Galaxy Road Rider Tires

[MDRVers]

Just went and looked at our new 2013 Syndey 331 FRK 5th wheel which we are picking up this weekend. I wanted to see what tires it had and found it has the China made Galaxy ST235 80R16 (E rated) tires. First of all, coming from China that is my first alarm and I also found some posts where they are speed rated at 50 mph which is a bigger alarm. But, I found conflicting info on the speed rating. Does anyone have an opinion or experience with these? Any suggestions for replacements if these are risky?

Thanks all!

Fayne

[Festus2]

Fayne -

If you look on the sidewall of the tire, you might find the speed rating beside the tire's load index. Either one or both of these numbers may not be there as they are not required by law. Have you tried going to the Galaxy Tire website to see if you can find any information there about that specific tire? The rating may be given as a letter which would correspond to speed rating.

There has been an ongoing debate not only on this forum but also on every other RV forum about Chinese tires. You will get varying opinions from everybody on here. Some, upon learning that they have Chinese tires, immediately swap them out for a domestic brand. Some will leave them on and when they show signs of wear or after 1 or 2 years, will remove and replace them. Finally, others will leave them on since they have had no issues with them after 3, 4 or 5 years of use.

Chinese tires do have a bad reputation but I'm not totally convinced that it is well-founded and I've yet to see any evidence backed up by research and testing that proves that they are unsafe or significantly inferior.

I am not suggesting or encouraging another debate about the pros and cons of Chinese tires. There has been more than enough discussion about this topic and if you are looking for advice, you will get plenty of it!

We have also discussed at great lengths replacements for Chinese tires. I would suggest that you spend some time doing a forum search of this topic and if you cannot find any answers about replacements from that search, we'll be glad to help you out.

[CWtheMan]

Originally Posted by MDRVers

Just went and looked at our new 2013 Syndey 331 FRK 5th wheel which we are picking up this weekend. I wanted to see what tires it had and found it has the China made Galaxy ST235 80R16 (E rated) tires. First of all, coming from China that is my first alarm and I also found some posts where they are speed rated at 50 mph which is a bigger alarm. But, I found conflicting info on the speed rating. Does anyone have an opinion or experience with these? Any suggestions for replacements if these are risky?

Thanks all!

Fayne

According to the specs for your particular trailer, Keystone has gone to over kill with your tires and provided you with a total of 3680# load capacity reserves above total GAWR. I'd air them to 80 psi and enjoy my traveling if I were you.

CW

[MDRVers]

Thanks! I looked for the Galaxy website but didn't see it after a Google search but I'll keep looking. I'll check the tire for it's speed rating and thanks for the replies!

Happy camping/RV'ing!

Fayne

[CWtheMan]

On the side of one of your tires find the DOT ID code. It begins with the letters "DOT" and indicates that the tire meets all federal standards. The next two numbers or letters are the plant code where it was manufactured. Take those two letters/numbers and find them in the reference below. It will tell you where the tire was made and who the real manufacturer is. You can then copy and paste the manufacturers name into a search engine such as Google and come up with an actual address where an email address can be found. Email them and give them the particulars abut your tires and ask them about such things as speed ratings or whatever you want to know.


http://www.harriger.com/tires.htm

Good Luck.

CW