New Castle Rock vs Goodyear

[robmarshall109]

We just recently picked up our new Flagstaff E-pro E19FD.

This is our first TT, but I spent a lot of time reading through the forums prior to our purchase to know what we were getting into. I never cheap out on tires for my vehicles, so after reading some of the horror stories with the china bombs, I decided to replace them immediately.

I drove approximately 150km on our first shakedown trip on the Castle Rocks. Once home, I went about replacing them with new Goodyear Endurance tires.

I've attached pictures of the 2 tires treads. Both pictures are of the tires mounted and at 65 PSI. You can see the Castle Rocks are concave instead of convex like the Goodyear.

I showed the dealer when I first dropped them off to have the Goodyears installed, he didn't say anything then.When I came to pick them up, he said he wished I was there when he had them both off the rim. The castle Rocks you can almost turn inside out by pushing down on them. Whereas the Goodyear's are nice and solid. The Goodyears are noticeably heavier.

I am going to feel much more comfortable driving down the road with these on instead of the Castle Rocks.

[jeffnick]

My OEM tires were concave as well. I thought the tires on the trailer were wearing on the outsides until I found the unused spare the same way.

[RFishstick]

Geo Pro G16BH here. I plan to replace the Castle Rocks with GY Endurance in the next day or two. My stock tires are 205 75 R14.

Should I stick with that size or can I go 205 75 R15?

[robmarshall109]

I stuck with the same size 205/75R14 for my E19FD. Load range appears to be good enough and I didn't want to worry about clearance issues.

[jeffnick]

My 16FQ would easily have handled a 15" tire but rather than buy new rims I went with 14" Hankook passenger tires because I don't trust ST's.

Look here for new rims...
https://www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-Tires_and_Wheels.aspx

[aceinspp]

Originally Posted by jeffnick

My 16FQ would easily have handled a 15" tire but rather than buy new rims I went with 14" Hankook passenger tires because I don't trust ST's.

Look here for new rims...
https://www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-Tires_and_Wheels.aspx

Why would you think Pass tires are better than ST? Later RJD

[doc73]

Biggest issue I see here, not k owing your camper, is passenger tires will almost never (I say that because someone always needs to prove others wrong) have the required weight ratings.

[jeffnick]

Originally Posted by aceinspp

Why would you think Pass tires are better than ST? Later RJD

Oh, I don't 'think' they're better -- I know they're better at least for me...its a matter of miles and miles of personal experience.

One More Time Around: "ST" Tires On Your Trailer -or- Passenger Car/Truck Tires?

Do a search here and see:
1) all the complaints about ST tires and efforts to find a good one
2) if anyone has regretted going to p or LT tires.
I couldn't find anyone here or any place on the internet where folks went back to ST tires after getting rid of them.

And I also use non-ST tires on my 12,000 boat trailer - here's why:
One More Time Around: Finally Got Rid Of Those POS ST Tires On My Trailer

[Goat Man]

My trailer came with bias ply tires. We made a trip from Texas to California and back by way of Salt Lake City. We then made a trip to NM and back. We then went to Yellowstone to Mount Rushmore and back before changing them. No problems with them nor the Good Year Marathons we replaced them with. The Marathons have been replaced with the Endurance now. Have to see how they do.

[pnewman]

My original China tires on my TT (Rockwood 2304DS) on both the tires and the trailer placard called for 65psi. The Goodyear replacement tires call for 80psi, which I have been running. Be sure to check the required psi on the new tires before trying to make any comparisons.

[RFishstick]

I replaced my Castle Rocks with GY Endurance today. Both tires call for a max PSI of 65. The Castle Rocks had a max speed of 75 MPH. I don’t see a speed rating on the sidewall of the GY.

[rsdata]

I found this on google search

The Endurance is available in Load Ranges D and E to accommodate larger load capacities, according to Goodyear. It also has a speed rating of N (87 mph), which is considerably higher than the usual trailer tire speed rating of L (75 mph), according to Mr. Pulte, Goodyear general manager for product marketing, consumer tires...Jan 30, 2017

[RFishstick]

Originally Posted by rsdata

I found this on google search

Thank you!

