Best Tires for Travel Trailer?

Huntindog wrote:

Huntindog wrote:

Francesca Knowles wrote:

Huntindog wrote:
snip...
The LT standards are far more stringent. And that is why LT tires are generally a better tire.
...snip

Since it hasn't been answered yet, I'll ask you the same question I asked the last guy in this thread that made that statement (see bold below):

Francesca Knowles wrote:

PartyMarty wrote:
The point made was that LT tires are held to a higher standard than ST tires .

Here's a link to the most current standards I can find that apply to ST's. Link
As a matter of fact, this standard also applies to certain LT tires, to ALL tires for vehicles over 10,000 pounds GVWR, and to motorcycle tires, too.

In what way are these standards less rigorous than those for run-of-the-mill LT's? (Please do provide links to support any such assertions)

I just read your link. They have changed it some since I last read it years ago... And it appears that the testing standards for ST have been relaxed even more.

Gotta read the document carefully. Not every tire listed has to meet every standard.
The ST tire is a "speed restricted tire". So it doesn't have to meet the high speed testing requirement. As I read table 3, there are no load ranges commonly used on TTs that meet the need for testing at the 55MPH or 50MPH standard.
That leaves the "ALL" category.
So it appears that ST tires are tested at,,,,,,,,,wait for it,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,35MPH
Of course the ST tires do have a more stringent standard in load carrying. They must carry 101% of their rated load for 24 hours at 35MPH.

The LTs are high speed tested at 88% of rated load.. They don't list it as MPH, but in rpms. Up to 425 rpms.

After a little research, I think that the link you provided is not exactly correct. Try this one for LT tires
LT Tires
Which references this page
LT tire reference
Note, this is the link that you provided. After closer reading, it appears to me that the info pertaining to ST tires is not for the TT crowd. The rim sizes and load ratings do not match up with any of the ST tires commonly used on TTs.


This is the one for ST tires
ST tires

Reading the govt. regs is not easy as it keeps referencing different statutes and can make ones head spin.
Here is a old link to a post that ties it all together in a more easily understandable plain english.

Plain English ST vs LT testing standards

Good post HuntingDog. Lots of good reading there that helps clear the air on much of this.
The good news of all this being brought up on all the different forums ( and we hear the same thing on horse forums....folks having tire troubles on their horse trailers is common ) is that the more it's gets talked about, the more educated consumers become. This "could" help drive the evolution of the ST tire as a product, and force the companies to improve these tires. I'm not holding my breath on that though, since it is problematic to get mainland chinese to play by the rules correctly. But it "could"....in the long term, make for a better process and design.
Mainly this is all bringing to forefront that consumers have a very good option even right now, because it is finally being openly discussed that LT tires are in fact ( according to the tire companies themselves, as well as some of the OE trailer manufacturers ) suitable for trailer use.

Good to see honest discussion going on regarding the topic.