More durable 15" tires

[1976gmc20]

Is there a 15" tire that will hold up better to damage than a LT235/75R15 (C rating) on gravel roads under a Square Body Suburban ???

We get often non-repairable rock damage by the time the tires are 50% or sometimes even sooner. They don't seem to make a D or E tire for 15 inch wheels. We don't even "off-road" but we live out on poorly maintained gravel and dirt roads. I don't remember having these kind of problems years ago with bias ply tires, but the radials seem very "weak" by comparison.

This outfit isn't lifted and never will be, but there is plenty of fender clearance. I'm wondering if a somewhat larger tire could be had in heavier ply rating or if it would just hold up better because it's bigger, or if it would just be more expensive to replace?

We put a new set of tires on the Suburban a couple years ago and have hardly driven it since, but we got a Jeep XJ this spring and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to put some bigger tires on the Suburban and swap the near new LT235/75R15s to the jeep?

[turp mcspray]

I feel your pain! I live on a crappy gravel road. Only 2 miles in, and 2 back out. EVERY vehicle I own has always had tire problems, EXCEPT my truck which has E rated tires. I'm always putting plugs in passenger tires. The rocks just seem to eat the tires up. My truck, and now my suburban, each have E rated 16's. I don't know if any 15's are available in a better rating, but I think if you can find some, it will really help!

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by turp mcspray

I feel your pain! I live on a crappy gravel road. Only 2 miles in, and 2 back out. EVERY vehicle I own has always had tire problems, EXCEPT my truck which has E rated tires. I'm always putting plugs in passenger tires. The rocks just seem to eat the tires up. My truck, and now my suburban, each have E rated 16's. I don't know if any 15's are available in a better rating, but I think if you can find some, it will really help!

We are about eight miles from the nearest "pavement" (recycled highway grindings haphazardly spread out over no base and full of pot holes) and another couple miles to the US highway. That's the long way to the city (60 miles) and the shorter way (40 miles) is about 30 miles of dirt and gravel.

My two pickups with 745/75R16(E) do okay except for an occasional nail.

A couple years ago one of the 15" alloys on the Suburban cracked and I got a set of 88-98 6 hole 16" and had the centers cut out before I realized that the backspacing was all wrong So then I got some 15" steel rally wheels and another set of C range tires. We had been just driving it in the winter and now we have the jeep and will drive it even less.



What rating does something like a 31x10.50x15 come in ???

[Mike C]

To begin with make sure you are running LT tires and not P metric passenger car tires. Then I would look at an all terrain tire. I would think that the BF Goodrich All Terrain TA KO2 would be pretty decent for what you describe.

Consider going to 16" rims and you can get D and E rated tires.

[special-K]

I'd go to 16s. 235/85-16s are available as beefy as you you'll find. They'll fit, as they are stock for 3/4t. Back with bias tires I used to get heavy ply hiway tread tires in 15". You probably still can but they'll be a rough ride by today's standards

[1976gmc20]

There are no 16" 6-hole wheels to fit these trucks that I know of

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by Mike C

To begin with make sure you are running LT tires and not P metric passenger car tires. Then I would look at an all terrain tire. I would think that the BF Goodrich All Terrain TA KO2 would be pretty decent for what you describe.

Consider going to 16" rims and you can get D and E rated tires.

Did you not read my posts ?

Do you think I do not know what tires that I already have ???

[turp mcspray]

You should be able to find a D rated tire in a 31x10.50x15.

[Stocker]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

There are no 16" 6-hole wheels to fit these trucks that I know of

This may be off base, but it seems like Toyota uses the same 6-lug bolt pattern. If so, there are many 16" wheels that might work.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

There are no 16" 6-hole wheels to fit these trucks that I know of

First of all, GM made 6-lug 16" wheels and even 5-lug as an option. Then, there are aftermarket wheels. I don't know what your tastes are but if I knew I'd find you some and post links if you have looked with no luck. It's true that if you stay with your present 15" wheels you should be able to find heavier rated 31/10.50s.
I guess this tire situation has you frustrated, but all our replies are intended to help you. You've gotten some good info so far. Try not to defeat it with reading more into the replies or taking offense. No one knows what you know, just know the very little that you have posted, yet.

Here is a start: http://www.4wheelparts.com/Wheels/Pr...rn_PQ=6+on+5.5

[1976gmc20]

Okay, well I wasn't finding anything like that a couple years ago when I finally bought the rally wheels out of a ranch junkyard. It bothers me that they say "6 lug" but then the pictures show a 5 lug wheel

Not sure about Toyota wheels - there might be a problem with the backspace like the newer Chevy wheels. The big salvage yard in Billings never said anything about those two years ago.

