Constancy tyres (tires)

[Tireman9]

It is the responsibility of the vehicle manufacturer to select tires appropriate for the application and to ensure that the load capability of the tire is sufficient to meet the stated GAWR.

Now sometimes an RV company may even lower the states GAWR to avoid having to select larger (more expensive) tires. This has been seen when 6,000# axles were de-rated to 5,500# so the two tires only needed to be capable of 2750#. Obviously this does not address the fact that RV companies are aware of that many users often exceed the published GAWR.
Your calculations of load shift and side wind forces are also something a competent engineer working on vehicle design would / should IMO take into consideration.

I agree that it would be good if there were some stated margin such as 15% load capacity. While this would not eliminate tire overloading it would significantly lower the probability and number of overloaded tires but again lobby efforts from the RV industry would IMO work against the adoption of such requirements.

[Gyrogearloose]

I just discovered that I've been using old information to calculate the overload of my tires on curved roads. I used 10 degrees on a Ball Bank Indicator since this was mentioned in articles that I found and since some Ball Bank Indicators change from black to red at 10degrees as an aid to civil engineers.


It turns out that the recommendations have been changed from a fixed 10 degrees to a speed based table and the allowed angle has increased to permit higher speeds:
20mph 16degrees
25-30mph 14degrees
35mph 12degrees


By using 10degrees, I've been underestimating the overloading of my tires.
Where I thought I could expect 350lbs of increased load on curves, I now calculate:
35mph 421lbs per tire
25-30mph 494lbs per tire
20mph 569lbs per tire


(When I say '35mph', I'm referring to the reduced advisory speed limit on a yellow sign placed before a curve.)

[raytwntrvlr]

Just got back from a 2500 mile three week trip and had no troubles with my Constancy tires. I want to replace them with something more reliable but so far there's no clear cut upgrade. I have plenty of clearance in the wheel wells but my axles are too close together to increase size and that may have some issues anyway. Our next big trip is in January when we head to Florida. I hope that our cooler weather travels will help these tires survive.

[OldCoot]

Shock loads are probably more of a component as they could be as high as 25% or higher just due to swales and bumps in the highways.

[Kentuckian]

I had a flat on my Constancy 205/75/14 I found a tire that was made in the USA, Goodyear Endurance
ST205/75/14

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by Kentuckian

I had a flat on my Constancy 205/75/14 I found a tire that was made in the USA, Goodyear Endurance
ST205/75/14

Do you really think that tires made in the USA are puncture proof? Sorry, just isn't true.

[Kentuckian]

Never said it was. Just telling everyone where they can find a tire made in USA

[Gyrogearloose]

Originally Posted by Kentuckian

I had a flat on my Constancy 205/75/14 I found a tire that was made in the USA, Goodyear Endurance
ST205/75/14

Yeah. Goodyear came out with those tires after this thread in 2015. They look very good to me.

I've noticed some manufacturers are putting the Endurance tires on trailers at the factory. I went with Kumho 205R14C because I couldn't find anything better at the time.

It looks like there now are several other vendors with D rated tires in the ST205 75R14 size.

Here's a comparison of the tires that I care about:

Factory Tires (Constancy ST205 75R14 LRC)
Load Class: C 1760lbs@50psi
Speed Rating: L (75mph)

Goodyear Endurance
Load Class: D 2040lbs@65psi
Speed Rating: N (87mph)

Kumho 857
Load Class: D 2271lbs@65psi
Speed Rating: Q (99mph)