Tires XL vs SL

[CEHollier]

I'm curious about running XL vs SL on a Mustang. Anyone running SL's? Appreciate any input.

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[Ebm]

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I'm curious about running XL vs SL on a Mustang. Anyone running SL's? Appreciate any input.

For a performance car, get the XLs. They will help cornering and stability by having a reinforced shoulder which minimizes tire deflection. You'll know if you have deflection by the bulge seen in a tire. SLs are fine if you drive like you have an econobox.

 

[dgc333]

XL and SL rating only signifies the air pressure at which the tires load rating is achieved. A 100 XL load rated tire achieves it's rating at 42psi, a 100 SL load rated tire achieves it's rating at 36 psi.

Before they gave numeric load ratings to tires, two tires of the same size the one rated XL would have a higher load rating.

Now that they give tires an actual load rating number SL and XL only signify the pressure required to achieve the rating.

 

[CEHollier]

XL and SL rating only signifies the air pressure at which the tires load rating is achieved. A 100 XL load rated tire achieves it's rating at 42psi, a 100 SL load rated tire achieves it's rating at 36 psi.

Before they gave numeric load ratings to tires, two tires of the same size the one rated XL would have a higher load rating.

Now that they give tires an actual load rating number SL and XL only signify the pressure required to achieve the rating.

Thank you. That's what I have read. Really for sport driving purposes SL seems more in line with what I need. I generally run the tires on the street around 35 psi.

 

[yomamma219]

So I was curious why my nitto's were XL rated and decided to dig around a bit after seeing what [MENTION=27452]Ebm[/MENTION] said.

So the XL will have a higher load rating as everyone else has said but that probably doesn't effect you as we aren't talking about tires for a mac truck carrying 5 tons of dirt. The way I understand it is that they have a higher pressure specification since you need more air pressure to "carry" the higher load, then you need a stronger tire to keep everything together. What I didn't realize before [MENTION=27452]Ebm[/MENTION] said something was that the XL rating generally gives you stronger/stiffer "shoulders", and, based on some cursory research (tirerack's website), better/stiffer rubber. These are attributes generally associated with "high performance tires". Tirerack also mentions that the stiffer attributes of the tires also translate "road feel" better which also means a "rougher" ride.

While there seem to be some benefits to XL tires I would wager most people will never push their car hard enough, or be in a controlled enough test scenario actually be able to objectively tell a difference.
[MENTION=18372]CEHollier[/MENTION] It seems like you would be fine with SL tires especially if you want the most comfortable ride out of your stang.

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