Castle Rock tires...junk?

[54GFL]

I see that our Vibe we're taking delivery on next week has "Castle Rock" tires....which I'm guessing are the standard Chinese inexpensive ST tires. I would have gladly paid a little extra for Good Years...but, I get it. Assuming that is what comes on everyone else's Vibe...how are they holding up for you? I hear stories of brand new cheap tires coming apart at 500 miles. I know there is no way to tell, but we'll be doing about 1800 miles on this first trip, and just weighing out whether I should just have the dealer put replacement quality tires on & roll it into the financing, or just sit tight and see how these do... Curious on other's experience with these. Thanks

[pjnlorrie]

The problem with "wait and see" is the failure mode is going to be a catastrophic, explosive blowout. In the time it takes you to stop the flailing shards of what was your tire can do thousands of dollars of damage to your rig.
I understand your quandary. One does not wish to waste money, or waste resources. That said, I went with "wait and see" and the factory tires on our Vibe grenaded in under 5000 miles. We avoided major damage due to our model having outrigger axles (Model 6501 Vibe, now discontinued) which allowed me to see the tire start wobbling when the carcass/cords separated. Got off the highway and stopped just in time to be greeted with a hellish explosion. Also, if you check the weight rating on your tires (C, D, E, etc) you will find they are probably just barely adequate for the unloaded weight of the rig. Add gear, water, waste tank loads and you are over capacity. Get the Goodyears and go with the next higher weight rating.
Check out the aftermath here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

[54GFL]

Originally Posted by pjnlorrie

The problem with "wait and see" is the failure mode is going to be a catastrophic, explosive blowout. In the time it takes you to stop the flailing shards of what was your tire can do thousands of dollars of damage to your rig.
I understand your quandary. One does not wish to waste money, or waste resources. That said, I went with "wait and see" and the factory tires on our Vibe grenaded in under 5000 miles. We avoided major damage due to our model having outrigger axles (Model 6501 Vibe, now discontinued) which allowed me to see the tire start wobbling when the carcass/cords separated. Got off the highway and stopped just in time to be greeted with a hellish explosion. Also, if you check the weight rating on your tires (C, D, E, etc) you will find they are probably just barely adequate for the unloaded weight of the rig. Add gear, water, waste tank loads and you are over capacity. Get the Goodyears and go with the next higher weight rating.
Check out the aftermath here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

Thanks. Are your Goodyears US built or China built? (I guess in theory it doesn't matter if they are designed to spec, and QC is enforced in the manufacturing process (?))

[SeaDog]

You would be money ahead in investing in a good TPMS and keeping your tires properly inflated. All tires regardless of origin will fail if not maintained.

[Decon Blue]

YEP

[54GFL]

Originally Posted by SeaDog

You would be money ahead in investing in a good TPMS and keeping your tires properly inflated. All tires regardless of origin will fail if not maintained.

Yeah, I've been on the fence about this. I think yours was about the last time I needed to hear it. I just ordered a Tireminder 55C w extender from Amazon. Thanks

[pjnlorrie]

Originally Posted by 54GFL

Thanks. Are your Goodyears US built or China built? (I guess in theory it doesn't matter if they are designed to spec, and QC is enforced in the manufacturing process (?))

Made in China Goodyear Marathons. Not sure if any tires are made in the US anymore. I agree with you, not where a product is manufactured, but to what specification.
There are many great tires available and I hesitate to condemn Castle Rock or any other "off brand" tires. FR simply puts the absolute cheapest tires available on their units to reduce their costs, and based on other posts the tires are at max rated capacity for just an unloaded unit. My local tire dealer has set me up with non-brand name tires for years. These off brands are made in the same plants as the industry leaders but do not have the advertising budget factored into their price.
The stars were aligned the day we had our blowout. 1) I saw it in time to get off the interstate 2) The next exit was seconds away 3) Was able to pull into a flat, concrete parking lot 4) A Walmart, with the tires I needed in stock was only 2 miles away.
This brings up a couple of other points, when you are on the road and have a tire problem you must take what is available, and a TPMS would have been useless as the tire did not lose pressure before coming-from-together.

[Champ203]

I'm in the midst of a 7000 mile trek in our new Rockwood Mini Lite. Removed the CastleRock tires and went with Carlisle RadialTrail HD in load range D. They have run cool since we left the east coast. I seldom exceed 65 mph.

Goodyear is now producing an US made trailer tire with good reviews - Endurance.

There will be those who defend the CastleRocks - I've offered my take-offs for free (just pick them up) and there haven't been any takers - that's speaks volumes in itself....

Peace,
Don

[Bluepill]

I have Castle Rocks on my A Frame. I have about 7500 miles on them, even wear and no signs of failure in the sidewalls or tread. I run about 200 lbs. below maximum load (or 550 if I deduct the 350# tongue load) and usually cruise at 65 MPH.

Every time I stop I use a non-contact IR thermometer gun to check the tire and bearing temperatures. The side in the sun usually runs 10 degrees warmer.

[Cody_Nord]

I have castle rock tires on my 2016 Rockwood that I have put about 1000 miles on. One has tread seperation after this weekend's trip, but luckily hasn't blown yet. I am putting Goodyear endurance tires on this weekend.

