Castle Rock Tires

[NMWildcat]

........

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by Iwannacamp

FWIW... nearest I know Cooper Tire does not build trailer tires

You are correct, I was confused. Cooper only makes commercial size trailer tires, but not ST. I should of put them on the LT groups list.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by rebeltown

All Chinese tires are a bad choice when you can buy American! Many times you don't have a choice but when you do, do the right thing!

Originally Posted by JohnD10

I am supposed to believe that because I read it on this here internet?

Not just on the internet but on this forum especially.

My Castle Rocks have 10,000+ miles on them, most of them just this season alone. Rather than running out and spending a bunch of money on replacement tires I just purchased a TPMS (TST-507) and let it worry about my tires. I also weighed my TT after fully loaded for a 1 month road trip and am ~1,000 less than the rated capacity for the tires and axles. Most of my driving is through states that limit vehicles with trailers in tow to the posted Truck Speed which is usually 60 mph or so (OR is 50 in many places).

All the talk about how all Chinese tires are dangerous is the same stuff left on the ground after the bulls walk through. Only thing this talk accomplishes is to get people who don't understand tires and tire maintenance to be unnecessarily scared into replacing tires that are perfectly serviceable.

More would be accomplished by stressing proper maintenance (tire pressures, regular inspections, etc) and the importance of limiting load and speed. Sure, one can put on higher load capacity tires but the limiting factor will still be the rating on the axles. Putting more "safety margin" into the tires still doesn't put any more safety margin in the axles. Point is, keep the load down to what's listed on the "Sticker" and don't guess, get weighed.

I sometimes get the feeling that all the "China Bomb" experts also believe that the Government has the Roswell Alien in storage at Area 51, there was another gunman on the grassy knoll in Dallas, and the Moon Landing was actually staged in a Hollywood sound stage.

[babock]

When you have multiple Chinese tires fail at less than 3 years, you end up not trusting them anymore.

On my boat trailer, I had 2 explode basically within 100 miles of each other. These tires way under loaded and the trailer was on jack stands during the winter.

On another trailer, all 4 Chinese Herclules tires developed huge sidewall bulges at 4 years

The Castle Rocks from my new trailer are being used by someone else.

The good thing if you really like Castle Rocks....you can find them barely used for 1/3rd the price of new. Pretty much false economy in my mind.

[wanderingbob]

my Castle Rocks have 16,000 miles on my toy hauler , no problems .
People complain if they have a problem , I am sure there are thousands of Castle Rock users out there who are happy !

[phillyg]

Originally Posted by rebeltown

All Chinese tires are a bad choice when you can buy American! Many times you don't have a choice but when you do, do the right thing!

I believe the GY Endurance is the only ST tire currently made in the US. Sort of limits ones ability to only buy American.

[itat]

Thumbs up to JohnD10, NMWilcat and TitanMike for their posts on this thread. I have no doubt there are some Chinese-manufactured ST tires that are poor quality but blanket statements that they are all bad, or anything made in the USA (or Canada in my case) is good, is just not accurate.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by phillyg

I believe the GY Endurance is the only ST tire currently made in the US. Sort of limits ones ability to only buy American.

And even if "made in USA", a good percentage of the materials used are sourced overseas. There's no such thing as a truly "American" product anymore unless it's an agricultural product you're buying direct from the farmer.

[babock]

It's really a risk tolerance issue. I am sure there are a huge percentage of CastleRocks that work fine. Depends if you want a tire that has greater reliability and willing to weigh the cost risk benefit of staying with the CRs or getting a better tire. From my personal experience, it's worth the extra cost going with a higher quality tire from the beginning. It's also a reason you see Goodyear Endurance tires as standard original equipment on more expensive trailers like Lance and RV Outdoor Products, just to name a few.

Like I said before, if you think the CastleRocks are a great tire, you can find take offs at a great price.

There are a lot of low quality, low cost parts put on these trailers to keep the cost down. At least for me, I have changed a bunch of them out including the tires.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by itat

Thumbs up to JohnD10, NMWilcat and TitanMike for their posts on this thread. I have no doubt there are some Chinese-manufactured ST tires that are poor quality but blanket statements that they are all bad, or anything made in the USA (or Canada in my case) is good, is just not accurate.

In the early 90's I was working for a tire company that decided to make all their product line "Made in USA". We were a "Private Label" company so we had to have our tires made by one of the few manufacturers that produced all their tires in the US. We settled on General Tire and every tire our dealers sold was 100% made in the USA.

