I'm running my van near the load limits on class E tires and had a bad blowout last week.

Can I put 225/75R16C tyres on wheels used for OEM 225/75R16 tires? The tire shops' tire selection tools won't show the euro metric tyres when doing a vehicle search. Is there something different with the bead wall that would necessitate different wheels?

Here's a van life photo for your trouble:

I swear I know which beach that is. Looks like one of my locals in Australia. We used to get lots of camper vans parked overnight and on weekends by backpackers touring the country.

Anyway, what are the specs on your wheels? That's the most important thing.

If you don't know offhand, can you provide us the make/model/year and any other relevant descriptors for your van?

I assume since you said OEM that the Load Range E was on there from the factory.

Determine gross vehicle weight and then research tire load index ratings

It's a 2006 Dodge Sprinter with a gvwr of 8,550 pounds. OEM tires are 225/R7516 115/112R E with a max load of 2,680 pounds.

With the weight we're carrying behind the rear axel, the rear wheels are right at their load limits. (The blowout was on a Michelin Defender with 24k miles.)

I want to replace the Defenders with a euro metric 225/75R16C 121/120R with a load rating of 3195 pounds. Either Goodyear Wranglers or Michelin Agilis.

HollywoodBQ said:

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I swear I know which beach that is. Looks like one of my locals in Australia.

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Good eye. I'm shocked anyone even noticed it was on a beach but you Hollywood Marines were always a little metro. The pics are from an Australian Van Life IG or blog.

Increasing the load index will certainly help, but Goodyear tires will worsen their reliability.

WTH is euro-metric? If you're carrying a load regularly you want LT 10 plys right?

This site has a good explanation of the specs.
https://www.treadwright.com/blogs/treadwright-blog/understanding-tires-load-index-vs-load-range

Basically all Load Range E means is that your tire is 10-ply.
D means 8-ply and C means 6-ply.

Hope that helps.

lb3 said:

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HollywoodBQ said:

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I swear I know which beach that is. Looks like one of my locals in Australia.

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Good eye. I'm shocked anyone even noticed it was on a beach but you Hollywood Marines were always a little metro. The pics are from an Australian Van Life IG or blog.

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I spent 12 years living next to the beach in Australia.
If it would have been a Brazilian girl, then I might not have seen the beach

JSKolache said:

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WTH is euro-metric? If you're carrying a load regularly you want LT 10 plys right?

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In the US we use box trucks for that last mile of commercial transport but in Europe they use high topped cargo vans like the Ford Transit and Mercedes Sprinter for that purpose. Our box trucks use commercial truck tires on 19.5" wheels (used to be referred to as 14 ply). The Euros determined that our light truck 10 ply, Load E, 115/113 tires were insufficient so they developed the Type-C tyre standard (121/120) for cargo vehicles which the American tire industry has taken to calling euro metric.

My concern is that none of the fit guides online will show a 225/75R16C tire fitting on a 16" wheel so I'm worried there may be a difference in the bead profile and that I would need to import wheels from Europe to use this higher load rating.

I wouldn't expect that you need different wheels to fit the tires. However, you need to take a close look at other capacities of your vehicle.

If you're on the cusp of exceeding the tire capacity, I'd expect you're exceeding the capacity of another component of the vehicle.

These early Sprinter conversion vans were all built to near their gross weights which is why the industry switches over to the 3500s with dual wheels in the rear. The brakes are adequate and the engine, gets the job done but the suspension is the weakest link.

There is a cottage industry built around upgrading the suspensions. On the high end you have air suspension conversions and on the other end you get sway bars, Koni or Fox shocks, and helper springs.

I want to ditch the generator to gain some weight and storage spaces back but the wife likes running the AC when she takes a mid-day nap when driving solo.

Quote:

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I'm running my van near the load limits on class E tires and had a bad blowout last week.

Can I put 225/75R16C tyres on

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1) Are you British?

2) Asked and answered. If you are running near the load limits, stick with truck tires, go up a load range

Lol. I've used the British spelling every time I referenced the Cargo tyres. I need to go up in load ratings, but they don't make load F rated tires with a diameter less than 30 inches.

The Cargo tyres are the correct solution but since the online tire selectors say they don't fit my vehicle I was concerned there was some wheel compatibility issue between a 225/75R16C and a 225/75R16.

The customer service rep at Discount Tire says that there is no fitment issue replacing the tires with tyres.

STOP SPELLING IT TYRES. TIRES. DO YOU TAKE IT TO THE WERKSHOPPE FOR REPAIRS???

lb3 said:

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The customer service rep at Discount Tire says that there is no fitment issue replacing the tires with tyres.

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Nice. He'll probably have his apprentice do the work anyway. After he gets back from tea.

Mookie said:

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STOP SPELLING IT TYRES. TIRES. DO YOU TAKE IT TO THE WERKSHOPPE FOR REPAIRS???

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Maybe he didn't realise it was a mistake? I suppose he doesn't specialise in tyres

HollywoodBQ said:

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lb3 said:

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The customer service rep at Discount Tire says that there is no fitment issue replacing the tires with tyres.

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Nice. He'll probably have his apprentice do the work anyway. After he gets back from tea.

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Sorry mate, he's still on holiday so it'll be a bit.

lb3 said:

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I'm running my van near the load limits on class E tires and had a bad blowout last week.

Can I put 225/75R16C tyres on wheels used for OEM 225/75R16 tires? The tire shops' tire selection tools won't show the euro metric tyres when doing a vehicle search. Is there something different with the bead wall that would necessitate different wheels?

Here's a van life photo for your trouble:

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Is it just me or is her top photoshopped?

I think we need a higher res image to study further.

lb3 said:

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It's a 2006 Dodge Sprinter with a gvwr of 8,550 pounds. OEM tires are 225/R7516 115/112R E with a max load of 2,680 pounds.

With the weight we're carrying behind the rear axel, the rear wheels are right at their load limits. (The blowout was on a Michelin Defender with 24k miles.)

I want to replace the Defenders with a euro metric 225/75R16C 121/120R with a load rating of 3195 pounds. Either Goodyear Wranglers or Michelin Agilis.

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I ran 245/75R16E Discount Tire store brand all terrains on stock wheels on my 2006 158" wheel base sprinter van. Had to do a little massaging in the wheel well... Had a decent build out in the back. (static mounted bed, storage, surfboard storage, etc.) but not as heavy as some builds (no water storage, extra fuel, house electric system, etc...) Never had issues. Drove it from TX to CA and left out there as our surf trip van. Drove it up and down the coast.

Have you weighed your rig yet, would be curious what the load is on the back. That being said, I would see no issues transitioning to heavier load rated tires though and see plenty of folks on Sprinter Source running similar tires.

We've weighed it about 2 years ago but were a bit heavier when we had the blowout. I'm guessing we were approaching 5000 pounds on the rear axel. The old tires were rated for about 2600-2700 per wheel.

I don't have an answer to your question, but I bet sprinter-source.com forums or fordtransitforumusa.com does. Lots of people running heavy campervans on those sites.

My MIL in runs the C range euro spec on her RV. The town fleet maintenance manager where she works spec'd them out. I saw the C and thought it was an idiot. Turns out they had higher capacity. My uneducated guess is take then load capacity and go with it.

We're going to put the cargo tires on the van. Any recommendations on an aftermarket TPMS?

I don't see no beach, don't care 'bout tyres/tires or vans for that matter.

I don't know what you all are talkin bout but you can open the image in a new tab to zoom in for a better look.

I found it interesting how that tea kettle is so iconic that this architect Stern reinvented it so around 30 years ago: