Looking for Tire Advice.

[Barkoff]

Lance 950, 1997 Dodge Ram 2500. 4X4

Airbags, new shocks, new sway-bar, load stabilizers.

Have been running this set-up on 16" E rated tires. Not content with being up at the limitations of these tires, and the amount of rocking the camper gives me, I explored two options, converting to 19.5 or converting the truck to duals.

The dual conversion is just too much, so I will be going with a 19.5 and though I hope it cuts down some of the rocking, for the most part I wanted piece of mind that I cut the chances down of a blow out.

Bought a set of Vision Heavy Haulers, 19.5 X 7.5, now it is time to take on the overwhelming task of choosing the right tire. Willing to pay for a good tire, but not a $2000 set of tires.

Suggestions, experience?

[Barkoff]

Thanks for the opinions, I do have a 4X4.

[mbloof]

I'll pass on what my truck running brother-in-law told me: you can spend a little or quite a lot for tires. Where you'll want to be (unless you have $$ burning a hole in your pocket) is at the high middle or low side of the high end brands.

Not knowing if your truck is 4x4 or just RWD and if your interested in a "Snowflake" emblem, off road or quiet highway tread.

Next comes size. Some guys go with as little as possible (215 or 225's) I was leaning toward 245's however the 265's were a mere $20 more and had nearly 1000lbs higher rating. I got the 265's.

Personally I wanted a fairly aggressive tread and my last two picks were the Hankook DH01's or Toyo 608z's. I ended up with the Toyos.

While I've ridden in rigs with louder tires the 608z's are not quiet on the highway. Given how many miles I put on the truck yearly the tires will likely outlast me.

One word of caution - most consumer 12v air compressors are going to have issues attempting to get >80lbs of air in the tires. I ended up buying a shop compressor that is good for 150PSI. (I only run mine at 90PSI rear, 80PSI front)

If you don't match the diameter of your current or stock tires you'll have to change your speedometer calibration for the larger tires.