[RV Guy]

I would like some feedback from those who tow heavy loads and have gone to 265 tires on stock rims.


I tow a 13k lb. 5th wheel with approx. 2000 pin weight and am perhaps being a bit over-cautious about putting this much weight on a tire/wheel combo of 265 Michelins, load range E tires on the stock 6 inch rims. Reason is that these tires would normally go on 7 inch rims or greater.


Can anyone give me a warm and fuzzy feeling that I won't be over-stressing the sidewalls with this combo??


I plan on running max. air of 80 psi in the rears.


Anyone??

 

[chuntag95]

I'll send you a blanky Jim.

If you want, go to tirerack.com and look up what you have on the truck. As long at the load limit is over 3042, you beat OEM.

The 265's usually weight in around 3400.Edited by: chuntag95

 

[fishdmax]

Good question Jim. Tire manufacturers have approved rim widths for each size tire and I don't know the consequence of putting a tire on a rim that is too narrow., but if it's heat with a 2000lb tounge weight, that COULD be bad. My tire dealer says 265's on our stock rims is no problem, but I stayed with the 245's since I pull a fifth wheel. Maybe someone on this forum can educate both of us.


Steve

 

[cmadmaxman]

Jim, I have been running the Mic's. 265's with my stock rims. I have seen no problems as of yet after about 20k (I think without looking at my log book). I don't have the weight that you have because I have a tag. My total wt. is about 17,000 and about 500 lbs. hitch wt. The bigger tire will effect the shifing some with the trans., but not bad.


I bought my tires from The Tire Rack, and have been back many times. Good company to deal with.Edited by: cmadmaxman

 

[4x4man]

RV Guy-


I tow with 265's as well. The stock rims are 6.5" wide, so they are only .5" smaller width than the 265's require. My 5er is about 3k lighter than yours, but I have had no problems towing or having any unusual sidewall flexing and I have load range D tires. The one thing that has come to haunt me is crowning. If you have too much air in the tire when not loaded, you will wear unevenly leaving the middle more worn than the edges. Because of this, I will probably need to buy new tires next year, and only get about 35k out of these...I washoping for more...I really don't want to buy new rims, but I think 255 / 85's may be in my future as they will fit on the stock rim.


Bob

 

[Trader Jack]

I just put Cooper 265 Discoverer H/T's on mine. I could have got the A/T's but they are a little too agressive and have a good whine on the highway. The owner of the tire shop put H/T's on his own 2500GMC a while back so I felt pretty good about it. The price difference installed and with tax was $521 vs $746 for the Michelin X's.

 

[JimWilson]

You shouldn't have any problems. The stiffer sidewall of the E should compensate (if any compensation is actually needed) for the single size increase.

I would keep the air pressure maxed when towing, but then I'd remove 20-30 lbs when empty. Otherwise you should be fine.

 

[Son of a gun]

Jim,


The issue is one of lateral support. The narrower rim allows the wider tire to roll more when turning. It also allows the sidewall to flex more. This causes added stress to the tire over time and can also build heat faster if you are doing a lot of mountain driving. That said I don't think you've got a big problem with it. Why only 80#? I pull a 13500# 5th wheel and you don't get the full weight bearing capacity from a tire until it is at is max inflation. My kin pin weights about 2100#. It seems you are giving up 500 or 600 lbs of carrying capacity by towing at below max inflation levels and this puts you worse off than with the stock 245s.


My 2c anyhoo.


Bob

 

[gmccall]

I will say that the 265X75 16 KOs I now have on my stock rims took a week or so to get use to. They are a Load D tire and being an A/T tire do not have the handling manners on the road as my Firestone Steeltex tires had. They have a softer feel and give a more comfortable ride, but seem to have a little more "wiggle/swerve" at highway speeds.


Haven't towed with them yet, but I would stick with a Load E range if I were towing big weight. My car hauler and car only weighs about 6000 lbs.


