Update on Chinese tire performance
We have 1 more camping trip planned for this year then it will be 4 years with these "china bombs". ...knock on wood! Few posters give true long term reports on equipment they try so I thought a r...
Forum Discussion
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.
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.