Worst mistake ever. Failure rate on even our premium tires was horrendous.

One of our largest regional competitors was sourcing "his" tires from Asia and they absolutely beat our pants off for quality. Our "Made in America" program lasted about a year before we started having tires made in Korea, China, and Japan along with a few sized built by "American Manufacturers" that used their Brazilian factories to produce them.

FWIW, this was back in the 90's and a lot of changes have been made in how tires are built. From what used to be pretty much a "hand" process, has become much more automated with a lot fewer "human caused failures" (at the factory at least).

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by babock

Like I said before, if you think the CastleRocks are a great tire, you can find take offs at a great price.

I don't believe that Castle Rocks are a great tire, just an average tire. I DO NOT believe they are the huge risk everyone thinks or are being convinced they are.

They are an OE tire and just like automobiles and trucks, the replacement tires are often a lot better.

I do believe that people who suffer failures are often somewhat responsible for the failure. Sure, one can buy a much stronger tire for a lot more money but abuse (including just neglect) is usually the cause of a failure.

FWIW, my Son has 5 trailers he uses in his business. All have "Chinese" tires on them, are often overloaded, and driven at high speeds but every failure he's ever experienced started with a nail or screw in them. An issue that even the more expensive tires are vulnerable to.

[MR.M]

It won't be long until we start hearing about the good-year endurance ST blow-outs .

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by Iwannacamp

FWIW... nearest I know Cooper Tire does not build trailer tires

I was under the impression that Hercules mother company is cooper ?

[babock]

Originally Posted by MR.M

I was under the impression that Hercules mother company is cooper ?

You are correct they do. the Hercules I had that had their sidewalls bubble were made in China.

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by babock

You are correct they do. the Hercules I had that had their sidewalls bubble were made in China.

I went through a set of Hercules on my TH about 16000 miles then needed to replace had a chunk of tread about 1/2" wide and 4 " long split . glad i caught it

[babock]

Originally Posted by MR.M

I went through a set of Hercules on my TH about 16000 miles then needed to replace had a chunk of tread about 1/2" wide and 4 " long split . glad i caught it

I have one Hercules along with one of my CastleRocks on a utility trailer. That tire doesn't indicate where it's made but does have the DOT code which will tell me what manufacturing plant it was made in. Will have to look it up later.

[5picker]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

Not just on the internet but on this forum especially.

My Castle Rocks have 10,000+ miles on them, most of them just this season alone. Rather than running out and spending a bunch of money on replacement tires I just purchased a TPMS (TST-507) and let it worry about my tires. I also weighed my TT after fully loaded for a 1 month road trip and am ~1,000 less than the rated capacity for the tires and axles. Most of my driving is through states that limit vehicles with trailers in tow to the posted Truck Speed which is usually 60 mph or so (OR is 50 in many places).

All the talk about how all Chinese tires are dangerous is the same stuff left on the ground after the bulls walk through. Only thing this talk accomplishes is to get people who don't understand tires and tire maintenance to be unnecessarily scared into replacing tires that are perfectly serviceable.

More would be accomplished by stressing proper maintenance (tire pressures, regular inspections, etc) and the importance of limiting load and speed. Sure, one can put on higher load capacity tires but the limiting factor will still be the rating on the axles. Putting more "safety margin" into the tires still doesn't put any more safety margin in the axles. Point is, keep the load down to what's listed on the "Sticker" and don't guess, get weighed.

I sometimes get the feeling that all the "China Bomb" experts also believe that the Government has the Roswell Alien in storage at Area 51, there was another gunman on the grassy knoll in Dallas, and the Moon Landing was actually staged in a Hollywood sound stage.

Originally Posted by TitanMike

I don't believe that Castle Rocks are a great tire, just an average tire. I DO NOT believe they are the huge risk everyone thinks or are being convinced they are.

They are an OE tire and just like automobiles and trucks, the replacement tires are often a lot better.

I do believe that people who suffer failures are often somewhat responsible for the failure. Sure, one can buy a much stronger tire for a lot more money but abuse (including just neglect) is usually the cause of a failure.

FWIW, my Son has 5 trailers he uses in his business. All have "Chinese" tires on them, are often overloaded, and driven at high speeds but every failure he's ever experienced started with a nail or screw in them. An issue that even the more expensive tires are vulnerable to.

