16" wheels in Canada?

[Wingeezer]

Anyone have any luck finding 16"x6" alum. wheels in Canada?

I am very much in need of new tires and torn between just getting another new set of 15" LRE ST tires for our 2005 Classic 30, or taking the plunge and switching to the 16" setup using the Michelins. We currently have Towmax - they have worn very quickly, and I think it probably my fault for running them at 55-60 psi. They are badly worn on both sides of the tires, especially on the curb side wheels.

I think finding the Michelin LT tires here in Canada should be no problem, but so far I am having no luck at all finding a Canadian supplier for the Sendel wheels that AS is using.

I haven't even been able to find another brand of trailer wheel with the same specs as the Sendel locally.

It seems that 16x7 is easier to find - but I'm not sure if that might cause a fit problem on the trailer, I understand AS is using 16x6, and AS have confirmed to me that those wheels would fit my trailer.

Also, the 16x7's seem to be a truck wheel whereas the Sendel 16x6 that AS is using is sold as a trailer wheel. I don't know what difference there may be between a wheelsold for truck use versus a trailer wheel.


If I can't get 16" wheels locally, I suppose I could take a chance on driving south this winter on my present tires, and stopping at JC for installation of 16" ones, or maybe wait until we get to Tucson and trying to get fixed up through Discount Tire which might save me a little $.

I suppose another possibility would be to buy the wheels from a supplier in the US, have them shipped here and then buy the tires locally. Shipping would be over $200 though, plus I expect i'd get dinged for UPS brokerage fees, dug, etc.

I would feel better if we could start out our winter trip on new tires though, two of my tires are down to about just 1mm of tread on the inside and outside tire grooves! Our new spare measures at about 7-8mm.

Decisions, decisions!

Brian.


PS - can anyone tell me what T02, T03 etc means? I thought maybe it was some sort of Sendel designation but I see other rim manufacturers using similar identification. Presume it is some sort of industry classification? I tried a search and didn't get an answer!

[mandolindave]

Could you please expand upon your statement about running your tires at 55-60 psi. Do you think that you were over inflating your tires? My mechanic told me that he had two blowouts within 30 minutes because he over inflated his tires trying to get better mileage. I am ignorant about tires and want to understand. I have Towmax tires now, and I am happy with them. I have been running them at 55-60 psi. I hear that Towmax has a new and improved state of the art product, and I am leaning towards getting those.

[Wingeezer]

Originally Posted by mandolindave

Could you please expand upon your statement about running your tires at 55-60 psi. Do you think that you were over inflating your tires? My mechanic told me that he had two blowouts within 30 minutes because he over inflated his tires trying to get better mileage. I am ignorant about tires and want to understand. I have Towmax tires now, and I am happy with them. I have been running them at 55-60 psi. I hear that Towmax has a new and improved state of the art product, and I am leaning towards getting those.

Hi Dave,

Sorry I wasn't clear! My tires are worn on the outer edges, both inside and outside edges of the tire. I only have about 14,000 miles on them and they are under three years old, but the tires are now finished - especially on the curb side of the trailer where the wheels only have about 1 mm of tread depth left on the inside and outside grooves - the centre grooves have maybe 4-5 mm.

When new the depth of all grooves was about 7mm (checked on my new spare.)

When i look at various tire websites explaining different tire wear patterns, the pattern I am seeing on my tires is apparently what you get from running the tires under-inflated.

I thought I had picked the pressure I used from a Towmax load/pressure chart, but I don't remember for sure.

I had them put on at Jackson centre, and I think they did tell me to use a higher pressure - but of course I was smarter - not!

Running a tire over- inflated gives the opposite pattern - more wear on the
centre of the tread.

For the first year I had the tires I ran them around 50-55psi thinking t was plenty high enough and that it would give our trailer a better ride. I started seeing wear and bumped the pressure to 60psi.

But what I have read since is that once a wear pattern is started it will likely continue - and that is what has happened with our tires even after I raised the pressure somewhat.

I have also read that higher or lower tire pressures have relatively little affect on the ride that the trailer body gets - that is mostly governed by the trailer's suspension system.


I spoke with a service guy yesterday at an Airstream dealer in Canada wondering if maybe I had an alignment problem and if I should take it to them to check before putting any new tires on the trailer.

