NHTSA sets and enforces safety performance standards for motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment.
This is a NHTSA safety standard:
“To maintain tire safety, purchase new tires that are the same size as the vehicle's original tires or another size recommended by the manufacturer. Look at the tire information placard, the owner's manual, or the sidewall of the tire you are replacing to find this information. If you have any doubt about the correct size to choose, consult with the tire dealer.”
Does anybody have a reference that overrides this standard?
When everything else fails the written regulations will prevail when safety is challenged.
Anybody that tells someone to use tires that do not meet the vehicle’s minimum requirement as set by the vehicle manufacturer and displayed in the vehicle owner’s manual, certification label/tire placard is not doing a good service to anyone.
There are numerous options that can be used that will satisfy the minimum requirements. Ask your trailer’s manufacturer. Get recommendations from tire manufacturers.
What works for you may fail for others. Replacement tires for the RV trailer are, at best, a hit or miss situation. So, start out right. No problems with the OE tires? Get some more just like them. Had some problems? Go up a load range or a size & load range. Just make sure that load range has more load capacity than the OE tires.
Litigators will go by what’s written on the individual tire’s sidewall and how it’s applied to the vehicle it’s on.
FastEagle
