Tires - radial or bias?

[tomdmax]

time for tires 79 31' radial or bias?

[Lumatic]

Radials are easier to find replacements. Also fractionally better mpgs and folks say tow better.

[dwightdi]

Be sure they fit in the wheel wells. It is pretty tight.

[Lumatic]

Originally Posted by dwightdi

Be sure they fit in the wheel wells. It is pretty tight.

225/75R15 is what most folks use.

[Bandits]

Originally Posted by tomdmax

time for tires 79 31' radial or bias?

You might want to look into getting away from ST tires. A lot of people are going to 16" LT tires. I don't know the weight of your trailer but I know that the 30' and 31' newer units have about the highest weight load on their tires. After failures with Goodyear Marathons and speaking with several other Airstreamers with similar problems I changed to 16" wheels and Michelin XPS Rib tires on my 30'2008 Classic.

[pattonsr]

Jerry,

Where did you buy the 16" wheels? What offset did you use and did you have any problems mounting? You know, all the good details.

Barry

[Bandits]

Originally Posted by pattonsr

Jerry,

Where did you buy the 16" wheels? What offset did you use and did you have any problems mounting? You know, all the good details.

Barry

Barry: I ordered the wheels from www.trailertiresandwheels. You can view what they have available when you go to their website. If you call, ask for Scott. He is very knowledgeable and has supplied wheels to Airstream for years. Airstream recommended to me a "zero" offset. Also there was a yellow sticker on the mounting plate that said to only use "zero" offset wheels. Airstream is currently offering a conversion, done at Jackson Center, to upgrade from 15" to 16"wheels. Your choice is either a B.F. Goodrich 225/75R 16 or a Michelin 225/75R 16. Both are LT tires. You can get current prices from their service department. Rather than travel to Jackson center it was much cheaper to order the wheels and buy the tires locally. I decided to go with the Michelin XPS Rib which is their top of the line tire. It is a summer rated tire and has served me well in the past. I'm on the third set on my work truck and have never had any problem. I'm heavy and drive fast and the first two sets exceeded 80,000 miles. The third set is at 20,000 miles and will surely outlast the truck.

I also added Centramatic balancers as well as a tire pressure/monitoring system. The tire failures that I had, Goodyear Marathons, had nothing to do with low pressure. I caught two just before failure and they were still at full pressure. The tires were three years old, only 5000 miles and covered except when rolling. When I found out about the extensive damage that can occur when a tread comes off I decided to go with the best tire I knew of.

Clearance on my 2008 Classic 30' was no problem but you do need to jack the trailer a bit higher. Also if you go with the Michelins they are about 20# heavier than the Goodyear Marathons so a bit more muscle is needed when mounting them. The width of the Goodyear Marathon 225/75R 15 and the Michelin 225/75R 16 is the same as far as I could determine. The 16" wheel is 1" larger in diameter so the trailer sits 0.5" higher and you decrease the distance in between the front and rear tire by 1". This would not be a problem for any of the tire chock systems that I'm aware of.

One other thing you should check out is the load/inflation tables. You can get them from the Michelin or any other tire manufacturers web site. If you pay attention to the weight of your trailer you may find that you can run at significantly less than maximum pressure as stated on the tire sidewall. Supposedly this would result in a softer ride for the trailer.

If I can be of further assistance let me know. Jerry.

[pattonsr]

Jerry,

So did you order 16 x 7 numbers 3 or 4. or 16 x 6 number 5? Also your link is invalid.

Barry

[Bandits]

Originally Posted by pattonsr

Jerry,

So did you order 16 x 7 numbers 3 or 4. or 16 x 6 number 5? Also your link is invalid.

Barry

Barry: I ordered the 16 X 7 number 4. The item number for this wheel is AW 1609. I thought that they looked the best of those offered. In my opinion they are compatible with the overall appearance of the trailer, not too flashy. I haven't taken pictures yet but if you would like to see what they look like mounted I'll take some and post them. I probably won't be down to the trailer till the end of the week when the last of the cabinet components arrive for the last phase of my interior renovation. We did not like the front sofa bed so I removed it and replaced it with 2 recliners. Much better for us since there is only the 2 of us and the sofa wasn't comfortable for either of us.

Sorry for the link not working. I tried it from the post and it didn't work but when I went direct to the Internet it worked fine. I'll have my wife check it out. She is much better with things like that than I am. I'll stick to changing tires and wheels and building cabinets.