From my description of the wear he felt that it did not sound as though I had an alignment issue. His opinion was that I should have been running the tires around 75psi. (They are rated to 80 max.)

So that's my story!

The road side wheels show the same trend, but the the wear is not quite as severe - don't know why, maybe the curb side of the trailer is heavier and/or maybe the crowning of the road causes this.

I still have not ruled out buying another set of Towmax tires rather than moving to the larger 16" wheels and Michelins - it would be a whole lot less expensive and I'm not sure how many more years we will keep this trailer anyway!

Other than the rapid wear - which may well have been my fault - I have not had any issue with the Towmax tires.

I don't think I can get Towmax in Canada - so far I have only found 15" ST Carlisles or Marathons available locally and don't think i want those!

Hope that helps clarify!

Brian

[mandolindave]

My Towmax tires say 60 psi cold.....I let them be at 55 cold on hot days.
So my take away message from your post is too watch my tire pressure like a hawk, to make sure they are close to the recommended pressure. I knew that but, I was more concerned with blow outs and safety than tire wear. I have always heard that trailer tires don't usually wear out, they just get too old to be safe. I towed from 1000 to 2000 miles a year, when they were new. They are about eight years old now, so I only tow locally. They have shown no sign of wear, dry rot, or cracking. I am getting crazy about getting new tires so I can go where ever I want.
My crew's latest realization is that no matter how hard we try to keep our tires evenly inflated, we fail because the sun is usually on one side or the other. The sunny side ranges between 2-3 psi higher. The psi drops about 5 psi in sub freezing weather. My every day vehicle's tires last much longer now that I have the tire pressure monitoring system. I am getting them with my new trailers tires.
I am now wondering about why manufacturers say little about hot pressure psi. As usual, I over think stuff.

[idroba]

Three years ago, when I changed my Argosy wheels and tires to 16" ones, my local dealer found 16" wheels with the proper specs (same as original equipment, but 16") for me. They are labeled HWT on a sticker on the wheel.

From the original invoice:

Code: LTW

Part #: 0766655

Description: 16x6 6-5.5 GBC #7 320

I have no idea if these would be available in Canada but it is possible.

I got them from a place called 6 Robblees which has stores here in the western US.

However, this year when I was getting Sendel wheels for the new trailer, they did not have access to the Sendel line.

The ones they got me 3 years ago are just fine, but I wanted the Sendel wheel look.

[Phoenix]

The "T02" and "T03" designations are the Sendel model numbers. See link below:

T02 | Sendel Wheels (Note: These are the ones I bought.)

T03BM | Sendel Wheels (Note: I think these are the ones that come on Airstream Eddie Bauer models.)


Specs for wheels that most Airstreamers use:

Wheel size: 16x6
Bolt Circle: 6x139.7 (same as 6x5.5)
Offset: 0 (zero)
Center Bore: 4.25
Load Rating: 3,200 pounds


DiscountTireDirect.com says that they ship to Canada. We special ordered our Sendel T02's through our local Discount Tire dealer. Not sure, but you might be able to order Sendel wheels through DiscountTireDirect.com and have them ship the wheels to Canada.

Otherwise, Sendel might sell directly to you; or you might be able to find a USA distributor who will ship them to you, like the one below:

16 x 6 in T02 Aluminum Trailer Wheel 6 on 5.50 Lug Pattern


Notes:

1. There are a couple of other Sendel models that some have used; just make sure they meet the specs above.

2. Discount Tire and Costco both recommend that trailer tires be inflated to the maximum rated pressure printed on the tire sidewall, which for LR-E tires is 80 psi. (And, I run 80 psi in our Michelin XPS Ribs.)

[Wingeezer]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

The "T02" and "T03" designations are the Sendel model numbers. See link below:

T02 | Sendel Wheels (Note: These are the ones I bought.)

T03BM | Sendel Wheels (Note: I think these are the ones that come on Airstream Eddie Bauer models.)


Specs for wheels that most Airstreamers use:

Wheel size: 16x6
Bolt Circle: 6x139.7 (same as 6x5.5)
Offset: 0 (zero)
Center Bore: 4.25
Load Rating: 3,200 pounds


DiscountTireDirect.com says that they ship to Canada. We special ordered our Sendel T02's through our local Discount Tire dealer. Not sure, but you might be able to order Sendel wheels through DiscountTireDirect.com and have them ship the wheels to Canada.

