2002 E450 Superduty tires

[brlowe]

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

[pnichols]

Here's the tires that we use on our 2005 E450 small Class C. Their maximum DRW vehicle weight carrying capacity - with the 4 in the rear inflated to 80lbs. each and the 2 in the front also inflated to 80 lbs. each - is 15,240 lbs. ... so they can handle the largest E450 based Class C IF IT'S WEIGHT IS DISTRIBUTED so as to not load the DRW rear 4 tires to more than 9,880 lbs. out of that total of 15,240 lbs..

Here's a source for the tires:

https://www.amazon.com/Michelin-Defender-All-Season-Radial-Tire/dp/B0192KRX7G/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_293_t_2...

Look at this excellent data book on page 34 near the top to see the ratings for the 215/85R16/E size. Do the pressure versus load versus single/dual math to see where 9,880 lbs. and 15,240 lbs. come from:

https://www.michelinb2b.com/wps/b2bcontent/PDF/Truck_Tire_Data_Book.pdf

I use the 215/85R16 Load Range E size - instead of the common E450 stock 225/75R16 Load Range E size - because I wanted a taller tire on our Class C so as to get a little more ground clearance. We do take our Class C off-highway on gravel and rocky roads, so a little bit of extra clearance helps. I use ~80 lbs. of pressure in the rear and ~65 lbs. of pressure in the front. The 80 lbs. of rear pressure is to keep heat due to sidewall flexing from being too great and so I can load up our Class C with no concern for tire over-loading. The 65 lbs. of front pressure is for the same reasons .... however, if I go to 80 lbs. in the front the steering becomes to "light and squirrelly" ... so I drop the front 2 tires down a bit from 80 lbs. to 65 lbs. to get a more solid steering feel.

The rear used to ride a bit harsh using 80 lbs. back there, but that was reduced through use of automatic variable damping shocks in the rear. For a larger Class C than ours, these kind of shocks in the rear may not be needed because of the higher average coach weight back there providing an overall softer ride at whatever tire pressures are being used back there.