Tires, your money or your life. FYI Guidelines

[UptownSport]

8.00 16.5 were tiny.

Michelin XPS

These have steel cable casing, 16.5 recappers would likely have commercial caps still around.
Both Bridgestone and Michelin made a steer / HWY tread in steel casing.

16" rims are readily available- Single or dual.

Sidewall repairs are perfectly reliable. OTRs have far more to lose, and service is far more severe than a van, I'm sure you'd agree.

Point overall is getting lost- a rock will go through any tire- believe me. Setting tire to correct pressure, not what you think it should be-
is the key.

I absolutely know what you're doing- overInflating past all reason, then getting punctures and thinking more ply rating (and, then, more pressure) is the answer.
People could talk til their blue in the face, and you'd still do it. Jesus could come down and burn it in granite in front of you ...

 

[Gary68]

i change my air pressure depending on what i am doing,basic empty load driving 36psi,going up into the woods to load 2-3 tons of wood in my 1/2 ton 4x4 45psi,snow/ice 15 psi

i bought bfg ko's and are happy with them the last set of bfg's at's last a long time until i way overloaded them and killed the sidewalls,you know firewood you need a tractor to load and can only get 3-4 rounds in the bed

cheap chinese tires are crap,if you dont recognize or cant pronunciation the name dont buy them

on my rv i have fairly new 16.5 and will most likely get 16 rims but would like 17-18 rims to have more clearance between the rim and brake drum,16.5 are failed experiment from the past

 

[UptownSport]

Yes, they used to say the same thing about Bridgestone, and they have it figured out.
So will the Chinese.

The '.5' series was to move away from split rims- they went to .5 or 'wide base', tubeless rims.

something became 14.5 (Mobile home)

15" (old super heavy duty moving van tires) became 17.5 IIRC


17" became 19.5"

Of course everyone knows 20>22.5 and 22>24.5

You would see those bizarre split rim sizes still in use. 16" splits were super popular, and 20", s o m e t i m e s 22"

So, 16.5 was an attempt to get away from some some split rim, I'd bet a LT 15".
They were usurped by tubeless rims for 16", which isn't a 'wide base'.
As people have pointed out, 16.5 is still used in special applications, off roaders, subset HMMWV

Split rims sucked, each manufacturer had a different ring, and some had several models that didn't interchange.
We literally had a chart on the wall!! Not to mention they needed a tube and a flap that would always fail.


Lots of beads broke, and probably still do because both tires were so common at one point-
Remember suggesting to a guy that he not put his face over a side wall when inflating.
A few minutes late, he stuck a 16 on a 16.5 and bead broke.
You hate to suggest to a man how he does his job ...

 

[frater secessus]

Yes, they used to say the same thing about Bridgestone, and they have it figured out.
So will the Chinese.

Amazon recently quit carrying the Conti Motion tires I use on my commuter bike. 

I bought a Chinese tire based on 4.5 stars average over 182 ratings and reports of longevity.  Spooned it on;  it's a great tire so far.    At least equal to the Continental and a good deal better than the OEM tire.  I commute 100mi on them each weekday.

 

[UptownSport]

Gulp.
By bike you mean motor cycle, or are you Lance Jr??

Was a really interesting article about Chinese finally being able to make ball point pens.

Turns out ball's metal must be very high quality, and precise, and, until now they hadn't been able to acheive that type of quality. Article said it was a sign they're coming into their own.

Think van's tires are Korean- prev owner just bought them- kinda hoping for nail truck to tip over ...

 

[frater secessus]

Gulp.
By bike you mean motor cycle, or are you Lance Jr??

Motorcycle.  One of my father's game cameras caught me on a flyby:

 

[Minivanmotoman]

Many years ago in Car & Driver, they interviewed a race car driver, can't remember who, on driving advice.
Two things I remember is 1. Drive like a glass of water is on your dash. That smoothness gives good gas mileage and prolongs brakes, suspension and driveline. 2. DON'T rotate your tires as the non drive ones will last far longer than just replacing the drive ones. Found that very interesting. Obviously not applicable for Awd or 4wd, only 2wd. Made sense to me.

 

[UptownSport]

Except irregular wear- Especially rears on FWDs.

Luxury car tires last the longest. Why?
Drivers are unwilling to subject themselves to high cornering forces.
(Cornering's what wears tires)

 

[tripper]

Check cracked sidewalls too! Last year I noticed my rear tires had cracks on the sidewalls (load range E btw), but had plenty of good looking tread. I was on my way out the door to the RTR so just made a note to replace them when I got back. Well while headed home from the RTR the rear tread rolled off of the tire, causing $2000 in cosmetic bedside damage to my truck.  The tire did not blow however, just tread rolled off and shredded the side of my truck.

