Forum Discussion

FireGuard's avatar
FireGuard
Explorer II
Apr 06, 2016

Wheel capacity vs tire capacity

I'm looking to upgrade my stock tires to the Cooper ST that has a 4080 lb rating.
This should cover my needs, but it seems most stock wheels aren't rated that high.
I'm sure many people are running good tires but are over the limit on their wheels.
I know everything is rated for a reason, but are the wheels capable of more? Has anyone actually broken a wheel or heard of one when the load was within reason?
I'm thinking it would take a lot of weight and/or poor maint or damage to a wheel before it would fail.
What are your thoughts?
Truck Campers
  • blueglide's avatar
    blueglide
    Explorer
    Apr 06, 2016
    I can think of several components on the truck that I might be comfortable being a little overweight on....my rolling stock isn't one of them. Frames, axles, etc. probably wouldn't catastrophically fail causing an accidentand loss of control.....tires/rims...that's another story. That's just my .02 and comfort level. :)
  • Kayteg1's avatar
    Kayteg1
    Explorer II
    Apr 06, 2016
    I have seen factory rims splitting without alleged overloading, but I take it as occasional design error.
    Steel rims usually can take much more than ratings.
    With alu alloy it is harder to predict.
  • dave17352's avatar
    dave17352
    Explorer
    Apr 06, 2016
    Well if you put a heaver rated tire on a rim not built to take it there has to be some risk. Now I myself wouldn't worry about a couple hundred pounds.

About Travel Trailer Group

44,026 PostsLatest Activity: Mar 03, 2025