And then there are those of us who kept the tire pressures spot on. Installed a TPMS at day one and didn't abuse them by hitting pot holes or curbs and didn't go over the suggested 65 MPH speed rating and still had issues. I currently have 5 different trailers (not all R/Vs) so I do have some experience. I've had to replace most of the tires on those too using Carlisle HD. (before the Endurance came out)

Yes... I wanted to believe they would be OK and did everything to make that happen. I got about 6k on them and then 3 of the 4 on the ground separated at the same time. This didn't happen in Roswell, on a stage set of the moon landing or some grassy knoll. It all took place in the real world of R/Ving. If you choose not to believe me, that is your right. But it happened none the less. No BS.

I'm happy for those that have not had issues. I did not have the same experience and I've read dozens and dozens of reports on various forums with the same outcome as mine.

I now have about the same mileage on the replacement Goodyear Endurance. I'll be sure to let everyone know if I have issues with these tires as well... unless I'm killed in a Zombie Apocalypse.

[Iwannacamp]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

Not just on the internet but on this forum especially.

My Castle Rocks have 10,000+ miles on them, most of them just this season alone. Rather than running out and spending a bunch of money on replacement tires I just purchased a TPMS (TST-507) and let it worry about my tires. I also weighed my TT after fully loaded for a 1 month road trip and am ~1,000 less than the rated capacity for the tires and axles. Most of my driving is through states that limit vehicles with trailers in tow to the posted Truck Speed which is usually 60 mph or so (OR is 50 in many places).

All the talk about how all Chinese tires are dangerous is the same stuff left on the ground after the bulls walk through. Only thing this talk accomplishes is to get people who don't understand tires and tire maintenance to be unnecessarily scared into replacing tires that are perfectly serviceable.

More would be accomplished by stressing proper maintenance (tire pressures, regular inspections, etc) and the importance of limiting load and speed. Sure, one can put on higher load capacity tires but the limiting factor will still be the rating on the axles. Putting more "safety margin" into the tires still doesn't put any more safety margin in the axles. Point is, keep the load down to what's listed on the "Sticker" and don't guess, get weighed.

I sometimes get the feeling that all the "China Bomb" experts also believe that the Government has the Roswell Alien in storage at Area 51, there was another gunman on the grassy knoll in Dallas, and the Moon Landing was actually staged in a Hollywood sound stage.

Mike you are correct about the forum. It is one of the most informative and helpful things I have ever participated in... it is also one of the "scariest" things.

I worry nearly non stop about:
Awning blowing away(with O.C.'s brackets and "Claw" dillies)
Tires with TST RV507 still worry and look left and right continually
DO NOT touch the rear bumper...
Frame will crack and fall apart(springs falling off too)
Your 5th will coupler will mysteriously come aloose (Butch's closed)
Anything other than golf car batteries are a waste
Wheel bearings are crap and seals pop out instantly
Average person goes through 4-5 condenser coils
Honda and Yamaha are the only good generators
DO NOT DUMP anything anywhere(gloves are a must)

there are others, but this is all I got right now.

I do truly love this forum.

[JohnD10]

I have a new set of Hercules SP 'E' tires on my 5'ver...bought them in March, 2018.

Roughly 5000 miles on them so far...

They still look good!

[babock]

Originally Posted by 5picker

And then there are those of us who kept the tire pressures spot on. Installed a TPMS at day one and didn't abuse them by hitting pot holes or curbs and didn't go over the suggested 65 MPH speed rating and still had issues. I currently have 5 different trailers (not all R/Vs) so I do have some experience. I've had to replace most of the tires on those too using Carlisle HD. (before the Endurance came out)

Yes... I wanted to believe they would be OK and did everything to make that happen. I got about 6k on them and then 3 of the 4 on the ground separated at the same time. This didn't happen in Roswell, on a stage set of the moon landing or some grassy knoll. It all took place in the real world of R/Ving. If you choose not to believe me, that is your right. But it happened none the less. No BS.

I'm happy for those that have not had issues. I did not have the same experience and I've read dozens and dozens of reports on various forums with the same outcome as mine.

I now have about the same mileage on the replacement Goodyear Endurance. I'll be sure to let everyone know if I have issues with these tires as well... unless I'm killed in a Zombie Apocalypse.

Sounds like my experience too. I currently own 4 trailers and have similar experience although I still put the cheap chinese tires on my utility trailer.

I am actually changing out all the chinese bearings in my travel trailer with USA made Timken bearings which I just received. I am sure that will make certain people's heads explode as well!