Worst still was having to change it at night on the side of hwy 10 (driver side) with almost no shoulder and no exit for miles.

 

[UptownSport]

A business was making a case to convert your trailer's 16" to wide base-
They claimed the extreme side loading on tandems in turns due to axles being so close together was cause for all the 'fly aparts' on 16".
I do recall being struck at amount of lateral stress trailer tires endure under severe, sharp, low speed turns;
so i believe them.
Wide base, even 16.5s were much sturdier than most 16"


Here's one, but they only talk longevity: https://www.pjtrailers.com/options/17.5-wheels-and-tires/

 

[highdesertranger]

after shredding dozens of trailer tires, I run LT tires now. highdesertranger

 

[Minivanmotoman]

Black Friday discounts at Walmart.com for all types of tires. Ship to store for installation. The price is right!

 

[Minivanmotoman]

Reviving this thread and why your tires are so important after reading this article.
Buy the best tire that you can afford, do your research online for tire type and model, maintain by checking air pressure and visual inspections, change them if getting old or cracking side walls, replace before you need to find a deal instead of stuck on the side of the road.
Your life and others depends upon it.

https://jalopnik.com/how-goodyear-hid-evidence-of-the-worst-tire-made-in-his-1822200424/amp

 

[Weight]

I never trust sensationalized news stories. Keep your tires inflated to the proper pressure. Get your vehicle weighed, don't overload your tires. Here is a link to Rodger Marble's blog. It is good to browse through his articles. http://www.rvtiresafety.net/2017/05/why-do-some-tires-explode.html

 

[Minivanmotoman]

^^^ great info source. Thx Weight.
Just to reemphasize the most important critical factors with tire failure.
Three major things are always determined to be the cause of blowouts. Not considering punctures of course. 
Air pressure which we take for granted. Not enough air weakens the tires ability to resist load and throw off heat, causing blowouts.
Overloading the tire. Sidewalls are marked with the weight rating for each tire. Ensure that the weight of your vehicle and load do not exceed tire rating.
Age of the tire. Tires are stamped with the date of manufacture. After three or four years, start considering replacing, regardless of remaining tread.

Raising awareness. Don't take tires for granted or consider insignificant. Think about it, they're critical.
For us RVers/travellers/road warriors, everything relies upon them.

 

[johnny b]

here's an example of age and neglect....back story:
Van sits a lot...1999 w/ 63,000 miles.
Noticed a lump in sidewall of rear tire so changed to spare and planned to buy 2 new tires (move front to back, put new on front).
Got an EGR code, so delayed tire purchase to fix that.
Picture is of the 'lumpy' tire I had swapped w/ spare and cranked back up into under floor well (Ford). Just a few weeks of hanging under the van and when I took a look before ordering new tires...Voila:



From lump to that in a few weeks with no load.
Inspected all the tires closely, found the other side rear had a small lump and my spare (now on rear) was the original (1999).

Bought 4 new tires.   (Best/newest old front is now the spare).

Moral: Check those date stamps. Look for signs of dry rot. Run hands along sidewalls, tread and shoulders feeling for lumps, which indicate belt 'tears/breakage'.
If you have a tread separation failure like shown...be very careful handling....wear leather gloves. The edges of the torn 'steel belt' are like a hundred tiny needles/splinters....ask me how I know!  

 

[RenataAllison]

I sell tires for a living and we have had more issues with Goodyear than any other brand when it comes to manufacture defects i.e. out of round, radial pull etc. . Moreover goodyear does let us return new tires if a sale falls through. Customer gets stuck with them, I let the customer know that up front.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[Minivanmotoman]

Excellent article explaining the importance of winter tires from the experts.

https://arstechnica.com/features/20...r-but-winter-driving-remains-all-about-tires/

 

[crofter]

Winter tires~

I am wanting a softer tire for winter that has that special Mountain-Snowflake mark on it so I don't need chains.

Current tires are load rated for about 3200 each tire on the van/ van totals 8550.

If I switch to something softer for the mountain roads and nasty winter driving we get around here, will the tires work with the load??

I am looking at Bridgestone tires Blizzaks or W965's, but they do not seem widely available around here AND I can't find out the load ratings for some reason.

Any advice?  ~crofter

 

[crofter]

Thanks for the article. But what is "flobbery"?        ~crofter

Quote from article "But winter tires are formulated differently. They have large amounts of silica and a whole host of other materials in smaller amounts that keep things nice and flobbery, even at low temperatures. "