FastEagle wrote:
. . . snip . . .
Lots of users just want to go to the state park a couple times a year and hang out.
FastEagle
I tried that with my OEM Goodyear Marathons . . . ended up with a catastrophic blowout. Part of the problem was it was marginal to begin with, and part of it was I was driving too fast for the curves in the road. That is when I first started researching tires. Ultimately I ended up with the same, but made in China. Took better care of them and ran them almost 4 years without incident, but the rear view mirrors were adjusted to see the tires -- not the road. I also didn't enjoy using the trailer during that period. Then I did a whole lot more research here and made a decision last May. I bought a set of tires I swore I would never own again because I had a set OEM on a 4x4 pickup one time and got stuck on nearly level ground in 1" of snow with all four wheels spinning. Had to get a 2 wheel drive truck to pull me out.:o In the nearly year since I upgraded, we have used the trailer twice as much, I am having fun with it, and I don't have to move my head around trying to see traffic beside me before changing lanes.
That said, you are well aware of what I am going to do with my new trailer. I was able to come to that decision with help from this very thread. Thank you CapriRacer.
And by the way . . . I am seriously considering the Goodyear Marathons made in China no less. Reason being, Goodyear does stand behind their Marathons and takes it seriously enough to make changes when needed. The other thing is there are no Maxxis dealers in Maryland. So am I brand loyal? No. My OEM tires on my work truck are Goodyear. I have over 50,000 miles on them now and still have tread left. I have never gotten more than 41,000 miles on a set of tires on a truck. But there are some other tires I like better than what Goodyear has to offer.
For those that are dead set against Chinese ST tires, I will still mention the Maxxis. They have given a lot of people very good service. One of the things they have going for them is their ST225/75R15 Load Range E tire. This is needed by a lot of people with the load range D tires that have wheels that will handle the pressure and don't want to get new wheels to get the increase in load capacity. The only other brands I have readily found this load range E tire in is Titan and Carlisle. Bonefish is the only person I have found here on rv.net with experience with the Titan, and they didn't hold up to the hot summer Texas highways. I would be interested in hearing from people here if they have used these tires (some may recall I had a thread about these particular tires not too long back).
But the bottom line -- and the most important thing anyone can get out of this is "%15". Many of us believed that was the key for a long time, but never had the industry inside information to back it up until about a month ago. Once again, thank you to CapriRacer and Roger (Tireman9).
