Jump to content

Fall 2019 - Tire Roundup Request for 185R14


Recommended Posts

Thanks for the reply on the tire sizing. We'll see which scenario plays out. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 87
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

So near yet so far. Is there anyway to figure out how to make this wheel fit?

https://www.roadreadywheels.com/products/2015-2020-16-x-6-ford-transit-350-drw-steel-wheel-rim?gclid=Cj0KCQjw6575BRCQARIsAMp-ksMIjdNagecm7JNmiQELiO3r1S01dI0VXC1J_p_8ONZ8h0K0MMDiaD4aAi2mEALw_wcB

6X180 lug pattern instead of ours which are 6X184 but this one has 14mm lug studs and ours have 12mm. Sure would be nice. 

Linda S

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Linda, these would be sweet. Might be a stock adapter for these.  6 to 6 adapters are more common. I will definitely investigate. BTW I contacted the autoparts place in Maine and, yes he has them. Was not happy about shipping. I quote" That just took all the fun out of it". He is looking to see if he has four and will call back.  We"ll see:)  Thanks for the info.  As usual. I will keep as many solutions open as possible. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the reply on the tire sizing. I will see what option plays out. Nice grab on the Thunderers. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 7 months later...
On 9/17/2019 at 4:55 AM, Derek up North said:

To try to keep things simple, Toyota shipped the '1-Ton' DRW C&C (in 1986) to the motorhome manufactures with 185r14 Load Range C tires. At their maximum inflation pressure of 50psi they were rated to carry 1600lb in a single application.

A 185R14 load range D at their maximum pressure of 65psi are rated to carry 1875lb in a single application.

Compared to other sizes, the selection of 185R14 tires is relatively small. Most available are LR D. There are only a few in LR C. Other sizes in LR D that will work (but I see no point in them) are 195R14 and 195/75R14. I know of only 1 or 2 in each size.

To tell if they're LR C or LR D? Check the Maximum Inflation Pressure. LR C is 50psi. LR D is 65psi. There are no LR E in our size.

Way back in the last Century, tires were rated by the number of 'plies'. 6 plies = LR C. 8 plies = LR D. In this Century there is an International shift to refer to a tire's 'Load Index'. A 185R14 LR D (6 ply) is a 102/100.

Some tires are marked as 185R14C. In this case, the 'C' does not indicate LR C, rather 'Commercial'. They can be either LR C or LR D.

Some tires are marked as LT185R14. In this case, the 'LT' indicates 'Light Truck'. They can be either LR C or LR D.

You might be offered tires marked ST185R14. Here the 'ST' indicates 'Special Trailer'. You do not want these. They are not designed for 'steered' or 'driven' wheels even if they are rated as LR D.

Any tire whose size begins with a 'P' (eg P195/70R14) is a passenger care tire and does not have the load carrying capacity of an LR C or LR D.

That's all I can think of as 'pointers' for now. :)

Be prepared, when you walk into a tire shop, for the tire 'experts' at the counter to treat you like a fool by telling you that your '185R14' size request is "missing the middle number". They're just too young (or too old and have forgotten) that pre ~1968 ALL tires had no 'middle number'.

Searching online sites for the size, they'll also ask for a 'middle number'. Some sites will offer '-' or 'None' or '0' as an option, some won't.

Searching by 'Vehicle' will have no luck finding a Toyota 'Dolphin' or 'Sunrader'. I don't even remember any site showing a 'Toyota C&C DRW'. My best success is from searching for a 1986 VW Vanagon, which had as standard equipment 185R14 LR D.

Thank you so much for this concise and very complete explanation of tires.  We are just trying to replace 13 year old tires on our Dolphin, and this info is great.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 years is way too old. Your lucky you haven't had a major blow out by now. Just search online for 185R14 tires and lots will come up. Last tires I bought I got from eBay. Some times cheaper sometimes not. Shop around and if you have questions about the brand just ask.

Linda S

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've got an older rig with the 5 lug front 6 lug rear. Came with a front spare and I just got a 6 lug wheel for a rear spare. Looking into a new tire on each wheel (the 5 lug spare looks to be original or nearly as old as the rig is)... fun fact, my front tires are 195s and my rears are 185s... with a winter tire outer and all season inner. I have 3 different types of tires on this thing!!

 

Really wasn't wanting to buy 8 tires. ☹️

 

The "getting to know you" phase is getting expensive on this thing. 

