JohnWR
Minnesota
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Joined: 11/11/2011
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I have a 1983 London Aire aluminum somewhat rounded/stream lined 26'10" long Class C motorhome. It is gray and if you blink each eye alternately it looks somewhat like a gray whale swallowing a Chevy van. It has some character marks from hail. My friends have already de-certified my sanity as it has the 6.2 liter non-turbo diesel, as did my 1982 pickup truck (twice) and my 1983 3/4 GMC van. All three engines...uhhh, broke. Now have gone on to a class C camper with the same engine and expecting a different outcome resulted in my sanity de-certification. Minor stuff. Hey, I have lots of spare parts!
This vehicle had 40,000 mi, actual, when I bought it and I have put 2000-3000 miles on it since March.
The tires are somewhat old 8.00 16.5 but have good tread and little to no cracking in the sidewall surfaces. I became a new member primarily to find out some tire alternatives in a list of planned maintenance. I had a complete brake job done in September and re-sealed the roof when I first got the vehicle. Tires are next, but I haven't been able to find enough information so far. The tires aren't original and I don't know the age right now as the vehicle is about an hour away. The driver's side front tire had a rapid deflation resulting in an exciting ride.
I went online looking for tires so I could change out both steer axle tires. I located four in a franchise auto parts place that turned out to be 2005 and 2006 date stamped. From what I have read in the forum so far I would be foolish to buy them as they are pretty much "aged-out". It seemed to me that the consensus here was that tires older than 5 to 7 years should be replaced even if they look good.
I think I am faced with the problem of finding "new" 16.5 " tires and would appreciate any ideas or source info. I saw in one place in my search of the forums that a Ford van based Class C camper had been converted to 16" rim tires. Is that possible with the early 80's GMC based Class C motorhomes? Do the rims clear the brakes and otherwise fit? Is there a tire that has about the same diameter and width dimensions so that the duals fit in the same fender well and the duals don't rub? Thank you in advance for any info or recommendations you might have.
Coincidentally, I seem to get a true 12 mpg when I am running down the road at 60 mph. I seemed to be able to keep pretty close to 12 mpg when I missed a turn on the interstate on the way to an antique boat show in Hot Springs, Arkansas. My GPS told me to take Hwy 7 over the mountains from where I was and the 25 mph uphill and downhill curves and were a little exciting.
JohnWR
1983 London Aire
1997 Playmore toy hauler
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Bordercollie
Garden Grove, CA, USA
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I was able to buy slightly larger "bias belted" tires for our old Dodge Maxi-van camper conversion years ago. They rubbed inside the front wheel wells when turning sharply. The wheels were not considered strong enough for tubeless steel belted radisls if I recall correctly . Replacement wheels for tubeless radials with same stud hole spacing were not available then(IIRC)
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fisher60
Plant City, Florida
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Go get a used 16" rim and mount it and see what kind of clearance you have. My guess is they would work Ok and will certainally make tire hunting easier.
'01 Dutchman Express 28A, Borg Chrome Dually Valve Stems, Pacific Dualies Wheel Simulators, '06 Tuscon, '06 FLHTC/I
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Chrisatthebeach
The beautiful low country of South Carolina
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My brother had a 1969 C20 pickup that had the 16.5 rims, we found regular 16 inch 8 lugs and they fit fine. Maybe have a tire shop look at it, they can point you in the right direction.
Chris & Dianne plus two boys, both of them are Eagle Scouts.
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Gene in NE
Omaha
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JohnWR wrote:I have a 1983 London Aire aluminum somewhat rounded/stream lined 26'10" long Class C motorhome...The tires are somewhat old 8.00 16.5 but have good tread and little to no cracking in the sidewall surfaces...Tires are next, but I haven't been able to find enough information so far...I think I am faced with the problem of finding "new" 16.5 " tires and would appreciate any ideas or source info...
JohnWR
1983 London Aire
1997 Playmore toy hauler I can't speak to the quality of the tire or whether it is a good price, but here is a link to tires-easy.com.
2002 Trail-Lite Model 211-S w/5.7 Chevy (click View Profile)
Gene
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Grillmeister
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Gene in NE wrote:JohnWR wrote:I have a 1983 London Aire aluminum somewhat rounded/stream lined 26'10" long Class C motorhome...The tires are somewhat old 8.00 16.5 but have good tread and little to no cracking in the sidewall surfaces...Tires are next, but I haven't been able to find enough information so far...I think I am faced with the problem of finding "new" 16.5 " tires and would appreciate any ideas or source info...
JohnWR
1983 London Aire
1997 Playmore toy hauler I can't speak to the quality of the tire or whether it is a good price, but here is a link to tires-easy.com.
The prices for the tires at the above link are very tempting, the switch to six new rims and tires can be expensive. When I did it seven years ago for my 1984 Ford E-350, it was about $1800.00 for six new Michelin XPS Ribs 225/75/16 (exact swap for 8.75 X 16.5) and seven brand new rims (and one used spare I got for free). Last year after the price increase’s when I replaced the tires it was that much just for the tires, truthfully, my rig is not even worth that much  But I have been fortunate to have forty thousand miles of trouble free service
The following post’s may be helpful reading for you to make up your mind. I believe they are all related to Ford, but it will give you an idea how several of us went about accomplishing it and overcoming the fit, price and other issues.
Here
And Here
When you get done reading all of the links within the posts you will need therapee for sure 
Good luck and let us know how you make out.
Show me the GRILL and STAND BACK!!!!
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Grillmeister
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I found a pic of your rig Here VERY cool, BTW, I have the 7.4 gas, naturally aspirated engine and I get about 6 mpg, so at today’s fuel prices that diesel may be worth some work
Also, mine is a Fleetwood Jamboree, made from one by two sticks, staples and hot glue. That all Aluminum concept is great!
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Harveyj
Boise, Idaho
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I had an '84 with the 16.5 in. tires and found a Cooper tire dealer that had them at a good price. He ordered them in and they all had current date codes. You might give them a try if you don't swap for 16 in rims. I got very good mileage from them.
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tatest
Oklahoma Green Country
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As mentioned, Cooper still sells 16.5 inch tires.
If you want to switch to modern 16-inch LT dually rims, they are usually easier to find for GM chassis than for Ford, because they didn't change the dually van wheel design for about 30 years, and that was only ten years ago.
New wheels are about $100 in appropriate quantity at Southwest Wheel. That's where I would shop for this part of the country. You should have a comparable supplier near you.
* This post was
edited 11/13/11 12:47pm by tatest *
Tom Test
Itasca Spirit 29B
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JDMopar
Asheville,NC
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About a year and a half ago, we had a 79 Dodge Class C that had 16.5 inch rims. I bought 6 new 225/75-16's and six used rims cheaper than 6 new 8.75 x 16.5's would have cost. It's not hard to find used rims for 20-25 dollars apiece if you shop around.
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