No good choice for ST (trailer) tires?

[dieseldodge]

Our Flagstaff came with Castle Rock tires. I just did some 'research' on them and they appear to be just another in a long line of garbage that the manufacturers push off on us. Back in 2005 we ordered a Forest River Wildcat. I knew it would come with Carlisle tires. They had the same reputation as the Castle Rocks do now. So I arranged with the dealer to have him remove the Carlisles upon arrival and had BFG light truck tires installed. Had zero problems with that trailer (tire problems anyway).

The problem now is, our Flagstaff has the Dexter axles that leave only a couple inches of clearance between the 28 inch tall Castle Rocks, which pretty much does away with the light truck option I'm afraid.

Why is it that we with towables are left with such poor options. Even the Goodyears are apparently made in China, putting them in the same crowd as the Castle Rocks in my opinion.

[aceinspp]

[QUOTE=dieseldodge;1902601]Our Flagstaff came with Castle Rock tires. I just did some 'research' on them and they appear to be just another in a long line of garbage that the manufacturers push off on us. Back in 2005 we ordered a Forest River Wildcat. I knew it would come with Carlisle tires. They had the same reputation as the Castle Rocks do now. So I arranged with the dealer to have him remove the Carlisles upon arrival and had BFG light truck tires installed. Had zero problems with that trailer (tire problems anyway).


Not all GY are being made in China. The endurance GY tire is made right here in the USA in Gadsden, AL. They are a new tire that came out last year in Feb.. I have had them now for 14 months and about 8000 miles on them. So there are options.

Later RJD

[JohnD10]

'Made In China' is something that we all brought upon ourselves by always insisting on the cheapest price possible for anything and everything.

Nothing wrong with that, but this is now something we all must learn to live with.

Perhaps one day the US of A will get all of those jobs back, but that probably won't be until we are considered the cheap labor force!



That being said, not everything out of China is junk...

There are good ST tires out there, you just need to know what they are.

The Maxxis 8008's are good...believe it or not, the current Carlisle ST tires are getting good reviews...Hercules SP2 tires get good reviews (which I have on my 5'ver)...and the new Goodyear Endurance tires (US made, but only because their predecessor, the Marathons, were definately cheap chinese junk tires), which have only been out about a year, so far are getting good reviews as well!

[dieseldodge]

Well....it looks like Goodyear Endurance it is. One tire choice....in my opinion. I just find it very odd that with the millions of towables running around out there that we have so little to choose from.

I'm not saying it has to be American made. I put Hankooks on my motorhome and had zero issues. But if you do any 'research' on this you'll find that most of this stuff that is passed off as 'trailer tires' are bombs waiting to pop, possibly doing damage to the trailer or even worse.

[rjshiflet]

We've had Goodyear Endurance on our fifth wheel since the second day we owned it. It came with Marathons.

We've been on them for 15 months and have over 6,000 miles and the only problem we've had is a screw we picked up and the tire went flat while we were camping. It was in the tread so it was able to be patched and no further problems.

Keep a close eye on the tire pressure and I believe that's a major key to longevity of ST tires.

[mwdilday]

I have a set of Westlakes on my Cedar Creek. I have purchased a new trailer almost every 2-3 years since about 1990 and have always run the original tires. I always checked tire pressures before every trip and now, since we are retired, multiple times on longer trips. We have a TST 507 TPMS on this trailer. Keep your speed below the max for the tire and always inflate to the TRAILER tire loading and inflation label and you should have good luck with most ST tires. Knock on wood I have never had a tire failure on any of my trailers. If you don't have one you should get a TPMS.

[Homebrew]

Westlake tires have been good to me and many on this site.
E-trailer has great ratings on Westlake tires. I would buy them again.

[richp]

Hi,


Another guy with about 8,000 miles on year old Endurance tires, on a Silverback 33RL, and absolutely no problems.


FWIW.


Rich Phillips

[Oaklevel]

Originally Posted by dieseldodge

Our Flagstaff came with Castle Rock tires. I just did some 'research' on them and they appear to be just another in a long line of garbage that the manufacturers push off on us. Back in 2005 we ordered a Forest River Wildcat. I knew it would come with Carlisle tires. They had the same reputation as the Castle Rocks do now. So I arranged with the dealer to have him remove the Carlisles upon arrival and had BFG light truck tires installed. Had zero problems with that trailer (tire problems anyway).

