I need tire and airbag suggestions

I have a 2011 F350 with less than 2000 miles on it. It came with LT 245 17's on it. They are rated at 3195# ea. I would like to get a little biger tires with a higher rating.

I might also be interested in adding some kind of airbag or airride system to help distribute the load on the truck, and possibly smooth out the ride a little.

Any suggestions/reccommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Larry

Firestone or AirRide bags will work out well for your truck. I'm surprised your F-350 has tires rated @ 3195lbs, my F-250 came with 3750# Goodyears.

I agree with westxsrt10 that both Firestone and AirRide systems are good. Air-Ride uses Firestone bags so it really is a matter of the total cost and what comes in the package.
Tire wise you cant go wrong with Michelin's although I have had good service from Firestone Transforce and the G series Goodyear all steel tires as well.

In order to gain a lot of capacity you will have to change wheels and go to 18 or 20 inch wheels/tires. As far as the ride goes we are happy with the ride of our stock 2011 F350. Rides as good as our F250. I don't think the air bags will help that much when you are unloaded as the truck sits high anyway. Probably help when the load comes down on the overload springs.

245 tires do look small on a truck that big dont they? Increasing the tire size does get you a higher weight rating on the tires, but fuel mileage and all that other stuff goes down. Just for reference The Michelin 285 tires we run on our truck are rated at 3750#.

Airbags are one of the best improvements you can make to your truck as far as ride goes. Adjustable to however you want the ride to be. Just shop for the best deal. Air ride and firestone bags are identical. I will suggest you get the compressor kit to go with them. Adjustable on the fly..........

Definitely want the compressor kit. Still not sure if a high sitting truck with ample springs would benefit from air bags. The only way the air bags have helped us in the past was where we could put enough air in them to make them work. The F350's have huge springs and sit high already.

Are you sure the tires aren't 265-70-17 ?? I never heard of 245- 17

lwmcguir said:

Definitely want the compressor kit. Still not sure if a high sitting truck with ample springs would benefit from air bags. The only way the air bags have helped us in the past was where we could put enough air in them to make them work. The F350's have huge springs and sit high already.

Click to expand...

I agree with this. Love having an onboard compressor, but the airbags haven't done a lot for me on my F-350. If I had to do it again I would still get onboard air for tires, but not bother getting airbags. On the F-350 it doesn't make a difference in my opinion. From the comments of others, it may well make a difference on a different brand, or an F-250.

I've had Firestone Ride Rites on 3 different 1 ton trucks and I highly recommend them. They allow you to stabilize your truck , under loaded conditions.
As far as using them with a lifted truck, if I'm not mistaken, Firestone makes spacers for them.

TANDT said:

I've had Firestone Ride Rites on 3 different 1 ton trucks and I highly recommend them. They allow you to stabilize your truck , under loaded conditions.
As far as using them with a lifted truck, if I'm not mistaken, Firestone makes spacers for them.

Click to expand...

Was it a Ford F-350?

jnphobe said:

Are you sure the tires aren't 265-70-17 ?? I never heard of 245- 17

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, yep.

Dave012 said:

Was it a Ford F-350?

Click to expand...

Yes, my previous truck was a Ford F350 with Ride Rites that worked well.

Ok I'm wrong, I found them as standard equipment on the XL's and duallys. If you check some tire web sites you may find some 17" tires that will carry more weight. They will be a little bigger in size (OD)