Hi everybody, I have searched many hours and I can't find any review of a Dodge Grand Caravan with light truck tires. I'm no slouch when it comes to research and I've been working on my families cars since the mid 90's so I have an intellectual understanding of light truck tires but no personal experience.

My family and I more than occasionally find ourselves in the woods, driving through creeks on low water bridges (google it if you "ain't from 'round here" in Miz-er-uh (spelled Missouri)), and driving on gravel roads where the inch minus gravel has the occasional boulder in the middle. However I also drive 2X,XXX miles a year at 70mph on the freeway to commute to work. I can get an amazing deal on light truck rated tires, specifically The Firestone Destination LE2.

Has anyone here had light truck tires on this van? or another vehicle? If so did the van want to fly off curvy/hilly backwoods roads that are 55mph roads? I don't care about the road noise but is it loud enough you couldn't have a conversation? Did the LT tires last longer because they were for a much heavier vehicle and therefore weren't being ground up during normal use like they would be under a heavy F250?

Any other advice?

Thanks.

 

Google images hits of "low water bridge" are just pictures of bridges. This below pic is a low water bridge, where a shallow river or a deep creek is running over the roadway and if it rained recently you are SOL!


This is a low water bridge.

 

I can’t say I’ve seen LT tires on a minivan (plenty of cargo vans), but looking at the tread on those Firestones, I don’t think you’ll have much to worry about as far as handling or noise goes. At least the images I’m finding on the google are all the same whether I specify LT or not - I can probably get better details at work tomorrow when I have access to our supplier website.

Don’t expect them to last longer, especially if you’re regularly loading up for camping trips and driving gravel, low maintenance roads, or on them-there low water bridges (although in Iowa I think that technically qualifies as an underpass!) Gravel especially will chew up the tread no matter how aggressive it is. Just keep the pressures and alignment in spec and do regular rotations.

 

When I bought my first van for my company in the 80's a 1984 Ford Econoline 150 equip with a 302 engine and P rated tires but I soon realized once loaded with ladder rack, ladders shelves and stock the van was very squirrelly on the road pitching and rolling with every turn and corner. I took it to a tire shop and got LT rated tires which had bigger belts and extra plys with a stronger rubber reinforced sidewall to handle the load the ride was stiffer plus it made the fuel mileage worst. Lesson learned only kept the van 4 years bought GMC 2500 series vans from then after which came with LT tires and an engine to match with plenty of power. I can't imagine what a GC would even drive like with LT tires you can throw out all hope of having any part of a comfortable ride anywhere plus bad fuel mileage let alone what it do to your road handling. Tires that came with these van were for maximum comfort and handling with maximum fuel economy for the consumer.

 

I don't worry about mileage or I wouldn't have bought this thing. I get 17-19mpg all the time:-) Thanks for the heads up. The seller pulled the deal when I asked why the picture was of the Firestone Destination X/T and not of the Destination LE2 that the description and title indicate. So I won't get the opportunity to get LT tires cheaper than P tires anyhow.

 

I just found the tires for $81/tire after shipping so I will be running the "highway SUV/Light Truck" tire for at least the winter. I just bought a house that is riddled with urgent repairs so cheap tires are a must right now since I'm showing cords on 2 tires.
EDIT: after shipping and tax I got them delivered for $323. And there was a Firestone rebate for $60 that you register for on firestone's website and they send you a Visa gift card. When I get that it comes to $66 a tire. Only driven it about 20 miles and a really don't notice a difference yet.

 

I've been driving on these tires for about a month. I haven't noticed any difference except that that they don't heat up when I spin them. My wife and I left a restaurant, her in her 4banger jeep patriot with AWD and I in my Grand Caravan. We met at a stoplight and raced from it, I just sat there spinning tires not able to go. At the next light I tried to take it easier but at about 20mph the tires just started spinning when I pressed on it any. My wife gave me the business for my "slow *** van." Womp womp (sad trumpet).

 

It's quite obvious you got P rated light truck tires instead of a true LT tires as there's no mistake in riding on an 8 or 10 ply tire with 60 psi of air. Firestone Destination le 2 does come in P rated sizes even though they are listed as SUV / light truck tires they're basically a passenger tire.

 

How can I tell? I don't see an indication of p or LT.

 

When there's no letter if front of the tire designation code it's a P rated tire meaning passenger tire all light truck tires has the letter LT in the designation code on the sidewall example LT 235 65R 17.