tires

[Bailes Cattle]

Forest River: Have a 2010 31 TS that came equipped with ST235/80R16 Trail Express (Power Towing). These tires came as original equipment and have 10600 miles. Currently they have 1/4 inch tread (new was 5/16) and have always been inflated at recommended pressure. The 5th Wheeler is below GVW. On the 28th of Sept I blew out the first tire 45 miles from the campground on the way home. The second tire blew 50 miles later. In my owner's book I can find warranty information on every item except the tires. I researched these tires on line and cannot find the manufacture, where they were made, or any information regarding a warranty. Can you assist me with this? Rusty Bailes,

[donn]

cheap chinese junk. Get michelins or bfgoodrich commercial ta and move on.

[Mr. Black]

I have always been told you cannot base ST trailer tire replacement on tread depth. They are not meant to wear in that respect as a passenger car tire.

10600 miles of towing is quite a bit.

That standard response is to always go get highway ribs for a huge chunk of change. If you are a full timer high miler it is the way to go. You have over 10k miles in less than 2 years so these may be for you.

I have been towing trailers for 15 years and have never had a blowout in that time using chinese made tires. (Goodyear and Greenballs) My current Greenballs are 5 years old and have over 10k miles on them. They look great and I may run them another season. They will likely get replaced by another set.

Not saying in your case it is what happened, but most tire failures (Chinese included) are from improper loading, driving too fast, or carelessness with checking tire pressures or all three combined.


So pick your poison and good luck on your decision.

[Bailes Cattle]

Sir, may be true that you can't use thread depth as a full measure of the remaining life in a tire, but that can be used in adjustment. I guess my real problem is that Forest River would use a tire, from any country, that has no benefit of being adjusted. If this was a Goodyear, Goodrich, I would take it back to the dealer and have it adjusted. My plan is to replace the tires with known brands that I can find a dealer. Still waiting for Forest River to respond, but this is wrong. The only thing I know for sure is that the tires were at proper inflation, trailer was under GVW. Now I confess that there is few times when I am holding up traffic. Good information and I appreciate your response. This year we had 31 nights in the rig. Rusty