Also if you order wheels make sure to get the metal valve stems installed before they ship them. I would order a couple of spares just in case they get broken when the tires are installed. I got the best deal on the Michelin XPS Rib tires at Sears but when they were putting the tires on the wheels they broke one valve stem. They tried a locally available metal stem but it didn't fit quite right. I ordered another stem and they broke that one also. I then ordered 3 more and they had no more trouble so now I have 2 extras. Trailer Tires and Wheels suggested that I order the valve stems with the wheels and let them install them. They said that they should be torqued to 45 to 60 inch pounds and that many tire dealers would over torque them. Also if you are going to be installing a tire pressure/temperature monitoring system that screws onto the valve stem I would suggest that you screw one sensor onto each stem to insure that the stem is tight enough and doesn't spin when putting the sensor on or off.

Also the center decorative hub cover from my old wheels was identical to the one supplied for the new wheel so I didn't need new ones. That saved a few dollars. Jerry.

[Archersfin]

Just add ".com" to the end of the link and it will work fine.

[pattonsr]

Jerry,

Pictures would be nice of your installed wheels. Also, the only bolt-on valve stem is the TR48E which must be the one you used. The other 5 are snap in style. An example of the high pressure snap in style is the TR600HP. Is it safe to assume the bolt-on for high pressure tires is better than any snap in style?

Barry

[Bandits]

I went with the recommendation of the company that I ordered the wheels from. I did not research valve stems but I told them that I would be using a valve stem mounted tire pressure/temperature monitoring system and that the manufacturer recommended metal stems. Jerry

[Bluto]

Originally Posted by Bandits

Barry: I ordered the 16 X 7 number 4. The item number for this wheel is AW 1609. I thought that they looked the best of those offered. In my opinion they are compatible with the overall appearance of the trailer, not too flashy. I haven't taken pictures yet but if you would like to see what they look like mounted I'll take some and post them. I probably won't be down to the trailer till the end of the week when the last of the cabinet components arrive for the last phase of my interior renovation. We did not like the front sofa bed so I removed it and replaced it with 2 recliners. Much better for us since there is only the 2 of us and the sofa wasn't comfortable for either of us.

Sorry for the link not working. I tried it from the post and it didn't work but when I went direct to the Internet it worked fine. I'll have my wife check it out. She is much better with things like that than I am. I'll stick to changing tires and wheels and building cabinets.

Also if you order wheels make sure to get the metal valve stems installed before they ship them. I would order a couple of spares just in case they get broken when the tires are installed. I got the best deal on the Michelin XPS Rib tires at Sears but when they were putting the tires on the wheels they broke one valve stem. They tried a locally available metal stem but it didn't fit quite right. I ordered another stem and they broke that one also. I then ordered 3 more and they had no more trouble so now I have 2 extras. Trailer Tires and Wheels suggested that I order the valve stems with the wheels and let them install them. They said that they should be torqued to 45 to 60 inch pounds and that many tire dealers would over torque them. Also if you are going to be installing a tire pressure/temperature monitoring system that screws onto the valve stem I would suggest that you screw one sensor onto each stem to insure that the stem is tight enough and doesn't spin when putting the sensor on or off.

Also the center decorative hub cover from my old wheels was identical to the one supplied for the new wheel so I didn't need new ones. That saved a few dollars. Jerry.

Please double check your numbers. I've read your post several times and come up with this:
You say you ordered a number 4 series and part number 1609 but when I check the web it shows the 1609 to be a series #5 and a different style wheel. It also says that the #4 series would be part number 1507.
Could you clarify?
Let me know if I am reading this wrong.
Right now I'm confused.

[pattonsr]

Bluto,

Number 4 refers to the numbered list (16" 6 bolt aluminum wheels). The fourth one in the list is the AW1609 which is a 16x7 with 0 offset. If I have this screwed up, Jerry will probably jump in and straighten out things.

Barry

[Bandits]

Originally Posted by Bluto

Please double check your numbers. I've read your post several times and come up with this:
You say you ordered a number 4 series and part number 1609 but when I check the web it shows the 1609 to be a series #5 and a different style wheel. It also says that the #4 series would be part number 1507.
Could you clarify?
Let me know if I am reading this wrong.
Right now I'm confused.

The number 4 did not refer to a series. It refered to the fourth item listed under 16" aluminum 6 bolt wheels. Jerry.