What is the difference between a light truck tire and a passenger tire?

A light truck tire is built for heavier loads and rougher surfaces, with a stronger casing and usually a more aggressive tread. A passenger tire is lighter, quieter and built for pavement. Many pickups and SUVs can take either, and which is right depends on whether you tow and where you drive.

I tow a trailer. Does that change the tire?

It changes the load the tire carries and the heat it builds, so load rating and sidewall strength matter more. Tell the store what you tow and how often. While you are there, check the trailer's own tires, which are the ones most often forgotten until they fail.

Do I need all four replaced at once?

Not always, though matching matters more on a truck than most people expect, particularly on four wheel drive. The store will look at what is on the vehicle and tell you plainly what it would do.

Which Purcell locations do not carry light truck tires?

The seven retread plants, plus the commercial stores in Elko, NV and Albuquerque, NM. Everywhere else carries them.

Can light truck tires be retreaded?

Six of Purcell's seven retread plants list light truck casings among what they retread or repair. For most private owners this is less common than for commercial fleets, and the store can tell you whether it makes sense for your tires.

Light Truck Tires for Pickups, Vans and Work Trucks

Three trucks, one vehicle

The commuter. Mostly pavement, mostly empty, mostly highway. Comfort, noise and even wear matter more than anything else.

The tow vehicle. A trailer changes the arithmetic. Load carrying capacity, sidewall strength and heat all come forward, and a tire that is pleasant to drive on empty can be the wrong tire at the hitch weight you actually run.

The work truck. Job sites, gravel, farm tracks, the occasional curb that was not where you thought. Cut and chip resistance is the priority, and a quiet tire is a bonus rather than a requirement.

Most people drive all three trucks in the same week. Being honest with the store about which one dominates is what gets you the right tire.

What to tell the store

The size from the sidewall, including the load rating if you can read it.
The vehicle, by year, make and model.
Whether you tow, and roughly what weight.
The surface split: highway, gravel, job site, snow.
Whether this is a replacement for something that wore out early, and how it wore.

Purcell works with 14 tire brands across the business, listed on the brands page. Stock varies by location, so call with the size.

What goes with the fitting

Tire and wheel balancing is offered at 51 Purcell locations and is part of doing the job properly. Car and light truck alignment is offered at 40, including several commercial stores that do alignment without doing general repair. A new set of tires fitted over an alignment problem is a new set of tires that will wear out early.

For a truck that is part of a working fleet, fleet services at 49 locations covers the pickups alongside the heavy units on one account.

Availability

Where Purcell carries light truck tires

55 of 64 locations, in 11 states: Missouri 10, Arizona 7, Utah 7, Colorado 5, Kentucky 5, Alaska 4, Arkansas 4, Idaho 4, Nevada 4, Washington 3 and Montana 2.

Nine locations do not carry them:

The seven retread plants, which work on casings rather than selling tires.
Two commercial stores built for heavy equipment, Elko, NV and Albuquerque, NM.

New Mexico therefore has no Purcell location carrying light truck tires, since Albuquerque is the state's only listing. The nearest alternatives are in Arizona, Colorado and Utah.

Both consumer stores, Idaho Falls, ID and Paducah, KY, do carry light truck tires, along with passenger, trailer and UTV and ATV tires.