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Old 11-12-2014, 03:56 PM   #1
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Pulled the China Bombs and Replace with Real Tires

I know this is a touchy subject with some folks but after having a few china bombs blow on me in the past, I switched to commercial LT tires and have never had another problem on my trailers.

So, I pulled my less then 200 mile (2 short tow camp trips) Power Towing Trail Express 235/80-16 E load tires off my 2014 V-Cross Platinum 365 VTSB and replaced them 235/85-16 Firestone Transforce HTs this morning.

We have a 4 hour tow this weekend so I wanted to do the deed ASAP

I will put the ST tires up for sale as I know we have some ST tire diehards . They are in like new shape with no known issues, just not my style.

Enjoy

Link to the new tires: (if against forum rules, please pull link)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/BigPic...omCompare1=yes
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Old 11-12-2014, 05:09 PM   #2
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Can you really sell them with a clear conscious?
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Old 11-12-2014, 05:26 PM   #3
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We sold our less-than-500-miles Trail Express tires with a VERY clear conscience. Sold them to a guy who does lawn care for his trailer. Told him why we pulled them off, and what we pulled them off of, even showed him the RV. Those tires still had the nibs on them. He was VERY pleased to get a set of almost-new tires for $100.00. We just didn't want them stacked somewhere in the back, holding rain water and breeding skeeters.
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Old 11-12-2014, 05:34 PM   #4
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Can you really sell them with a clear conscious?
Wouldn't bother me a bit as long as the buyer was going to put them on a lawn tractor trailer. They will last a long time and will probably dry rot rather than blow from overloading or traveling over 65mph.
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Old 11-12-2014, 05:54 PM   #5
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I agree with the others, I put my Duro's on my utility trailer and don't foresee any issues.
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Old 11-12-2014, 07:19 PM   #6
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Same as Weezer except I got $250CDN
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Old 11-12-2014, 08:02 PM   #7
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Can you really sell them with a clear conscious?
Why not? All the ST tire companies do. Just because I do not like them doesn't mean others do. There are a lot of people that use and like ST tires. I'm not one of them so why not pass on an almost new, zero issue set of tires to someone else and let them save some $.

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Old 11-12-2014, 08:20 PM   #8
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IMHO people with utility trailers are used to flats. It's just part of it. They drag over curbs, run over strange items, and sometimes over load low tires. They get flats a lot. I know I do. That's prolly why they don't care or assume it's normal.


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Old 11-12-2014, 11:29 PM   #9
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Only a year old and there wasn't enough left of any of them to use! All 4 sidewalks rotted! Forest river did send a small check...


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Old 11-12-2014, 11:37 PM   #10
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I could sell mine as the Bead was rotten on 2 tires. Forest River bought them for $300 bucks so I feel good they are destroyed now.
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Old 11-22-2014, 09:22 PM   #11
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OP: Not to rain on your parade here, but the tires you bought in this case, the Firestone Transforce HT may be listed as "load range E," but they only have a load index of 116, which means they're only rated at 2760 pounds. I don't think that's enough load carrying capacity for me, it's actually a step backward from the ST tires I'm currently running. There are 235/85r16 LTs out there with a load index of 120, which equals 3100 pounds--you just gotta check and look for them.
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Old 11-22-2014, 09:37 PM   #12
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OP: Not to rain on your parade here, but the tires you bought in this case, the Firestone Transforce HT may be listed as "load range E," but they only have a load index of 116, which means they're only rated at 2760 pounds. I don't think that's enough load carrying capacity for me, it's actually a step backward from the ST tires I'm currently running. There are 235/85r16 LTs out there with a load index of 120, which equals 3100 pounds--you just gotta check and look for them.
Mine are 120 load index with a load rating of 3042 at 80psi. Don't know what you are looking at. The 225s have a load rating of 2755 so maybe that is what you read. I did my homework and also have used them on two other trailers with no issues and area currently on my 32ft gooseneck racing trailer.
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Old 11-22-2014, 09:54 PM   #13
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Ok, that's cool. I just clicked on the link, and the one it took me to was the 116. Glad you got the 120s! Carry on...

Edit: upon further review, for some reason it's listed as 120/116. Wonder why that is...?
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Old 11-22-2014, 10:54 PM   #14
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The rating for the tire if used on single axle 120(3100 lbs) and on dual axle 116(2775 lbs X 2). Don't understand why they rate them that way, lower when used on duals.

Get'em on and lets go camping.
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Old 11-23-2014, 02:48 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by DocGTO View Post
I know this is a touchy subject with some folks but after having a few china bombs blow on me in the past, I switched to commercial LT tires and have never had another problem on my trailers.

