Tire Selection limited by size?
HI, Getting close to putting new tires on my Class C. The original tires are LT 255/75R16 E. The searches I've done turn up very few options, so I was wondering if other sizes might be suitable...
Forum Discussion
rdhetrick wrote:
Front GAWR is 4600 lb,
Rear GAWR is 9450.
EDIT: These add up to 14050. Probably makes it a "Workhorse" chassis, where WH upped the rating of a 3500 to compete with Ford E450
See above... What the Workhorse licensed people did was up-rate the 3500 and the tires seem to be one of the things they did. You don't need any more capacity than the 225/75 or 215/85 offers. Both will get you to your rear axle rating. I like what WH did with tires that multiply to above that capacity. Ford should have.
With Ford, we can't go way crazy oversize on dual tires because of the rim offset dimension. It looks like you might have wheels with more offset, meaning you could go with 235, 245, both of which I've seen.
The challenge will be the offset. It's NOT the spacing you can see between sidewalls. It's two wheels, as mounted. Picture bolted together at their faces. Offset is center to center of the two rims' beads. Say a wheel has its bead surfaces 8" apart. Center is 4" so measuring between the two 4" centers might give you 10", but could be more or less. Take that dimension (10" in this example) to a tire chart and see which sizes require an offset of 10" or less, and still meet your load. That'd be 9450/4, and be sure to use the "Dual" column of the rating chart.
