ride (inherently due to lighter construction) and the heavier the tire the stiffer and more cumbersome it's going to be.

I've seen a LOT of LT-C tires that are heavier than LT-E tires in the same category. I've also seen P rated tires with 2-ply sidewalls that are just as rugged and thick as a LT-E tire with 3-ply sidewalls.

The load rating doesn't mean much for Wrangler owners, as all tires on the market will support more weight than the vehicle can legally carry. So, the wise thing to do is shop for lightweight tires and use 17" wheels. With large tires you can also drop your PSI into the upper 20s and give even more ride comfort.

 

[TTEChris]

Don't get caught up in load rating letters. C, D, E, P, etc. What you need to look at on a Jeep is the tire weight. The lighter the tire, the better it will ride (inherently due to lighter construction) and the heavier the tire the stiffer and more cumbersome it's going to be.

I've seen a LOT of LT-C tires that are heavier than LT-E tires in the same category. I've also seen P rated tires with 2-ply sidewalls that are just as rugged and thick as a LT-E tire with 3-ply sidewalls.

The load rating doesn't mean much for Wrangler owners, as all tires on the market will support more weight than the vehicle can legally carry. So, the wise thing to do is shop for lightweight tires and use 17" wheels. With large tires you can also drop your PSI into the upper 20s and give even more ride comfort.

I had a chance to ride in two sets of BFG KO2's in 315/70r17 on two separate JL's. Both had the same Rough Country lift kit and both were Saharas. One set was C-Rated, and the others were E-Rated. The weight difference between the two tires is .1lbs, but the ride difference was night and day better on the C Rated tire even though the E Rated tires were run at a lower pressure.

I also had a set of C-Rated Toyo 37x14.50r15's on a JK that rode very nice compared to a set of 37x13.50r17s(E-Rated on a heavier 4dr.) You could say some of that was due to sidewall height, but on the shop scale those 37x14.50r15 Toyos were over 100lbs for tires alone but still rode nice.

Just my experience, obviously others may vary. I always run my E-rated tires at 25-27psi, but they just dont ride as soft as some of the C Rated tires I've tried.

 

[Jzsquared]

I had a chance to ride in two sets of BFG KO2's in 315/70r17 on two separate JL's. Both had the same Rough Country lift kit and both were Saharas. One set was C-Rated, and the others were E-Rated. The weight difference between the two tires is .1lbs, but the ride difference was night and day better on the C Rated tire even though the E Rated tires were run at a lower pressure.

I also had a set of C-Rated Toyo 37x14.50r15's on a JK that rode very nice compared to a set of 37x13.50r17s(E-Rated on a heavier 4dr.) You could say some of that was due to sidewall height, but on the shop scale those 37x14.50r15 Toyos were over 100lbs for tires alone but still rode nice.

Just my experience, obviously others may vary. I always run my E-rated tires at 25-27psi, but they just dont ride as soft as some of the C Rated tires I've tried.

I searched all the 315/70r17 and 35x12.50x17 I could find that are All terrain since I need a good winter tire here in my wonderful state. Looks like even though max tire pressure varies from 50-65 they mostly are about 3100 load range. Looks like the KO2's are the winner for me only one available in a C rating with 2500 lbs load rating. I just don't want to hate the Jeep because of silly mistake that could make it ride like crap

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