E Rated tire? or overkill?

[Tjbev13]

Taking delievery of my 3.5EB max tow FX4 and got a leveling kit on the way so I am thinking about tires... Most likely going with the Nitto Ridge Grappler. Are ya'll going E rated? If so how did the ride quality suffer? Thanks

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[grosbiz]

Unless you will be pulling heavy I think the P rated tires are better, if they are available in the size you are interested. The ride quality will be softer with P rated tires. E rated tires are also heavier which will impact the acceleration.

 

[bkool2323]

Had a 2015 f150 max tow and 3.5 eco. 18inch wheels. Replaced p with e. the e air up to 80psi , if you did that , you would feel like Fred flintstone did. I would air up to 65psi and the ride quality suffered.When not towing drop to 40psi. E gives much stiffer ride all the time. So if you are not towing everyday, for a more comfortable ride, stay with p. My 2021 f150 has max tow 20inch wheels and 3.5 eco and p tires , rides like a dream.

 

[Tjbev13]

Yea, I think I'm going to stick with the the P tire. I tow my boat normally once a week an hour each way but its only 5,000 lbs or so. That's really the extent of my towing needs

 

[mattchops]

Yea, I think I'm going to stick with the the P tire. I tow my boat normally once a week an hour each way but its only 5,000 lbs or so. That's really the extent of my towing needs

What size tire are you looking at getting?

 

[Tjbev13]

What size tire are you looking at getting?

34”

 

[jb55]

Running E tires and they are smooth! Had F on them previously (shop ordered wrong ones) and they were terrible.

Toyo MT 35x12.50x20

 

[NiftyF150]

I'm running 285/75R17 (34x11.5) E-rated Ridge Grapplers and they ride smoother than the stock 18" A/T's did. I'm running them around 38 PSI. Haven't cranked up the PSI but it's nice to know I can if I need to.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

Upgraded to E-rated tires immediately on delivery last month and discarded the garbage Scorpions. Boat & trailer weigh 9,750 at CAT scales with a couple kayaks and gear, half fuel. Just towed 1,500 miles from South FL to upstate NY. Terrible, awful tow vehicle. Made a dumb decision to downgrade from '17 F-350 Superduty due to HOA restriction. This is within towing spec, but beat its little Powerboost heart out and got 5.5 mpg all the way up here this week, compared to 9.5 for identical trip in the F-350. Can it do it? Yes. Should it? No. It was not safe and the tires were the only part right for the job. I have the new airlift airbags, which helped some, but this is NOT recommended. Third pic is a section in North Carolina where I got 5.0 mpg for a full tank. Fuel range is running 150 miles per fill with this truck. Ridiculous - half the range of my Tesla. Anyone want to buy a PowerBoost KR? 3,000 miles.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

I should have mentioned that the replacements on my truck are "LT285/60R-20 MICHELIN AGILIS CROSSCLIMATE SYMMETRICAL TREAD PATTERN E" from Tire Rack. Very quiet, running at 50 PSI, no issues, tracked well. Just not the right truck to tow with. At least this type of rig.

 

[Norris McCarty]

Wow….10k lbs and sticks up like a sail….what did you expect?!​

 

[PungoteagueDave]

Wow….10k lbs and sticks up like a sail….what did you expect?!​

My F-350 is WAY heavier yet gets nearly twice the MPG and over twice the range when towing. Powerbost is a total fail as a tow vehicle. Also confirmed by TFL trucks tow competition vs Chevy diesel this week. Powerboost is a compliance vehicle - works great but only when empty. Ask it to actually do anything, it is worse than the vehicles that it imitates and pretends to equal - goes from being the MOST efficient vehicle in class when empty to being the LEAST efficient vehicle in class when used at the limits of its design spec. It turns out that when towing, all we are doing is dragging around the battery and electric motor’s extra weight - they do literally nothing. It huffed and puffed, overheated both engine and tranny, got awful mileage and range despite being within payload and towing limits. My Superduty F-350 diesel KR for the SAME money did it without breaking a sweat WAY more efficiently.