[Slow Moon]

Originally Posted by jeffnick

Oh, I don't 'think' they're better -- I know they're better at least for me...its a matter of miles and miles of personal experience.

One More Time Around: "ST" Tires On Your Trailer -or- Passenger Car/Truck Tires?

Do a search here and see:
1) all the complaints about ST tires and efforts to find a good one
2) if anyone has regretted going to p or LT tires.
I couldn't find anyone here or any place on the internet where folks went back to ST tires after getting rid of them.

And I also use non-ST tires on my 12,000 boat trailer - here's why:
One More Time Around: Finally Got Rid Of Those POS ST Tires On My Trailer

If Jeff Nicholas says it on the Internet, then it must be true. At least you told us why you THINK you know.

[mgarland48]

I may be the exception here. Got our 2109s Mini Lite trailer Oct 2016, 2016 dated Castle Rocks, nitrogen filled by the dealer. Put 19,000+ miles on the camper from Colo to Maine, New Mexico, Calif and Utah, rough roads, dirt roads, rocky roads.

Never had to air up. I only noticed a bit of wear out the outside edges after this last trip, and put new Endurance tires on. I got my money's worth out of those CRs.

[aceinspp]

Originally Posted by jeffnick

Oh, I don't 'think' they're better -- I know they're better at least for me...its a matter of miles and miles of personal experience.

One More Time Around: "ST" Tires On Your Trailer -or- Passenger Car/Truck Tires?

Do a search here and see:
1) all the complaints about ST tires and efforts to find a good one
2) if anyone has regretted going to p or LT tires.
I couldn't find anyone here or any place on the internet where folks went back to ST tires after getting rid of them.

And I also use non-ST tires on my 12,000 boat trailer - here's why:
One More Time Around: Finally Got Rid Of Those POS ST Tires On My Trailer

Guess you just lucky and to each his own. I have always used ST as required and never had issues and all where GY Marathons and now GY endurance Oh ya internet is the absoult truth. Later RJD

[robmarshall109]

Originally Posted by mgarland48

I may be the exception here. Got our 2109s Mini Lite trailer Oct 2016, 2016 dated Castle Rocks, nitrogen filled by the dealer. Put 19,000+ miles on the camper from Colo to Maine, New Mexico, Calif and Utah, rough roads, dirt roads, rocky roads.

Never had to air up. I only noticed a bit of wear out the outside edges after this last trip, and put new Endurance tires on. I got my money's worth out of those CRs.

Given the number of trailers sold with these, I'm sure you're not the only one who has had an uneventful experience with the Castle Rocks. What the actual failure rate is, who knows....

For me though, given the number of anecdotal stories and having only 1 axle it was an easy decision to make the change immediately. And after having seen both tires side by side, I am glad I did.

[DieselDrax]

Originally Posted by RFishstick

Geo Pro G16BH here. I plan to replace the Castle Rocks with GY Endurance in the next day or two. My stock tires are 205 75 R14.

Should I stick with that size or can I go 205 75 R15?

You can't go to R15 without replacing the wheels (14" vs 15" wheels) and since your TT is relatively small I don't see any reason to spend the money to do that. The 14" tires will be just fine.

Originally Posted by pnewman

My original China tires on my TT (Rockwood 2304DS) on both the tires and the trailer placard called for 65psi. The Goodyear replacement tires call for 80psi, which I have been running. Be sure to check the required psi on the new tires before trying to make any comparisons.

The tires don't "call for" 80PSI, that is the pressure needed for max load. Nor is that the "required PSI" on the tires. Use the Goodyear load and inflation chart to determine the minimum PSI required for the GVWR of your trailer. Since you went from load range D to E you'll find that the new E tires can actually run less than 65PSI and have the same load capacity as the previous D tires, but I would tend to keep them at the placard's PSI. You can run them at 80PSI if you want, but by no means is that the required tire pressure.

[RFishstick]

Originally Posted by DieselDrax

You can't go to R15 without replacing the wheels (14" vs 15" wheels) and since your TT is relatively small I don't see any reason to spend the money to do that. The 14" tires will be just fine.

Ah. Thank you. I went with 14’s. It’s good to know it was my only option with these wheels.