Quote:
Originally Posted by racetech
Man there are a lot of opinions on tires here, its all very mind numbing. The Trailer King tires my trailer came with are 5 years old and showing signs of dry rot. Obviously I want to replace them. I have load range C on it, and was considering going with load range D but do not see a need. My trailer is around 4K loaded, load range C is fine. Also thinking of ordering Trailer King as they performed well and are a good price. I think tires are a to each their own kinda thing. Proper inflation and load rating for your weight are key in making them last. I dont wish to spend $100 a tire for the little amount of travel I actually do. I wish there were more reviews of tires here rather then opinions. Ill start by saying my trailer king tires lasted 5 years with no issues. The Carlisle tires I had on my pop up also lasted about 5 years with no issues.
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I agree with this statement.
I'm not a proponent of the "China Bomb" moniker. I think that the lightweight RV manufacturers have long installed tires with insufficient load ratings. In September 2017, the RVIA mandated that its member manufacturers install tires to provide a 110% safety factor. That is, the 2 tires installed on the axles have to be rated to handle 110% of the axle's weight rating. On my particular 5er, that resulted in the manufacturer changing from LR D tires to LR E tires. I'm hopeful that that change will result in fewer tire failures, but owners will continue to overload their trailers and under-inflate their tires causing premature failures.
I'm absolutely not saying there are no bad Chinese-made tires - I'm sure there are - but the country of manufacture isn't a guarantee of the level of quality (good or poor). Selecting a poorer quality tire combined with an improperly spec'd tire (insufficient load rating) IS a recipe for failure.
IMO, the first thing everyone should do is weigh their trailer and assess whether or not the installed tires have a sufficient load rating safety factor.
Now, the OP has 5 year old tires so they should to be replaced due to age. The most popular 15" tires on the RV forums are the Goodyear Endurance, the Maxxis M8008 and the Carlisle Radial Trail HD. The Maxxis and Carlisle have been around for quite a while and have a good reputation. The Goodyear has been available for about 2 years now and I haven't heard any negatives about them so I'd be less hesitant to buy a set now. Plus they are probably the easiest to source locally.