I did clearly state what tires I am running on this vehicle right now in the first line of my original post.

Trouble is that the old wagon is probably not worth spending a whole lot more money on (like $400+ for 5 more wheels and maybe $800 for 4 tires ). Also, as long as I'm running the current tires, I've got three alloy wheels sitting around with usable tires for spare spares.

I was just speculating that since the jeep is going to need tires soon that I might be better off upgrading the suburban and using those 4 almost new LT235/75R15 C range tires on the jeep instead.


special-K - would the GMT400 wheels that have the centers cut out be safe to use at least as spares on my 89 K1500 ??? IOW, will the lug bolts alone support the weight? I've got a couple old LT245/75R16(E) tires lying around that I could have mounted up. Out where we live it is a minimum 25 miles one way to get a tire fixed, so unless you take the flat tire into town with another vehicle then you are heading out without a spare.

[mike16]

I bought cheapo Chicom radials for my truck 32K miles and 6 years ago. they still have about half thier tread life left. 235r70 radials. I connot even pronounce the name but they came from a local Firestone dealer.

Of course I live in AZ and our roads are very easy on tires if you keep air in them and the front end aligned

[special-K]

I think I'd stay away from the '88-type wheels. For one, they have serious backspacing and probably won't even work. The 8-lugs have less but still inset quite a bit on an earlier truck. Your Ideal wheel would be the GM 16s. Not easy to find, but worth the effort I'd say

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by special-K

I think I'd stay away from the '88-type wheels. For one, they have serious backspacing and probably won't even work. The 8-lugs have less but still inset quite a bit on an earlier truck. Your Ideal wheel would be the GM 16s. Not easy to find, but worth the effort I'd say

Sigh ......

The 88+ pickup wheels will absolutely not fit on the solid axle suburbans/pickups. The wheel hits the tie rod end on the steering knuckle before it ever comes close to seating on the hub, even though the bolt pattern is correct.

Stupidly, I didn't realize that until I had the centers cut out of a set of five steel junkyard wheels (I should have just done one and tested it)

In the meantime, I bought a beat up 1989 K1500 for a firewood truck. It of course uses the same type of steel wheels as the ones from the junkyard.

So my extra credit question for you was if you thought the 16" junkyard wheels with the cut out center holes would be safe to use on the 1989 K1500 pickup at least as spares ???



As far as the "GM 16s" that you speak of - before 1988 I hadn't seen a GM 6-hole 16" wheel since the 1950s. I had a pair of those with mud/snow tires on them that I bought used for the 1965 C-10 that I used to have. As I recall, those will fit on the rear of a 1971+ K10 but not on the front, because of the disc brakes. Of course I don't have any of those anymore, but I remember playing musical wheels for spares.

If GM made special order 6-hole 16" wheels during the 1970s and/or 1980s, I've never seen one.

[1976gmc20]

Actually, somebody suggested a while back that I just swap in some 3/4 ton axles under the suburban.

Sounds like a great plan, except those projects always get bigger once you get started on them. I'm guessing that the brake lines won't just reconnect, and would probably need to do something to match the drivelines to the yokes on the bigger axles.

If I had a K-20 donor truck sitting around, I would probably just be looking to fix it up instead and sell or part out the suburban.

[Mike C]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

Did you not read my posts ?

Do you think I do not know what tires that I already have ???

Wow. Cheerios soggy? Sorry to waste your time telling you what you already know.

I know what you wrote and I just suggested you make sure. Half the people on this board have a truck new to them and don't have any idea. I just read a post a guy didn't know his truck had been converted to OD.

A lot of the info on these posts can be used by someone who isn't sure what they have, and confiming LT tires and not P series passenger tires is still reasonable advice.

As is my suggestion you go to 16's. Which Special K echoed. Can't say I've ever been called out for such a minor grievance as suggesting you double check something. YMMV.

[Mike C]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

There are no 16" 6-hole wheels to fit these trucks that I know of

There aren't any OEM wheels that will fit the 6 lug pattern with the large center hole, but there are plenty of aftermarket choices. Summit lets you search by bolt pattern and the specs will list the center hole size for the wheel.

This SHOULD be the search using a 16x8 rim. You can change size on the left side.

http://www.summitracing.com/search/d...rder=Ascending

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by Mike C

There aren't any OEM wheels that will fit the 6 lug pattern with the large center hole, but there are plenty of aftermarket choices. Summit lets you search by bolt pattern and the specs will list the center hole size for the wheel.