The problem now is, our Flagstaff has the Dexter axles that leave only a couple inches of clearance between the 28 inch tall Castle Rocks, which pretty much does away with the light truck option I'm afraid.

Why is it that we with towables are left with such poor options. Even the Goodyears are apparently made in China, putting them in the same crowd as the Castle Rocks in my opinion.

First do not believe everything that you read on the internet, Carlisles , Westlakes are not bad tires. I have 16 China made ST tires on trailers for over 10 years with Zero issues.

Some Tires dealers refuse to put LT tires on trailers so there is that as well. (No dealer in my area will put LTs on a trailer).

[saus]

Not all st tires are bad. I am not sure what size you have but I put Sailun ST tires on our 5er and they have been great. We have had them for 2 years. Reviews for them are great and haven't heard of anyone that has had them, have any problems with them.

[Airdale]

Originally Posted by dieseldodge

Our Flagstaff came with Castle Rock tires. I just did some 'research' on them and they appear to be just another in a long line of garbage that the manufacturers push off on us. Back in 2005 we ordered a Forest River Wildcat. I knew it would come with Carlisle tires. They had the same reputation as the Castle Rocks do now. So I arranged with the dealer to have him remove the Carlisles upon arrival and had BFG light truck tires installed. Had zero problems with that trailer (tire problems anyway).

The problem now is, our Flagstaff has the Dexter axles that leave only a couple inches of clearance between the 28 inch tall Castle Rocks, which pretty much does away with the light truck option I'm afraid.

Why is it that we with towables are left with such poor options. Even the Goodyears are apparently made in China, putting them in the same crowd as the Castle Rocks in my opinion.

Was the federal certification label changed-out by the dealer?

Excerpt from FMVSS 571.120, paragraph S10.3; The tires on each motorhome and RV trailer at first retail sale must be the same designated size as the tire size on the labeling.

[Flightmike]

I was having a hard time getting rid of the Castle Rocks that were only a couple months old on our new tt before our long trip out west. I left them on and got a tpms and watched them closely. Temps got as high as 123’ couple times but mostly around 100’. Checked them every morning and in Moab I noticed some cracks.

.

There was 4 little splits in 1 of the tires. I just kept a close eye on it till home. We put 5000 miles on this trip and this happened around 4000 miles. Glad we made it home. I’ll be putting new ones on before next trip for sure. I think I like the Maxis. I took the chance and it turned out thank goodness.

[dieseldodge]

Airdale….you a lawyer? Homebrew....glad you like your Westlakes, however I don't give reviews on vendors websites much value. I know from experience that they aren't likely to post negative reviews....bad for business.

[Homebrew]

Originally Posted by dieseldodge

Airdale….you a lawyer? Homebrew....glad you like your Westlakes, however I don't give reviews on vendors websites much value. I know from experience that they aren't likely to post negative reviews....bad for business.

I agree but haven’t seen any negatives on RV sites about Westlake tires.
Seen a few positives on a few forums.

[aceinspp]

Been to several camper shows and see a lot of GY Endurance tires on tt. Of course one of them was Air Stream. Later RJD

[elchilero53]

We pulled the cheap tires that came with out TT after our first trip with them (one wouldn't hold air overnight. We put Carliles on them and currently have close to 9000 miles on this set without any issues. They never lose air unlike the previous ones. We did have a lot of trouble with earlier Carlile tires in the 2001 to 2005 range. After that, they changed the tread design, and load/temperature/speed ratings and we have had no issues since then. Something to think about.

[onetonford]

The problem with mine was 15" rims is all that I can fit on mine going to LT would loose the weight rating to under my trailers weight. So ST's are the only way to go I went with Maxxis E rating and gained over 1000lbs in rating over my old Transmasters tires.

[dalford]

I have had good results with Maxxis 8008 tires on our 33IK Silverback. 16,000 Miles and about 2 years service. Will probably change them out next year when we take a jaunt out West. Will keep my eyes on the the GY Endurance to see if everyone is still happy but really can’t see why, at this point, that I would not get Maxxis again. Main reason to get GY vs Maxxis is USA made, I guess.

I also think Maxxis are made in Korea, not China but I could be wrong about that.

[onetonford]

I think I read that they are made in several countries. I have used Kenda on smaller trailers with good results. I also have a trash trailer with 35 year old Generals they are finely showing their age they don't make them like that anymore.

[dieseldodge]

Home base for Maxxis is Taiwan, with factories in Taiwan, China, & Thailand