Trailer King Tire Woes

[bgrhrdt]

Back in early 2020, we were returning home to Texas from Quartzsite and I stopped off somewhere in Arizona because I noticed that 3 of the stock Trailer King tires were rounded at the tread, rather than flat tread on the road. The tire shop said I needed to change them out because they had separated and I probably wouldn't make it home. So I immediately replaced them with Goodyear Endurance tires.

Fast forward to today - different Keystone trailer, but again with stock Trailer King tires only 1 1/2 years old. We're leaving Sunday morning for a short trip and I was checking my air pressure. One tire was 5 lbs lower than the others, which was unusual, so I topped it off, and then noticed the tire tread was bulging out and the tire was rounded just like the other set back in 2020.

Luckily I was able to find a Discount Tire near my home who had four Goodyear Endurance tires and I changed them all out. (The spare had already been replaced with a different brand - I'll worry myself about that later).

While I was at it, I had them install metal valve stems so I could keep my options open for a future (soon) TPMS purchase.

This is just FYI if you have Trailer King tires. Believe folks when they say to change them out immediately. They're junk! Shame on Keystone for taking the cheap route with something as important as tires.

[sourdough]

Thanks for posting. This is a recurring story; far too often. I'm glad you found them prior to your departure. And yes, if you have TKs on your trailer they need to come off right away...don't take "one more trip" on them, chances are one or more will leave you high and dry. I'm in the btdt group that got to repair 7k in damages so I could "learn".

[sierraman68]

I had a Trailer King blow out on my 2020 25RES with only 6,000 miles on the tires. I put on the spare and then drove directly to the closest Discount Tire and put on four Goodyear Endurance. The thing is, I knew that I should have changed out the Trailer Kings when I bought the rig but was stupid enough to think that I could get one season out of them them and change them out the next spring.....bad decision. I was extremely lucky in that I didn't have any damage to the rig.

Terry

[NH_Bulldog]

From a bit different perspective; I had almost 30,000 miles on my Trailer Kings with no issues. They still had decent enough tread but I replaced them due to the date codes getting old (I switched to GY Endurance and they are great).

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

From a bit different perspective; I had almost 30,000 miles on my Trailer Kings with no issues. They still had decent enough tread but I replaced them due to the date codes getting old (I switched to GY Endurance and they are great).

On the flip side, they would surely make at least ONE set that didn't explode I'm thinking!!

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

From a bit different perspective; I had almost 30,000 miles on my Trailer Kings with no issues. They still had decent enough tread but I replaced them due to the date codes getting old (I switched to GY Endurance and they are great).

You should have bought a lottery ticket while your luck was running that good.

[bobbecky]

I’m thinking the Trailer Kings are really only good to transport the rigs to the dealers so the buyers can put on a good tire to replace them. Way too many stories of serious damage from these tires. Our rig originally came with the Chinese Goodyear Marathons that had the same stories as the Trailer Kings, and had five of them separate on the treads.

[jasin1]

trailer king tires and oem rv mattresses are made in the the same factory as far as i can tell

[NH_Bulldog]

I think a lot of factors play into any tire’s reliability. For someone who may only do a few short weekend trips a year they are probably okay for awhile. But if someone intends to put any real miles on the tires, definitely consider immediate replacement.

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

I think a lot of factors play into any tire’s reliability. For someone who may only do a few short weekend trips a year they are probably okay for awhile. But if someone intends to put any real miles on the tires, definitely consider immediate replacement.

From reading about TK tires experiences on here & other forums the short trip from the rv dealer to the nearest tire shop is most likely too far for TK tires, 6000 miles in a year would be pushing your luck pretty hard. They're blowing up on the spare racks never having been on the ground.
The best advice with TK tires is if you have them they should've been replaced yesterday!

[wiredgeorge]

Every time TK is mentioned in a forum topic, it goes on for endless pages and the experts enlighten and the naysayers will say the same things; mostly bad because of all the bad experiences with that tire brand. Why folks continue to drop their negative experiences might serve as a warning and for those who think TKs are acceptable, bless you and be safe.

[JRTJH]

Putting it in a different perspective:

Imagine buying a case of 24 cans of pork and beans... Open the first 12 and they're all rotten. Open the next 10 and they're rotten too... That leaves 2 cans left in the case...

Would you open one to feed to your best friend? How about opening the last one to feed to your toddler? No, I wouldn't either......

Same with TK tires. There's a MASSIVE amount of complaints about them and there's an "occasional report of no problems all summer long"....

