Quote:
Originally Posted by Javi
Okay... back to tires...
Somewhere back in this or another thread I seem to remember that tires lose an average of 10% of their load capacity per year of use..
That 10% is from a Carlisle Tire pdf. It was written about 15 years ago. Lots of industry changes since then. But, the term most used now is fatigue.
Assuming that this is correct and it is true for both LT tires and ST tires regardless of bias ply or radial ply construction.. if this is so...
Then one considers that the passenger LT tires are required to have a safety margin built into their rating... What would that margin be??? 10%, 20% ????
Just about all tire manufacturers, any design, mention that their tire testing exceeds the NHTSA requirements. By how much is immaterial.
But the ST tire is not limited to a safety margin and can claim the maximum allowance from the get go... so "0" safety margin... ????
Am I following this correctly??
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You may be confused by the fitment standards as described in FMVSS. Because the LT tires is designed exclusively for light trucks and multi passenger vehicles. When fitted to those vehicles, they are required to provide a percentage of load capacity reserves via recommended inflation pressures. Light truck manufacturers will most times fit tires to the truck's GAWR factors. Those factors will be above the vehicle GVWR, thus the tires cannot be overloaded without the axles being overloaded.