Douglas Tires at Wal-Mart

[crasster]

In my area, Wal-Mart is the only store that sells tires.

On the 87 Dolphin that I'm rebuilding, believe it or not, there are STILL ORIGINAL 1987 tires on it!!! They are cracked & dry rotted!!!

(Yes I could not believe it either)

So needless to say, I don't want to drive the thing very far for tires.

Wal-Mart is about 1/2 mile from my driveway.

The only tires they have at my store that will fit it are some Douglas tires. They are 195/75/14 tires. That's what the vehicle has now.

They are cheapies for sure...

The weight rating is for these was somewhere around 1168 per tire. (I forget the EXACT number but they were over 1150 - I THINK 1168)

Are these good enough? I'll probably drive this thing under 10K per year....

Do I need better? I really don't even know how much my TOY weighs so plz be patient. Not just trying to cheap out, but I'm in a jam here with no local tire shops but china-mart.

Thanks a lot!

[tumolt]

I use regular passenger car tires. You won't have a problem with either. Mine had Lee tires brand new and still had the nipples on them. The were 9 yrs old and no cracks or checking. I bought firestone passenger tires for spares and put 4 new on the dually rear. The other 4 Lee tires I used on a 3500 lb. trailer I built to tow behind my 4 cyl. 4 speed Huntsman. Matt

[WME]

Without having a weight, total,front,rear, your just farting in the wind.

The "correct" tire has a 1800lb capacity.

Check with Tirerack for "185-none-14" They have local shops that will install them.

Don't forget to add shipping. Many tire stores will match $$ or close to it.

Also don't forget the spare. Does your spare fit all locations?? Or are you going to have to limp in to town with 3 rear tires?? Makes a big difference on weight capacity.

[dayoff53]

The only tires they have at my store that will fit it are some Douglas tires. They are 195/75/14 tires. That's what the vehicle has now.

They are cheapies for sure...

The weight rating is for these was somewhere around 1168 per tire. (I forget the EXACT number but they were over 1150 - I THINK 1168)

Are these good enough? I'll probably drive this thing under 10K per year....

Do I need better? I really don't even know how much my TOY weighs so plz be patient. Not just trying to cheap out, but I'm in a jam here with no local tire shops but china-mart.

Thanks a lot!

Your vehicle is a one-ton truck with a 6,000 lb. gross weight rating and you will be driving it at or over it's rated weight capacity. There are those who use passenger car tires, but as a former tire salesman, I have to tell you that would be dangerous. You need "C" or "D" load rated tires, which you can get from any number of places in the correct size for your Toy (185R14 - no profile number). If the 195/75/14's on the dual wheels touch each other, that would be particularly dangerous, but any way you look at it, they are too light a tire and don't have a rigid enough sidewall.

[Diesel_Aggie]

I've run Douglas tires on my Honda Civic. It weights 2100 pounds. They did not wear smooth, were loud to start with and got louder. The noise probably won't be an issue on the RV as so many other things are making noise. The wear is somewhat of an issue as when they wear out of round, they create more and more vibration. The biggest issue is giving up 650 pounds of load rating per tire.

Ask your Wal Mart for their special order tire book. In many stores it is out for display. I'd suggest looking at it yourself as most Wal Mart Auto Centers I've found are really clueless if they have to do more than scan a bar code. It's a pretty extensive book.

You can also order from www.tirerack.com or www.tires.com and others. I've had Wal Mart mount tires for me I've carried in in the past. You may want to check with them first.

I've the LT195/75-14 tires on mine. When inflated properly, they don't rub. What I like is these are LT (Light Truck) rating. Generally speaking a light truck tire is going to be more rugged. The following link talks about this http://busdepot.com/details/tires.jsp It would be nice to see this information directly from the DOT. A quick search did not turn it up. The Douglas tires are almost certainly a P-Metric tire. I think we could mostly agree a Toyotahome is closer to a light truck than a passenger car.

I'd think someone close to you will mount your mail order tires. Full service gas station? Dealership? Independent shop? I guess the worst case would be to jack the RV up and take the wheels/tires somewhere else.

[McShank]

Due to the weight of over 6000 lbs. the sidewalls of the tires sustain a lot of stress. There were new 6 plys on mine when I bought it and were showing sidewall cracks after only a few thousand miles. Our Toyhomes don't handle great to begin with but a sidewall blowout can happen quickly and be very dangerous. 8 ply tires have extra sidewall strength and I think these are a must. Look for "8PR" and "D rated" to be safe. I think I bought from "tires-easy.com" and had Nexans delivered to my door for under $70 per tire. WalMart can mount them for you.

Seamus McShank

[craige]

When I bought my tires online I had them delivered rite to the place where I had them installed.

[DanAatTheCape]

Without having a weight, total,front,rear, your just farting in the wind.

The "correct" tire has a 1800lb capacity.

Check with Tirerack for "185-none-14" They have local shops that will install them.

Don't forget to add shipping. Many tire stores will match $ or close to it.

Also don't forget the spare. Does your spare fit all locations?? Or are you going to have to limp in to town with 3 rear tires?? Makes a big difference on weight capacity.

http://www.goodyear.com/rv/products/wrangler.html is probably the "best" tire available -- and they do cost more.

note: the winnibago warrior/itasca spirit manuals used to describe the procedure to limp back to town with a flat tire -- (use one of the 4 rear tires & drive carefully)

[Derek up North]

note: the winnibago warrior/itasca spirit manuals used to describe the procedure to limp back to town with a flat tire -- (use one of the 4 rear tires & drive carefully)

Guess they had to give instructions since the spare tire was optional.