Yes, I expected more from a marquee vehicle touted for its extreme efficiency. I certainly expected it to come out better than worst. In answer to your question - it is a fair test - and blind - I used the same setup and weights with both trucks - yes, it’s tall and heavy - that’s what towing is about - but it isn’t unusual. And the F-350 does it about twice as well for the same money. Powerboost fail all the way.

 

[chrisp993]

Dave ... I'm sorry you had such a bad experience and for your HOA troubles but I seriously doubt that boat is "within payload and towing limits" - Owners Manual has tongue weight / trailer weight limit of 500lbs/5,000lbs without a WDH and frontal area limit is 36sq.ft or 60sq.ft. with the max tow package.

FWIW my Powerboost tows my 8,000lb enclosed car trailer with WDH @ 10mpg @ 70mph. Assuming you weren't trying to tow much faster than that, the fact that you got 5.5mpg and overheated engine and tranny makes me think the frontal area drag was the particular problem with your boat?

 

[PungoteagueDave]

Dave ... I'm sorry you had such a bad experience and for your HOA troubles but I seriously doubt that boat is "within payload and towing limits" - Owners Manual has tongue weight / trailer weight limit of 500lbs/5,000lbs without a WDH and frontal area limit is 36sq.ft or 60sq.ft. with the max tow package.

FWIW my Powerboost tows my 8,000lb enclosed car trailer with WDH @ 10mpg @ 70mph. Assuming you weren't trying to tow much faster than that, the fact that you got 5.5mpg and overheated engine and tranny makes me think the frontal area drag was the particular problem with your boat?

that’s for enclosed trailers. My type of trailer, single front frame rail with deep height cannot accommodate weight distribution, confirmed with every weight distributing hitch manufacturer, Ford engineering, and Load Rite, the trailer manufacturer. Boat trailers simply don’t use WD hitches or electric brakes, which is what Ford’s specs anticipate. Some folks have tried adding WD hitches to boat trailers in recent years, but it is difficult with surge brakes, and generally not recommended. It is impossible on my trailer. Ford specs also reflect OEM tires rated for 2,200 lbs (hence their axle rating), while I upgraded to 3,400-lb-rated tires. That doesn’t change the official rating, but it is reality in terms of real world safety. The same hitch rating “issue” exists for Superduties, and Ford acknowledged I was handling it correctly by having 8% tongue weight (also less than the 10-15% typically used for enclosed trailers with electric brakes) and staying well below the overall tow weight rating. The hitch clearly can handle 12,200 pounds of trailer, and the weight distribution element on the label is intended to balance the front and rear axle weight distribution on the truck, along with the trailer.

I went to a CAT scale and spent three hours rebalancing the rig, ultimtely moving the boat forward on the trailer five times, finally by a full foot, and getting the gross axle weights on the truck axles about 200 pounds each below limit, and leaving the trailer at 9,750 pounds, 250 pounds below its 10k limit. That’s exactly the point of weight distribution, which I accomplished with zero input from the air bags. I then inflated the air bags to 40 pounds, which restored the rear wheel arch height to 40” from the 38.5” height with no air pressure but with the trailer and truck fully balanced within weight specs. Frontal area is also a consideration that was considered, tough with this form factor. I did remove the boat’s window area, but according to Ford, frontal area isn’t a safety issue, rather it’s a horsepower and torque question - pulling power. Ford has big claims for both torque and horsepower with the Powerboost - 430 hp and 570 foot pounds of torque. That compares with 440 hp and 925 foot pounds for my ‘17 diesel superduty. So power should not be an issue. Nor should efficiency. But it is.

Answering your question, the overheating only came at very slow (sub-10 mph) speeds on super-steep climbs, three times, when I was trying to preserve the truck and anticipate cresting the top of hills, so wanted no momentum going over. The truck did fine at 70 mph highway speeds, no overheating issues, just horrible fuel mileage. My experience with my superduty is similar to yours. I have nine trailers, including an enclosed car carrier that does have weight distribution, suspect it will do better on this truck because it is lighter even with a car inside (and shorter, more aerodynamic), so I might get 7 mpg. But a Superduty would still be way better, the same price, and safer for purpose.

 

[Norris McCarty]

Really?

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