Update on Chinese tire performance

Boxer Lovers wrote:
I don't think many customers have gotten that much use from them. Mine didn't last a year.

What's that ticking sound?

I put four new tires on my RV in May of 2012. I drove from Florida to Yellowstone and back via NM with no problems. Probably less than 10,000 miles total. Last year I went to Maine and blew out two of the new tires on the way home. One of them did about $1200 damage when it let go. The tread shows almost no wear and I checked the tire pressure every morning before starting out. I went back and checked and all four tires are made in China.

From the OP's original 2011 thread, someone posted (in part) the following:
Posted: 02/01/11 08:05am
I think those tires will do great for five years at least.

Pretty good prediction so far... Very nice to see an update 4 years later!

I'm no tire expert but I can't see how anyone can put any credibility to reports that their tires failed simply because they were made in China. There never is, and never will be, any factual evidence to prove why a tire actually prematurely failed (other than a puncture). Despite what a person claims, you'll never know by how much or how often they exceeded the tire's speed rating, if they were overloaded (and by how much), if they were improperly inflated, hit potholes and bumps, were too close to their weight rating, curbed too many times, possibly picked up a nail or piece of metal, don't use a TPMS, or left them to bake in the sun all the time. As well, how many routinely visually inspect their tires before heading off on a trip? I prefer to follow the recommendations and opinions of somebody like a (former) tire specialist engineer such as R.M. of RVtiresafety.com and his blog has a lot of excellent info.

For everyone RV forum user that reports on his/her blown China bombs, there could be thousands, or tens of thousands of satisfied owners. Who knows? And if Chinese made tires are as much of a problem as some like to portray, you'd think someone like NHTSA or Transport Canada would step in.

I'm sure that some offshore tires are good and some are bad, but to put a blanket statement on them that they are all "China bombs" is wrong. Until someone has some concrete evidence that they fail often despite following all the recommended precautions, "China bomb" statements are meaningless.

One problem I do see, similar to things like WDH hitches or payload and towing capacities on TVs, is that when you buy a TT, nobody stops to explain to the purchaser how to treat ST tires - nothing from the dealer or TT manufacturer or from the tire manufacturer. There's a lot of TT owners that just hook up their TT and head off on the highway without any knowledge or understanding of how to properly treat their ST tires or other things on their TTs. Typically how people learn about this stuff is the relatively small percentage of owners that end up on RV forums.

We ordered our latest TT with an upgrade of Marathon LRD tires over the standard LRC ones. Probably better quality than the unknown quality Freestar tires that normally comes on KZ TTs. We probably have nearly 2K miles on our Marathons in our first season on them and I expect to get many more seasons and miles on them because I intend to and have followed the various recommendations and ratings plus use a TPMS.

Anyway, as I said, I'm not a tire expert on this and my comments are purely irrelevant personal opinions.

The only tire failure I've ever had is with a Maxxis that blew out. The China bombs that came with every TT, flatbed, enclosed, dump or boat trailer I've ever owned have never been an issue in 25 years of hauling things.

Ron3rd wrote:
China bomb quality is all over the map. Some are decent, some are terrible. Discount Tire stopped selling one of the brands a buddy brought into Discount Tire for replacement. Was told they don't sell that brand anymore due to the many warranty claims. They set him up with another China bomb brand that is holding for now.

Carlisle by chance?

I agree with above, there can be many reasons for tire failure, often times we don't remember what earlier event may have caused the failure.

Good on the OP for reporting back on his tire experience!!

The fact that the tires didn't log a lot of miles, over the lengthy time, is actually a good test. I've always thought a busy tire fares well, where an idle tire breaks down sooner.

Jerry

My OEM TowMaster tires (one variant of China Bomb) were 8 years old (from date of manufacture) and had about 30K miles on them when I replaced them due to concerns about their age.

One of their replacements (West Lake variant of China Bomb) failed on the first trip - obviously punctured by the piece of metal stuck in the tire. The other three and the replacement have about 10K miles on them and are still doing fine.

Some things to ask everyone that has a reported failure:

1. Have they ever exceeded the weight rating of the tire? (Keep in mind that not all tires are loaded evenly - it's not just the weight of the trailer less tongue weight divided by 4. If the loading is uneven, the trailer could weigh more on one side than the other. It's easier to have this happen if the trailer's weight is close to the max for the tires.)

2. Have they ever towed with the tire under-inflated?

3. Have they ever exceeded the tires' speed rating? (Many are only rated for 65 mph.)

If the answer is yes to any, then there's a chance the failure was a result of damage that happened at that time, even if the failure occurred weeks or months later.

China bomb quality is all over the map. Some are decent, some are terrible. Discount Tire stopped selling one of the brands a buddy brought into Discount Tire for replacement. Was told they don't sell that brand anymore due to the many warranty claims. They set him up with another China bomb brand that is holding for now.

gandude wrote:

The original post on the subject is here.

Here's the opener containing tire details from that thread. (Click on that image to enlarge/read) The whole thread's an interesting read, though...it'll be interesting to see how many scoffers there will show up here to admit they were wrong!



Thanks for the update, O.P.; I for one really appreciate it when folks follow through.

My Comadores are a almost 2 yrs old and have about 5K on them. One 3600 mile round trip from Az to Ind in the heat in May last year. 300+ miles between fuel stops and they were warm but not hot. I check them regularly. Keep pressures where they need to be. Lots of bad stories are due to operator error. Curbing them, running over large or sharp rock off road etc. When loaded with 122 gal water and my 1200# Prowler and all my junk I am still under their limit. The ones I have are rated @ 3520# @ 78 mph. I will not hesitate to replace them with the same. I will toss gas on the fire and sit back. An LT tire sidewall is NOT constructed for the abuse an ST tire goes through when jackknifing into a driveway or camp site. I will stick with ST's. My friends with LT's replace more often than I. I will add, how many of you have checked the alignment on your trailer? Let the fireworks begin............

I don't know what the tire weight #'s mean in the reply above.

What I can say is most of the time the tailer is at or near the limit as it holds 2 quads and 1 or 2 motorcycles on a trip + water and gas in the station. It weighs in around 9-10K lbs. More than half of our trips are in >100 degree temps too.

Just trying to give an honest, unbiased, long term review.

The tires have been good. No complaints.