The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk radial tires

Has anyone purchased radial tires lately for their trucks? What other U.S. companies besides Coker have a good tire that would be stock for 16" rim? Example 6.00 x 16" for a 53 3100. Any opinions would be great.

Thanks

Kevin

Stock radial for 16" rim?

Cooper Tires SRM II - these will fit a 6.50x16" rim (1954 5.0" rim width)

7.50R16LT

LT215/85R16

I have Yokohama tires on mine and they were made as a limited run. They are 32" tall, tubless radials with a tread width of 5 1/2". They have worked out really well.

A 215/75r16 or 225/75r16 are pretty common and fit pretty good. Just about any manufacturer has them.

I run 235/85/16 which is the equivelent of the 750 x 16. Mine are General Grabber, When i had them fitted it was like having power steering fitted, it was great !!!!!!!!
Tim (UK)

Both of those sizes are obsolete. We have to special order them everytime someone comes in wanting a set. They are also small compared to the OE size.

I agree with the "power steering" comment. When I put the radials on the fire truck, it was just like I had installed a power steering set up. Easy as silk... I didn't believe it until I did it and saw it myself.

Been running Michelin LT 215 85R 16's for ten+ years on a daily driver '49 1/2 T. over 44 K miles, no tubes. I was given the advice to run these tires by the former president of Inliner's, the dearly departed, a man I called friend, Jack Halton.

215 85R 16s are the largest tires that will safely fit on stock rims.
If you go to a 7 inch wide rim you can run 235 85R 16s
That's as wide of a rim as you can safely run on a front end with stock tie rod ends.
The banjo shaped ends will buy you a bit more width.

I had the centers cut out of my stock rims and welded on to 7 inch zero offset outers and run tubeless Uniroyal 235 86R 16s

It's a bit larger than stock but looks and fits great, the truck rolls and steers very nicely.
I really agonized over the tire size and almost went with 215 85R 16s but the 235s fill up the wheel well better (to my eye).
Looks about the same as 7.50 x 16s but with a tad wider footprint.

Ray

Thanks guys for all your comments and ideas about this subject.

Kevin

Kevin,

BFGoodrich Commercial T/A's should have the size and look you may want. Costco sell's them. Trust me, you won't find a bias or 7.50x16 locally unless you go to a OTR shop. Unless you want Chinese.

Kyle

Let me pose this question in this manner regarding radial tires.
"Does anyone know a radial tire (besides Coker's) that is made to work on a 4.5" rim-width 16" diameter wheel? A link to a manufacturer's specifications (or table of specifications) would be very helpful."

Thanks Tim (Tclederman) for your help also on this issue.

Thanks in advance guys!

Kevin

I have commented on this before over the years and here it is again. I bought 215/85R-16 and the dealer did not want to put them on my stock 16" narrow rims. Was concerned about the tire 'rolling off' and said the minimum wheel width was 5" or 6". I forget now.
Went to a second dealer, same story and mentioned the lack of a safety bead and that if he installed them, which he did not want to do, he could not give me the warranty.
Ironically a truck I built for a friend had those same radial tires installed on stock rims a few years earlier by the first dealer above. And a lot of 'bolters have used them as well. Maybe things have changed.
As for me I bought a set of 6:50-16 Firestone bias-ply. Do I like them? I love them. Perhaps not as nice as radials but they are smooth, do not bump when cold and handle really nice. They do have the bias habit of following cracks though. I do not drive faster than 45 MPH and log about 2000 miles per year.

Hey Kevin, I used Wild Spirit Radial TXR IIs. The size I used were 255-85R16s. I think they were about 32 or 33" tall. They ride great and have an old school tread design, at least as close as you can get to an old tread design for a radial. Check out my webshots and you can see them. They ride great! Get around good in the mud, rain and snow. Check 'em out. Good luck, Bongo

Kevin is interested is finding information about a light truck radial tire that will work on a standard 16" rim - 4.5" rim width. Coker sells a radial tire that is specified to work on a 4.5" rim width.

It looks like that Wild Spirit tire works on a 7.0" rim width.

Yes, a 255 is far too wide for a 4.5' rim. A 7" rim would be the minimum, an 8" would be preferred in order to get proper sidewall support.

Why not have one of the wheel shops take the rim appart and just install a wider rim to your stock center? THis is my plan for my 3/4 ton and the wheel shop can set this up with the correct back spacing to clear my tie rod ends!

1/2 ton truck's wheel would have a 9/16" offset. If the new rim is much wider than the original, does that put additional strain on wheel bearings?

Local wheel shop will widen my rims at $75 a wheeel plus 12% sales tax. Then I would need to get them painted or powder coated and for that kind of money I may as well buy new from places like Wheelvintiques.