Tire Question

[travelin texans]

Had a buddy try the GY warranty due to a blowout with rv damages. He found out that he must retrieve as much of the tire carcass & tread to return to GY at which time they'd test the remains then determine if it was a manufacturer defect or user error then would consider what/how much they would cover.
From my experience on my last 5th wheel that came with G rated GY 614s, after 6 years of fulltime travel replacement was necessary, I chose to upgrade to Sailun 17.5" H rated with new aluminum wheels for less than the cost of repacing 3 of the original GY 614s alone. The original GYs were good tires, but in my opinion & my budget GYs were/are not worth twice as much as other equal quality reputable tire brands.

[wrvond]

Originally Posted by sourdough

<snip> When did your Carlise explode and what were the circumstances? A spare, under a dark tire cover...how old?

Sorry, it's been a couple years so I don't remember things like age of the tires and such. What I do remember is it was a spare on the boat trailer. The same day the spare tire hanging on the bumper of my TT exploded as well. Neither tire had been used.
The TT spare was covered, the boat trailer tire was not. It wasn't exposed to direct sun though.

Less than 10 years ago Carlisle had a pretty poor reputation as I recall. But the reality is there is no ST tire manufacturer that hasn't had a turn in the barrel.

Over the years I've owned a class 'A', three travel trailers and two fifth wheels. I've towed innumerable RV's from Indiana to as far as California, Texas and Florida. Yet I never experienced a single blowout. I've picked up new campers with flat tires caused by screws from the factory floor, but no blowouts.
Maybe I'm getting old, maybe I read too much, I don't know why I've gotten so concerned about tires.
I think I just need to quit worrying and go camping.

[JRTJH]

The Goodyear Marathon recalls in 1995-1996 was enough to steer me away from GY tires and the frustration I got then was enough that I still won't buy a GY product. I had 2 blowouts on my HR Alumalite with Marathon tires. They recalled them about 6 months later. All 5 were replaced with "new, improved GY Marathons. Towing home from the GY dealership (about 20 miles) I had another blowout. Towed back to the dealership, they replaced that tire, left the "new spare" on the ground and that one blew on the way home.

I returned to the dealership, refused any more GY Marathons, they replaced all 5 with Maxxis (the GY dealer said they were the "Michelin's of trailer tires". I never had another blowout on that trailer and towed it to Las Vegas 2 times on the Maxxis tires.

So, pardon my reluctance to accept the new Endurance line without any concern. If someone likes the brand, wants to buy them, feels they're a good investment, go for it. Me, I'll stick with Carlisle Radial Trail HD. I believe it's 6 sets now without a problelm....

Oh, and all those blowouts with GY Marathon's on the Alumalite, GY never paid a dime for any of the damages, never replaced a tire in the original events, but "fortunately" they did replace those with less than 20 miles and 1 hour on them.... I say "fortunately" because had they refused to replace them, there would have been a "nuclear explosion" in Alexandrial Louisiana back in 1996.....

It takes a long, LONG time to get rid of the "bitter taste" once something like that happens to you.

[wrvond]

I can see that.

[flybouy]

I had a similar experience with the GY Marathons on a previous camper. We were in VA when ours began prematurely expiring. I went to a Northern Tool and bought 4 tires mounted on steel rims for less than the cost of the Marathons. They were Tow something brand and were trash within a year. Went back to the GY thinking I must have done something wrong, no TPMS back then. Sold the trailer to my Godson and told him if anything failed state insp I would cover the cost. Well, one tire had blisters on the sidewall that was inner facing. Insp station broke down the other tires and they had blisters INSIDE the tires.

Current trailer, on second set of Carlisle tires after 6 years on the first set. For my wallet it's a no Brainerd. ymmv

[CaptnJohn]

4 new tires and when you go to use the spare find it only gets you 5 miles down the road, boom.
When replacing tires I replace all 5

[CWtheMan]

Your trailer’s tire warranty

A very high percentage of information found in vehicle owner’s manuals is mandated to be there by NHTSA.

