Tire thoughts

[SMBellcamper]

We have a Cedar Creek 29 IK fifth wheel 2018. We travel only in the spring and summer months and store it in the winter. On average we do between 5-6000 km during the season. My husband is really good inspecting the tire conditions and pressures and we use a tire monitoring system when we travel but I am so fearful of a blowout. On average how long do RV tires tend to last? If we have to get new tires within the next 1 to 2 years what do people recommend in terms of manufacturers and type. Thank you

[SeaDog]

RV tires can last a long time if they are properly maintained. Usually it a problem of age and sidewall cracking not tread wear when tires get old. The rule of thumb is when a tire reaches five years old you should consider changing it out.

[lazyjj]

Consider the weight of your coach. Your post did not say what size or load range tires you have now. We purchased a new rig a year ago in January, and I took the OEM tires off in October as I did not trust them. They were load range E tires and I went to a load range F. I am currently running Hercules H 901 tires on my rig. The longest trip I have taken with them so far is a little over 1000 miles round trip. I am pleased and I have pressure monitor as well. The Goodyear Endurance tire is another good brand that I ran on my previous rig for two years with no issue. As you mentioned above, tire care is the best practice no matter what brand. Pressure checks are the most important as well as keeping the tires from being exposed to a lot of sunlight while sitting. You more than likely will get a lot of opinions and advice from the good folks on this forum about tires. Happy and safe camping to you and your family.

[tomkatb]

Good question!

Our 2018 34RE Hathaway came with G rated Westlake tires.

One blew at about 8,000 miles. Less than two years.

I had been I careful to keep them properly inflated. Even had a tire monitoring system.

When it blew there was the typical $1000 of damage.

We went with Goodyear commercial trailer tires. 614’s. Very expensive.

Do not stress too much about this. Replacing a tire on the road is not a big deal.

We had a major suspension issue last fall. $6500. Only took 24 hours to fix. We were on a two month trip.

[NJBreeze]

You probably have ST23516 tires on that trailer. The Maxxis or Goodyear tires should be good replacements.

[Freebird2020]

Be careful not to exceed 65 MPH with Westlake tires. That is their speed rating.

I switched to Goodyear G114 LHT tires rated at 75 MPH.

[NJBreeze]

Originally Posted by Freebird2020

Be careful not to exceed 65 MPH with Westlake tires. That is their speed rating.

I switched to Goodyear G114 LHT tires rated at 75 MPH.

The J Rating on the Westlake H tires is only to 62 mph. In fact these specific or actually any tires with a 62mph rating are really called "Regional Tires" which are meant for local delivery use and not overall highway use. Highway tires are rated for 75 MPH. So any of those Westlake tires rated as J really don't belong on your trailer unless you only sometime go on the highway.

I switched my J Rated Westlake tires out because of the rating but more so as they were really heating up too much and tripping the alarm on the tire pressure monitor.

Long story short these 62MPH tires don't belong on our trailers.

[Reverse_snowbird]

First, it's good to be cautious, but not fearful of a blowout. You have dual axels so you have more protection than a single axle trailer. You might remind him that if you have a blowout, you need to speed up until he gets the rig under control and can pull over. (That's counterintuitive, but putting on the brakes may cause it to go out of control.)

You need to check the load and speed rating of the tires on your rig. Rvs come with 'standard tires' and you don't know what the standards are til you check. As stated above, your travel requirement might exceed the standards as to speed and load, and that's not good. Replace them with a reputable name brand that is correct 'speed and load' rating.

When traveling, we always walked around the rig at fueling and rest stops checking for things that might have worked themselves loose and checked the tires. Tire pressure monitors are good, but a visual inspection of the tires might reveal a problem.

[wls]

Originally Posted by NJBreeze

The J Rating on the Westlake H tires is only to 62 mph. In fact these specific or actually any tires with a 62mph rating are really called "Regional Tires" which are meant for local delivery use and not overall highway use. Highway tires are rated for 75 MPH. So any of those Westlake tires rated as J really don't belong on your trailer unless you only sometime go on the highway.

I switched my J Rated Westlake tires out because of the rating but more so as they were really heating up too much and tripping the alarm on the tire pressure monitor.

Long story short these 62MPH tires don't belong on our trailers.

what about the G rated tires on my CC, 14ply. I don't go over 65mph

[Hclarkx]

Originally Posted by NJBreeze

You probably have ST23516 tires on that trailer. The Maxxis or Goodyear tires should be good replacements.

Agree!! I've had both. Both still had "live" rubber (no cracks) at five years when I retired them. I did protect them from the sun and went up a load range to have some margin. Currently Goodyear Marathon ST tires are only intermittently available (I waited five months for my current set) so grab a set before you must have them.

[Jim34RL]

Originally Posted by Freebird2020

Be careful not to exceed 65 MPH with Westlake tires. That is their speed rating.

