Forum Discussion

brlowe's avatar
brlowe
Explorer
Jan 03, 2018

2002 E450 Superduty tires

I have tried searching and wading thru old and new info and I could not find the info I was looking for.

My Tioga 31W is in need of new tires. As it is 31ft class c it runs at max weight. I try to watch what I carry and have not had a blowout. I would love to get some tires with higher load capacity just as an added protection, not to carry more stuff.

I see the Continental Vanco four season tires have a nice high rating but will they work. Yes it is rated at 83psi but if run at 80psi it would still be more than my current tires. Will these work on the E450 dually rears with out touching?

What is the latest and greatest tires that everyone is using? I have been out of the loop for a while. I think this is my first post in many many years.

Here are the tires I'm looking at
VancoFourSeason The specs show it is 29.3" tall and 8.8" wide with a 3195lb rating at 83psi so running at 80 a little less
https://tiresize.com/tires/Continental/VancoFourSeason-225-75R16.htm

And the Michelin XPS Rib, specs show 29.4" tall and 8.7" wide with a 2680lb rating at 80psi.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireModel=XPS+Rib&tireMake=Michelin&partnum=275R6XPSR

I think the sizes are close enough that the higher rated tire should fit ok but wanted to know if anyone has run them. The Vanco tire is less money too for some reason.

Thank you
  • I have BFGoodrich Commercial T/A All Season 2 from Discount Tire. 6,000 mile road trip and no complaints from me.
  • txnese wrote:
    I have BFGoodrich Commercial T/A All Season 2 from Discount Tire. 6,000 mile road trip and no complaints from me.


    Is your class C a 31ft model running at the max weight on the rear tires? There is a big difference between a 31 footer and a 24-26ft class C.
  • I've got a 30ft. I took it to weigh station right before the trip and it was a hair under 13,000 lbs total. That includes full gas tank, full fresh water tank, 5 passengers and all our junk for a 2 week trip. We also took out the RV queen mattress and replaced it with a King size mattress, no box.
  • Linc,

    How much of those 13,000 lbs. was on the 4 rear dually tires?

    It's of course important to get detailed enough RV weight data to make sure no tire is over-loaded. Dividing the rear weight by 4 gives an approximate estimate of the weight on each rear tire. Dividing the front weight by 2 gives an approximate estimate of what's on each front tire. Some RV owners even get each corner of their RVs weighed individually for more accurate estimates of each tire's loading.

    Large Class C motorhomes can often have their rear weight be too much for the type of rear tire being used and/or the pressure being used in those tires.
  • j-d's avatar
    j-d
    Explorer II
    txnese wrote:
    ...I took it to weigh station right before the trip and it was a hair under 13,000 lbs total. That includes full gas tank, full fresh water tank, 5 passengers and all our junk for a 2 week trip...


    You weighed it correctly, full of people, water, gas, and all that Stuff. Weigh Station usually gives you Axle Weights. Did you get those, or only the Total? If you go to a Travel Center (21st Century PC for Truck Stop) that has a CAT Scale, it'll give you three weights called Steer (your front axle), Drive (rear axle) and Trailer (any trailer or vehicle you're towing). All for about $10. They can't give you Corner Weights like some of the RV weighing fests, and like Michelin uses in the RV version of their tire load/pressure chart. Michelin apparently feels that more RV's than trucks are loaded unequally side to side.

    With Michelin's Corner Weights, you'd set the entire axle according to the heavier side (not average or the lower side). The point made above, that Axle Weight could be OK but not one side, can surely happen, but most of us find Front and Rear Axle Weights to work out OK.