FastEagle wrote:
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
Come on FE, all these gov documents and rules that you sight are the same rules and regs that allowed Everest to deliver your trailer with 6K axles and two ST235/80R16 LRD tires rated to 3000 lbs each. They are the same rule and regs that allow keystone to deliver thousands of 5th wheels with 7K axles and GAWR of 6750 and two ST235/80R16 LRE tires rated to 3420 lbs each (90 lbs of extra capacity). These are the same rules and regs that allow Carriage to install ST235/80R16 LRE tires rated to 3520 to 7K axles. These are the same rules and regs that allow ST tires to have inflated capacity ratings in comparison to Light Truck tires.
These are same the rules and regs that cause us to have a new tire thread a couple times a week trying to address tire issues, usually with ST tires! So you are telling me and the rest of the members here that they got it right???????
Your step up in load capacity with ST tires to resolve failures only applies in a few axle configurations and does not address the road hazard failures as you know about and have experienced.
That is one of the things about the commercial great tires like the G614, G114(and other 17.5's), XPS Rib and R250, you just do not read about road hazard failures. They are built like tanks and can take a lot more abuse out of the road. I still do not know why you gave up on your plan to switch to 17.5 rims and tires?
Chris
Chris
