Forum Discussion
Tireman9
Apr 05, 2014Explorer
Francesca Knowles wrote:
The Kumho 851 is a good (and one of the few) option for folks with 14" trailer wheels that want to increase load carrying margins. I've suggested it myself a few times in another forum I frequent in which most of the trailers folks have come with 14" tires. Beats having to change to 15" wheels! It should be noted that users need to verify with rimmakers that their original rims can tolerate the higher air pressure requirements.Tireman9 wrote:
This Load Range D tire has a stated max load or 2271 at 65 psi (note the odd pound, the result of metric to SI conversion)so it looks like a good option for trailer, and LT users that need a 14" tire.
Per your comment on LT use, Tireman:
What do you make of the fact that this tire is sold for trailer use only here in North America? Link 1 Link 2
Given the peculiarity of its identifying number (205R14C), is it that it falls outside ordinary testing P/LT/ST/? parameters?
I've long been mystified by this. Even Kumho itself, at its NA main site, gives it "zero" ratings in every category at the "light truck" marketing page where it appears Link. (Hover cursor over the "Radial 857" bar and their rating system for the tire will appear.)
And Kumho doesn't list it there as a "commercial tire" at all-????
We have a number of questions going on in this thread and a number of different sources being cited.
First off we need to understand the difference between a tire intended to focus on a part of the market or a specific application, and a legal or technical prohibition against a tire being used on a certain vehicle.
I would never consider Walmart to be a reliable source of technical information. Tire Rack is a better source as they do have some technically minded people on staff, but they still have primarily a focus on sales & marketing.
How about if we look at what Kumho USA says about the Radial 857 "The 857's primary application is to be mounted on a trailer." To me the word "primary" does not prohibit the use of this commercial tire in non-commercial application.
Regarding the "peculiarity of its identifying number 205R14C" This is only peculiar to the average consumer in the US. Most of the rest of the world uses Metric based standards. ETRTO in Europe and JATMA in Asia. Tire & Rim Association "TRA" is a US based organization. There are numerous examples of "Euro-Metric" (non P, LT or ST) tires being sold and used in the US market. I am aware of a number of these tires being OE on cars sold by Detroit "Big 3"
I would consider any Euro-metric with DOT certification symbol on it to be acceptable for use on public highway in the US. There are probably millions of such tires on the highway today.
Now as to the question of "stability" of a specific tire being used in a non standard application in reality is just a question of "Are you willing to accept the trade-offs". Would you consider the use of a "Snow tire" in August "suitable"? What about putting a new LT tire on a Station wagon from 1970? Would anyone here consider it "Illegal" to put a radial tire on a 1955 Chevrolet? All of these examples and many others we could come up with are certainly non-standard applications and there would probably be wear, handling, ride and fuel economy trade-offs we might be willing to accept if there was some special reason to use one of these combinations.
Re the "zero" rating. I would consider this just marketing. Kumho is probably saying that none of these performance characteristics should be considered when making a purchase of the Radial 857. For example look at the 0 and N/A rating given the ECATA LE SPORT car tire.
I suggest you take a look at the details on Kumho web site.
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