TIRES, DUALLY

[TXiceman]

Tom, I have Kumho's on my Ford and they are doing OK. Only problem I have had was getting the tires balance out herre in Po-dunkville. Had to take the truck back into Tulsa and Hibby to rebalance them. Doing fine now.

Ken

[Vette Racer]

Hey Ken, you got the D or E's on that puppy? Do they seem to handle the load OK and how many miles do they have on them?

[Tom and Patty]

Tom,

Your 3500 probably has 235/85R16 load range "E". They hold 3042 at 80 psi. The BFG has a 50K mile warranty you might be able to take advantage of. Of course you have to rotate and have even wear. BGF is a good tire.

Kumho was a third tier tire a few years ago, made in Korea. Nothing wrong with it, but towing as you do, I would pay more now then later.

Of course the ultimate is the Bridgestone R187 or the Michelin XPS Rib. The more money you spend the better the tire and more forgiving of you for not checking air pressure... i.e. separations and sidewall failures related to heat.

[TXiceman]

Tom, it has 235/85R16, load range E, 10 ply rating. Since I bought the truck used, not sure about the miles. The tires were faily new when i got the truck, so, I'd guess 15,000 miles on them now.

The balance problem is the fancy rims and getting someone with the know how to take the time to get the balancer set up and the wheels mounted on the balancer properly. Ford's are pretty bad about the aluminum rims being hard to balance.

My wife's car has some Korean tires made by Sumitomo and thry are doing great compared to the Toyo we had on it last time.

Ken

[Vette Racer]

Ken

Thanks for the info. Think I've decided to go with the BFG's. Now I've got another dilemma. My stock size is 215/85/16 Load range D. Thanks to the general I need to stay with the stock size to keep the rears from rubbing loaded and I don't want to impact the ride quality empty so...Do I put the D or E load rated tire on? I'm thinking if I go to the E, being a 10 ply, I'll gain some stiffness which will hurt the ride but the killer is, I can get the E's cheaper than the D's. Isn't that something!

Anyone have any experience between the D and E?

By the way, as an FYI, I'm being told that all tires are going up quite a bit due to the cost of oil products used to make the tires. Goodyear jumped from 128 to 178 a tire for the same tire.

[C.CARNEY]

Tom,
I've got 235's on my duals with no problems. I can't imagine that yours wouldn't be able to go with 235's. And personally I would go with the E's. Because of the size of your WW, I think I would want all the strenght I could get.

When your unloaded, just air down the tires in the back a bit.

Clark

[Vette Racer]

Hey Clark

Yeah, the Ford uses the 235's but the chevy won't quite clear loaded, They tend to rub but the D's handle the load quite well, I think my rear axle with the WW on, loaded with Jeep, was, and after digging out my weigh slip, 6580lbs. So...4 at 2335 ea = 9340, don't see the need for the E's BUT, Will they ride rougher if I put them on and air them down some than the D's aired up? Thats the question!

Thanks for the response, appreciate that.

[Tom and Patty]

Vette Racer,

Here's the deal. A 8 or 10 ply (D or E load range) tire will carry the same weight at the same air pressure. The E range holds more pressure, hence more weight. Air carries the weight, the tire is the envelope. E may ride a bit stiffer, mainly because of the bead package used in the E may be different, the plys are probably the same.

[Tom and Patty]

Tires have or will be going up 3% to 8%. Bridgestone in May, Michelin in June, Goodyear? The Goodyear must have been on sale, no one went up 39%.

[WWFan]

FatDog-

Can you believe VR's got people talkin' tires again?! And (but!) he got poor 'ol Tom and Patty to chime in!! Hey guys! How's the peeps from my hometown?!

[Tom and Patty]

Hey Sean,

I can talk all night about tires. Want to know about the Firestone/Explorer recall? Nah too boring.

Off the subject, we survived the Hyw 12 expedition. It was a great trip. There were a few spots when Patty would say, "Look at that!" and I too busy watching RPM, and speeds and corners to try to figure out what she was looking at. That usually only happened after I was sight seeing too long myself. We stayed one night in North Campground in Bryce, spcae 34, it was beautiful. Coach ran perfectly, and the exhaust brake got a real good workout. We need to go again with a toad or our Goldwing in tow

[Vette Racer]

Ah, its just those darn tires. What's a guy to do. We do appreciate all the input. And, those Goodyears, the Sr's I had as OEM were 128, now they're 178 according to one of the tire stores here. God, I hope they like them cause I darn sure aren't going to buy them at that price. Guy told me I'd better get used to it, all of them was going that way. Just like everything else. SUCKS!

[WWFan]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Tom and Patty:
Hey Sean,

I can talk all night about tires. Want to know about the Firestone/Explorer recall? Nah too boring.

Off the subject, we survived the Hyw 12 expedition. It was a great trip. There were a few spots when Patty would say, "Look at that!" and I too busy watching RPM, and speeds and corners to try to figure out what she was looking at. That usually only happened after I was sight seeing too long myself. We stayed one night in North Campground in Bryce, spcae 34, it was beautiful. Coach ran perfectly, and the exhaust brake got a real good workout. We need to go again with a toad or our Goldwing in tow </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

OMG!! that's right! You did Utah-12! Isn't that just as beatiful country as you can get? and yes...it's a workout on the rig...I'm dying to try it with our new setup...won't worry near as much...

Hey...we gotta get together sometime (and not talk tires, OK?)...Moab 2006 is the time, huh?

[Vette Racer]

Yeah Sean, NOW its tires!