Carlisle HD tires ordered and arrived but...

[busterbrown]

I had Discount Tire order a set of Carlisle HD radials for my trailer and upgraded wheels. The new wheels are sized 15" x 6" and have a load capacity of 2540 lbs. I ordered load range D tires spec'd at 2540 lbs (max PSI of 65). When I arrived to have the tires mounted on the wheels, the set that DT received were load range E spec'd at 2830 lbs (max PSI of 80).

I told he I needed D range only. The salesman's reply was that I could run these load range E tires at a lower PSI of 65 and they would match the wheel capacity. Didn't really believe what he was "shoveling" into my ears so I insisted he order what I originally requested.

Besides the fact that the additional ply's would be give the tire a stiffer ride with unnecessary stress on axles, frame, suspension components, and pretty much everything above the frame rails, would it have been a great failure on my end to have bought into his argument and had the load E tires mounted instead? (I'm already upgrading from a Trailer King 14" tire with a load rating of 1760 lbs). The price per tire was higher for load E and he would have ate the difference. Just curious how you all would have responded.

[Ken / Claudia]

Myself and another member have done the same upgrade, sounds like the same tire. D to E was 6 bucks each difference. I am not worried about more stress on the trailer. I am glad I have a heaver sidewall to help with possible tire failure after hitting a pot hole or other road debris. Note here I have not towed with these tires yet. With the factory tire replacement 4 things have changed and could maybe change the stress on the trailer or towing of the trailer. Different brand tires, D to E tires, balanced wheels, 65 psi to 80 psi. Only pulling it will tell me if anything is better or worse. I set these tires up at 78psi cold. My main question to myself is will the trailer bounce more, if so should I drop the psi back to 65. My understanding is when using a ST tire at below the max psi the tire life is shorter. Opinion again, if I have a slight more bounce at 80 psi I would put up with that over having to change out tires years earlier if at 65 psi. Maybe someone who has done this same thing and towed a few hundred miles can give real advice or opinion. I plan on a 1,000 mile trip in a few months and was waiting until after that to comment on these tires until I read your post.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by Ken / Claudia

Myself and another member have done the same upgrade, sounds like the same tire. D to E was 6 bucks each difference. I am not worried about more stress on the trailer. I am glad I have a heaver sidewall to help with possible tire failure after hitting a pot hole or other road debris. Note here I have not towed with these tires yet. With the factory tire replacement 4 things have changed and could maybe change the stress on the trailer or towing of the trailer. Different brand tires, D to E tires, balanced wheels, 65 psi to 80 psi. Only pulling it will tell me if anything is better or worse. I set these tires up at 78psi cold. My main question to myself is will the trailer bounce more, if so should I drop the psi back to 65. My understanding is when using a ST tire at below the max psi the tire life is shorter. Opinion again, if I have a slight more bounce at 80 psi I would put up with that over having to change out tires years earlier if at 65 psi. Maybe someone who has done this same thing and towed a few hundred miles can give real advice or opinion. I plan on a 1,000 mile trip in a few months and was waiting until after that to comment on these tires until I read your post.

I went from D to E (Carlisle HD) on our trailer and the ride improved markedly over the D rated tires which were almost maxed out by our trailer (10k lbs). Got about 2000 on them right now and I'm very pleased. Running 80 psi now vs 65 previously.

[sourdough]

You did just fine although you could have kept the E tires and ran them at 65. When I went from LRD to LRE the heavier tire actually helped the ride all the way around (I also went from 65 to 80 psi). You wouldn't have gained anything by keeping the E tires so what you did gave you what you had originally wanted and they should be just fine.

[ncgrl1]

Originally Posted by sourdough

You did just fine although you could have kept the E tires and ran them at 65. When I went from LRD to LRE the heavier tire actually helped the ride all the way around (I also went from 65 to 80 psi). You wouldn't have gained anything by keeping the E tires so what you did gave you what you had originally wanted and they should be just fine.

I need you to help me understand how it helped the ride to go to 80 from 65. I had a 3500 truck and it would break your back with the tires at the recommended 80psi. I had to lower them to 50 to be able to take it. I'm not trying to be mean, I would just like to understand what you are saying.

[CWtheMan]

Originally Posted by ncgrl1

I need you to help me understand how it helped the ride to go to 80 from 65. I had a 3500 truck and it would break your back with the tires at the recommended 80psi. I had to lower them to 50 to be able to take it. I'm not trying to be mean, I would just like to understand what you are saying.

The fitment regulations for your truck tires is not the same as RV trailer tire fitments. Your truck tires are required to have load capacity reserves. Look on your truck's tire placard, compare the recommended inflation pressures to the inflation table for the size and do some math.

Normally Trailer tires will not provide much load capacity reserves because the fitment regulation does not require it. Trailer tires do not need to flex like automotive tires. They will last longer when inflated to the maximum allowed on the tire's sidewall. Almost all trailer manufacturers will use a recommended inflation pressure equal to the trailer's Original Equipment tire's maximum sidewall pressure.

Note: According to tire industry standards, any tire found with an inflation pressure 20% below tire placard recommendations for that tire is considered to be in a "run flat" condition and may have suffered permanent internal damages.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by ncgrl1

I need you to help me understand how it helped the ride to go to 80 from 65. I had a 3500 truck and it would break your back with the tires at the recommended 80psi. I had to lower them to 50 to be able to take it. I'm not trying to be mean, I would just like to understand what you are saying.