Otherwise, Sendel might sell directly to you; or you might be able to find a USA distributor who will ship them to you, like the one below:

16 x 6 in T02 Aluminum Trailer Wheel 6 on 5.50 Lug Pattern


Notes:

1. There are a couple of other Sendel models that some have used; just make sure they meet the specs above.

2. Discount Tire and Costco both recommend that trailer tires be inflated to the maximum rated pressure printed on the tire sidewall, which for LR-E tires is 80 psi. (And, I run 80 psi in our Michelin XPS Ribs.)

Thanks,

I thought at first that T012 and T03 were Sendel model numbers but I'm pretty sure I have seen other wheel manufacturers using similar designation so I thought it might be some sort of industry designation - maybe load related or something.


I think I might have found a local source of a wheel having pretty much the same specs as the Sendel - slightly lower max load rating, but still more than adequate. All important dimensions identical.

It is a nice looking wheel but all the local dealer has been able to show me is a jpeg and some info he got over the phone from his supplier!

His price is very good and he can also supply the Michelins at a good price, so if he can at least get me a spec sheet and manufacturers name for the wheels I will likely go with it.

No doubt they are Chinese - what isn't! For me that isn't necessarily a bad thing, although granted it might be!

If this deal doesn't work out I will try to nurse my worn 15" ST's back to Tucson this winter and see if I can get a local Discount Tire shop to get me the Sendels and install Michelins while we are there for a few weeks.

I did check out the same website you linked to in order to explore shipping the rims to Canada but the shipping was half as much again as the wheel price and on top of that, if they ship UPS we get dinged with a horrendously high brokerage fee from UPS and probably duty as well. Maybe they could ship the wheels USPS I don't know, they don't charge as high a brokerage fee

I'll be glad when i get something sorted out! For the moment the local deal sounds promising - and I wouldn't have to worry about making a long trip south on worn out tires!


Brian.

[dutchie]

I"m going to look for the closest discount tire dealer in San Francisco on Monday to do a full swap for me , rims and tires it looks like

[masseyfarm]

If you are going south with those existing tires, I would do a rotate???

Dave

[MaxTow]

I'm sure you have read through all the threads on 15" versus 16" tires...

For our 2005 Safari I elected to go with the 15" Michelins. No problems so far which includes over 16k km towing over the last year. Mountain passes, Death Valley heat - nary a concern. They hold their pressure extremely well. I've only had to adjust tire pressure to account for seasonal fluctuation.

On our previous trailer (20' SOB) we had Towmax tires. After about 20k km towing it was clear that they were almost done. Very obvious tread wear.

On the Michelins after almost the same amount of towing - in much more extreme conditions, there is very little wear. If you consider that there is more weight on each of the Michelins, I'm very pleased.

[Wingeezer]

Originally Posted by masseyfarm

If you are going south with those existing tires, I would do a rotate???

Dave

Yep, That is in the plan for sure if I cannot get wheels locally before we leave to escape the snow!

Brian.

[Wingeezer]

Originally Posted by MaxTow

I'm sure you have read through all the threads on 15" versus 16" tires...

For our 2005 Safari I elected to go with the 15" Michelins. No problems so far which includes over 16k km towing over the last year. Mountain passes, Death Valley heat - nary a concern. They hold their pressure extremely well. I've only had to adjust tire pressure to account for seasonal fluctuation.

On our previous trailer (20' SOB) we had Towmax tires. After about 20k km towing it was clear that they were almost done. Very obvious tread wear.

On the Michelins after almost the same amount of towing - in much more extreme conditions, there is very little wear. If you consider that there is more weight on each of the Michelins, I'm very pleased.

Sounds encouraging and I hope I will be as pleased as you are if I can get fixed up with Michelins.

I did speak with the Airstream in London and they suggested I consider the 15" Michelins for our Classic 30.

But my trailer is perhaps a little heavier than yours, and when I checked the specs, the 15" Michelins were rated lower than the GVW of our trailer, so I felt it would be best for me to try to get the 16" Michelins even though it would mean finding new wheels.

