Clas C and tires
I have been doing online research for the purchase of a new to us RV. A Class C is high on my list. Probably an E450 from about 2000 to 2004. I really want a dinette, sofa and a chair. That would mean...
Forum Discussion
Tires and weights / weight ratings.......
I've got a 2006 31' Four Winds Class C and I need 6 new tires. I recently purchased the RV and notice that the tires look like (DOT) they are 5-6 years old so I'd like to just start off with a fresh set of tires to try to avoid a blowout in the near future. I am safety conscious.
My current tire size is LT225/75R16. On the specification sticker on the driver side door jam it calls for these LT225/75R16s with an 'E' rating. It lists a front axle max weight of 4600lbs, and a rear axle max weight of 9450lbs. Assuming a perfectly balanced distribution (...which is probably not a very good assumption), it means that each of the front tires should be carrying 2300lbs, and each of the 4 rear tires should be carrying 2362.5lbs if the RV is at it's "max" weight. The 'E' rating I believe is tied to (equivalent to) a load rating of 115 which specifies a max load weight of 2679lbs per tire.
Looking at my rear load (which is heavier per tire than the front), that means that there is only a ~300lb/tire margin before these tires could become overloaded. Does anyone else feel like this is an uncomfortably LOW margin? I have yet to load my RV and take it to a scale, but will do so in the future. Does anyone know, generally speaking, how the manufacturer comes up with those max axle weights? I know liquids (fresh water tank, gas tank, black/gray tanks) weigh a lot when all those tanks are full. Is the manufacturer adding that all in when coming up with their max load ratings? I assume so because otherwise they would be creating an unsafe product, but just wondering what those who have weighed their RVs have found. Can some of you who have weighed your RVs post what your axle weights were? I'd really love to see what someone else's ~31' Class C weighed when fully loaded.
I've searched on various tire dealer websites (PepBoys, Firestone, Costco, Wheelworks, etc). There seem be be several LT225/75R16 E tires from known brands and other brands I'm not familiar with. Not sure which tire/brand to go with yet (lots of great discussion in this thread).
One interesting thing I found was an LT225/75R16 F rated tire (Sunfull SF-05) at Pepboys for a fairly low price. The "F" rated tire has a load rating of 121 which supports a max weight of 3197lbs (more than 500lbs more than the E rated tires). I need to call and find out the PSI for that tire and then check the rims on my RV (Q: Is the max PSI always stamped on rims???). Assuming that my rims were rated with enough PSI, can anyone think of a drawback of going with an F rated tire that can more easily handle the heavy load of an RV? Wouldn't it cause the tires to "work" less and therefore be less likely to have a WEIGHT CAUSED blowout? Let me know your thoughts.
Thanks! This forum has been incredibly helpful for me
I've got a 2006 31' Four Winds Class C and I need 6 new tires. I recently purchased the RV and notice that the tires look like (DOT) they are 5-6 years old so I'd like to just start off with a fresh set of tires to try to avoid a blowout in the near future. I am safety conscious.
My current tire size is LT225/75R16. On the specification sticker on the driver side door jam it calls for these LT225/75R16s with an 'E' rating. It lists a front axle max weight of 4600lbs, and a rear axle max weight of 9450lbs. Assuming a perfectly balanced distribution (...which is probably not a very good assumption), it means that each of the front tires should be carrying 2300lbs, and each of the 4 rear tires should be carrying 2362.5lbs if the RV is at it's "max" weight. The 'E' rating I believe is tied to (equivalent to) a load rating of 115 which specifies a max load weight of 2679lbs per tire.
Looking at my rear load (which is heavier per tire than the front), that means that there is only a ~300lb/tire margin before these tires could become overloaded. Does anyone else feel like this is an uncomfortably LOW margin? I have yet to load my RV and take it to a scale, but will do so in the future. Does anyone know, generally speaking, how the manufacturer comes up with those max axle weights? I know liquids (fresh water tank, gas tank, black/gray tanks) weigh a lot when all those tanks are full. Is the manufacturer adding that all in when coming up with their max load ratings? I assume so because otherwise they would be creating an unsafe product, but just wondering what those who have weighed their RVs have found. Can some of you who have weighed your RVs post what your axle weights were? I'd really love to see what someone else's ~31' Class C weighed when fully loaded.
I've searched on various tire dealer websites (PepBoys, Firestone, Costco, Wheelworks, etc). There seem be be several LT225/75R16 E tires from known brands and other brands I'm not familiar with. Not sure which tire/brand to go with yet (lots of great discussion in this thread).
One interesting thing I found was an LT225/75R16 F rated tire (Sunfull SF-05) at Pepboys for a fairly low price. The "F" rated tire has a load rating of 121 which supports a max weight of 3197lbs (more than 500lbs more than the E rated tires). I need to call and find out the PSI for that tire and then check the rims on my RV (Q: Is the max PSI always stamped on rims???). Assuming that my rims were rated with enough PSI, can anyone think of a drawback of going with an F rated tire that can more easily handle the heavy load of an RV? Wouldn't it cause the tires to "work" less and therefore be less likely to have a WEIGHT CAUSED blowout? Let me know your thoughts.
Thanks! This forum has been incredibly helpful for me
