Tires question

[Majicdoor]

Are the tires that come with the trailer good to tour with or not. I have heard that the tires that come on the trailer are not good is this true or not . Some people are telling me to switch to LT tires but I have been told that they have higher towing capacity in weight

[NMWildcat]

So what tires and what RV (weight) do you have? Google your tires and see what others say about them. None of our 5 RVs came with tires I trusted so the first stop was always the tire store or I had the dealer take the tires off my old rig and transfer them. And yes, I always run LT tires.

[Majicdoor]

Are the LT that much better I don't know as I'm new to the this. I'm going on a long tour soon. Should I change the tires as this trailer is new only about 100 miles on tires. But I don't want to have tires problem on the road.

[davel1971]

what trailer do you have? What tires are on it now?

[rootree]

In June I just finished a 5,300 mile trip from Texas to California and back. This included passes through the Mojave Desert, Palm Springs, Phoenix, Tuscon, New Mexico, and Texas. Temps exceeded 110 degrees on many of these days.

I have a 2016 Rockwood Roo 233S with the factory Castle Rock tires. I did add a TST 507 Flow Through sensor system on each of the trailer tires, with metal valve stems added.

No issues with the tires at all, checked tires religiously before every departure for proper cold tire pressure.

I highly recommend adding a TPMS system and diligently checking pressures. If you do this I feel you will be fine with the factory specd tires.

[M109Rrider]

Originally Posted by Majicdoor

Are the tires that come with the trailer good to tour with or not. I have heard that the tires that come on the trailer are not good is this true or not . Some people are telling me to switch to LT tires but I have been told that they have higher towing capacity in weight

Those of us that run LT'S swear by them. Those that don't will give you a million reasons not to. I had tread separation on my 2 year old meticulously maintained ST'S that caused a lot of damage to my 5th wheel. I switched to LT mainly because I wasnt able to find much negative feedback on LTs from people who actually use them. Most negative feedback I did find was they rode rougher and resist slow tight turns because they don't flex as much. I wasn't able to find evidence of ST type catastrophic blow outs. I can live with those trade offs. Who knows how long your tires will last. Could be a week, could be years. I personally wouldn't replace tires as soon as it rolls off the showroom floor but it would something on my short list for the next year or two.

[clr]

You will get many opinions regarding this subject. I am of the opinion that either an LT or an ST tire will work just fine if you have the proper loading for the tire that you use. A LT tire has a built in safety margin where the ST tire does not. So do a little simple math here: if the tire has a margin of safety of 20% you are good to go, If the safety margin is 10% you are getting iffy with an ST tire, if you are very close to the max load number (less than 10% margin) I would replace them with a higher load range tire. My example (stock tires) axle is rated for 7k pounds so each tire would carry 3500 pounds. My Goodyear marathon load range E were rated for 3420 pounds. So the vendor derated the GVW so that the tires were the limiting factor. This is allowable per the rules, but allows for NO safety margin. So I replaced my tires with load range H, I know a bit of overkill but I now have an acceptable (to me) safety margin.

[phillyg]

Search on "ST tires" here or any RV forum and you'll have reading for a day. General consensus is most Chinese tires are crap and Goodyear G614 and Sailun 637 are the best. LT tires are good and actually come factory installed from some mfgrs., but some don't have enough capacity for some applications.

[ChooChooMan74]

I have 5000+ miles on my ST tires and no issues. If I was closer to max capacity, I would worry. But I have lots of reserve capacity.

Sent from my Samsung Note 4 using Tapatalk.

[Airdale]

Originally Posted by Majicdoor

Are the tires that come with the trailer good to tour with or not. I have heard that the tires that come on the trailer are not good is this true or not . Some people are telling me to switch to LT tires but I have been told that they have higher towing capacity in weight

There is always a higher degree of risk involved when using Original Equipment (OE) trailer tires. Their history is the problem. The trip from the factory to the dealer location could cause permanent, unrecognizable damage. The idle time at the dealer location sometimes provides less than satisfactory tire maintenance/servicing. Unlike cars with mandatory low inflation pressure systems the prospective owner of a RV trailer is not going to see a low tire pressure warning light when the power is turned on.

Tire age can be your friend when examining your new trailer’s tires. Normally, trailers built buy a manufacturer the size of Forest River will have tires recently built by their manufacturers. They will be installed on the trailer as soon as the suspension is built. Some will have a warranty that starts from time of MFG displayed on the tire. Others will have a warranty start date that matches the date of first sale.

