Over 680 readers reveal their truck camping truck tire brands, models, and sizes. There are some big surprises in wheel size, tire size, the popularity of 19.5 wheels, and more. This isn’t the same old tired story!
Over the course of twenty years of truck camping, we’ve had tire flats, blowouts, wobbles, and surprise bald spots. All of these situations required immediate attention and tire replacement. That’s just part of the deal when you load a truck on a camper and actually drive it.
Those deflating pop, shimmy, jack, and four-way crossbar situations can be mostly avoided by learning about wheels and tires when they need replacement. That’s where we hope the following poll can be a starting point. If nothing else, let this data be a reminder to pay careful attention to your wheels and tires.
Eight years ago we conducted a very similar wheel and tire survey. What’s interesting is to see what’s different, and read into the reasons why. One thing is for certain. We have changed our wheel and tire approach quite a bit from 2016. Let’s dig into the poll results.
TIRE POLL RESULTS
1. Have you kept your stock OEM wheels, or have you changed?
For this question, the results from 2016 and 2024 are almost exactly the same. In 2016, 73.2 percent kept their OEM wheels, and 26.8 percent changed their wheels. In 2024, 73.0 percent kept their OEM wheels, and 27.0 changed their wheels.
We have also kept our OEM wheels. The only reason we would change our wheels is if (a) we were changing to a different wheel and tire size, or (b) if we had specific requirements that necessitated a stronger wheel.
2. What size wheels do you currently have?
Unlike the first question, there’s been a huge movement in the size of wheels our community is using. In 2016, 16-inch was 27.2 percent, 17-inch was 29.8 percent, 18-inch was 19.9 percent, 19.5-inch was 15.8 percent, and 20-inch was 4.8 percent. Other than the 17-inch results (28.4 percent in 2016 and 29.8 percent in 2024) all of the other wheel sizes have changed dramatically.
First, 16-inch wheels have dropped by almost exactly half; 27.3 percent in 2016 to 13.7 percent in 2024. It’s safe to say that 16-inch wheels are getting phased out. Second, 18-inch wheels increased by over 80 percent. Clearly, 18-inch wheels are the current standard.
Third, and most surprising to yours truly, 19.5-inch wheels dropped from 15.8 percent in 2016 to just 6.9 percent in 2024. That’s a 56.3 percent decline. With all the Ford F-450s and Class 5 trucks we see at the rallies, this one came as a total surprise. The only possible reasons for this that I can think of are the cost and availability of 19.5 wheels and tires. They’re expensive, and not as widely available.
Finally, 20-inch wheels dropped from 13.7 percent in 2016 to just 4.8 percent in 2024. Again, this points to this wheel size losing favor with truck owners in favor of 18-inch wheels.
3. Have you stuck with the OEM tire brand and model, or changed?
This question also showed significant movement. The number of truck campers staying with the stock OEM tire brand and model dropped by 27.9 percent. To put this into perspective, only 18.6 percent of respondents reported staying with their OEM tire brand and model.
The takeaway is that the majority of truck camper owners (81.4 percent) upgrade their tires. We certainly did after finding our stock tires were less than reliable over time.
4. What size tires do you currently have?
For this poll, we presented the most popular tire sizes from the 2016 survey as selections thinking that would likely carry over. That’s not what happened.
Yes, the 275/70 R18 came in with 19.8 percent (126 responses), but ‘other’ was the runaway response in 2024. Within ‘other’ there were a myriad of tire sizes, few of which eclipsed the least popular size from 2016 or 2024. The standouts in the ‘other’ category were 295/70 R18, 275/65 R20, and—believe it or not—a variety of 35 and 37-inch tires.
5. What brand of tires do you currently have?
The top brand from 2016—Michelin—successfully retained its position for 2024, but dropped significantly by percentage. In 2016, Michelin was the number one tire brand at 35.6 percent. In 2024, Michelin came in first again, but at 20.3 percent.
The rest of the top ten tire brands have also changed position but, with the exception of General, remained in the top 10. Who replaced General? The subject of our good Falken story, Falken Tires.
In addition to the usual suspects, there were a few brands that we don’t typically see on truck campers. These brands included Hercules, Mickey Thompson, Sailun, and Ironman.
6. Do you change tires by mileage or date code?
This was a new question for our 2024 survey. And almost immediately, we got emails suggesting that tread depth and tire wear should have been an option. We agree and will be sure to add that question to the tire poll in 2032.
Missed opportunity aside, the overwhelming majority of readers answered mileage as their key indicator. I suspect ‘tread depth and tire wear’ would have claimed a huge percentage of this response. In real life, all of these factors should be taken into consideration when determining when to change tires.
7. If you change by mileage, how often do you get new tires?
The results for what mileage to change tires closely mirrored what we had in 2016, with one important exception. The ‘More than 50K’ dropped from 30.4 percent in 2016 to 24.5 percent in 2024. From the 2024 data, most of us are now changing tires in the 40-50K range. That’s what we do as well. Truck camping is tough on tires.
Please take this opportunity to inspect your truck camping tires. Inspect the tread depth, look for sidewall scrapes and bulges, note the date code and age, and check your tire pressure. And while you’re at it, check your CO and LP detectors too. Safety first!
