Tires cant be true?

[j free]

I had my 5er taken back tom the factory because of frame issues. They had to reinforce the whole thing removing all exterior walls and then installing new. They then sent it back to me with a promised of new tires for the extra travel from California to Indiana.

Well they sent me 4 new tires on new rims by freight and said that use the old ones and then replace them when needed. I said great but I just looked closer at the tires and have a question?

The tires say they have a 5 ply tread and only a 2 ply nylon side wall. This cant be correct. This is a E rated tire and it says that it's max load is 3000 lbs. My trailer is 15,000 lbs and even adding the 4 tires together it dose not equal the weight of my trailer. Do you add both numbers to get the true # of ply's in the side wall that would make it 7 or is it truly only 2 ply's in the side wall?

[DaveSchwartz]

The number of actual plies in the construction doesn't necessarily equal what everyone quotes as the load range equivalent (LRD=8ply, LRE=10ply) anymore - that was in olden days (i.e. O.C.'s time ).

Is that 15,000lbs max GVWR? Remember to subtract your pin weight from that to get the actual max load on the tires. RV manufacturers are notorious for OEM'ing tires where the combined max load ratings are just barely over that. If your trailer really is that heavy, I would want to sell the new ones they sent you (maybe including the rims if they aren't good enough for LRG pressures) and put on a set of G-rated tires. I'm a firm believer in having a ~20% margin between the combined tire load ratings and the GVWR minus pin.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by DaveSchwartz

The number of actual plies in the construction doesn't necessarily equal what everyone quotes as the load range equivalent (LRD=8ply, LRE=10ply) anymore - that was in olden days (i.e. O.C.'s time )...

I guess Tire Rack is still in the "olden" days too!
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=55

[DaveSchwartz]

I don't get your point... right on the page you reference:

Before load ranges were adopted, ply ratings and/or the actual number of casing plies were used to identify the relative strength with higher numeric ratings or plies identifying tires featuring stronger, heavier duty constructions.

Today's load range/ply ratings do not count the actual number of body ply layers used to make up the tire's internal structure, but indicate an equivalent strength compared to early bias ply tires.

That seems to be exactly what I said before the crack about your age.

[j free]

I found a tire location by me that will take the new tire's and wheels sent from the factory in trade and sell me 4 Goodyears for $450. Pretty good deal.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by DaveSchwartz

I don't get your point... right on the page you reference:
That seems to be exactly what I said before the crack about your age.

And then they list the ply ratings against the Load Range:

LT-Metric, LT-Flotation and LT-Numeric Light Truck Tires
Load Range Ply Rating Abbreviated Maximum Load Pressure
B 4 B 35 psi (240 kPa)***
C 6 C 50 psi (350 kPa)***
D 8 D 65 psi (450 kPa)***
E 10 E 80 psi (550 kPa)***
F 12 F 95 psi (650 kPa)***
***Selected large LT sizes are designed with reduced maximum load pressures

It's all a moot point, they still relate LR to Ply

[j free]

Thanks guys you can put this one to bed now. I was just asking why the tire only listed 2 nylon plys and nothing else in the side wall. My truck has e class and they list all 10 plys that are in the side wall and all the plys in the tread. Tanks to Forest River I will be replacing them tomorrow with Good Years.