Posted by Charlie on February 12, 2000 at 02:17:31:
In Reply to: Cheap Tubeless 16.5" Tires? posted by bdk on February 11, 2000 at 14:58:53:
Some common expressions:
"Where the rubber meets the road"
"You get what you pay for"
It seems somehow counterlogical to go to all the trouble to find and repair, restore and/or modify a 30 to 60 year old military type off-road capable1 ton pickup truck and then shortchange the most important few square inches: the contact patch of the tires with the road.
To me, tires should be an OPPORTUNITY to improve the performance of a vehicle, not an opportunity to save money. Blems are fine; there are 11.00R16 XL blems available (there were a few months ago when I called).
16.5X9.75 rims will fit 38X15.50R16.5 radial Swampers, Mudders or Ground Hawgs. All 37.1" tall, about 14.5" wide, nylon bnody casing and steel ply tread. All excellent tires, with a tremendous improvement in ride on a PW or M37 due to radial construction, size, and ~20-25 psi pressure.
If you hanker for huge tires up to 42" Swampers will fit on 16.5X9.75s. 44" Swampers or 40" Boggers probably should have 12" wide rims since they are nominally about 18" wide.
I suppose we could go to the dumpster of a big truck terminal and find some bald 12-16.5 forklift tires in the trash, maybe some nylon showing through, and get them for free! Great deal!
Charlie