ST vs LT Tires -- I'm confused

Allworth wrote:
Eagle,

Does the manufacturer guarantee that something dreadfull will happen if you use them on a trailer??

While not the recommended use; I don't see anything prohibiting it.

Funny you should ask about downsides/possible consequences- below please find today's update on one member's current struggle to get BF Goodrich (AKA Michelin) to honor warranty on the Commercial T/A's he put on his fiver. Link to whole thread

Charlie D. wrote:
I sent an email to BFG 10 days ago. They responded after a week with a case #. Said to take the tire to a BFG dealer. Took it in today and the dealer said he had a failure like that on his truck-didn't ask the tire brand-and that my tire was a defect. Told me to call BFG and give them his # and he would confirm that the tire was defective. He commented that the tire came apart where it would normally be seamed at the layers and that the straight side to side cut was unusual.

Called BFG and had a recorded conversation with Alvin. He immediately asked me the year of my vehicle and when I said 5th wheel he quickly began to lecture me on the BFG not being a ST tire and that I had misapplied the tire by mounting on my 5th wheel. He explained all the advantages of ST tires on trailers and yes he was aware of the horror stories of damages they cause. I had told him that I had removed them from a previous 5th wheel because I refused to have a trailer with ST tires. He got part of that story wrong when he repeated it because he said I took them off a truck. After I corrected him he said by taking a tire off the original vehicle and putting them on another I automatically voided the warranty.

He then began to tell me that the ST tire-and he said BFG doesn't make them-are rated with a higher capacity that LT tires. DUH!!!I told him that I was aware of that and my axles are 5200 # and I have weigh tickets and that the BFG tires were well within the limits of their capacity. He then began another explanation of the legal ramifications of having LT tires on trailers and that from a legal standpoint BFG was declining any assistance of the failed tire.

We continued the discussion of ST vs. LT and said he has had a number of calls recently from customers about failures of the Commercial T/A's. I told him that some RV manufacturers are installing LT tires on RV's and he said that many of the people calling in have said the same thing.

To sum things up:
I voided warranty of the tires when I put them on a trailer.
I voided warranty of the tires when I moved them from one vehicle to another.
BFG from a legal standpoint will not honor any warranty for LT tires on anything other than the original installation of a light duty truck.

I know there are those on this forum who say they have had damage and tire assistance from tire manufacturers including BFG.

My first 5er had GY Marathons made in China. One failure and I went to the highly rated, at that time, Denman ST. One year later 2 failures. I then purchased 5 new BFG and went from 15 to 16". These tires have been exceptional until the failure with 2 trips to Arizona, 1 to California, Grand Canyon and Montana and Wyoming and to Delaware.

I guess what disappoints me is that I tried to do the right thing. Good tires, TPMS, reduced speed, proper inflation, balancing and anal about checking every 100 miles. Tires fail but one would expect some help when they are defective.