Trailer King Tires

[gary31]

What is the forum feeling about these tires. This what My Keystone came equipped with and I have 2 years and probably 3k miles on them.

[JRTJH]

You are living on "borrowed time" with Trailer King tires. Many here have experienced a blow out resulting in heavy damage to their RV (more than $5000) and many others have been fortunate enough to "not have damage" but have identified significant tire failure upon removing the tires. I'm in the second group. Attached are pictures of my Trailer King tires that were only 30 months old when I removed them. As you can see, there is tread separation that would have resulted in a blowout had I continued to use them. The separation is not visible when the tires are "on the wheel" and that leads to a false sense of "all is good" which is totally incorrect.

I'd urge you to exchange the tires for a better, more reliable brand as soon as you can afford to, and in the mean time I'd urge you to be sure you can afford the insurance deductible for your trailer's collision coverage, you may find that you're paying that (plus the cost of new tires) if your Trailer King tires perform as many members have experienced.

[ChuckS]

JRTJH has offered one of the best pieces of advice on tires! The naysayers can procrastinate and continue to run Trailer King, Towmax, and quite frankly any E rated tire on a fifth wheel.. The simple fact folks is you are in borrowed time. 10 ply tires on a fifth wheel weighting over 12K is an accident just waiting to happen.
Upgrade to a nice G614, perhaps a Saliun, or in my case a Les Schwab 14 ply G rated tire and all metal valve stems.

Inflate to 110 psi cold and run no more than 65 mph. Tires will last many years. And of course, before upgrading take the time to educate yourself and find out what the max air pressure rating is stamped on back of the wheel. If not 110 psi then you must upgrade the wheels.

I'd rather spend a few bucks and have a peace of mind then be sitting out in the middle of nowhere with a blown tire and damaged fifth wheel.




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[Desert185]

To put it succinctly, get rid of them before they get rid of money in your wallet.

Do a forum search on tires. Can't go wrong with Carlisle or Maxxis or a Sailun on a heavy fiver from Discount Tire.

[gary31]

Thanks All.... I will get started looking into a new set of tires..

[xrated]

I towed my new Impact 303 home from the dealer last fall (trailer empty weight 9K) and promptly parked it till I purchased a set of four Maxxis 8008 tires to put on it. I had read way too many horror stories about the "China Bomb" tires that are rolling time bombs. BTW, I also added a good TPMS System after the new tires were installed

[CWtheMan]

Originally Posted by gary31

What is the forum feeling about these tires. This what My Keystone came equipped with and I have 2 years and probably 3k miles on them.

Unlike many Keystone RV trailer owners your tires are providing more than 17% in load capacity reserves with a fully loaded trailer. With proper care and maintenance (especially inflation pressures) their drop dead date would be 3-5 years from date of manufacturer listed on their sidewalls.

[CWtheMan]

Originally Posted by xrated

I towed my new Impact 303 home from the dealer last fall (trailer empty weight 9K) and promptly parked it till I purchased a set of four Maxxis 8008 tires to put on it. I had read way too many horror stories about the "China Bomb" tires that are rolling time bombs. BTW, I also added a good TPMS System after the new tires were installed

And in doing so you lost 100# of load capacity per tire with the Maxxis brand. Almost entirely on anecdotal information.

Also, Maxxis are 65 MPH tires. There are only two ways Maxxis can increase the MPH rating. With approval from the vehicle manufacturer at the time of fitment or by putting a speed letter or actual speed limit on the side of the tire at manufacture time.

Sure, Maxxis can do as Goodyear did with the Marathons. Problem is, tire manufacturers do not set fitment regulations. The vehicle manufacturer must inform NHTSA when deviations from normal procedures are involved. Maxxis needs to get off their duff and properly identify speed codes for their ST tires. ST tires that are not identified with a speed letter or actual speed limit on their sidewalls can only be approved for 65 MPH which is the TRA engineering standard for unmarked ST tires.

[Desert185]

Originally Posted by CWtheMan

And in doing so you lost 100# of load capacity per tire with the Maxxis brand. Almost entirely on anecdotal information.

Also, Maxxis are 65 MPH tires. There are only two ways Maxxis can increase the MPH rating. With approval from the vehicle manufacturer at the time of fitment or by putting a speed letter or actual speed limit on the side of the tire at manufacture time.

Sure, Maxxis can do as Goodyear did with the Marathons. Problem is, tire manufacturers do not set fitment regulations. The vehicle manufacturer must inform NHTSA when deviations from normal procedures are involved. Maxxis needs to get off their duff and properly identify speed codes for their ST tires. ST tires that are not identified with a speed letter or actual speed limit on their sidewalls can only be approved for 65 MPH which is the TRA engineering standard for unmarked ST tires.

Yet, Maxxis has a better reputation for durability than Trailer Kings and their china bomb cousins. If any tire company "needs to get off their duff" its apparently not Maxxis. Its my guess that Maxxis will indicate a speed letter like other manufacturers did recently.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by CWtheMan

Unlike many Keystone RV trailer owners your tires are providing more than 17% in load capacity reserves with a fully loaded trailer. With proper care and maintenance (especially inflation pressures) their drop dead date would be 3-5 years from date of manufacturer listed on their sidewalls.

CW, could you explain how you arrived at the 3-5 years from DOM in the above statement? It's my understanding from the Trailer King website that their tires "age" at about 10% maximum weight reduction per year. With a 17% reserve, wouldn't the reserve capacity be "aged out" in about 1.5 years?

Wouldn't that mean, as an example, that tires 3 months old when installed on the line, and that sat on an RV for 8 or 9 months on a dealer's lot would be a year old when sold to the buyer. That would put his 17% reserve "in the tank" (as far as load reserve) sometime during his first year of ownership.