RV trailer builders are required to identify all OEM providers for the OE tires on their trailers. On page 19 of the following document, you can find the current providers of OEM tires found on new Keystone trailers. Their name and phone numbers are provided. Using the manufacturer of the provided equipment should produce the best answers.


https://keystone-rv-dealer-app.cdn.p...2+10-27-21.pdf

[Kzneft]

Just swapped my oem tires for 4 Sailun tires. ST235/80R16. These are definitely heavy duty. 14ply. Good strong tires. Cost me around $600 for four of them at Big O Tires. Will probably be buying these for all my future trailer tires!

[rlh1957]

You’ll find no love on here for Trailer King or the Manufacturers that insist on continuing to use TK.
Trailer King “is” a China Bomb and should be replaced as soon as they are discovered no matter how new or how few miles on them.

[gearhead]

John your Goodyear experience sounds like my Firestone experience back in 1974 when they put the TPC? on Oldsmobiles as OEM. Only thing that saved us was a family friend owned a Firestone store.
I won' t buy Goodyears either. Don't know why except my perception of them is that they are junk.

[sourdough]

Ahh, Firestone experiences. I've had a few but my first that put me in the "never do that again" group started in 1989. Brand new Cougar XR7; going to take the family (4 of us) to San Antonio for an outing and go to Seaworld. By the time I arrived in San Antonio the car was driving squirrely so took it to a tire shop - 2 of the tires tread had separated (721s?). Not made of money I had them put 2 new Firestones on there. Made the trip and returned to TX. A couple of weeks later decided to go to the mountains in SE NM. Car started driving erratic and stopped in a town 70 miles from me....another separated tread. On the way back another one. I felt like I was snake bit and afraid to even go down the road. Got back home and replaced them all with Goodyear?, Bridgestone?? Can't remember but I hate those tires to this day. All the tires were replaced and that car had about 2500 miles on it.

Sorry, not a China Bomb story (I have one ) just jogged a "Firestone" memory.

[Ed Beard]

I just bought 5 Carlisle tires from Discount Tires. If I get four out of them I’ll be happy. Thanks for help. We have only had this camper for 3 weeks.

[Tireman9]

While this suggestion is not a guarantee I believe it might help some people avoid tire problems on their RV trailer.
Read the material list molded on the tire sidewall. You will see the actual number of "ply" or layers of different material. Sidewall will probably be 1 layer of Polyester.
The more important info is on the tread. 2 layer of steel + 1 layer of Polyester (same as in the sidewall) PLUS 1 or 2 layer of Nylon. The Nylon will help address the Interply Shear forces placed on the belts in trailer application.
If it were me, I would ALWAYS select tires with Nylon cap ply in the tread over a tire with no Nylon but only the body ply + 2 layer of steel.

[lcarver02]

Originally Posted by Ed Beard

I know there's a lot of information out there. I've reading some of the forums about them. My Cougar currently has three Trailer King tires and one china bomb on it. I was putting down some concrete blocks Saturday for it to sit on. We heard a loud boom, one of the TK tires popped just sitting there, so I have my spare on it now. I've been reading that the Carlisle Radial Trail and the GY Endurance are both suppose to be good. The Carlisle's are a little cheaper. Would you guys recommend one over the other? The size I have now are ST225/75R15 E. I'm most likely getting them from Discount Tire, five new one's. I don't want to have to trust the current tires for even a spare.

Thanks for the input.

Some advice from a person who experienced a real China Bomb blow out with damage to trailer and nearly a life ending accident. You have four China Bombs (DANGER) given what you wrote about the tires you have and have replaced. Please get rid of all four of these bombs. You can get some Goodyear Endurance tires, made in USA, for a very good price at Discount Tire or other places. Your life may depend on it, and that is no exaggeration. I put on Goodyear Endurance tires ST225/75R15 E Load rating, pressure at 80 PSI, on all four trailer wheels, and they are great, going on two years now and expect two more. Even wear, no loss of pressure, no budging or blow out trouble. Well worth the extra $20 and support your countries economy. I check and rotate them every 5,000 along with my Truck Michelin LTX Load E tires. They are amazing tires too. You could put Truck Michelins on your trailer, they are made to strict specifications and are a much higher quality. You will spend about $360 more.