Tires...I know, tired subject

[laknox]

So, coming home from our recent boondocker, I decided to stop about 40 miles in to grab some food. My habit when I stop, is to walk around and look at, and feel, all my tires and hubs. I noticed that the RR trailer tire was significantly hotter than the other three. Made me stop and look at it more closely and I saw that the tread was rounded across the tire, instead of flat. So, tread's separating, but it's a "symmetric" failure, all around the tire. Rather than risk another nearly 100 miles, I changed the tire. DOT date of 2616 on all 5 tires, so > 5 years old. Now, my rig's placarded for D tires, which really are plenty of tire for a 10.5k GVW rig, given that an 8-ply D tire is 2540 lbs capacity, so over 10k lbs total. I'd probably hold my nose and buy Endurance (not a GY fan), but they don't make them in a D range in this size, at least that I can find. I did run a couple sets of the newer Carlisles on my old Komfort, but they were E rated. I liked them and had no issues with them. Almost always run at 70 psi instead of 80. Are there any decent D rated tires out there? Usual 225/75-R15 size. Should I just save some money and go with E rated Carlisles again, since I'd probably only run them at 65 or 70 psi? Should I bite the bullet and go to 16" wheels/tires? There are just so many more options with 16".

Lyle

[laknox]

laknox wrote:
That was the =base= price. I also paid for the road hazard free replacement, especially since we're going to be traveling a lot more after DW retires at the end of the year. Add sales tax, too.

FWIW, I had a set of Cooper Discoverer ATPs on my truck. They were about 6 years old with < 30,000 miles on them. Put a screw through one a couple months back and didn't get stopped in time before it shredded. So, bought a new ATP II to replace it. FF a month, and I'm driving down the road and feel the familiar "wiggle" from a tire that's separating. Replace that tire with another ATP II, just paying ~$35 for the road hazard. FF another month and =another= tire starts "wiggling". Replace that one, again paying ~$35, though I would have paid full price for another tire, so I'd have a full set. Out of stock, so I've got 3 new tires on the truck. Heading back from Prescott, I'm on the Loop 101 in N Scottsdale and feel the vibration of the =last= tire separating. Jumped off the freeway onto surface streets and limped on home. Called Discount on the way and they have a tire coming in for me, though not sure if it'll be today or tomorrow. That's a 75% failure rate on these Coopers, which have been discontinued. Makes me wonder if it would have been a 100% failure rate had the first one survived the flat.

Been a d@mn expensive last couple of months, for sure!

Lyle

Got the last tire installed this AM. Truck sure rides smooth, even with 70/80 psi in the tires. Don't have time this week, but next week truck goes in for an alignment.

Also, I forgot to add to my "expensive couple of months" that I had to replace my coach batteries when we got to our annual boondocker site and water pump and LED lights wouldn't work at the same time. 100 mile round trip to Sam's in Flagstaff, with a side trip to Wallyworld, and $200 later, I had new batteries. Old ones were just toast; posts almost pushed out of the top and sides bulging. I =do= keep them up and check my water often, so I don't know what cause this. Only 3 years old. Duracell 6v golf cart batteries.

Lyle

[laknox]

That was the =base= price. I also paid for the road hazard free replacement, especially since we're going to be traveling a lot more after DW retires at the end of the year. Add sales tax, too.

FWIW, I had a set of Cooper Discoverer ATPs on my truck. They were about 6 years old with < 30,000 miles on them. Put a screw through one a couple months back and didn't get stopped in time before it shredded. So, bought a new ATP II to replace it. FF a month, and I'm driving down the road and feel the familiar "wiggle" from a tire that's separating. Replace that tire with another ATP II, just paying ~$35 for the road hazard. FF another month and =another= tire starts "wiggling". Replace that one, again paying ~$35, though I would have paid full price for another tire, so I'd have a full set. Out of stock, so I've got 3 new tires on the truck. Heading back from Prescott, I'm on the Loop 101 in N Scottsdale and feel the vibration of the =last= tire separating. Jumped off the freeway onto surface streets and limped on home. Called Discount on the way and they have a tire coming in for me, though not sure if it'll be today or tomorrow. That's a 75% failure rate on these Coopers, which have been discontinued. Makes me wonder if it would have been a 100% failure rate had the first one survived the flat.

Been a d@mn expensive last couple of months, for sure!

Lyle

[Cummins12V98]

laknox wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

laknox wrote:
Well, guys. Turns out that I'm going back on the road much sooner than I'd anticipated, so simply couldn't wait to find the Carlisle HDs. Discount is =out=, nationwide, per their inventory system, and they are marked "discontinued", despite Carlisle CS telling me that they were making HDs as fast as they can, just 3-4 weeks behind. I ended up going with the Endurance Es to the tune of $1,040, out the door. At least I get 9 months, no interest, to pay for them on the DT card. One thing I found interesting, is that they =refused= to air them down to 70 psi, saying that "STs are designed to run at full max pressure at all times and we don't use inflation charts for STs." I =will= air them down to 70, as there's simply no need to run 80 psi, IMO.

So, this story ends...and the payments begin. 🙂

Lyle

What size did you get? You will be more than happy with your forced choice!!!

225/75-R15. Was already paying more than I wanted to, so didn't want to spring for wheels, too.

Lyle

Unless you were to be changing to disk brakes you made the right choice.

I do have to ask why they cost so much when they advertise that tire online at $145 each, that's $580 for 4. The set of 16" "E"'s I priced out for friends was $790 out the door for 4.

I would contact them as they should honor their online price. That's what I paid plus tire disposal plus tax. They included the mount and balance.