Edited by jimiflow
Link to comment
Share on other sites

How old are the rear 185's. If younger than 7 years you could put those on the spares and just buy 6 tires.  There's a date code on the tires. You are going to be looking for 185r14 tires. 195's are hard to find and usually more expensive. I shop Google. Easiest way to find the best price. Sometimes Amazon, sometimes online tire retailers. Let us know if you have trouble finding the right ones

Linda S

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/3/2020 at 5:55 AM, Derek up North said:

The owner of 'Atlas' the Sunrader had custom spacers/adapters made to adapt 17" Ford E350 rims to his 4x4. Cost ~$900/4 from:-

 

https://www.motorsport-tech.com/wheel_adapters.html

https://www.motorsport-tech.com/contact.html

 

103831574_10103496318122801_5972397727838818910_o.jpg

That is pretty rad! 😲

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, linda s said:

How old are the rear 185's. If younger than 7 years you could put those on the spares and just buy 6 tires.  There's a date code on the tires. You are going to be looking for 185r14 tires. 195's are hard to find and usually more expensive. I shop Google. Easiest way to find the best price. Sometimes Amazon, sometimes online tire retailers. Let us know if you have trouble finding the right ones

Linda S

I'll have to check... here's hoping. The door plate shows 185s front and back... not sure why the previous owner put 195s on the front. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My '83 came with 195s all round. Not a good set up in the rear! The sidewalls were touching. Older models like mine specified F78-14s. That's a pre-radial, bias ply tire. Conversion charts to modern tire sizes will show the 195s as an acceptable substitute. With the right aspect ratio, the circumference is about the same. They are easy to get whereas the 185s take a bit of chasing down. I'm still running the 195s on the front until they wear out. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you sure that isn't E78-14. That's the only such number I can find for an 83 in this websites 20 year history. That would correlate with the 195's. Unfortunately most 195's today are passenger car tires and do not have a big enough load range for our campers. Easy to check. Minimum max tire pressure must be at least 50lbs which would be a C load range. Most of us prefer a D load range which would be 65 ma pressure. As for availability maybe the 185's are harder to find in Canada. Definitely easily available here in the US

Linda S

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Linda. Yep. F78 -14 is what's on the door.  Check this out. 

http://www.vintagecarconnection.com/vintage_tire_size_conversion_chart.htm

If you feed the matching modern-day sizes into a tire size calculator there is a 195/75R14 that is an OK match. The 205/75s and 215/70s are closer in circumference but are too wide for the duallies. So you can see how somebody might choose them.

No way they were an appropriate tire, but I consider them fine for the front for now.  And yes their load rating isn't what is should be. I got them off the back as soon as I got my rig home. Running 185R14 Yokohama Y356s (load range D) because that was all I could get last fall here in Canada. Stock was depleted on the Hankooks and the Nokians. Brand availability is more limited here in Canada and we have the usual challenges finding the 185s on websites - even when I know they make them! Yokohama make good tires and I hope to good life out of these. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It says in the chart that comes up 205/75/14 and those are too wide. Don't know what your looking at. Googling  195/75/14 brings up dozens of XL 91 or 92 load tires. Good for a truck, not a motorhome

Linda S

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Linda. Not in the market for tires. I was just thinking of a way that a previous poster might have ended up with 195s like I did.

Yes the 205s are too wide. A tire store might have recommended the 195s as a substitute for that reason.

As I said, it's an 'OK' match. I not a good one. Not something I would accept. But some tire shops refuse to admit that the 185s exist and will substitute something inappropriate - both in size and load rating.  That could be what happened to a previous owner of my rig. 

I have shopped on line and that is where I eventually got my Yokohama Y356s last fall. (Local tire shops were sold out of Hankooks and other brands and their warehouses were empty.)  Getting them here was a nightmare. The Canadian border can cause incredible problems with on-line purchases. Half my tires ended up in California and then disappeared after they eventually cleared Customs. It was months not weeks before had enough tires to limp it into storage last fall. The last two arrived over the winter and will be installed next week. Not a path I would recommend unless you have lots of time. 

Regardless I have 185R14 load range D tires on the back (the Yokohamas) and ultimately on the front as well. With only max 1200 to 1500 lbs on the front axle, the 95 load index tires currently on the front will do for now. 