[ColoradoRick]

Whether you have the best or worst tires (mine are, also, from China), I strongly recommend a good set of tire monitors.

I have the EEZTire system and they are going on 3 years old and work perfectly. There's a small display mounted on my windshield and it constantly rotates around to all four trailer tires, telling both temperature and pressure. (And you can set the alarms ranges so it will beep and alert you if it gets out of specs.) I just had to change out the tiny batteries in the sensors but that wasn't too hard. (I recommend the flow-through sensors so you can check tire pressures without removing them.)

[E.T. Voyager]

Lesson learned the hard way!!! Was trying to get at least one season out of my Castle Rock tires. Heading home Memorial weekend, I had two blowouts within 100 miles apart. First blowout was 10 miles from the campground, which I changed out with no problems, 2nd blowout (brand new spare tire, never touched the ground) happened 85 miles later. In that 85 miles, never seen one Walmart with a Tire & Lube so I could have another tire mounted just in case. Luckily I was close enough to home I had a friend come rescue me with a tire. It was 7 pm on Memorial Day so nobody was open.

[Cody_Nord]

I got my changed to Goodyear Endurance load range E, last week. I will be putting about 1000 miles on them over next six weeks. Hope they are good tires. I called Goodyear and they said I was fine running them at 65psi with the weight on my trailer. They even said I could run then down to 55psi, but i will be running them at 65psi at least in this Texas heat.

[kfd82]

I've had my camper for a year this month and have put 2000 miles on it. I've had to add air to the tires once during that time. No problems with the Castle Rock tires yet....

Actually had to add air twice. First time was when I got home from the dealership, they didnt have them filled to the pressure marked on the sticker. Second time was in May.

[Kmyrick]

I haven't put 2000 miles on my trailer I had two blow outs within 15 miles of each other which left me stranded for 2 hrs waiting on a tire since I already put my spare on I was with out a extra tire. Which I was hoping to get to a town to replace the blown out but the second one failed before I could.

[dbledan]

Originally Posted by Kmyrick

I haven't put 2000 miles on my trailer I had two blow outs within 15 miles of each other which left me stranded for 2 hrs waiting on a tire since I already put my spare on I was with out a extra tire. Which I was hoping to get to a town to replace the blown out but the second one failed before I could.

Curious what your gross weight is and what load range FR put on stock to your trailer.

I found FR put Cs and Ds on the same model, gross weight, and year for my trailer and the Cs while legal were at capacity and the Ds left room. I had the Ds and had no issues but someone with Cs was having issues here. I have nothing firm but a theory.

For the OP.
My castle rock tires have seen 10k miles in 3 yrs without issues so far. I put air in them regularly and inspect them. I do plan to upgrade to something a bit stiffer on the sidewall next year most likely. I currently attribute a higher load rating than I must have for my trailer.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Two years on mine and no issues.

[itat]

Originally Posted by Kmyrick

I haven't put 2000 miles on my trailer I had two blow outs within 15 miles of each other which left me stranded for 2 hrs waiting on a tire since I already put my spare on I was with out a extra tire. Which I was hoping to get to a town to replace the blown out but the second one failed before I could.

Unless you can confirm that your Castle Rock tires weren't overloaded because you took it to a scale to get actual weights, and you checked the air pressure that morning before getting on the road, its difficult to blame the tires. Overloading and heat are the #1 trailer tire killers.

That said, I did switch out the Castle Rock tires on my new fifth wheel because of their reputation. I had already confirmed at a scale that I wasn't overloading them and I check tire pressure every day before hitting the road. But the tread was cupped - high on the outside on both edges of the tire. I think they are all manufactured that way because I've read others saying theirs were cupped, too. While swapping the Castle Rocks for Goodyear Endurance tires (same size and load range), I could see that the Goodyear tires are much beefier than the Castle Rocks. The Goodyear tires probably weigh 1.5X what the Castle Rocks weigh, the sidewalls are much stiffer and they are rated for a higher constant speed. So I'm a lot more comfortable with the Goodyear Endurance tires installed.

BTW, Forest River started putting a higher Load Range tire on their units in about September 2017 so my 2019 model year had LR E from the factory vs the LR D tires that the 2017 model year units had. I'm sure that contributes to the poor reputation of factory tires.

[sunnman]

After spending tens of thousands of dollars on a new trailer I wasn’t about to wait for the blowout. Sure, some people get thousands of miles out of their castle rocks but too many people don’t. Why risk thousands of dollars in damage to save the few hundred bucks for good tires. We got the Goodyear’s and the handle, ride and track much better. Worth it for the piece of mind

[Artspe]

Running on Castle Rocks is like playing Russian roulette, odds are that they won’t blow up, but if they do, it’s not a good outcome.
I have tpms , check tire pressure with a gauge before starting any trip, and always inspect the tires after trips. I always figured people were having blowouts because they were careless. With less than 5000 easy miles on my castle rocks, I found one tire with the tread starting to literally disintegrate. Castle Rocks are total garbage. I now have four new U.S. made endurance tires.