The mileage you got from your Towmax tires was just about what we got from ours - I just tried adding the trips we had taken on them and it came
to 22,000 km - not very impressive. Maybe they use a softer rubber compound.

They are pretty much worn out now, especially, for some reason, the curb side tires. I am hoping I don't wind up having to attempt one more trip south with them!

Brian.

[crispyboy]

Wingeezer,
I know there are countless tire threads on this forum but check out post #19 and #25 where I went through my own tire saga. I also would have liked to use the Michelin LTX tire but it seemed too close to the edge of the weight rating per the tire engineer. They probably would work just fine as others have demonstrated but your trailer is likely heavier than mine.
You may want to run your rig across the scale to have an idea on the weight and make your choice from there.
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f438...-108403-2.html

[Wingeezer]

Originally Posted by crispyboy

Wingeezer,
I know there are countless tire threads on this forum but check out post #19 and #25 where I went through my own tire saga. I also would have liked to use the Michelin LTX tire but it seemed too close to the edge of the weight rating per the tire engineer. They probably would work just fine as others have demonstrated but your trailer is likely heavier than mine.
You may want to run your rig across the scale to have an idea on the weight and make your choice from there.
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f438...-108403-2.html

Thanks for the link to the the thread! I had seen it before but went back and re-read it with interest! Good luck with your new tires!

This whole tire business certainly is a thorny mess! Personally I still cannot help wondering if a great many of the ST tire failures one hears about are the result of people running the tires too old, too fast, overloaded, and/or
under pressure - or some combination of these!

As well, it is hard to keep things in perspective as mostly we hear only bad things about products - the people who have no problem, likely the vast majority don't speak up as much!

For my part, I did have a set of Marathons come apart (three tires out of four, all at about the same time and half way across Texas around Stockton. That was on our last trailer, a UK designed "Award" SOB.

I blame myself entirely for that. At the time I had not read anything about tire aging and figured that as long as I saw no sidewall cracks and had decent tread I was good to go! The tires were probably close to ten years old!! I ow replace tires every 5 years, use a TPMS, check the tires visually at every fuel stop and "try" to stay below 65mph!

No ST problems since!

Having said all that, I find myself getting sucked in to the 16" Michelin concept and would like to give it a try.

I do think in my case I would not be wise to think of the 15" Michelins. My trailer has a dry weight of about 7400# so I am sure that I run over 8000#.

I believe my GVW is 8700#.

Strangely, on my trailer, 2005 Classic 30 (bought used) I learned that AS had changed the GVW rating half way through the production year and upped the GVW to to 10,000#

I figured I was unlucky and had one of the earlier part production run.

But one day I was under the trailer and saw the marking "5000" in yellow marker paint on the axles.

I happened to be at Jackson Centre shortly thereafter and asked if they would confirm what axles I in fact had - they did confirm that they were 5000# axles and they put a new spec tag on our trailer showing a GVW of 10,000#. (To make things confusing they left they old tag on as well because it was riveted, the new tag is a sticker!)

I have no idea if it was a factory screw-up when the trailer was built or if the original owner had the heavier axles installed after purchase. AS couldn't tell me either!

Anyway - I think you will understand why I would rather have the 16" Michelins than the 15"!


I really should get our trailer scaled, but I am not sure where I could get it done locally.

I'd hate to be holding up truck drivers while I fart around weighing individual axles then trying to get one side of the trailer on the scale and the other off to get individual wheel loads! It would be worth the effort though to really know what i am dealing with!

Brian

[crispyboy]

I have never weighed each tire only the axles as a combination. There is no room on a Cat Scale to do this (only scale available in my area). As the tire engineer suggested, load up the trailer, weigh the axles and add a variance (fluff) factor of 10- 15% and call it a day.
Don't worry about clogging up the scale, you pay the same amount as truck, typically they will work with you.

[william Haym]

You might be able to get aluminum rims at a trailer suppler near you.
Just make sure you have the proper rim load capacity.
I think at least 2800lb capacity per rim!!
Other airstreamers can make there comments on this!!

[Wingeezer]

Originally Posted by william Haym

You might be able to get aluminum rims at a trailer suppler near you.
Just make sure you have the proper rim load capacity.
I think at least 2800lb capacity per rim!!
Other airstreamers can make there comments on this!!

