Community Forums

nccamper · 12-24-2015, 10:42 AM

Anyone running 10 ply tires on their P30 motorhome? I am shopping for tires and found a great deal on some 225 70 19.5 tires to replace my old 8R 19.5 tires. These new tires are 10 ply tires and I thought that may be a little light?

My RV is a 30 foot 1994 Fleetwood Coronado. Any comments will be helpful.
NC Camper

wildtoad · 12-24-2015, 10:59 AM

Might help to know brand, model of tire.

Gary RVRoamer · 12-26-2015, 10:17 AM

Forget the ply rating and go by the max load specification, which will be shown on the tire sidewall and in the tire brochure too. Plies are an antiquated method of indicating strength and no modern tire actually has that many plies anyway. You need enough lbs of weight capacity for the rated axle load of your coach.

nccamper · 12-28-2015, 06:55 AM

My 30 foot P30 has a GVWR of only 14,000 pounds. I would love to have these 10 ply tires on it. I think the 10 ply tires would ride a lot better than the old heavy stiff 12 ply tires on there now. I will not be able to see the new tires until I buy them as this is not a tire store. He mainly deals in electronics and specialty Items for old restored cars. I am sure he can get 12 ply tires for a little more money. I think they said these tires are made by Bridgestone. Its a great deal for $130 each.

By the way, for you folks that are so worried about china made tires, I bought my old 8r 19.5 china made tires 9 years ago. They have over 22,000 miles on them and still look good. A lot of the miles were made on secondary roads and dirt roads. I have never had any issues with them. They were $140 each installed. I bet I could get another 2-3 years out of them easy. They do not have any air cracks at all. I do keep watch on my tires and air pressures since I have my own shop. I also carry an air compressor and check my tires daily when traveling.

I may still make some telephone calls to the tire dealers before I give on on getting the new smooth riding 10 ply tires for my light weight RV.
NC Camper

Gary RVRoamer · 12-28-2015, 08:35 AM

Once again I will say that the ply rating means hardly anything. Many newer model tires don't even give one - they specify a load index instead. You need to determine the weight on each axle and use tires that an support the load on that axle. GVWR isn't really helpful, since the weight on each axle differs substantially, and of course the rear axle has 4 tire to share the load while the front has just two.

A 10 ply-rated tire and a 12 ply rated tire don't differ much except that the 12 has a higher max weight capacity. If you don't inflate it to the max, there will be little, if any, discernible difference in ride. If the 10 can carry the axle loads of your rig, so can the 12 and either one would require about the same air pressure to do so. It's the air pressure that makes the difference, not the ply rating.

A typical 225/70R19.5 tire can handle around 3400 bs/tire as a dual and 3600 lbs/tire as a single. That's probably more than enough for your coach axles, but I'm just guessing.

z3406 · 12-28-2015, 12:26 PM

My only question for you is that if when you get the tires in and they are 10 years old, or totally inadequate as to weight rating or some other similar issue are you going to be willing to eat the cost of the unknown tires?

nccamper · 12-29-2015, 03:33 AM

z3406,
I am sure these tires are going to be new with recent mfg dates. This is a popular custom shop that sells high end restored vehicles to professional sport figures. These folks like me and just want to do me a favor and save me some money. I just wanted to do some research and get the lightest weight tires I could for a nice comfortable ride in my old classic 1994 motorhome. I may just tell them to get the stiff 12 ply tires and be done with this tire project.
Thanks for your help.
mtnman