 

Edited by akwcanoe
Clarification
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/6/2021 at 7:59 PM, linda s said:

How old are the rear 185's. If younger than 7 years you could put those on the spares and just buy 6 tires.

My two inner rears are just at 7 years old (outers are 9 years old and the front 195's are only 4 years old), so ordered 6 tires and will use the old inners as spares for now. Simple Tire is having a memorial day sale that has already started. 

 

I got the Petlas Advente PT875 for about $88 each and free shipping.

 

https://simpletire.com/brands/petlas-tires/advente-pt875#curationPos=none&curationSeq=none&curationSource=none&itemId=198688&mpn=PT40370&pageSource=PLP&productPos=none&tireSize=185-r14&userRegion=10&userZip=97217

 

They also carry the Thunderer Ranger 101 for a little over $80 each. 

 

I went with the All Weather/more aggressive tread because I'll be boondocking mostly. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Strange. The Thunderer are also all season and appear to have a much more aggressive tread than the ones you chose. They are also cheaper. I had a hell of a time getting simple tire to even find me a 185r14 tire. Their website kept giving me a 185 60 14. 

Linda S

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, linda s said:

Strange. The Thunderer are also all season and appear to have a much more aggressive tread than the ones you chose. They are also cheaper. I had a hell of a time getting simple tire to even find me a 185r14 tire. Their website kept giving me a 185 60 14. 

Linda S

I originally ordered the Thunderer and was surprised when I received them because the tread wasn't what I expected... also appeared to be an aggressive tread from the website photos.

After doing some image searches, I found photos of the Petlas and they look like a more aggressive tread to me. The image on the simple tire website isn't a very good representation.

I'll take photos of the Thunderer before I return them and also a photo of the Petlas once I receive them and follow up with a post of both here. 

 

I had the same problem with the tire size search that you did... I found that I had to search for the tire make and model I was looking for, then select the size in the drop down menu to get the 185r14, but they do have them.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love my Thunderer tires from simple tire. The R402’s are excellent. I’ve logged about 40K miles with no problems. Still plenty of tread left. Going to replace this year with same brand. Getting ready for my cross the US trip.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 I've heard mixed reviews on the Thunderer. (I understand you get all the bad online and little of the good, so I don't know). Someone posted a link to Priority Tire with I forget what brand $69.99. I thought I'd give the local place a check first $117.99. The $69.99 ones are now gone. LOL 

 

 The ad said "like new tires" when I bought my Odyssey last week. Sure enough they have great tread...........I'm glad I didn't look closer before headed home (140 miles). They are extremely dry rotted. So bad I would have had second thoughts. 

 

 So still deciding............and looking......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have emailed Simple Tire to tell them they are locking out lots of sales by not having a useful search engine. This is new. You used to be able to find our tires there easy. Well see if they fix it. Thunderers are a well known tire that many of us have used. The Petlas is new to me. On the plus side it appears they have a winter tire in our size which is pretty cool if it's available in America. Can't find a retailer that has it

Linda S

By the way the Nexens were also cheaper and they are some of the best tire you can buy anywhere, also all season

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought Hancock's for the front from Walmart this Spring and think they are a nice tire. Have Nexens on the back that are 7 and I'm still going to use them this year because they are still in excellent condition. Of course I will be inspecting them regularly because of their age. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, linda s said:

By the way the Nexens were also cheaper and they are some of the best tire you can buy anywhere, also all season

Which Nexen tire are you referring to? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, linda s said:

The Petlas is new to me. On the plus side it appears they have a winter tire in our size which is pretty cool if it's available in America.

I ordered the Petlas from simpletire.com. It does have a snow raiting, though I’m guessing that’s similar to most AT these days. Wouldn’t consider it a soft compound snow tire like a blizzack or the like. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, linda s said:

Those are about $10/tire more than I paid for the Petlas I ordered from simpletire. 
 

I realize it’s not a known quantity for the forum, but seemed to be a good option for what I was lookin for in a tire. I’ll follow up with more once I’ve got the tires on the rig. 
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, linda s said:

The true snow tire they make is not available in America. When you get yours please show us some pics. First I have ever heard of Turkish tires. Very strange

Linda S

Oh, gotcha (about the snow tires)
 

There are Petlas tires on the front of my rig. Only reason I even looked into the brand or new it existed. Did a little research and found the AT style in 185s. Maybe we’ll have another affordable option for a good tire. Maybe I’ll regret the purchase. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...