It was a no brainer to switch tires though as I had a blowout on my Firestone tire at 26,000 mile. (70mph but on a straight away) Edited by: gmccall

 

[JimWilson]

The issue is one of lateral support. The narrower rim allows the wider tire to roll more when turning. It also allows the sidewall to flex more. This causes added stress to the tire over time and can also build heat faster if you are doing a lot of mountain driving.

True, but that only matters in the extreme. If you are constantly packing heavy, or tow something of considerable weight all the time, then the extra margin matters. But for an occasion instance it really shouldn't be all that significant.

 

[Colorado Kid]

2000# of pin load will put you somewhere less than 5000# on the rear axle, probably a lot less. Since the factory combination is rated for 6084# you've got nothing to worry about.

When you start talking about 3,000# pin loads you may be in danger of overloading the rear tires, but you can't get close to their limits without going WAY past the GVWR.

 

[RV Guy]

Thanks to everyone who responded with their thoughts and experiences.


I did purchase the Michelin LTX/MS, 265/75R/16 LRE tires and kept the stock rims. I've now made two long tows and love the new tires. I am running them at the maximum pressure of 80 psi while towing.


I'm uncertain of exactly who Son of A Gun was speaking to with the comments about not going with max. pressures, etc. These are LRE tires with maximum pressure of 80 psi.

What Iike the most is the way these tires change the way this truck looks. The person at GM who decided to go with the 245s should be fired.

Later,

 

[Dmax Tim]

I went w/ the 285/75R-16 BFG AT on stock rims because of the 3 ply sidewall, I think helps w/ less sway.


I had 265/75R-16 on 3 of my Dmax trucks.


I just finished them off and went w/ 285/70R-17 on stock H2 rims.


I'm going to go w/ 265/75R-16 or 265/85R-16 Buckshot w/ studs for my winter tires.


I pull a 15,000# BH trailer w/ skid loader, trencher, and backhoe.

 

[neverenuf]

I tow a 16,000lb fifth wheel with mine. I got great service out of the BFG AT/TA 265/75/16D tires I had on it, I have aftermarket rims. This combination actually gave me about a 1mph fuel mileage boost over the stock Firestones and much better ride. I recently put BFG AT/TA 285/75/16D tires on her. Big mistake in my book. The tires are too big for my stock truck. They rub on the front plastic when turning, which I had to trim. I use my truck offroad sometimes and at extreme angles also rub on the inner sheetmetal, which bent itself out of the way. My fuel mileage while towing went from 13/14mpg to 9/10mpg and the truck really struggles up steep hills with a stiff headwind now. I used to have no problems and keep highway speeds all the time. I refuse to mess with the torsion bars due to the towing/tracking problems it creates with a heavy load. My buddy has the same truck as me except his does not have 4WD, he cranked up his torsion bars to clear the 285's without having to trim plastic. He wore out his tires in 10K miles. He did get it aligned after the torsion bar adjustment. I still have the 265's in good shape and I am going to take the 285's off and put the old ones back on. I only have 1300 miles on the 285's if anyone wants them. I'm in the Las Vegas area now, make me an offer if interested.

 

[gmccall]

neverenuf,


Did you take into consideration the new tire height when calculating mpg ?


I have droped about 1 mpg when I switched from stock 245x75 to the BFG 265x75 AT KO tires. I thought I would gain mileage. I did take into consideration the new tire height when running the calculations.


The web site charts indicate my tires went from 683 rev/mile to 654rev/ mile (at 45mph) hm...so for every 100 miles the speedo shows I actually traveled 104.43 miles (?)


BTW the charts show a 632rev/mile for BFG 285x75 AT KO tires. So for every 100 miles your speedo shows you traveled 108.06962 and bla bla

Edited by: gmccall

 

[neverenuf]

gmccall


No, I did not take the tire hight into consideration when I calculated MPG. My biggest complaint is the way it tows with the taller tires. It just changes the gear ratio too much to tow such a heavy load.

 

[JimWilson]

Going from a 265 to a 285 represents only a 3% difference in revolutions per mile, so it really shouldn't have been anything other then a very mild difference. Can't see how it could have made such a drastic difference.