Goodyear Marathon tires

[Herk7769]

Trailer Tire Facts - Discount Tire

The Discount tire web site seems to imply that there are ST and LT TRAILER tires. It goes on to say that the LT designated Trailer tires should never be used on a light truck since they are not designed to handle the torque of the powertrain.

So if you thought you knew what the heck was going on this will certainly throw a monkey wrench into the discussion. Has anyone besides Discount tire even HEARD of an LT Trailer tire?

Seriously, they mean a TRAILER ONLY application LT series.
Could this be the origin of the "They put LT tires on my camper so regular truck tires must be better than ST tires."?

[MotocrossCamper]

Originally Posted by crocus

Motorcross, you stated that "I myself will never buy any tire made outside of this country". Does that mean you wouldn't buy tires made in Canada?

I don't know, I need to do some research to see if they go through the same standards as tires here do.

From everything I have read the tires that come from across the water DO NOT have to pass the same safety standards.

[acadianbob]

I think LT trailer tires might possibly exist but are defined by unique sizes that don't exist in cars or trucks? Anyway, these discussions are always a ***** storm and I can't believe the prejudice and mis-information out there. Here is what I'll say because I know it to be true. I've towed over 50 thousand miles on Carlisles and Marathons, all made in China, with nary a problem. ZERO problems. These miles were piled up on all day tows across Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montanna in 90 degree + heat; and in the mountains. IMO, most issues are due to under-inflation, over-loading, excess speed, poor trailer balancing, out-of-date tires, and road hazards. How do you know, when your tire "blows up", that it didn't run low on pressure due to a road hazard? Once it blows, the evidence is gone. Certainly there will be manufacturer defects and you may have experienced one. But I would bet that most problems are user induced and/or a road hazard.

[Emptypockets]

It has been two years since I bought tires for our dually but they defiantly were LT light truck tires. 235/75R17 LT

[donn]

Oh yea, and Bass Pro Shop are definitely experts in Tire construction.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by MotocrossCamper

I don't know, I need to do some research to see if they go through the same standards as tires here do.

From everything I have read the tires that come from across the water DO NOT have to pass the same safety standards.

Source Please.
All tires imported into this country must pass DoT established standards. That is not to say bad tires are sold. In fact due to the shipping time lag from overseas many tires sold as new are in fact months into their two warranty when they hit the store shelves. Tires made here have also been recalled when they have been determined to have manufacturing flaws in them. The Firestone debacle comes to mind.

The Carlisle C rated tires are horrible, no doubt about it. Mostly because they are rated at almost the exact load rating for a maxed out camper. There is no room for under inflation; impact damage from curb strikes; or over speed.

As stated on several threads here, ALL manufacturers sell under their own brand name tires made in other countries. The only way to tell where a particular tire was made is to look at the DoT code on the tires they are about to put on your car/truck/camper.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by donn

Oh yea, and Bass Pro Shop are definitely experts in Tire construction.

Like I stated earlier; no amount of hard data will sway the "true believer." The true believer will only accept input that proves their conclusion and ridicules input that does not.

I would love to see ANY link to an industry source that validates the LT argument. The Bass Pro Shop link was well done and had lots of good information. They were also very positive on their recommendations regarding ST rated tires and why.

My great grandfather had saying in Italian he used all the time (mostly about me) that went, "You can wash the head of a mule; but in the end it is a waste of water and soap; and upsets the mule."

So, The attachments and links are there. Use them or not. Make your own choice. I prefer to buy American (Canadian OK) when I can, just to keep as many jobs here as possible. PAX and stay safe.

[MtnGuy]

Good research and information, Lou.

Originally Posted by acadianbob

IMO, most issues are due to under-inflation, over-loading, excess speed, poor trailer balancing, out-of-date tires, and road hazards. How do you know, when your tire "blows up", that it didn't run low on pressure due to a road hazard? Once it blows, the evidence is gone. Certainly there will be manufacturer defects and you may have experienced one. But I would bet that most problems are user induced and/or a road hazard.

I agree with these statements. I am still member of the Trailmanor Forum, and there seem to be a lot more blowout (flats ??) reports there, as many members are running near or over the tire ratings on their singe axles. Many have switched from the stock 14" wheels and tires to 15" wheels and tires, so that there they can get a higher rated tire.......I did that myself with my Trailmanor after reading all of the problems. Trailmanor now offers 15" tires on the their trailers, putting more leeway between the weight of the trailer and the maximum carrying weight of the tires.

As Bob implies, I too am a believer that most "blowouts" are actually tires that have been run flat. On a spring trip, the campers in our group that were following my DD and SIL noticed the camper leaning. When convenient, they pulled out in the passing lane to check on things, and that is when the tire starting giving up pieces. A CB call to all of us, and we made a safe stop. Even though this tire was eaten up, it did not blow out......it went flat, and disintegrated because of that.

Unlike the vehicles that we drive, we cannot feel a tire going down on our towed vehicles. That is why I am a firm believer in a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) for tow-ables. In addition to monitoring tires going down the road, I can also conveniently check the tire pressures before I leave in the morning, and immediately remedy a low tire situation.

[Herk7769]

When my Carlisle C rated tire blew on the beltway around DC, the Goodyear dealer I took it to looked at all the tires and showed me the spots where dry rot cracking had already started. The tires were 1 1/2 years from manufacture and had been on the road for about 8,000 miles (and 1 year). The tires were inflated to 50 PSI which was required for the load I was carrying.