IMO, the best upgrade for RV trailers is to use the same size and designed tire as the OE tire with a single load range increase if possible.

Tire manufacturers frown upon the use of replacement tires that do not conform to the design of the OE tires, especially when they are ST tires. Tire dealers/retailers may look the other way to make a sale but that doesn’t make it right. Others that say it’s OK just don’t understand the vehicle certification process.

One thing to remember, what ever your choice is, don’t compromise your safety by using tires with less load capacity than what has been provided with the OE tires. Durability does not provide load capacity.

[windsurfdog]

Originally Posted by rootree

I highly recommend adding a TPMS system and diligently checking pressures. If you do this I feel you will be fine with the factory specd tires.

+2...as long as speed is kept at or below max rated speed of the tires.

Many, if not most, "China bomb" incidents are caused by improper inflation or exceeding max speed or both...not because of where they are made.

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by windsurfdog

+2...as long as speed is kept at or below max rated speed of the tires.

Many, if not most, "China bomb" incidents are caused by improper inflation or exceeding max speed or both...not because of where they are made.

I have to disagree with this one again. I have several examples from our group where improper psi and speed had no factor in blow out of 'China bombs' that were less than 2 years old. You can't deny that manufacturers put the cheapest tires on the new rigs that are sub standard quality and it happens that most are made in China.

[windsurfdog]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

I have to disagree with this one again. I have several examples from our group where improper psi and speed had no factor in blow out of 'China bombs' that were less than 2 years old. You can't deny that manufacturers put the cheapest tires on the new rigs that are sub standard quality and it happens that most are made in China.

Did you miss the part about "Many, if not most..."? I stand by my statement that user maintenance...or, specifically, lack thereof...is a (notice "a", not "the") major cause of trailer tire failures which some like to attribute to "China bombs".

The takeaway point is this: use a TPMS, inflate tires properly and drive at or under max rated speed for the tires...no matter where they are made.

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by windsurfdog

Did you miss the part about "Many, if not most..."? I stand by my statement that user maintenance...or, specifically, lack thereof...is a (notice "a", not "the") major cause of trailer tire failures which some like to attribute to "China bombs".

The takeaway point is this: use a TPMS, inflate tires properly and drive at or under max rated speed for the tires...no matter where they are made.

Nope.. didn't miss it. Still don't agree with your implications that China bomb problems are a myth and are most likely caused by user error or misuse.

[Airdale]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

Nope.. didn't miss it. Still don't agree with your implications that China bomb problems are a myth and are most likely caused by user error or misuse.

Statistics are on wingsurfdog's side.

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by Airdale

Statistics are on wingsurfdog's side.

Where are these statistics?

[Airdale]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

Where are these statistics?

NHTSA, RIVA, RVSEF, RMA etc. etc..

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by Airdale

NHTSA, RIVA, RVSEF, RMA etc. etc..

So... No specific stats on tires made in China failing from defects vs abuse.

[windsurfdog]

Sure is a lot easier for peeps to yell "CHINA BOMBS" than admit to shoddy maintenance practices.

That said (not implicated), I would be interested to see statistics on tread separation failures on properly maintained tires. My gut feeling would be that they are more prevalent the less expensive the tire is...and we can all reasonably assume that RV manufacturers would gravitate towards lesser cost tires for OEM installations. So, I would believe the statistics would show OEM installed tires to fail at a greater rate. BUT, not at the rate the "China Bomb" theorists would have you think.

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by windsurfdog

That said (not implicated), I would be interested to see statistics on tread separation failures on properly maintained tires. My gut feeling would be that they are more prevalent the less expensive the tire is...and we can all reasonably assume that RV manufacturers would gravitate towards lesser cost tires for OEM installations. So, I would believe the statistics would show OEM installed tires to fail at a greater rate.

Thanks! MY point exactly. And where do most of these cheaper tires come from? China. Does that make me a China Bomb theorist? Guess in your eyes it does, but I will still refuse to run OEM tires from China and advise anyone who asks to do the same based on my groups experiences with 'China Bombs'.

I also feel 'most' RVers are very cognizant of their tires requirements, unlike others who feel most tire problems are caused by RVers ignorance and neglect.