I'm of the opinion that my useage of a trailer is about average, and therefore, I can go ahead and buy average tires and do fine.

That means I don't stress myself out abut country of origin, and I use the size and type that my trailer was specced with from the factory, which means ST tires in my case.

I do try to keep an eye on the sidewall degradation, and when I'm pulling, I look at my tires as part of my walk-around at every stop.

With a wife and kids, I have enough stress in my life without making tires into some kind of drama.

 

Most that are against the LT tire always bring up the "flex" and "twist" that ST's are designed for and the LT is not. My answer is always, are LT tires used on the steering axles of light trucks? Do you think there is flex and twist involved with steering a 4-5K lb truck?

 

I do NOT want my 5ers tires to twist and flex. In reality, how many miles do you have that phenomenon? If you have a twist/flex motion, that so called larger steel wire and polyester cord(does it really exist) is going to fatigue fail with the expected damage. Who puts a spec on those Chinese (usually) made tires? Who ensures that some sort of spec is even followed - for sure not the NHTSA, But my truck tires have a very strict build spec and that spec even has a huge safety factor. Can you tell me that an $88, 34 pound ST tire is better then a 50 pound LT costing well over $125? That video - wow does that have some real poor info - such as he can collapse an LT tire while he can't do that to an ST. I just plunked my 200 pounds on a Firestone HT that was just taken off my truck about 4 hours ago. Demounted so no air and it barely flexed. I did that when I put LTs, replacing Tow Max STs on our 5er and proceeded to pick my butt off the ground after it completely 'squashed'.

ST tires - if you want to seldom haul your camper, by all means, use those China Bombs. If you want to travel lots of miles with those STs, then use caution, maintain the sidewall max and never exceed the rated 65mph(yes, a couple are rated for 75mph) and replace them in 3-4 years.

If a domestic manufacturer decides to go back to making good, safe tires, I might have a change of heart but not yet

 

Here is what I would like to see. I would like to see an impartial authority conduct a genuine research study comparing STs and LTs under the same conditions. And, from where I sit, I am seeing more and more new models rolling on LTs. I'll try to start documenting that, if I can remember to do it. Just saying, conventional wisdom is not always wise.

Steve

 

What kind of truck weighs 4-5K?

A Ranger? B300? Courier? Tacoma?



Yes, and I think a shorter wheelbase of say 30' between tires/axles puts even more "flex and twist" on tires than a wheelbase of 120".

Also, the tire on a steering axle turns into the corner...I have yet to see a steering axle on a tandem axle trailer.

 

I have a 35' gn flatbed with triple torsion axels that came with lt uniroyal tires.

The tread looks like crap from the gravel roads it traverses, but they have held up awesomely after 5 years of farm abuse.

The beads on a lt tire is far more substantial that a st tire. It's not even close.

When I used to change tires, I could seat trailer tires on a rim with almost a third of the psi to seat a lt tire.

 

Khumo makes a trailer specific tire for 14" rims in D rating compared to everyone elses C rated. Put a set on our mastercraft boat trailer a few years ago and very happy with them. Check out the RV forums as to what brands to avoid. Marathons, carlisle, and a few others were pure junk a few years ago when they switched to offshore chinese mfg. I bought a set of towmax for our RV when the 3 year old carlisle delaminated on a trip as that was the only tire brand i could get in the local town. They are very flimsy and already had one delaminate this year. Going to throw some khumos on the trailer before we do anymore summer trips

 

I upgraded my 14" tires to Kumho "D" rated with steel valve stems on my single axle 2619 TrailManor and when my tires get old on my Tracer Air 250 tandem I will also use "D" rated tires.

 

Man I'll have to check out those khumo d rated tires. I have the same issue with my boat trailer...a bit too much boat and trailer for the trailer tires on it.

I can't find a lt tire small enough to fit in the fenders and the current 14s c rated tires dont have enough margin such that I don't dare travel with the bait or live wells full of water.

 

As this discussion continues, does anyone know of a comparison test or source that actually demonstrates ST tires are better at doing what they are supposed to do. All I can find are folks parroting the same statements, but nothing demonstrating what they say is true. Are the ST tires addressing a theoretical or real world issue? :?

Steve

 

What I "think" is happening Steve is it seems that most (if not all) ST's are now China made and are getting very bad reviews. So the American way is to escalate it to that must mean that ALL ST tires are "China Bombs".

 

I'm not sure. The thing I most wonder about it whether the issues STs were supposedly designed to address were ever real world issue. I understand the stiffer sidewall issue in theory, but how much does the average RV owner actually "jack" there towable when that would be an issue. I very seldom jack mine and I know the standing recommendation has been to only do so when absolutely necessary given the stress it puts on the suspension and frame (I worked on one where an inside wall broke free when a long travel trailer was severely jacked on a grade).

It seems like we have so many discussions where the same things get said over and over in the absence of any valid reliable information. Probably just me, but it would be nice if once in a while someone could post a source that can document what they are saying. I don't mean the FTE folks, I mean the talking heads on the Internet!

It is hard to ignore the fact that the RV industry seems to be moving to LTs. Should they? I don't know. I doubt they do either. Perhaps just reacting to consumer demand.

Steve

 

I have been running Maxxis trailer tires on four different trailers for the past five years. I have been very happy with the tires and have had no problems. I also subscribe to this blog and find it to be very informative. RV Tire Safety
The writer is a tire design engineer and does failure analysis of tires.

 

The article addressing reserve load is something I learned after my first tire failure. The reserve load for the OEM tires was not even 10% above what I was carrying. The tires were rated only a couple of hundred pounds above the manufacturers dry weight plus cargo capacity. I was pretty close to that. I installed new tires with an increased load rating that now gives me close to 20%. The manufacturers are really doing folks a big disfavor on some of the models by using marginal tires. I think the failures due to this contribute to the poor reputation of some tires.

 

Put me in the LT column.

I will never use an ST tire, again. Not after my experience with them.

Wheel Upgrade ? Silver Travel

Why I Replaced our ST Tires with LT ? Silver Travel

Have somewhere north of 22,000 miles on Michelin LTX's that I installed in April 2012. No problems whatsoever.