Tires

[haven]

For a long trip outside North America, be sure to take the wheel diameter into consideration. It's quite difficult to find replacement tires for rim sizes like 17" 18" and 19.5." The more commonly used truck rim sizes are 16" and 22.5," with 15" rims on a lot of light pickups.

If you decide to run a less common size, be sure to carry two spares so you have a way to keep going while you're waiting for replacement tires to arrive from USA by air freight. There are tire shops in every small town and village that can plug a simple puncture. But they can't fix a sidewall problem or a big hole in the tread.

Chip Haven

[ujoint]

A good tire repair kit wiould be good to have, just read the article in OJ!!

[Tress]

Has anyone here used the Firestone Destinations A/T? Just found s review chartt and it placed the Firestone tire above the Goodyear Silent armor and the Pirellelli Scoprion at the top above them both. Check out this link:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey....jsp?type=ORAT

[Clark]

I don't think that they would work because of the load rating. The highest I saw was a D and most of them where C's.

[Tress]

What load rating does a 1 ton van need? Can i only use E or would D work?

[spencyg]

My BFG 295-75-16 AT's are D rated, and are load rated to 3100 lb ea @ 65 psi.

Most E rated tires Ive seen in the same size range are rated to around 3500lb.

Spence

[Tress]

I need 305/70 16's, i found the Silent Armor in E rating but not the Fireston's. I think im between BF A/T's and the Silent Armor but i have heard Goodyeears dont last very long, tough call, too many tough calls these days LOL!!

[AlpineSMB]

Well, I know they are not technically A/Ts but I recently installed a set of Toyo Open Country M/T's. They're 285/75/16's and are rated at 3700+ lbs. After a few hundred miles this past week, they're not much louder than the BFG AT's I replaced and they seem to ride relatively smooth. From my research these were one of the highest rated MT's in the durability, smooth ride and lack of noise departments.

-d

[charlieaarons]

My BFG 295-75-16 AT's are D rated, and are load rated to 3100 lb ea @ 65 psi.

Most E rated tires Ive seen in the same size range are rated to around 3500lb.

Spence

We're getting up there in tire diameter. Michelin 255/100R16 XZLs are rated at 4665 lb @ 85 psi @ 62mph or 3750 lb @ 65 psi @ 68mph. They are 10" wide, 36.4" tall and weigh 87 lb.
I found they fit on my 88 F350 4X4 with no lift and no rubbing even at full lock on stock rims; but it needed a gearing change.
XZLs are a high mileage tread despite their comparable appearance to M/Ts. I'm wearing my 395/85R20s on my Unimog at an average of over 70,000 miles/tire despite the high weight (67% of 70 mph rating, 52% of 55 mph rating).
I think they'd work great on a Sportsmobile with perhaps a slight lift and gearing increased by one notch.
On the recent Australian trip with one Mitsubishi and one Isuzu from Magadan to the Trans-Siberian, one rig had the Michelins referred to above and absolutely no problems. The other had Mickey Thompsons on 18" rims and had to replace two tires. Fortunately certain Russian medium duty military vehicles run 10.00-18 bias ply tires so I think they rounded up a couple of not well matched replacement tires by sheer good luck.

Charlie

[dennisuello]

Check out Hankook DynaPro ATM RF10. I think, I'll get these for my Titan.