I switched to Goodyear G114 LHT tires rated at 75 MPH.

I wish that people would research the information that they provide for other user when they post information.


Such as I had the Westlake ST235/85R/16 Load Rang G, 129/125 L tires on my 2016, 34RL Cedar Creek shipped from the factory. With a date code that was also specified on the tire. If you do a deep dive on the tire coding, you will see that the load range and speed rating are listed on ever tire that is sold in the US. The tire load and speed rating for this size tire is Load Range G or 129/125 (4080LBS/SRW configuration or 3640/DRW configuration) with a speed rating of L, which is 75MPH. See attached pic.



Not 65MPH as stated. This maybe the speed rating for other Westlake or smaller size trailer tires but not this size tire.

[Splashes3]

My Westlake "G" rated tires are also rated at 75MPH as previously stated. I may get them again when it's time - especially if the Viet Nam made Sailun S637st's are still having problems.

[tomherb]

I'm on my second set of Goodyear G-614 and I really like them. First set went 35,000 miles with not a lot of tread wear, but they got to 6 years old so I felt it was best to replace them. There was no side wall cracking or other problems. They are G rated and only come in one size but it's the size for most Cedar Creeks.

Yea, they are expensive but they might be cheaper at Discount Tire which shows them as available. I bought from Goodyear.com and had them shipped to my local Goodyear Commercial Tire store (which also had them in stock) for installation. I got a substantial discount from Goodyear as a price match based on Discount Tire's price. In fact, the discount was more than the price difference. Check the goodyear.com website for the phone number for the price match. Goodyear Commercial has the jacks and equipment to handle the install better than Discount who would have done the install in the parking lot.

Tom

[CHICKDOE]

our trailer came with goodyear G614 tires and they lasted 6 years. but at that time we did notice some tread separation starting. i did keep them inflated at 110 psi. one thing to note is that these are rated as LT tires even though goodyear lists them as trailer tires. their max load capacity is listed as 3750 lbs.

in doing some research i found several brands in the same size that are rated as ST tires. they all had a max load capacity of 4400 lbs. so i went with the hercules H901 tires as they were available at a local tire shop in town. we've had them for a year now and have towed several thousand miles and they seem to be doing just fine. i like having the extra load carrying capacity over what the goodyears provided.

[Bosnroyer]

Just completed four weeks and five thousand miles, Fl to New England with my 2021 Cedar Creek 311 RL. Before the trip I had to decide weather to change out my ONE year old original Ridgeway tires before or after the trip. You guessed it I decided to replace after the trip and as a result ended up replacing while on the road. First tire was discovered with a bubble in sidewall while camped in Laconia, NH, my tire service replaced with a Hercules tire. I was set to have four Goodyears installed on our way out, problem was tire store computer lied to them and they didn’t have in stock and couldn’t get until the next week. We decided after a through tire inspect to hit the road. Again you guessed it, three day later going down I89 outside Concord, NH another tire blew taking out fender skirt and tearing wheel well fiber. After five hours being stranded alongside freeway made it to Sullivan Tire of Bow, NH who installed new Goodyears all round. Finally made it home safe. I have installed tire pressure monitors which gave no warning of loss of pressure or high temperatures. Just another in the long list of China Bomb stories. Motto, “listen to that guy on your shoulder telling you what you should do”

[Jgf]

Looked at my tires today. Sterling tires made in Thailand load range g. Any thoughts on these?

[NJBreeze]

G is rating rating due to tire pressure. G goes up to 110 lbs so obviously a lower pressure tire of the same size would have less load. So load is both tire size which is volume and then also tire pressure.

Then there is speed rating. J is 62 mph , L is 75 mph. My J rated tires heated up like crazy even driving maybe at 63-64 mph which is my normal towing speed. Seeing that I got rid of them . I did some further research and J rated is for regional use and not highway use. That should seem obvious but I guess the engineers at Cedar Creek have broken calculators!!!

Each tire has the weight rating on it say 3700 lbs. So 4* 3700 lbs is 14,800 lbs capacity. Usually G tires are used with 7k lb axles so the tires are giving you more load then the actual axles which is a good thing. That isn't always the case on travel trailers but they usually over build so to speak with 5th wheels. F-Rated tires usually use 80 lbs of pressure. H-rated tires are usually paired with 8k lb axles.

[Homebrew]

I run my G rated tires at 90 psi . Tire looks and runs fine. Running at 110 psi can result in a rough ride creating more interior damage.
My RV came with E rated tires which always looked under inflated at full PSI.

[Jgf]

The sterling tires on my 345ik are g load and L speed. I tow at 62mph. I only have about 2000 miles on them. I think their made by the same company as Westlake tires but made in Thailand.
Have a 2000 mile trip coming up so I’ll have to make a expensive decision.

[Jgf]

Would like to hear from others still running these Sterling tires.