[TxGearhead]

FYI...I saw somewhere that Carlisle was making a steel cased tire in 15".
WalMart.com had the best price when I bought Carlisle HD.

[laknox]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

laknox wrote:
Well, guys. Turns out that I'm going back on the road much sooner than I'd anticipated, so simply couldn't wait to find the Carlisle HDs. Discount is =out=, nationwide, per their inventory system, and they are marked "discontinued", despite Carlisle CS telling me that they were making HDs as fast as they can, just 3-4 weeks behind. I ended up going with the Endurance Es to the tune of $1,040, out the door. At least I get 9 months, no interest, to pay for them on the DT card. One thing I found interesting, is that they =refused= to air them down to 70 psi, saying that "STs are designed to run at full max pressure at all times and we don't use inflation charts for STs." I =will= air them down to 70, as there's simply no need to run 80 psi, IMO.

So, this story ends...and the payments begin. 🙂

Lyle

What size did you get? You will be more than happy with your forced choice!!!

225/75-R15. Was already paying more than I wanted to, so didn't want to spring for wheels, too.

Lyle

[Cummins12V98]

laknox wrote:
Well, guys. Turns out that I'm going back on the road much sooner than I'd anticipated, so simply couldn't wait to find the Carlisle HDs. Discount is =out=, nationwide, per their inventory system, and they are marked "discontinued", despite Carlisle CS telling me that they were making HDs as fast as they can, just 3-4 weeks behind. I ended up going with the Endurance Es to the tune of $1,040, out the door. At least I get 9 months, no interest, to pay for them on the DT card. One thing I found interesting, is that they =refused= to air them down to 70 psi, saying that "STs are designed to run at full max pressure at all times and we don't use inflation charts for STs." I =will= air them down to 70, as there's simply no need to run 80 psi, IMO.

So, this story ends...and the payments begin. 🙂

Lyle

What size did you get? You will be more than happy with your forced choice!!!

[laknox]

Well, guys. Turns out that I'm going back on the road much sooner than I'd anticipated, so simply couldn't wait to find the Carlisle HDs. Discount is =out=, nationwide, per their inventory system, and they are marked "discontinued", despite Carlisle CS telling me that they were making HDs as fast as they can, just 3-4 weeks behind. I ended up going with the Endurance Es to the tune of $1,040, out the door. At least I get 9 months, no interest, to pay for them on the DT card. One thing I found interesting, is that they =refused= to air them down to 70 psi, saying that "STs are designed to run at full max pressure at all times and we don't use inflation charts for STs." I =will= air them down to 70, as there's simply no need to run 80 psi, IMO.

So, this story ends...and the payments begin. 🙂

Lyle

[aruba5er]

i put on 16 wheels and disc brakes at the same time. Which was kinda good. The trucks keep getting higher and that leveled the camper out somewhat. Used a LR E tire. LT tire I dont remember and cant go look size. Had over #700 per wheel spare weight. Still blew tires. The ones I had were Uniroyal USA. No better I really think the twisting and rolling at the same time during parking screws up the cords more than anything else.

[Cummins12V98]

ENDURANCE tires simply have no non road hazard claims that can be found. Four years on the market, that's saying something.

[Cummins12V98]

cummins2014 wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Contact your Discount Tire guy and ask what tires he would run on his RV price not a factor.

That would be Saliun 🙂

On his light RV???

[laknox]

Terryallan wrote:
I would look at Maxxis. At this time they have the best reputation in the ST industry, with Endurance a close second. Best thing about both those tires is that they are rated for more than 65mph. Just in case you let it get away and go over that speed. not saying run that fast, but if you happen to. Those tires will handle it. Most other ST tires are only rated to 65 MPH. I like some cushion

I've read about a lot of issues with Maxxis the past 2-3 years and that people are going away from them. Also, they are still only rated for 65 mph, though they do say on their web site that the M8008 will handle higher speeds safely. IMO, it's just laywerese for saying that they won't warrant a tire if you admit to regularly traveling > 65 mph, despite what they say on their web site. A tire that clearly states that it has an 81 mph speed rating, to me, is a better tire, not that I'd ever attempt to tow that fast. Again, IMO, Maxxis is resting on its laurels and hasn't done anything to update/upgrade the M8008, and it's being surpassed by other companies.

Lyle

[laknox]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Contact your Discount Tire guy and ask what tires he would run on his RV price not a factor.

The last set of tires I bought for my old Komfort were Carlisles. I bought them after the Discount manager said that he, and most of the people working there, were running them. Yeah, I know they're probably getting a discount, but if they weren't at least half-way decent, most wouldn't run them. If only Sailun would step up and make tires for the 15" crowd... 🙂

Lyle

[time2roll]

The Endurance or Radial Trail HD are fine. Get E rated. Run 75-80 psi cold and travel with confidence.
I am partial to GY.

[JIMNLIN]

I run 16" LT E on my rv and non rv trailers with 5.2k/6.0k axles that have 6 lug hubs.
On my heavier non rv trailers with 7k axles I use the 16" S637 Sailuns G tires.

The only ST tires on my trailers are the ST235/80-16 E Providers on my favorite 10k gvwr 20' car hauler. The first set ran for 32k-33k miles actual miles and nine years before selling them to a neighbor for his hay rake. Two years now on the same size/load range Providers. I cruise 75 mph (legal speed limit) with my 2500 Dodge/Cummins pulling the same trailer/tractor to job sites sometime 175 miles away.

I became aware of the new gen high speed rating ST E and G Providers in '10 when several haulers forums reported them as OEM on new commercial trailers. I'm sold.