Light Truck Tires -- Uniroyal Liberator

Light truck tires are for more than just trucks. Many vans and SUV's can benefit from this tire type too. I recently was in need of tires for my van and just happened to get some tires that surprised me. Here's the story.

I'm known for my old vehicles. My latest model ride is a Chevy G20 van, a 1992 model. Now this van rests on a 3/4 ton chassis and it's a conversion van. The van came to me used and was sporting very used passenger car tires. When I went to the tire store the sales person was steering me toward passenger car tires again.

That didn't sound right to me, since this is one really heavy van. But his idea was that I would be disappointed with the noise of the tires I was considering, which were Uniroyal Liberators. I went with the Uniroyals anyway.

Now I can report on long-term performance of these tires. After 4 years and 45,000 miles, here are my impressions.

The tires look like they belong on a truck. They have a heavy duty look in every way, even though they come with good looking white letters for a sporty look. The tread pattern is truck like and the profile looks like truck tire all the way.

See, part of what you get with light truck tires is load rating. That comes with more rugged and rigid construction. That's what this van needed. Never do you feel any over-loaded spongy ride. It's stable and solid all the time despite heavy loads. That does mean a stiff ride.

But a stiff ride doesn't mean overly harsh, just very firm. That isn't too surprising when you consider the maximum recommended pressure in the tires is 44 pounds per square inch. But there is the noise factor.

You do get some noise in the form of a bit of whine. It's just part of the package. After a while, I doubt if anybody would really notice. Maybe in a really quiet vehicle it would be annoying, but not in this one.

Traction is a must in heavy vehicles like this one. Never in all these miles have the tires let me down. Traction always felt safe even in some rather dicey circumstances.

For frugal folks, the initial price matters but so does the durability. These were among the cheapest tires I could find to buy. Then they have remained trouble free with just a few rotations. That means no excessive bumping as they wore. Just smooth performance all the way.

They have held up well. I just chose to replace two tires at about 45,000 miles. They still had tread but had developed a bit of uneven wear due to van problems, not tire problems. The other two tires travel on maybe for ten thousand more miles or so.

One good value in light truck tires is the Uniroyal Liberator. Certainly there are more technically advanced tires. But for a fairly cheap truck, van or SUV tire, it's hard to beat these in my opinion, based on my experience.

Comments? Questions? Email Here

© HowtoAdvice.com

How to Advice .com