Huntindog
Phoenix AZ
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Grit dog wrote:What’s coincidental is I can relate to Huntindog and ST tires popping like popcorn in Phoenix in the summer and a few years later in Colorado. There was one constant among all of them. They were the early-mid 2000s GY Marathins.
I suppose I have an equal distaste for those as he does for trailer tires in general.
Although of the half dozen or so “blowouts” I know for sure 3 of them were due to low pressure and one of them, the 3rd one of the day lol and only went like 70 miles round trip to the lake, was a box of nails in the road pulling back into our subdivision after 3 fun filled hours of tire swapping at the lake and going to Walmart on a Sat afternoon for anything that would fit on the rims.
The other common theme was all of the suspect Marathons had spent about 4 years sitting out in the Phx/Vegas sun basically year round.
The low pressure issues was the guy who was towing our new boat up to us and “forgot” to fill the tires. When I brought him a spare 100miles from our house after 400miles on the road, 1 was at zero and in pieces and the other three were at 30-35psi on a hot sunny day.
So, I never bought Marathons, I haven’t run sun baked tires and I continue to make sure they are not running low on air.
Still, the recommendation to do whatever necessary even if impractical to get LT tires on basically any trailer in any conditions is just over the top. I had two sets of Marathons. The OE. LRC in which all 4 had slipped belts. And that last set of 15" LRE In between I had too many sets to remember them all. I even tried a set of Bias ply STs. None of them made it to their second birthday At some point one needs to find a solution, or give up on towable RVs. I am not a quitter. I found a solution that works. It may not be easy or cheap.....But it would have been a LOT cheaper had I not wasted all that money on STs.
When I bought my 2010 Sabre, I was praying it's STs would make it home. Thankfully they did. I then swapped the LTs from my Wilderness to the Sabre. The guy I sold the Wilderness to was thrilled that he got new tires/rims. I was glad to be rid of them. I would rather have used LTs than new STs
Huntindog
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Hannibal
Tampa Bay Area
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StonedPanther wrote:Huntindog wrote:CapriRacer wrote:As a tire engineer, I find these discussions very interesting. It's hard to sort out the experiences some had recently against someone who remembers the way it used to be long ago.
There was a time where LT tires didn't perform very well - which is why the government tests were changed. What we don't have is reliable information about current tires. This is partially because things have improved to the point where actual failures are fairly rare. I am on a few forums. One thing has not changed over my 30+ years of towing RVs.
Tire problems were, and still are easily the most common topic
That's because 95+% of folks on forums know as much about towing and trailer tires as they do when it comes to determining what end is the business end of a screwdriver.
My tire BLEW OUT LOL. That happened sometime after Joe Blowout took a long trip and stopped to pee every 60 miles by pulling off and riding down debris filled road shoulders to make the pee stop, maybe clipping a curb a few times too.
How many times since RV forums have been in existence have you seen someone admit they had a tire failure of some sort and it was their fault. I don't think I've ever seen one.
We’ve had travel trailers and 5th wheels since 1994. I maintain proper pressures in my truck and trailer tires. The trucks go down the same highways at the same speeds the trailers go behind us. Usually 65~mph. I’ve never lost a truck tire even at up to seven years old and one set over 70k miles. While I’ve never had a blowout on a trailer tire, I’ve had several ST tires with tread starting to separate and I felt the vibration. One our last 340 mile trip, I had two 18 month old ST tires begin to separate causing bloated tires. They had just over 700 miles on them. These were Tire Kingdom National brand 225/75 R15E ST’s. I’ve had the best luck with Goodyear ST’s even during the Marathon years. I got seven years out of a set of Carlisle radial E’s way back when they were called junk. I might try a set of Goodyear Endurance ST’s on my 8500~lb TT. For $500~ more, I can upgrade to a set of 5 Goodyear Wrangler Workhorse LT225/75 r16’s on new 16” rims and forget about trailer tire worries. If it were negligence as you say, the tow vehicles of these negligent owners would be suffering the same tire troubles.
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Mr. C
SW Virginia, USA
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First blowout ever, today. 3+ yr old/2500mi 225/75R15 Trailer King. I'll be sticking with ST. So I guess my best choices are GY Endurance or Maxxis M8008, which I had on a previous trailer.
Where are the Endurance made?
Thoughts on either tire?
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Huntindog
Phoenix AZ
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How much damage to the TT?
* This post was
edited 07/22/23 08:08am by an administrator/moderator *
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Mr. C
SW Virginia, USA
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Zero damage. The tire held together pretty well...
![[image]](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53063617705_90b3fcd498_q.jpg)
![[image]](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53063717708_4e041ecc9a_q.jpg)
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Mr. C
SW Virginia, USA
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Noticeable bulging in the tread of the other tire on the same side...
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Huntindog
Phoenix AZ
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Mr. C wrote:Zero damage. The tire held together pretty well...
![[image]](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53063617705_90b3fcd498_q.jpg[/img<br>
<br>
[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53063717708_4e041ecc9a_q.jpg) ]Good, you dodged a bullet. How did you catch it? TPMS?
So another tire getting ready to blow... Typical of ST junk.
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BackOfThePack
Fort Worth
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Are ST tires now rated for passenger service? Was illegal not long ago, and Id suspect still is.
QC always suspect where liability doesn’t amount to much.
A travel trailer isn’t a construction materials trailer gets dragged around a metro. A failure isn’t the problem a TT experiences with a blowout. Not in damage nor time spent on the highway shoulder.
Non-ST is an easy choice thereby.
Matching load requirements to tire choice remains for research.
I used Yokohama RY-215 last time and may again.
Start with a scale ticket after loaded for camping, full fresh water + propane.
Use reality over guesstimates.
.
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Grit dog
Black Diamond, WA
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Mr. C, there are a select few LT 15” tires with pretty good load ratings, if you can find them and if they fit. All larger sizes as I recall.
Falken AT3 may be one of them.
Slowmover, above, while good intentions, only recommended a tire that doesn’t exist anymore.
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TXiceman
Bryan, TX
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Get the best tire you can for the RV and tow vehicle. Above all, do not go with a cheap Chinese tire. Use a good quality TPMS and weigh the loaded trailer to ensure you are not overloaded and stay within the speed rating for your tires.
Every time we go out we have people blow past us at 75 mph plus and from the cheap trailer, I am sure they are running the original cheap Chines tires with a 65 mph speed rating.
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