Hi William,

Thanks, I did try Ruston RV but no luck - I was going to try the big RV place just across the Burlington Skyway bridge, but I think I may now have found something suitable at a local tire shop. Going to see them this afternoon to hopefully finalize everything to get them early next week. Fingers crossed!

Specs are identical in every way to the Sendel rims folks are using except the load limit is a bit lower - 3200# which I think is fine. I believe the
Sendel T03 is 3850, the T02 may be lower - ot sure.

Cheers .......... Brian.

[Wingeezer]

Looks as though I should be getting 16" wheels & Michelins. Everything is on order now and is supposed to be at the local tire shop early next week.

I'm wondering what sort of pressure people are running the 16" Michelins at for a trailer similar to my 2005 Classic 30?

Max for the tires appears to be 80, The light wt of my trailer is supposed to be about 7300 and the GVW shows as 8700, (although my trailer bought used has had 5000# axles installed). I have not scaled the trailer as yet.

From a load/pressure chart I see on the Michelin website, I am thinking that somewhere around 60 pounds seems right.

But I used that pressure on my last tires (ST 15" LRE) and they wore badly on both sides of the tires and I got very limited mileage on them, so perhaps I should run the Michelins at a higher pressure?

I have read that contrary to what we might intuitively think, higher pressures do not give the trailer a much rougher ride and it is teh trailer's suspension that mostly governs the ride quality.

As a small side issue, I am wondering if I will still be able to fit the
screw-jack type chocks I got from Hensley between the wheels now that I am losing an inch of clearance between the tires! I suspect they should "just" fit.

Hoping I don't need to bugger around with the wheel well trim to provide clearance and that I don't have to deflate the wheels to get them into teh wheel wells.

I have heard some people had to do that but it might be on different size trailers.

When I asked AS about these wheels fitting my year and model of trailer they said they would and don't mention any issues!


Brian.

[MaxTow]

Tire pressure is another heavily debated issue. Internet Wisdom is to run the tires at maximum pressure due to the side loading on the tires during turning. But as you know, there is lot's of competing opinions on tires with little to help pull fact from fiction.

Running the 16" at max pressure will create a harsh ride for the AS I am told...

Good luck with the purchase. I've not heard of any issue with folks changing to the 16" tires.

[Wingeezer]

Originally Posted by MaxTow

Tire pressure is another heavily debated issue. Internet Wisdom is to run the tires at maximum pressure due to the side loading on the tires during turning. But as you know, there is lot's of competing opinions on tires with little to help pull fact from fiction.

Running the 16" at max pressure will create a harsh ride for the AS I am told...

Good luck with the purchase. I've not heard of any issue with folks changing to the 16" tires.

Thanks MaxTow, if that is the current wisdom, then maybe I will start with bumping up the pressure to at least 70 and see how I get on!

As for the harsh ride issue with higher tire pressures, I have read a few articles indicating that this might not be the case.

As a retired mech eng., I feel a bit guilty that maybe I should be expected to know these things - or at east be able to calculate them!

But being retired for over 15 years and having worked many years before that in general management rather than engineering positions per se, I am far from the text books and have little inclination to try returning at this late date!

That is my excuse anyway!

I can believe that it might be so however, perhaps due to significantly different spring rates between that of the trailer's rubber suspension and that of the tires themselves.

Considered as springs in series, it could well be that the difference in spring rate of the tires caused by a 20 psi difference in the tires in comparison to the spring rate of the trailer suspension might have very little effect on the
g forces transmitted from the road through the tires and trailer suspension to the coach body and that the trailer suspension is the major governing factor.

I'd be interested if anyone has a more definitive answer about that!

I know Inland Andy has a strong feeling that towing with heavy duty trucks has a deleterious affect on the Airstream structure, but I feel that is a different phenomenon and he could be right. Trucks certainly right more stiffly than other vehicles and I suppose those shock loads are transmitted quite well through the hitch, especially having the weight transfer bars. (

On the other hand, I tow with a fairly heavy truck, and so far after many cross country trips, haven't seen any evidence of adverse effects such as popped rivets ........ (yet!)

Thanks again for your remarks ................ Brian.