have dry wall rot on all 6 tires side walls
need to get new tires anyone no what tires best go with this camper thay have 16 now i think its say 7.5 r16 i need the tires that best fit and ride \. 1976 Barth 350 gas Chev P30 22ft

quote:

Originally posted by Truckdriver:
have dry wall rot on all 6 tires side walls
need to get new tires anyone no what tires best go with this camper thay have 16 now i think its say 7.5 r16 i need the tires that best fit and ride \. 1976 Barth 350 gas Chev P30 22ft

Hi Truckdriver
i just put two tires on the front of my 71 24'L P-30 will put 4 more on the back soon the firestone store and the post exchange on post tried to sell me 235/85-R16 saying they are the same as 7.50-R16 before i bought i went to another store he showed me that 235/85-r16 were wider and could cause them to heat up on the back becouse they would be to close and may rub, they may be hard to find and cost a few dollars more but i think you will be better off with them the 7.50-R16

Keith White
retired U.S.Army
71 24'L P-30 350


my new license plate
[This message has been edited by keithwhite (edited August 27, 2004).]

[This message has been edited by keithwhite (edited September 27, 2004).]

Generally speaking, the metric tires, 235R, etc. have wider tread than the ones designated in inches. This is good. The problem lies in the width of the cross-section at the widest point.

The nominal cross-section of your 7.50R tires is 7.5 inches. The 235R tires are about 9.25 inches, definitely too wide to go on the rear duals, though they'd probably work nicely in front.

According to an old Tire & Rim Association Standard chart I have, the 215R16LT tires have about the same load carrying capacity as your 7.50 R, but their cross-section is about 8.5 inches, 3/4" less the 235s. 215s might work on all four wheels.

A competent tire store should be able to tell you if the 215s would work on the rear.
The metric tires are likely to be less expensive and easier to find than the old 7.50R's.

Just for your own information, I'd suggest you measure the tread width of your present tires, go to a tire store, and measure the tread on a good quality 215R16LT and see if the difference is significant. If the 215R tread is much wider, you might be pleased with an improvement in handling.

An alternative might be a spacer between the rear duals to give you enough room to run wider tires without interference, though I'm not sure if this is advisable, or practical.

Best, would be new, modern wheels that accomodate the wider tires. Then, the wider, the better.

If 215s would work all around on the old wheels, that would seem most practical.

Life doesn't get any easier when you have an old rig so well-built that it's not ready for the scrap heap, but technology has passed it by.

I have a 1973 Barth 25 footer with 16 inch split rim wheels. I just put LT235/85 R16 tires on all the wheels, front and back. They fit fine, there is about two inches between the tires on the back where they bulge out at the bottom from the load. All tires have 65 PSI in them measured cold.

I drove back from Kentucky to Los Angeles and found the performance to be acceptable.

The directional stability can be an issue but I think the steering linkage and not the tires cause this. It was only an issue when my friend Bob was going through his no truck shall pass me phase, 80 MPH plus for several hours. The gas mileage also suffered. After a fill up we decided 70 MPH was fine and the coach rode like it was on rails. Oh yea 80 MPH plus is under 7 MPG while 70 is a soild 10 MPG.

The tires are radials made by Comanche (whoever that company is) and cost $110.00 each mounted on the split rims. Tubes were $10.00 each on top of the tire price. The wheels are not balanced, I am not sure if this is something that I should look into, any thoughts?

The shop that did the work is just north of Nashville and while the operation would give heart failure to the OSHA people the work was done competently and the people were real nice.


[This message has been edited by timnlana (edited August 27, 2004).]

There's the voice of experience. Check it out for yourself.

Keith White was told the 235s were too wide. I have no direct experience, but I've read articles with the same conclusion, and at least one report where tire failure in a motorhome occurred because the oversize duals pressing together on the bottom overheated.

Sidewall flex in any tire is a major source of heat. That's why underinflated tires blow out, and why the highway is littered with tire debris from big rigs where a driver can't tell which of the 16 wheels behind him has gone flat. .

Split rims and drop center wheels no doubt have different dimensions, and there are different designs and rim widths in drop center wheels as well. Some tire places won't work on split rims.

The only way to be sure whether or not any of these suggestions will work for you, is to have some mounted and see if they work.

Still, as a general rule, the more rubber you can put on the road, the better.

We have a 1973 Barth that has 8 x 16.5 on split rims that have been welded together we are trying to switch the rims out to a 16 inch rim will this pose a problem.What kind of 16 in tires would be the best.We have a p30 chassis.Thank you for any and all help.

I did the switchover on my SOB - 16.5" to 16". It required hub bushings (done locally, about $180). I don't recall what tires I got (Daytons, but I can't recall the size, but think they were 8.00x16), but the seven 16" wheels and tires came to $1850. The tire diameter was a bit larger than the 8.00x16.5s. I still have the 16.5" wheels (a couple are warped) and 4 good tires (Power King - one pair with 500 miles, the other with 1000), if you need.

we had a flat on the way here to new york and the road side helper said with the rims the way they are no one would work on them.I believe they put a reg truck rim and tire on it to get us the rest of the way here.so far no damage that we can tell and it rides great.what would happen if we do not change the hub bushings?

The flat was on the front driver side blew out on me doing 70mph.Scared us good but everything handled good getting her to the side of the road.IS the hub bushings on the back?

The 16.5" and 16" wheels are hub-centric, meaning that the load is borne by the hubs, rather than the lugs, as is common on larger wheels. The hub diameter on the 16" wheels is larger than the 16.5"s, meaning that gap has to be compensated.

The hub bushings are on the hub itself - outboard side.

quote:

Originally posted by shell&damon:
we had a flat on the way here to new york and the road side helper said with the rims the way they are no one would work on them.

NY? Where are you?

We are in ROchester until this weekend at which time we have to return to indiana to see mhy daughter who is coming home from Iraq on leave for 2 weeks