16" spare tire vs OEM spare tire rack

[Larry C]

Hey buddy,
Just saw your post about the 16" wheels and tires. Care to give me the details? I've never been a fan of 15" tires, except, possible "E" rated. After going through 2 sets of Chinese Marathons on the other AS, I finally got a set of E rate Carlyle (sp).
Now this new AS (2001 30' Excella) has another set of the Chinese Marathons on it, and they are new. I thought I would try them again for the summer trip to Seattle, if they make it back to Alabama, I think I'll be in the market for a set of 16".
What kind of rims did you get? Also, did you go with ST tires, or LT? Just wondering.
Have a good day

Larry

[Bluto]

Hi Larry,
I'll send you a PM on the particulars tomorrow, but to get you started, I bought a set of (5)16x7 aluminum wheels. I could only find a couple of people on this forum that went with the 7" width, seems most stay with the 6". But everyone who bought the 7 's said it would work just fine.
I found a nice wheel design I liked and it only came in the wider wheel. So that's what drove me to that size. They are rated for 3200# each.
I don't have the tires for the wheels yet, as I'm doing this a little at a time. But when I do I'll get LT's. I like the Michelin XPS Rib in a 225/75/16. I have used the Michelin Rib on my pick ups for as long as I can remember and it's one fine tire.
My current trailer tires are only a couple of years old and still have many miles to go before I need to buy rubber for the new wheels.
I will tell you that I removed one of the 15" and put a new 16" wheel in it's place and did all my measuring and see that the new ones will be a perfect fit. Whew!

[pappy19]

The instructions that came with the Centrmatics said the rim of the centramatic can go in or out. On my pickup, I placed them "out" and on my AS, I placed them "in". I didn't plan on tire rotaions that included using the spare, so I bought a much cheaper 16" steel rim and a much cheaper "no-name" for a spare that was the same diameter and load range.