Exploring changing to 16" tires

Just put 16" wheels and tires, 235/80/16 on my tri axle toy hauler which orig came with 15" wheels and tires...no problems just raised it an inch or so which was good anyway. You should make sure you check tire clearances. I had discount tire do mine tire swap and asked them to only mount up 2 tires and wheels and install them to make sure I had plenty of clearance..no problem they said...everything fit rather nicely.

Make sure your rims are capable of handling the weight/psi.

I just went from 15" to 16" on my '13 Cougar X-Lite 29RES (8500-9000# loaded). My dad bought a '13 Montana (12000#+ loaded) the same time and changed his 16" tires out to RIBS as soon as he brought it home. I now have his "E" rated tires on my camper. They are 3 year old Goodyear Marathons but only have 300 miles on them. I am going to use them on my camper till the end of the season and catch new LT's on sale or Maxxis between now and the start of the next season.

Switched from 15” to 16” Load ranger E Comp TA all season tires last fall and very pleased. I also added the Correct Track to gain 2” of above tire clearance. Choose 215/85R16 size because it had all the weight capacity needed, gained 1” more trailer height, but left enough room between tires for chocks. The 235/85R16 tire will reduce space between the tires by 2” less clearance. The 3” total gained leveled the fifth wheel and the LTs look rugged. Check my post on Correct Track before attempting.

I switched from 225x75 15D to 225x75 16E almost 6 years ago and it was a great move. :)

illinoiswoodworker wrote:
I am exploring changing from 15" to 16" tires on my fiver. I am looking for anyone that may have done this to see if they experienced any issues when they changed over and if they would have any issues for me to be looking out for.

I waited till it was too late before upgrading! Save yourself some bucks, upgrade before your next blowout! I waiting to study the issue, thinking these are 1 year old tires! Early one morning the tire tread peel'ed off, about 1500 in damage and still needed to buy 5 wheels and tires!:M

The new LT tires have a max of 80 PSI, so when I first installed them, I put them at max. My trailed seem to bounce more! Then it hit me, if my old tires were max at 65, I should run with about the same pressure. Now it rides like before.

Good Luck!

We did this a few years ago and it has worked out very well. The usual issues have to do with clearances between the top of the tire and the wheel well and between the tires. Keep in mind that the bigger tire only decreases the top clearance by 1/2 inch.
This change also enabled us to go to Michelin XPS Rib tires which have served us very well. They eliminate the worry about tires holding up on the bad roads. Haven't had a tire problem in the few years since I made the change.
BTW I carry two spares (haven't needed them) and every couple of years I rotate the spares into the tire rotation mix. The two spares go on the passenger side, those tires go over to the driver side and the old driver side tires become the spares. I carry one in the back of our Suburban and the other on a rack in the back of the TT.

I changed a 07 JayFlight over to 16" wheels and LT235/85R16E's in 09. The Jayco had the adjustable spring hangers, they gave all the clearance needed. I'm not sure I would have used the 235 tires if I had not needed the height because we had just bought a DRW truck. The closest point was on the slideout where the wall came below floor. It was close to the sidewall of the tire, but if it rubbed I could never find a mark. Ran those BFG Commercial tires 2 years on that trailer, put them on the Mountaineer and ran them till this May. Also found that 70psi was all the pressure needed, any more and the tread would not make contact all the way across. The JayFlight had a loaded weight of 9K.

My Cardinal came with optional LT235/85R16E's. They were Kenda Klever China bombs. Kenda gave me 110 each to remove and distroy all 5. I installed Michelin XPS Ribs and ran them for 6.5 years and around 40k miles. This time I installed Bridgestone Duravis R250's. Trailer grosses 12,400 tows great and I never looked back.

Some of the other owners took ST replacements and shortly started having the standard ST tire failures. Saw another owner at Mount Rushmore and warmed him about the ST he took. I month later he posted on a forum how he had failed to heed a warning some guy gave him and paid the price.

Thanks for the comments. I do have 6 lug wheels with the 5-1/2" center so that is not an issue. I really don't think I am going to have any clearance issues. I have been using the infamous Marathon tires with ISSUES and every time I get on the road I worry about a blowout. Still looking for more advice. I do wonder about the recommendation of LT vs ST tires changes and any concerns that my pose.