Tires and Rims

[Murray the Cop]

I want to go bigger but tow a 5th wheel with a pin weight of 2000 dry. My truck is a 2500 and was told that the 265's would increase the weight capacity a few hundred pounds.I know all about the GVWR and fully loaded will be over by a few hundred pounds. Allready ordered the air bags, allthough the truck didn't drop under level when I picked up the unit. I was thinking more along the lines of the 285's.I would switch the rims,if I had too,because of the weight(6 to 8 wide). Any opinions on tires and or rims?

[NETMINDER]

Running 265 Bridgestone Revo's no problem - Looks great. I think I read with 285's there might be some rubbing.

[DmaxMaverick]

I have 285/75/16's on Centerline 16 X 8's and frequently put 2000 #'s pin weight on it. Tows great. The 285 D's have a weight rating 300 #'s each over the OEM 245's. The 265 E's give you 100 #'s each more than that. I've been running this combination for 3 years.
Truck photo's here (http://community.webshots.com/album/88982014KqemjB)

About the rubbing. No problem with very slight modification. Had to heat up (with heat gun) the fender liners and reshape them where they did rub slightly. The material is easily influenced by a little heat and retain the shape you choose. The E-Brake cable behind the left front wheel had to be tied back, but no change in function. I removed the front air dam, but it may or may not rub, and if so, can be trimmed. The torsion bars were turned up a couple turns to level the truck with trailer in tow. I also have a Mega filter installed in JK's location and no rubbing there.

Going to the larger tires/wheels was probably the most asthetic/functional upgrade I've done to the truck. It rides much smoother and allows me to run at lower tire pressures for the same weight capacity. Not to mention it just looks like a truck should. Mileage, both loaded and empty, increased slightly, all else being equal. Dropped about 200 RPM at 75 MPH, which is about 1925 RPM. All references to mileage/speed are corrected. I use a Predator to correct for the wheel size change.

Either the 265 or 285 tire will significantly increase the tire capacity, and piece of mind.

[Murray the Cop]

Is there a 285 that is E rated?

[ore.diesel]

MURRAY THE COP
I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN YOUR WHEELS IF YOU HAVE THE POLISHED ALUM. AND THINK ABOUT GETTING RID OF THEM. KEEP ME IN MIND. OKAY, THANX, JESS

[Russ Denman]

Michellin LTX M/S LT265/75R16E is rated at 3415 lbs per tire while their LT245/75R16E is rated at 3042 per tire. I could not find a reference for the OEM Steeltex weight rating but I believe the Michellin 265 will give you about 400#s per tire more than the OEM. You can get this tire at the warehouse clubs for a good price. I had the LTX A/T on a previous suburban, it looks more aggressive but the M/S has better wet and snow traction (more siping). The following URL is their specs for this tire. smile.gif

http://michelinman.com/assets/pdfs/doc_ltxms.pdf

[billnourse]

Murray,

I just put 265/75/16 Michelin tires on my 2500 for the purpose of upping the load rating from 3042 to 3415 per tire. I went to American Racing 16x8 Slider wheels and this combination required the slight trimming of the air dam on the right side and trimming the under the fender mud guard on the left side. This trimming is so slight that it is unnoticable and I was able to do it with a dremel tool with a cutting disc.

Changing to 265's changed my speedo about 2 1/2 to 3 MPH, and I would guess that normal tire wear would change that much over time, so I didn't try to get a recalibration.

I prefer the E rated tires over D's because I feel that the higher tire pressure eases some of the sidewall flexing when towing heavy.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Bill

[Murray the Cop]

I was under the impression that I would not have to change the rims if I went with the 265s. Is this true or is a rim change unavoidable? I saw a set of American racing wheels that I liked and were reasonably priced.What offset should I be looking for in a 16x8 rim?

[LakeDaisy]

Originally posted by Murray the Cop:
I was under the impression that I would not have to change the rims if I went with the 265s. Is this true or is a rim change unavoidable? -snip- Although the stock rims are 6.5" and the 265's call for a 7" rim your stock rims will be fine. Got a little over 40k on mine. Have at least another 15k left.

[gardnerteam]

I could never find a 285 in an E rating. I then went to a 305 to get an E rating, but the tire was extremely wide, lowered fuel economy, and was a pain. In all my search for a HD 16" tire with a heavy load capacity, the best I could find was around 3600 lbs, except for one tire that was noisy, wore poorly, and was too agressive. I finally said to h-ll with it, and went to 19.5 polished Rickson Eliminators with 245X19.5 load range G Toyo M/S. Two thousand miles and the nubs are not even worn off yet. Ride is slightly harsher (very slightly - wife hasn't noticed it yet) unloaded, and loaded ride is the same as the 16's. Load capacity is 4500 lbs for both wheel and tire, giving me a 18,000 lb capacity with the single rear wheel truck. My diesel mechanic has had 19.5's on his Fords for years, and gets over 100,000 miles on a set of tires. Big investment, but it totally solves the problem. Now if we could just find a set of injectors that would go 250,000 miles.