You're comparing apples to oranges. I increased the tire pressure on the trailer tires to 80 psi after upgrading the from LRD to LRE. With the previous tires, which were factory new but obviously overloaded, rough, undulating roads would let the trailer bounce and fly everywhere and that was induced into the truck. The 80 psi tires stopped that.....and no, it doesn't beat the trailer up. In fact, the rough highways that used to shift things around in the RV no longer do that. I hope that helped. My truck tires, rated at 80 psi are a completely different matter.

[Lic0rice]

The new wheels are sized 15" x 6" and have a load capacity of 2540 lbs.

You did the correct thing.

[CWtheMan]

Maybe the tires they wanted you to take were close to their shelf life. Did you check the date they were manufactured?

It wasn't long ago that Carlisle always recommended full sidewall pressures for all of their ST brands. Now they have improved their product and have joined other industry manufacturers that always recommend vehicle manufacturer inflation recommendations.

[busterbrown]

Originally Posted by CWtheMan

Maybe the tires they wanted you to take were close to their shelf life. Did you check the date they were manufactured?

It wasn't long ago that Carlisle always recommended full sidewall pressures for all of their ST brands. Now they have improved their product and have joined other industry manufacturers that always recommend vehicle manufacturer inflation recommendations.

DOT code was 4616, so not bad. The D rated came in today and I will be back in the morning to have them mounted.

My biggest concern was that underinflating would accelerate tire degradation. I'm going from a cheap load rated C 14" tire to a more premium load rated D 15" tire. My thinking is that I've advanced 3 levels up with safety margins, 1 for up-sizing overall tire dimensions, 1 for moving up to a LRD tire, and 1 for investing in higher quality rubber. Hopefully, this will give me 3 years of worry-free sleep.

[gearhead]

You're good. Find something else to worry over.

[Outback 325BH]

I would have kept the higher rated tires and ran them at 80.


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[sourdough]

Originally Posted by Outback 325BH

I would have kept the higher rated tires and ran them at 80.


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You would advocate someone inquiring about a good/safe way to upgrade tires to run 80 psi on a wheel rated for 65 psi?? I don't think that's good advice.

[Outback 325BH]

Originally Posted by sourdough

You would advocate someone inquiring about a good/safe way to upgrade tires to run 80 psi on a wheel rated for 65 psi?? I don't think that's good advice.

I believe I said what I would have done.

<sigh>

So much drama in these threads. LOL.


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[bsmith0404]

Just curious what wheels you got and where you got the specs on them from? All of the 15x6 wheels I have seen have a max of 80 psi. I just went through the Sendel website as well and all of their 15x6 wheels have a max of 80 psi. Where did you get the 65 psi spec for your new wheels from?

[busterbrown]

Originally Posted by bsmith0404

Just curious what wheels you got and where you got the specs on them from? All of the 15x6 wheels I have seen have a max of 80 psi. I just went through the Sendel website as well and all of their 15x6 wheels have a max of 80 psi. Where did you get the 65 psi spec for your new wheels from?

These are the wheels I purchased. They only have a load rating, not a PSI rating. My intentions are to match the wheel load rating (2540 lbs) with the tire load rating. That's why I was hesitant in ordering LRE's. Sendel's website shows T03's spec'd at this: T03-56545BM: 2150 @ 80 PSI. There is no PSI spec for 2540 lbs.

[busterbrown]

Originally Posted by Outback 325BH

I would have kept the higher rated tires and ran them at 80.


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My wheels are only rated to carry 2540 lbs each. Not that any wheel on this trailer would see over 1700 lbs, I'm weary of running a tire at 80 PSI on a wheel only capable of 2540 lbs. Is there a risk to having higher inflation pressures on a wheel only meant for LRD tires? Matching the max load on the wheel with the max load on the tire was important (at least I think it is) even though I would never have a load that high.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by busterbrown

My wheels are only rated to carry 2540 lbs each. Not that any wheel on this trailer would see over 1700 lbs, I'm weary of running a tire at 80 PSI on a wheel only capable of 2540 lbs. Is there a risk to having higher inflation pressures on a wheel only meant for LRD tires? Matching the max load on the wheel with the max load on the tire was important (at least I think it is) even though I would never have a load that high.

You're doing the right thing. All those "numbers" on all those things are there for a reason.....your safety. Happy travels!!

[bsmith0404]

To be honest, the weight ratings on the tires and wheels don't need to match, but it's good if they do. Not critical on an RV because the weights don't fluctuate much, the area it is critical is on a utility trailer. Imagine have a trailer that has tires rated for 3,000 lbs and rims rated for 2,500 which match the 5,000 lb axle. A person could look at the tires and think they could load it up to 6,000 lbs. Granted the tag on the trailer would say 5,000, but how many times are those tags gone or not readable. With an RV, we don't load them up with stuff where this would typically be a problem. The main concern is that all of the components are capable of carrying the max weight that will be placed on them.

[busterbrown]

Okay. Discount Tire has been promising me that a new stock of Carlisle tires are on order as I've been patiently waiting for nearly 3 weeks now. After no call from them, I made a courteous inquiry today to check on the status. The rep changed his story and stated the the nearly 11 month old tires he originally received from his warehouse were the newest from Carlisle and that he verified DOT dates on thsee exact tires with 2 other warehouses. My options are either to accept and purchase these 1 year old tires. Or get my deposit back and order them from another retailer like Walmart or Amazon. Pricing is the same between all three. My concern is the age of the tires. Should I gamble and order them from Walmart or Amazon? And if they are older than 6 months from either of these two sellers, should I refuse them too? I just want to get them purchased and mounted soon as other spring RV projects are presenting themselves. Opinions?