These are coming on my new RV. And they are made in ..... China!

would you trust a company that a few years back intentionally shipped LT tires with critical parts left out to save money, even though the contracted specifications included these parts… then failed to cooperate and supply information to help identify the brands and dates effected …the same manufacture of those Westlake load range E LT tires is the same manufacture of the Westlake ST tire…mfg. Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Company of China… left out critical parts of the tire and cheated on testing to fraudulently DOT certify Westlake, Telluride, Compass and YKS tires… shipping more than a half million of them to the US…I wouldn’t… talk to your dealer… that would be a deal breaker for me…

If you tell us the DOT code on the tires, we can tell you where they were manufactured

Which RV manufacturer is putting these bombs on their trailers?

wmoses wrote:These are coming on my new RV. And they are made in ..... China!My bet is the way this works is the RV company calls the wholesale distributer on the phone and says, "next month we need X number of tires in a given size and load rating, what have you got, and what is the price per unit ?"And then they take whatever they get the best price break on. After all, if they save $5 per tire, that is $20 more profit per camper.And then out here in the real world the end consumer gets to sort out the good from the bad. Bottom line is, it's down to "risk management" for the RV company. If, at the end of the year, some percentage of these products fail, and damge the trailer, even if the OE RV company has to pay out a few thousand for goodwill repairs, they may still come out far ahead on the bottom line because they saved so much money on the larger picture.Risk management is a normal way of looking at these kinds of issues for all sorts of corporations. The company I am retired from had an entire department of folks that did exactly that: looked at all sorts of risks the company faced, and made recommendations on what the various costs would be whether we went with option "A" or option "B".

krobbe wrote:Which RV manufacturer is putting these bombs on their trailers?Flagstaff by Forest River.

Any personal experience with Westlake Super ST tires?

coolbreeze01
Explorer
Aug 29, 2013
Any personal experience with Westlake Super ST tires?

I hadn't heard of them till today. Good luck with your new rig.
CKNSLS
Explorer
Aug 29, 2013
PartyMarty wrote:
Me Again wrote:
When I questioned GY about adding the Nylon cap to the Marathon, they said is was added years ago! So I see little help for the rest of the 35 pounders with the addition of a Nylon cap. A similar Maxxis weighs 43 pounds. Think maybe it is a better built tire with more material bringing to weight up to a similar size poly carcass LT tire? Chris

I was unable to find a chart from Maxxis that supplied the weight of each tire .
Would you post the link for this information, please ?

Chris is an advocate of Maxxis and LT tires. However, there is very little evidence a heavier tire has any substantial benefits over a lighter one. Think of it this way, a three inch nail will puncture either tire.
PartyMarty
Explorer
Aug 29, 2013
Me Again wrote:
When I questioned GY about adding the Nylon cap to the Marathon, they said is was added years ago! So I see little help for the rest of the 35 pounders with the addition of a Nylon cap. A similar Maxxis weighs 43 pounds. Think maybe it is a better built tire with more material bringing to weight up to a similar size poly carcass LT tire? Chris

I was unable to find a chart from Maxxis that supplied the weight of each tire .
Would you post the link for this information, please ?
CKNSLS
Explorer
Aug 29, 2013
JJBIRISH wrote:
would you trust a company that a few years back intentionally shipped LT tires with critical parts left out to save money, even though the contracted specifications included these parts… then failed to cooperate and supply information to help identify the brands and dates effected …
the same manufacture of those Westlake load range E LT tires is the same manufacture of the Westlake ST tire…
mfg. Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Company of China… left out critical parts of the tire and cheated on testing to fraudulently DOT certify Westlake, Telluride, Compass and YKS tires… shipping more than a half million of them to the US…

I wouldn’t… talk to your dealer… that would be a deal breaker for me…

In reality they are probably the safest ST tire to buy right now. Once you get your hand slapped you don't try it again...at least for a while.
CKNSLS
Explorer
Aug 29, 2013
Me Again wrote:
When I questioned GY about adding the Nylon cap to the Marathon, they said is was added years ago! So I see little help for the rest of the 35 pounders with the addition of a Nylon cap. A similar Maxxis weighs 43 pounds. Think maybe it is a better built tire with more material bringing to weight up to a similar size poly carcass LT tire? Chris

You may see little help with the new nylon cap but the tires will run cooler and will stay together better in the event of a road hazard causing a flat. Can't be responsible for whatever they are doing with the Marathon. I just completed an 8,000 miles towing trip across the county-not a single issue on the new Carlisle Radial Trailer RH tires w/the nylon cap.

Westlake has also now added the Nylon cap as well.
Lowsuv
Explorer
Aug 29, 2013
A solution for you, if you are concerned is :
Trade up to load range D or load range E tires at delivery or immediately after .
If your tires are 205/75R15 trade up to 225/75R15 .
If you do both you will increase your chances exponentially of never having a problem .
The tire load rating will be on the sidewall such as 1820# at 50 psi .
If you go to a tire that is 2540 # at 65 psi then you have built in a reserve capacity of 30 % .
Inflate to the max psi on the sidewall .
Check the psi with your guage before each trip and while you are down there look for road hazards , cracking , and other deterioration .
No worries if you do your diligence .
chevor
Explorer
Aug 29, 2013
Forest River runs that tire on almost all new trailers. I rank the tire above what they used to put on but still its a ST tire. Not much improvement.
Me_Again
Explorer III
Aug 29, 2013
When I questioned GY about adding the Nylon cap to the Marathon, they said is was added years ago! So I see little help for the rest of the 35 pounders with the addition of a Nylon cap. A similar Maxxis weighs 43 pounds. Think maybe it is a better built tire with more material bringing to weight up to a similar size poly carcass LT tire? Chris
wmoses
Explorer
Aug 19, 2013
CKNSLS wrote:
The new Westlake tire has a nylon cap it didn't have before. They are some of the recent manufacturers that have added the cap like the highly touted "Mx" brand.

They are as good as any other. Just watch your speed and inflation. Do not exceed 65mph.

Thanks Chuck.
time2roll
Nomad
Aug 19, 2013
Give them 18 to 24 months. Then you are looking for something else.
Watch closely for irregular wear patterns, bulges, cracking in the tread etc. to indicate need to retire sooner.