need tire advice

Tireman9 wrote:

There is no secret formula for how much you can exceed the load/inflation/speed limits. The regulations are clear. All tires certified to pass the tests are supposed to be able to do so. No one has ever said tire x must be 10% better or 2% better. That is not the law.
I bring up the car companies as they all have engineering staff with the specific task of selecting tires based on historical performance. Part of their decision process involves their knowledge on the expected use by the expected customers of their product. They also know the variability of their product (vehicle).
The RV industry to my knowledge does not have a single engineer on staff with the responsibility of specifying tires that address any of the special needs of modern RVs or of the variations observed in today's RVs. They ignore the documented load imbalance they design into their vehicles and many times it is this imbalance that results in tire overload.
I do believe the manufacturers know that they need to improve the quality of their product but I also believe that much like Detroit in the '70's they choose short term profit over long term quality for the owners of their product.
Some have chosen to select tires that are not at the limit of their design. LT tires allow higher speed but at a lower load capability.

The ST tire regulations were written when the speed limit was 55 mph with towing at 50. The LT regulations were updated just a few years ago.

Asking that somehow the lower priced ST tires be expected to operate at their +20% load as well as at higher speeds is asking that the laws of physics be changed.

I believe that if you were to limit your speed to 50 mph max 100% of the time and to always to run the inflation on the tire sidewall 100% of the time and ensure that no individual tire was ever overloaded even 1% of the time and run TPMS, you would probably get 5 years out of your ST tires.

I think it would be a pipe dream to believe that the RV industry is ever going to have the access to resources like the auto industry, as they just aren't even in the same league as far as volume of sales or industry might. And what would be their incentive? As long as tire manufacturers continue to produce the ST tire that meets their spec, and are willing to warranty their product, why would the RV industry care really.

Why wouldn't the tire manufacturer take a more proactive role in offering an alternate tire specification that is more suitable for an RV, instead of just watching the money roll in and the Chinese tires come to port with your name on them, while you sit back and take the same posture as the tobacco industry "hey- we just make em, we don't tell people how to use them!"

In your own words, the ST tire might be a useable tire IF it was never driven over 50 mph and never abused, so why doesn't the tire specification, at least performance expectation, say just that. Instead, we got guys like FE over here that are convinced it is a criminal act to run anything but the exact ST tire the RV manufacturer put on the sticker in the left front!

No, I've seen too many instances on this forum alone where a guy takes better care of his tires than his wife on Valentines Day, TPMS, parking on boards, covering the tires, driving 60, and yet they pop like popcorn with no warning other than a puff of white dust in the mirror. It's not neglect by the owner, something is just plain wrong with the tire! Either the overseas zip code is pulling the wool over you guys and found a new disposal method for their hazardous waste (tell me we have always found their products to be pure), or they are not designed correctly for their market.