TV Tires

[BaysideBruce]

I bought new tires for my TV.  They have the same load rating as my old tires but a different manufacturer.  This weekend I ran over something and cut the sidewall.  The tire was less than two months old.  Ugh! I was looking at the flat tire after I changed it and noticed that the sidewalls are a lot "softer" then the other tires.  They did not have a stiff sidewall at all, even though they had the same load rating.  How would this effect towing if any??  I had sway problems earlier this year but after cleaning up the friction sway bar most of the problem went away.  It does seem to want to sway more than it did before, could it be my new $140 a piece tires??  If so is there any way to know this before I buy tires?  Is there someting that rates the stiffness of a sidewall?  That is assuming that is what is cause the sway problem.
Thanks!

[Diplomat]

That's a good question!  I just replaced the OEM Firestones on my Suburban with Bridgestone Dueller's.  Same size, same load rating.  It seems that the truck drifts a little more now, like there is a delay between turning the wheel and when the truck actually starts to turn.  I notice it most when changing lanes.

[aw738]

I have a question. Does your tires have a mesurement on them like P235/75R15? If so you have a "passenger car" tire not a truck tire. I have changed from the above size to a 29X9.5 tire which is a true truck tire and it has a stiffer sidewall. One downside is the tire calls for 50psi cold and gives a rougher ride, but I don't mind it.

[jawilson]

As already noted, the P designation is for Passenger tires, while LT is for Light Truck. If you accidentally "downgraded" your tires from LT to P then that could explain a lot. But I have a hard time believing that tires costing $140 a piece would be P rated, unless they're performance-oriented ones. That price sounds like LT's to me (unless someone seriously over-charged you).

The sidewall stiffness has a noticeable affect on towing; basically, the stiffer the sides the better the towing. Sway is often the unfortunate byproduct of a tire that has a weak, or insufficient, sidewall to handle the weight being towed.