Tire Question

[JRTJH]

Racing Randy,

Please go back and carefully read the OP's first post. He doesn't know how much weight is on his axles, nor does he know how much pin weight he has, nor does he know his total weight of the trailer. It's not clear if he has ever weighed his rig or if he knows what his total weight of the tow vehicle or the trailer really is. Attempting to make decisions on which tires are appropriate and/or whether the OEM wheels are "OK for upgraded tires" begins with knowing the weights of ALL of his equipment. While he could "best guess parts of it" if he's going to drive onto a CAT scale and pay the $11 for a weight, then he deserves to get his money's worth, not just a "trailer axles on the first pad ticket"..... Of course, YMMV as this is JMHO.

[CWtheMan]

The OP in this thread (jdixon980) provided pictures of his tires and the vehicle certification label. That’s the primary information any tire retailer would use to determine suitable replacements.

From the pictures, the tires are rated at 3520# @ 80 PSI. Match them up with the certified axles shown on the certification label. They provide 18% in load capacity reserves above the maximum load capacity of the axles. That’s 8% above the RVIA recommendation and surely more than adequate for that trailer.

When Keystone’s recommended hitch weight of 2165# is deducted from the 14K GVWR the 6000# axles are appropriate.

The tires in the picture are more than adequate. They are probably a little more than two years old and for long summer trips he may want to replace them. As I pointed out in post # three the 124 load index rating on the tires in the picture needs to be maintained to stay within tire industry standards for replacement tire load capacities. That rules out Endurance & Maxis and some others with load index 123.

RV trailer weight is important to insure it isn’t over weight and to balance the loads across the axles as evenly as possible.

I’ll not post in this thread again. There is nothing else to add.

[wiredgeorge]

I believe one of our combatants mentioned all steel 15" trailer tires LRF? Who makes those? Where/how would one change hubs and rims to be able to run this type tire because of the pressure. I run LRE 15" but I am pretty sure my wheels are only rated for 65 PSI (hence 80 PSI inflation pressure) but would be a little uncomfy at over 100 PSI. I have 5 lug rims now.

[cjgonzo]

For those of us who are new....is there a breakdown or Dummies doc on tire lingo and how to decipher what the tires your new RV came with can handle? It would be much appreciated. I'm not searching through a thread of religious tire arguments. If there's a real document on this somewhere I will read it!

[JRTJH]

Carol,

If you're looking for a "guide to tire markings" then every truck owner's manual does a pretty good job if explaining what the tire markings mean. If, on the other hand, you're looking for a "concise document" that answers all the questions about all the situations that happen to any trailer given the variety of tow vehicles, load configurations, use applications and the other "hundreds of variables"... Then no, I've never seen a "short one page document" that covers all the aspects of tire selection, use and maintenance.

There are literally "thousands upon thousands of pages" of regulations, best practices, suggestions, tire company recommendations and who knows what else, that cover what you're looking for. I agree, not "digging through all the "religious tire arguments" makes it easier, I don't know where you'll find that "one pager"...... If you do happen to find it, please post a link, we'd all be able to "move on to other topics" if you found a solution to all our questions.....

Good Luck finding that unicorn !!!!!

[Tireman9]

One fact that many choose to ignore, or just don't think about, is that very few RV have the axle load evenly split between axles on trailers or end to end on any one axle. SOme owners have learned that there can be upwards of 500# to over 1,000# load unbalance.



It takes more work and effort to learn the reality of YOUR RV tire loading. I and others have covered the how and where to learn the loads on each individual tire (usually not on CAT or similar truck scales).



Regulations are written based on the assumption that RVs have close to perfect weight balance but few owners will make the effort to learn the actual tire loads. Also, those sacred regulations fail to tell the owners that they can expect to need to replace at 3 to 5 years usage based on the tire DOT serial. You will see numerous complaints about tire failures but most can be traced to overload/underinflation and over-speed or other external damage. There is no "magic" rubber in tires with "ST" on the sidewall but many seem to want to believe there is.



As a tire engineer I have yet to have anyone explain why or how ST tires should be expected to perform better than any other tire of the same size on the road, yet that is what some would have you believe based on their insistence that simply because a tire company makes such a tire it must be. Where is the tire company that makes an ST tire that will offer a warranty on their ST tires comparable to what they offer on their premium P or LT tires?