Trust them for your best friend? your toddler?

to me, that's like playing with fire (without a marshmallow)

YMMV

[markcee]

Read elsewhere that the '23 'half-tons' are shipping with GY Endurance tires. Guessing this will apply to other model lines as well.

Perhaps Keystone feels the need to keep up with Grand Design.

[bgrhrdt]

Originally Posted by markcee

Read elsewhere that the '23 'half-tons' are shipping with GY Endurance tires. Guessing this will apply to other model lines as well.

Perhaps Keystone feels the need to keep up with Grand Design.

That's definitely great news!

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

Putting it in a different perspective:

Imagine buying a case of 24 cans of pork and beans... Open the first 12 and they're all rotten. Open the next 10 and they're rotten too... That leaves 2 cans left in the case...

Would you open one to feed to your best friend? How about opening the last one to feed to your toddler? No, I wouldn't either......

Same with TK tires. There's a MASSIVE amount of complaints about them and there's an "occasional report of no problems all summer long"....

Trust them for your best friend? your toddler?

to me, that's like playing with fire (without a marshmallow)

YMMV

Yup, to me it's like Russian Roulette. Put one bullet in, spin the cylinder and test your luck. Depending on the revolver you'll have a one in six or one in five chance of landing with that round under the hammer. So to quote Dirty Hary "So do you feel lucky...?"

[bgrhrdt]

Originally Posted by flybouy

Yup, to me it's like Russian Roulette. Put one bullet in, spin the cylinder and test your luck. Depending on the revolver you'll have a one in six or one in five chance of landing with that round under the hammer. So to quote Dirty Hary "So do you feel lucky...?"

Hell, those are better odds than the TKs

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by bgrhrdt

Hell, those are better odds than the TKs

Yep, according to reports on the forum, odds are just reversed from "russian roulette"... instead of 1:6 or 1:5 it is closer to 6:1 or 5:1....

To me, it's not "lottery ticket buying odds".... or, if your luck is like mine, you already know every lottery ticket is going to be a "donation to whoever might win".....

Speaking of lottery tickets, (or a bottles of beer), one of these days, I'm going to buy a handfull of lottery tickets and just tear them in half and toss it in the trash without seeing if it's a winner (I never win, so why waste time checking) and I'm sooner or later, going to buy a 6 pack of beer and take it straight to the toilet and just pour them all down the drain, saving the "middle man processing" that keeps me on the path from the campfire to the outhouse most of the night anyway.....

Yeah buddy, TK's what a venture !!!!!

As for "luck with lottery tickets or retaining beer"... Well, YMMV, but.....

[CWtheMan]

NOTE


According to tire industry standards (replacement tires must provide a load capacity equal to or greater than what the OE tires provided), the GY Endurance, ST235/80R16 LRE tires (max load 3420#) do not qualify as a replacements for TK RST, ST235/80R16 LRE tires (max load 3520#).

[Alpine Custom Upgrade]

Originally Posted by CWtheMan

NOTE


According to tire industry standards (replacement tires must provide a load capacity equal to or greater than what the OE tires provided), the GY Endurance, ST235/80R16 LRE tires (max load 3420#) do not qualify as a replacements for TK RST, ST235/80R16 LRE tires (max load 3520#).

To me, the "tire industry standard" sounds like it is more speaking towards a tire holding up x number of pounds without failing instantly. I highly doubt that those same industry standards speak to the tire longevity. Also to me, my experience has been that if one brand of tire of X capacity fails repeatedly but a different brand of tire with slightly less capacity lasts and lasts with very few failures then the "Tire Industry Standards" don't really mean a whole lot in the real world. I own about 7 trailers everywhere from 16' utility trailers to 20' triple axle dump trailers and in EVERY case those China tires with their industry standards ballooned and blew out in short order. Replaced ALL of my tires with Michelins and my tire problems went to zero. Just my humble opinion about my personal experience with tires.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

Speaking of lottery tickets, (or a bottles of beer), one of these days, I'm going to buy a handfull of lottery tickets and just tear them in half and toss it in the trash without seeing if it's a winner (I never win, so why waste time checking) and I'm sooner or later, going to buy a 6 pack of beer and take it straight to the toilet and just pour them all down the drain, saving the "middle man processing" that keeps me on the path from the campfire to the outhouse most of the night anyway.....

Yeah buddy, TK's what a venture !!!!!

As for "luck with lottery tickets or retaining beer"... Well, YMMV, but.....

Holy cow John!! Yes TKs are bad but don't go off the deep end!! I don't win at gambling either so tearing up lottery tickets would be fine for me but pour a 6 pack down the drain?? Say it ain't so! That would be so......terrible.