CapriRacer wrote:
And this is where the problem is: A guy with an ST205/75R15 Load Range C can NOT use those. If we are going to talk about ST tires and what to do to prevent failures, then we have to consider folks with 13", 14", and 15". - and LT tires, let alone a particular kind that comes in only a few sizes, just isn't the answer either. We owe those folks an answer they can live with - which is why I started posting - and this thread in particular.
I guess that kind of sums up the difference between a retired person/snowbird person and a weekender. We are wrapping up our forth winter in Arizona at a RV Resort full of snowbirds. For the two years before that we traveled the Western States for the fall months, racking thousands of miles. Snowbirds migrate from all over Canada and the Northern tier states. There are a few trailers in the park that are on 15" tires, but very few. We have one of the smaller units at 29 foot, but it came new with optional 16" wheels and long gone chinese LT235/85R16E. Kenda gave me 110 each to remove all 5 before they failed within the first year of ownership.
So where I am coming from and who is moving around the country in very large numbers is retired people that travel thousands of miles a year, not a couple hundred miles a year. Between Southern California, Arizona, Texas and Florida, there are several million people doing the snowbird thing. I large number of them are doing it in a large 5th wheel trailer. So we see a lot of ST tire problems!!!!
http://vogeltalksrving.com/2012/01/florida-rv-parks-report-increasing-number-of-snowbirds/Most are willing to pay the cost of good tires and avoid the results or repeated results of a tire failure, once educated. Until one looks under a trailer at the damage a tire does, then it is a little hard to understand the problem.
However, only a small percentage of the owners are even aware of what tire they have until after the first failure and start asked around for help on choosing a replacements. I high percentage that get a tire on the road end up with something different than what was OEM, as most of these tires are not available on the rack in a tire store. Goodyear Marathon's are the exception to that. But try to roll into a tire shop to get a fifth tire again in a matching Duro, Tow Max, Maxxis etc etc, it is not going to happen. So people show up here with all sorts of different - "This is the best trailer tire we sell solutions!" "We never have problems with them!"
So if you want to really learn a bit more about the real world tire problems and solutions for larger trailers, then book a winter in a RV resort and start talking with the snowbirders.
FastEagle has travel extensively like I am talking about and has had the opportunity to talk to a lot of users and has experienced what happens when a trailer is on the road day after day for hours and hours.
So how one uses their trailer really impacts what tire one requires. To go to the lake once in the spring and back in the fall for a distance of 10 miles, it is not big deal. To crisscross the country is a completely different issue. One can do that over a six or seven year period on 2 to 3 sets of ST tires or on one set of high quality commercial grade tires. You can do the math on that one. But many are learning the to piece of mind traveling on high quality tires is worth whatever they cost.
The dirty little secret of larger trailers is the OEM tires in way to many cases. If you do not believe it, then come down next winter and we will walk around the park and count the missing fender skirts and talk to a few of the owners.
I am not trying to rain on anyone's parade here, it is just until one experiences the real problem with ST tires on large trailers, it is hard to understand! As on paper and sales promotion they read really well! In heavy use, they fail way to often. That is why a few of us have a hard time with those that dismiss the use of commercial grade tires to resolve these issues for for 6-7 years of trouble free towing.
I like several other regular posters do not believe that the problem is as bad with smaller trailers with the tire sizes you note above. Those trailers in most case travel much short distances and do not run as close to the max ratings. I am not saying there are not problems there, they are just not quite the same. And is most cases the solution is a higher rated ST tire.
I emailed back and forth with the NuWa CEO about why he did become a industry leader and install Michelin XPS Ribs on his units with 6K axles, and his answer was that his purchasing "guy" could not get Michelin to cut them a discount on the RIBs. NuWa is a leader however on installing 17.5 rims and tires on their larger trailers.
Chris
