Changing My Wheel Size

[Isaacs]

My camper came with ST185/80D13 LRD tires. These tires live life "on the edge" as far as loading goes and I've had at least one blowout. Trying to find someone on the road who has a 13" load range D tire in stock is next to impossible.

I now want to change to 14" wheels and think the tire I need is ST205/75R14 LRD. It looks like I have plenty of room for the extra 1.5" outside diameter.

Am I doing the right thing? What is a good brand--people rave about Goodyear Endurance but they are kind of expensive. Is there a good source online for tires already mounted on new rims? All I can find are brands I've never heard of.

Your thoughts are appreciated, Bob

[freetime58]

Originally Posted by Isaacs

What is a good brand--people rave about Goodyear Endurance but they are kind of expensive.

You get what you pay for.....................no regrets on my GY Endurance tires!

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by freetime58

You get what you pay for.....................no regrets on my GY Endurance tires!

Yep and they are NOT imports......

[Colorado]

I run these Hartlands on my car hauler and my 5er. They are a solid tire! Discount Tire exclusively sells the Hartlands,that should speak for their quality.

https://tirereviewsandmore.com/hartl...adial-reviews/

https://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/w...-tires-tested/

[Jagiven]

When I was looking for new tires, I strongly considered upgrading to fourteens. Per Dexter, I had room to go larger.


I did find 13" load range D's. I am running Carlisle's, I think HDs. I'll have to go out and confirm. They are not listed on their website, the last time I looked. Discount Tires told me about them.

[dhinkle57]

Last year after a blow out, I was going to change to a 14" wheel and tire. But after checking a lot of different makes of tires, I didn't like how close the tires where going to be from each other so I stayed with 13".

[Jagiven]

Went out and looked at the tires this morning

Carlise

Radial Trail RH
ST185/80/R13
Load Range D, max load 1710 lbs

Per amazon, the Carlisle product # is 6H04541

I also am running metal valve stems.

These tires never leak at all. In three years I may have topped them off once. I manually check my tire pressures before each trip.

I had them balanced, and they were all very well balanced. 3 of the tires got weights and not much at all. They used the smallest weights they had, maybe a 1/4 to 1/2 once each.

[Isaacs]

I just called my local Goodyear shop and they are pricing Endurance tires with wheels for me. I know they won't be cheap but I'm sick and tired of getting blowouts in the middle of nowhere.

[penguin149]

Hello fellow X17C!! My HTT came with 14" tires. Upgraded to GY Endurance a few weeks ago. Couple of trips and all is well. Not sure why where yours came with 13's and not 14's. ST 205/74/R14 is the size on my X17C. Found 'em on Amazon earlier this year for $67/each....had them mounted and balanced locally for $20 each.

[Isaacs]

Originally Posted by penguin149

Hello fellow X17C!! My HTT came with 14" tires. Upgraded to GY Endurance a few weeks ago. Couple of trips and all is well. Not sure why where yours came with 13's and not 14's. ST 205/74/R14 is the size on my X17C. Found 'em on Amazon earlier this year for $67/each....had them mounted and balanced locally for $20 each.

Someone must have sold Jayco a bunch of 13" wheels at a good price and I got stuck with them!

I can't find Endurance trailer tires on Amazon. When I search they keep offering me passenger car tires. $67 sounds like a really good price. My local Goodyear shop will put them on the rims I just bought for $299 including mounting, balancing, and tax. Not cheap!

[64osby]

Originally Posted by Isaacs

Not cheap!

I think someone stated earlier you get what you pay for.

If you are travelling and have a blow out, what then? Spend a half hour to 2 hours changing out the spare.

Maybe the blowout caused damage to the wheel well or the brake lines on the trailer.

I had a right rear tire on my TV loose the tread. The tire didn't loose air, just the tread When it happened I thought it was the camper. The tread ripped off the rear A/C lines in the Suburban. Replaced the tire, nursed the non cooled vehicle to a store where the only thing they had to help was water. Nursed it to a hardware store and looped the lines and added antifreeze. Our 4 hour trip turned into a 9 hour trip.

Another time I had to leave a boat trailer behind when both tires blew at the same time. Had it towed to a friends house. The tire size was odd and could only be purchased from a distributor. We drove north 4 hours to the lake, the next day I drove back and picked the boat up and drove it back up to the lake, wasting a day of vacation plus the time of dealing with getting it towed.

Moral of the stories - Having good tires is worth not having issues when on the road.

[go wild]

I upgraded my 17Z from the stock 13" bias ply tires to 14" rims and radial tires (ST205/75/R14) and have had no problems. Trailer sits slightly higher which is good as the septic is mounted so low on these units.