[sourdough]

OP - I wouldn't delay replacing the tires. My Trailer Kings were exactly 2 years old when one disintegrated doing 7k in damages. They looked brand new but they were coming apart inside. I bought Carlisle Radial Trail HD tires and couldn't be happier.

[xrated]

Originally Posted by CWtheMan

And in doing so you lost 100# of load capacity per tire with the Maxxis brand. Almost entirely on anecdotal information.

Also, Maxxis are 65 MPH tires. There are only two ways Maxxis can increase the MPH rating. With approval from the vehicle manufacturer at the time of fitment or by putting a speed letter or actual speed limit on the side of the tire at manufacture time.

Sure, Maxxis can do as Goodyear did with the Marathons. Problem is, tire manufacturers do not set fitment regulations. The vehicle manufacturer must inform NHTSA when deviations from normal procedures are involved. Maxxis needs to get off their duff and properly identify speed codes for their ST tires. ST tires that are not identified with a speed letter or actual speed limit on their sidewalls can only be approved for 65 MPH which is the TRA engineering standard for unmarked ST tires.

And I knew that when I bought them ^^^^^. With the weight of my trailer, minus what is being carried by the tongue weight. I have a total of 2785 lb of "spare" tire capacity. That is almost 700 lbs per tire excess capacity when inflated to the 80 psi rating on the trailer tire inflation plaquard/sticker.

This is my third set of Maxxis 8008 tires on three different trailers and they have ALL performed very well.....so I'll just stick with a brand that I know works.

And I remember seeing a speed rating of "Q" for the Maxxis......is that not true or ???? Obviously, I would never tow a trailer at that speed, as I normally tow it in the 65 mph range anyway, as it's a bit better fuel mileage and I generally speaking, not in that big of a hurry.

[CWtheMan]

Originally Posted by Desert185

Yet, Maxxis has a better reputation for durability than Trailer Kings and their china bomb cousins. If any tire company "needs to get off their duff" its apparently not Maxxis. Its my guess that Maxxis will indicate a speed letter like other manufacturers did recently.

Durability does not provide load capacity.

[CWtheMan]

Originally Posted by xrated

And I knew that when I bought them ^^^^^. With the weight of my trailer, minus what is being carried by the tongue weight. I have a total of 2785 lb of "spare" tire capacity. That is almost 700 lbs per tire excess capacity when inflated to the 80 psi rating on the trailer tire inflation plaquard/sticker.

This is my third set of Maxxis 8008 tires on three different trailers and they have ALL performed very well.....so I'll just stick with a brand that I know works.

And I remember seeing a speed rating of "Q" for the Maxxis......is that not true or ???? Obviously, I would never tow a trailer at that speed, as I normally tow it in the 65 mph range anyway, as it's a bit better fuel mileage and I generally speaking, not in that big of a hurry.

Maxxis says this in their warranty.

It is preferable to replace a trailer’s tires with ones that correspond to the manufacturer recommended specifications. Tire speed specifications and load–carrying capacity should always be equal to or greater than the original equipment tires.

Tire installers should refer to the trailer’s owner’s manual to identify any restrictions or recommendations that could affect the operation of the trailer. Maxxis does not recommend mixing trailer tires with different specifications.

That’s basically following tire industry standards for replacement tires.

http://www.maxxis.com/trailer/trailer-warranty

In a lot of my posts I stress the fact that Original Equipment tires fitted by the vehicle manufacturer are minimum safety requirements. To protect the field, so to speak, owners are expected to follow tire industry standards that call for replacement tires to equal the load capacity of the OE tires.

[Desert185]

That Maxxis 100# per tire load capacity deficiency (if you could call it that) is the only drawback to the proven, durable Maxxis LRE tires I can see. I have had good luck with them, as even at 3420# they provide a load capacity within limits for my 326SRX. Having said that, Carlisle HD's in LRE at 3520# are the current candidate for timed out replacement next spring.

[Outback 325BH]

Originally Posted by CWtheMan

Durability does not provide load capacity.

Clearly the China bombs' "load capacity" isn't worth the rubber it is written on...


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[xrated]

Originally Posted by Outback 325BH

Clearly the China bombs' "load capacity" isn't worth the rubber it is written on...


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At the risk of turning this into a "religious" post.....

Amen to that ^^^^ Brother!


CWtheMan wrote:

It is preferable to replace a trailer’s tires with ones that correspond to the manufacturer recommended specifications.

And the key word seems to be....preferable.....not mandatory!.....kind of like in the OSHA regulations where the word "shall" means it MUST be done, whereas the word "May", says that it is preferable to be done. Replacing the "China bombs" with Maxxis tires of the same LRE seems reasonable, don't cha think? And as I stated in my previous post, the amount of load capacity excess I have for my scaled weight trailer is almost 700 lbs per tire, which seems very reasonable to me.

[Alpine]

Maybe this will help answer your question about Trailer King tires. They say pictures are worth a 1000 words! I was fortunate to get away with only $1500.00 damage! And for the naysayers among us, I monitor my tires extremely well.

[CWtheMan]

Originally Posted by Alpine

Maybe this will help answer your question about Trailer King tires. They say pictures are worth a 1000 words! I was fortunate to get away with only $1500.00 damage! And for the naysayers among us, I monitor my tires extremely well.

Those Toyo tires you have in your signature are European designed and have a speed rating of "J" = 62 MPH.

[Alpine]

Originally Posted by CWtheMan

Those Toyo tires you have in your signature are European designed and have a speed rating of "J" = 62 MPH.

Well speaking of "naysayers"... Yes indeed this is either the third or fourth time you have reminded me of the speed rating of my excellent tires. I say "reminded" however I knew this going in to purchase them and have not forgotten!!! I am retired and have nowhere to be in a hurry!