Van Tire Recommendations?

[Mobilesport]

What is the rim and desired tire size on this road trek?  What does the door placard say to use?



I got AT tires, for the reasons many here list, and have not really gotten to use  the all terrain part of them to any significant degree where now, 5 years later, I felt they would be a benefit over a tire like the michelin LTX MS2.

They look OK and give me warm and fuzzies, but I could have spent less for better road manners, less noise and  slightly better MPG's.

Roatreks I have seen do not have much ground clearance, so  burly AT tire for the occassional 'just in case' could yield little to no benefit, and decrease MPG while adding roadnoise and increase stopping distances on wet asphalt/concrete.

Don't get me wrong, I love the look and confidence of an aggressive off road tread that has earned praise from those who offroad regularly, but when 99.998% of the miles to be accumulated are paved, and ground clearance is limited......

The op has a 1 ton van and so he should get the E rated tires but those of us with 1/5 ton vans could very well get away with the lighter duty car tires  , my 1/5 ton Express van came with Firestone destinations and it rode as smooth as any Lincoln town car around even when my tires aren't aired down , I air them down to try to get the van to be as smooth as possible , I switched to Goodyear wranglers and its still just as smooth , my van weighs 6400 pounds with all my gear + hightop .

 

[SternWake]

Mine's a light duty 3/4 ton with 5 lug 15 inch rims and semi floating 9.25 chrysler Axle. 6400 GVWR.

Only one load range D tire exists, to my knowledge for these rims, a pirelli which is pricey and does not get good reviews.

That said I run load range C on my 15 inch rims, always have, and used to drive washboarded roads in Baja at high speeds doing 4 wheel drifts around corners pretty well loaded. Those LT michelins has screw punctures but no other issues in heavy aired down usage on difficult roads. I also drove them for 3 years with badly cracked sidewalls( do not use dollar store tire shine)

I only Air down( from 44 to 32psi) on sand( 25PSI) or washboard, never just for a smooth ride on Road. It kills MPGS and increases tire wear.

Never weighed my Van, but the only tires Issues i have had were on a noname brand tire, or when i first got it and was crossing NM on I-10 in June at noon, on the well worn tires installed by previous owner. Vibrations caused me to stop on the side of the road, and was torquing the driveshaft by hand, when i heard hissing coming from a rear tire, and by the time I swapped it out it was completely flat

In fact I bought new No name tires then, outside tuscon AZ, and those later failed horribly in Baja, and then all the used tires i got in Baja also had high failure rates, but the Michelins on the front, which were P235/75-15XLs lasted the whole Baja trip without issue

I hear that If one only requires load range D, but opts for load range E, then when airing down for sand the tire does not really spread out very well and increase footprint and 'float' and the tire sidewalls are then prone to overheating.

No way in HeCk would I intentionally ride underinflated on road just for a smoother ride, and certainly not at highways speeds.

 

[ArtW]

Mine's a light duty 3/4 with 15s as well

 

[highdesertranger]

you can get 16 inch 5 lug rims, https://www.amazon.com/16-inch-5-lug-rims/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i:aps,k:16 inch 5 lug rims . then there are several load range E tires available. highdesertranger

 

[ArtW]

You'd need more info than Amazon gives to find one of those that'd work, they don't tell you bolt circle
Honestly I think I'll be fine with 15s
of course the custom wheels you can get in whatever bolt circle you want, just costs money

 

[DannyB1954]

If you have 15" rims, it will be hard to find a good fit. I went with these https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nokian-Rotiiva-AT-LT235-75-R-15-116-113-S-Tires/50296307 Never heard of them, but are made in Sweden I believe and are popular in Europe.

 

[Ballenxj]

You'd need more info than Amazon gives to find one of those that'd work, they don't tell you bolt circle
Honestly I think I'll be fine with 15s

I think there is a bigger selection of tires for 15 inch rims. however, my 3/4 ton Dodge came with 16 inch rims and tires, so I think there are probably a good selection of E rated tires for that size rim. Now I'm curious to know if, and or how many E rated 15" tires there are?
A quick search did not turn any up for 15".
http://tires.tirerack.com/tires/E Rated Tires

 

[ArtW]

I don't think there are any, 15s were used on 1/2 tons and 'light' 3/4 tons, as far as I can tell, and a 3/4 ton on the lower end I don't thinkwould need load range E tires, unless you're abusing it, would it?

 

[Ballenxj]

as far as I can tell, and a 3/4 ton on the lower end I don't thinkwould need load range E tires, unless you're abusing it, would it?

While you can certainly get away without them, E rated tires have ten ply's, and if out away from everything, including service of any kind, I would just feel a lot more confident knowing I have them.