The blow out could not be isolated to poor manufacture according to the Goodyear dealer. He stated that the cracking could be because I did not use wheel covers for the two months we spent in Key West and the blow out could have been caused by a curb strike (right front camper tire) I had on the way DOWN to Florida about six months before the blowout.

He said a broken steel belt wire or wires, broken at the time of the curb strike, could take that long to work its magic on the tread belts and result in tire failure at speed. He asked me if I had EVER had a curb strike on that tire, and I had to think hard to remember that it had happened. It was minor IMO and I stopped at the first strip mall to check the tires. There appeared to be no damage and I "pressed on with pride" with no thought about the safety of the tire.

When I got back from that trip I bought four new D Rated Goodyear Marathon STs to replace the C rated Carlisles. I also have tire covers on them now.

[donn]

OK, one last question. What percentage of ST tires have problems vs LT tires on trailers?

[RhoZeta]

I agree, most blowouts are tires not to proper pressure and/or already damaged from dry rot and knucklehead owners not even looking at them.
Road hazards are a concern as well but I am sure the majority of massive failures are overloaded/underserviced tires.

I agree with Mtnguy, a TPMS system is very inexpensive compared to the damage one blown out tire can do to a TT. I am getting one for our new camper for christmas.

At the VERY least everybody should have those cheap valve stem caps that show green if the pressure is good and red if it is low, just so you can do your walkaround before each day and have an idea that at least there is air in the tires.

[RhoZeta]

Originally Posted by donn

OK, one last question. What percentage of ST tires have problems vs LT tires on trailers?

How could anybody know that in a factual way? Other than anecdotal? Maybe if you worked at a tire CSI type lab, where you could have hundreds of samples to inspect from both types, then try to determine the actual cause of the failure, be it servicing, road hazard, dryrot, etc. etc.
And then, you would have to know additional parameters, weight of TT, speed at time of failure, age of tire, if the WDH was setup correctly, if the owner loaded the trailer correctly or had a serious imbalace.

You would probably bebetter off arguing something slightly easier like, gas vs diesel, ford vs gm, should Pete Rose be in the HOF, etc. etc.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by donn

OK, one last question. What percentage of ST tires have problems vs LT tires on trailers?

No idea. When you find the reference, please post for everyone.

If you want a "made up statistic," however, several members (no names please) will be happy to help you out!

[donn]

I am glad you finally admit that there is no proof of your claims that ST tires are superior on trailers over LT tires. Now maybe you will quit telling people that ST tires are the only thing that should be used on trailers. No scientific results. But from reading the posts here and on other forums it is abundantly clear to me that ST tires have major problems across the board on trailers. I can find literally hundreds of posts about blow out experiences. Comparing that to LT tire failures on RV's is in the range of 50 to 1.
Like I said before Michelin, BF Goodrich and Hankook all have LT tires that are rated for trailer service. All of which are available nationwide. Cannot say the same for ST tires in sizes for my fiver.

[kbrown1075]

Originally Posted by donn

I am glad you finally admit that there is no proof of your claims that ST tires are superior on trailers over LT tires. Now maybe you will quit telling people that ST tires are the only thing that should be used on trailers. No scientific results. But from reading the posts here and on other forums it is abundantly clear to me that ST tires have major problems across the board on trailers. I can find literally hundreds of posts about blow out experiences. Comparing that to LT tire failures on RV's is in the range of 50 to 1.
Like I said before Michelin, BF Goodrich and Hankook all have LT tires that are rated for trailer service. All of which are available nationwide. Cannot say the same for ST tires in sizes for my fiver.

You put LTs on your trailer and I'll put STs on my trailer, and we will all go off and camp nice and friendly. Lou is providing as much factual data as possible, not opinions. If you are convinced that your statements are true so be it. Please, lets be civil. In the state of LA, the tire must state "For Trailer Use Only" on the sidewall. A tire vendor can not sell or mount a tire other than a trailer rated tire knowing it is going on a trailer. I am sure each state is different but I worry more about what my insurance company says because they are most likely to be involved if there is a major blow out. Why not check with the carrier of your insurance.

[phoneman06]

Originally Posted by donn

But from reading the posts here and on other forums it is abundantly clear to me that ST tires have major problems across the board on trailers. I can find literally hundreds of posts about blow out experiences. Comparing that to LT tire failures on RV's is in the range of 50 to 1.

I would guess that the ratio of trailers that have ST vs LT tires is 50 to 1 so you would see more posts talking about blowouts so the percentage is probably about the same. Go to a truck forum and you will find more people talking about LT blowouts than P rated tires but you can not a say a P rated tire is better.

[Herk7769]

I would like to add one final comment and I am done. I really would like to discover that a light truck tire of similar load range is "better" or even "the same as" an equivalent ST coded trailer tire. I would surely buy the LT tire since the LT tire is WAY cheaper than the ST tire from the same manufacturer.

Ever stop wonder why?

[rockwood06]

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...fety-8660.html
If you can open this it will give you some insight.

[rockwood06]

Tire Information World Home Page

And here is another..............

[Herk7769]

Michelin North America RV Videos and Demos Page

Michelin North America RV Videos and Demos Page

Michelin North America RV Reference Materials Page

http://www.goodyear.com/rv/pdf/marat...nfo_032806.pdf

Why ST tires.
Trailer Tires

Well I really have been looking and have not found a SINGLE instance where a tire manufacturer or dealer has recommended Light Truck Tires be installed on a trailer.
Motor homes; yes. Trailers (TT or 5th wheels); No. Still looking though.