So, I pulled my less then 200 mile (2 short tow camp trips) Power Towing Trail Express 235/80-16 E load tires off my 2014 V-Cross Platinum 365 VTSB and replaced them 235/85-16 Firestone Transforce HTs this morning.

We have a 4 hour tow this weekend so I wanted to do the deed ASAP

I will put the ST tires up for sale as I know we have some ST tire diehards . They are in like new shape with no known issues, just not my style.

Enjoy

Link to the new tires: (if against forum rules, please pull link)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/BigPic...omCompare1=yes

According to Forest River specs your trailer has 5080# rated axles. So you must of already had upgraded tires on there because the size you described is clearly overkill for your axle loads. Why would you give up on tires with so much extra load capacity?

Not everyone has problems with ST tires and even less so with oodles of extra load capacity.

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Old 11-23-2014, 05:16 PM   #16
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Ok, that's cool. I just clicked on the link, and the one it took me to was the 116. Glad you got the 120s! Carry on...

Edit: upon further review, for some reason it's listed as 120/116. Wonder why that is...?
The load index method for identifying load capacities for Passenger (P) tires is only official for those tires. Light Truck (LT) tires and Special Trailer (ST) tires use Load Range (LR) letters for their official method of load capacity identification. It often becomes confusing for many buyers not acquainted with both systems because even though the load index is only used for P tires the DOT allows them to be used in all tire publications and many tire manufacturers of ST & LT tires will put the load index on their tires. However, the load capacity molded into the sidewalls on ST & LT tires will come from the LR charts.

Whenever a tire is showing two load index values such as 120/116 the first figure is for single tire fitments and the second figure is for dual fitments (as in side by side) commonly referred to as dually fitments on trucks. Tandem trailer axles are single tire fitments unless they have four tires per axle.

Road camber is one of the reasons for lower load capacity for tires fitted in a dual configuration.


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Old 11-28-2014, 07:22 PM   #17
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Wish someone would buy mine. Still looking for some more tires after this problem. Copied it from another forum I posted it on TDR magazine after reading their RV forum. After reading current issue/RV articles on tires I knew I needed to post this and to ask further advice. We (wife & I)bought a new Forest River 28 ft. travel trailer in Feb. 2013. We live in East Texas. We have taken several short trips this past year and only 3 over 1500 miles. 2 weeks ago while getting ready for a trip to Bandera Tx I found a low tire. Took it off and to the local tire shop. Found out that it was splitting in different places at the seam just above the rim. Decided to swap the spare on to the nice rim. In doing so found another bad tire same problem. Contacted Forest River they said to contact manufacture. Contacted Lionshead Wheel & Tire as these are Trail Express tires, they said because of the dates it was out of warranty and that the warranty is from date of manufacture and not purchase. Some of my tires have the date as 2412. Which means it was made 24th week of 2012. Recontacted Forest River and asked them why they were putting tires on their products with 6 to 8 months of warranty gone. They said that they order from Lions Head and cannot control how for in advance Lions Head purchases their tires from China. Has any one else had this problem with tires? Currently on the trailer are Trail Express Power Towing Size ST 225/75R15. I didn't want to go through the hassel of changing rims as in the current article that I've read about so many doing, but I do need 5 new trailer tires. Open to suggestions on sizes,brands,etc. that will work on the 15 inch rim. Another problem I found was that the drain hole at the bottom of the electric tounge jack is not big enough for water (how it got in there i don't know) to drain out. Motor seized up completely, couldn't even hand jack it. Luckyly I was able to take it apart get it to working, cleaned it and regreased it and drilled the cover drain hole out to about 1/2 inch. Now I turn a 5 gallon bucket over it when not in tow. The Tire Fight ain't over with yet. I'm doing what I told Forest River what I said I would do. Letting everyone know that I can what kind of shabby operation they are running. Thanks to TDR for the article or some of us (me) would've went out and bought just any replacement tire.
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Old 11-28-2014, 08:49 PM   #18
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Not going to comment on what brand to use as there are many opinions, BUT when you do decide, tell your tire dealer you want to check the date code on the new tires before they mount them. You will never get tires made yesterday, but if over a few months old send them back. Distributors will send the old tires if they can. Also balance them after mounting, remember RV tires spin the same speed as auto tires.
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Old 11-29-2014, 07:29 AM   #19
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If anyone has any advice on brand of tire/size for 15 inch rim I'll reserch it and let ya'll know. If it was a truck tire I could tell you in a heartbeat what I use but trailer tires are knew to me. DANG!. Gotta do some more studying.
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Old 11-29-2014, 08:38 AM   #20
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I used Carlisle Load range D tires on my previous TT with good results.
Definitely get metal stems.
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