This SHOULD be the search using a 16x8 rim. You can change size on the left side.

http://www.summitracing.com/search/d...rder=Ascending

That would have been a good deal - only a little more than what I paid for the used steel rally wheels (except now I would need five instead of four). It still bothers me that these websites have a picture of a five hole wheel when they say it is a six hole.

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by Mike C

Wow. Cheerios soggy? Sorry to waste your time telling you what you already know.

I know what you wrote and I just suggested you make sure. Half the people on this board have a truck new to them and don't have any idea. I just read a post a guy didn't know his truck had been converted to OD.

A lot of the info on these posts can be used by someone who isn't sure what they have, and confiming LT tires and not P series passenger tires is still reasonable advice.

As is my suggestion you go to 16's. Which Special K echoed. Can't say I've ever been called out for such a minor grievance as suggesting you double check something. YMMV.

Yeah, I've only had the truck 14 years and been through about five sets of tires since then. It had P235s when we bought it and pretty soon after that I switched them out to LT235. I still have the factory original P235 spare tire sitting out in the garage. I switched it out when I bought the second set of 4 LT235 and had at least one decent LT left over from the previous set.

So I have at least a half dozen mismatched but somewhat usable LT235s sitting around with various amounts of wear, plus some ruined ones. And some years ago I gave away at least a couple LT235s to some friends for their old full size Ford van.

We went through at least a couple sets of LT235s on the 1977 C-10 Suburban that we drove for eleven years before getting before getting the 1991 4wd. It had some sort of crappy bias ply tires on it when we got it.



I have just never got into the "flotation" tires (31x, 33x, 35x, etc) so I wondered if those would hold up better than the LT235. It's hard for me to imagine the hard core four wheelers popping one or two tires every time they go out, but maybe that's just part of the expensive fun

[special-K]

I know for a fact that GM offered 16" wheels for 1/2t 2wd and 4wd in 71/72, maybe later. I think they were 5". They would have been most popular in the mountain states where folks who "need" 4wd and "know" what works best out of necessity. They are like a dozen needles in a haystack to find (a dozen isn't much easier than one). Those black steel wheels will do ya, just not a stock look. But not a boulevard look either. There have been white spokes made in 16" with 12t pattern forever. Back in '82 or 3 my buddy (now brother-in-law) put some on a '77 Bronco with 9.00-16s. It was a beautiful all original brown w/white fancy model and this was back when everyone was hacking the fender wells, slapping flares on (usually just the rear for a halfassed look) to put wide rubber on. 16s are out there if you decide to go that way.

Not sure what to tell you on those wheels with the enlarged centers. I have run non-hub eccentric wheels with no issues, but your needs will put that to the test.

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by special-K

I know for a fact that GM offered 16" wheels for 1/2t 2wd and 4wd in 71/72, maybe later. I think they were 5". They would have been most popular in the mountain states where folks who "need" 4wd and "know" what works best out of necessity. They are like a dozen needles in a haystack to find (a dozen isn't much easier than one). Those black steel wheels will do ya, just not a stock look. But not a boulevard look either. There have been white spokes made in 16" with 12t pattern forever. Back in '82 or 3 my buddy (now brother-in-law) put some on a '77 Bronco with 9.00-16s. It was a beautiful all original brown w/white fancy model and this was back when everyone was hacking the fender wells, slapping flares on (usually just the rear for a halfassed look) to put wide rubber on. 16s are out there if you decide to go that way.

Not sure what to tell you on those wheels with the enlarged centers. I have run non-hub eccentric wheels with no issues, but your needs will put that to the test.

I'm not worried too much about looks. I don't recall ever seeing any 16" on half ton Chevys in the 1970s and later, and I used to live way back up in the mountains of Colorado where we were snowed in five months of the year. Everything was 7.00-15 on the half tons except for a few from Denver that had the 10.00-15 etc "flotation" tires/wheels; 7.50-16 on 3/4 tons.

When I was looking for wheels a couple years ago, I was only looking for used wheels locally, although of course the salvage yard could order from other yards anywhere in the country. After the fiasco with the 88+ pickup wheels, I was in a bind because one of the alloy wheels was busted and so we didn't have a spare since it was holding up one corner of the suburban, and at the time the suburban was our only 4wd. So I jumped on the four used 15" steel wheels and got four brand new LT235s slapped on them.

At this point I'm not sure whether to put another $1200 or more into five new wheels and tires for a vehicle that's probably not worth a whole lot more than that. Of course I could use the four near new LT235s on the jeep, and I don't know what I could get for scrap metal for the four alloy wheels? One is busted and I sure as heck ain't selling the other three to anyone to drive on, although they could be used as a spare in a pinch (though not after converting to 16").