While I'm for safe vehicles, I'm not that big on spending time analyzing hypothetical "Guy driving with "non-approved" tires has a blow-out, swerves across the line and takes out a bus of Girl Scouts" scenarios. There are far too many people driving around my neck of the woods with
bald tires, for me to worry about tire classes that much.
That said - what I think is valuable to each vehicle owner is understanding the trade-offs involved with deviating from the manufacturers recommended tires. A half ton is commonly spec'd for P tires, 3/4 ton and up often E's - my view is understand the reasons for what the factory engineers were doing, then make a choice based on your intended use.
Derating a tires Max load is not what I'd sign up for. Somebody else wants to make that choice, and is willing to live with the consequences, that's their call.
You don't have to change tire class (P vs. E) to significantly change tire performance. With your half ton on P's - just change the tire width substantially and handling can change quite a bit, and not always for the better.
I wonder how many of the "E police" run wider than factory tires ?
Rgds, D.
