Kumho Radial 857 as travel trailer replacement tire
Starting a new thread here, regarding this specific tire. What I hope will be posted to this thread are comments from those who have used this tire, or who are considering using it. It would be great if the comments could stay on topic, and be based on facts and data.
Not "opinion". And hopefully, no snide comments.
We all see that many times folks come to the forum asking for advice on tires for their camper, and there are many, many campers that use 14" wheels. Sadly, many trailers come with tires that are barely adequate regarding load capacity, and some of these are due to the fact that the OE fitment is load range C.
However, in the north american market, the Kumho 857 is available (only) as a load range D, in 14", so for many applications, this would be one step up in load capacity.
Kumho USA markets this tire as "for trailer use", so for our purposes here, that makes it a good choice. It also has a 99 mph speed rating, which gives a margin of reserve in that category.
I have these tires on my camper trailer, and have noted ( pic attached ) this tire is designated as a LT Radial. If my reading of this is correct, this means it falls within the category of light truck tires, if that matters to a potential user. Perhaps Tireman and/or CapriRacer would weigh in on whether they believe this LT designation on the sidewall really means "light truck".
I took a little time and poked around on the internet, and looked at the Kumho worldwide site, as well as their webpages for, Australia, S.Africa, Italy, Chile, Brazil, Turkey, Japan, Russia, Austria, Spain, Great Britain and Germany. In all of these markets, it is sold as a tire for "light trucks, vans, 4x4's, and commercial" use.
Ok, having said that, I will start: I have a set I bought thru tire rack and had my local dealer mount and balance. I now have about 15,000 miles on them. They are showing very little wear, and as measured, they are wearing evenly. I note that because I run 65 psi ( sidewall max ), and these tires as fitted to this trailer are running at less than half of their rated load in pounds. Some folks I have heard have suggested this could be a prescription for a classic case of seeing the center wear more quickly, due to what might appear to be "over inflation for the load applied". But so far, that is not the case. They are, as I said wearing evenly.
I have had no flats, and no failures yet. I do inspect them ( as I do the truck tires ) frequently for inflation, nails or other objects in the tread, etc.
Also, from what I can tell they do not ride appreciably "harder" than the previous OE load range C ( 50 psi ) tires. At least, from what I can observe, as in, things I leave laying around inside the trailer while traveling, seem to be no more or less likely to end up on the floor, no drawers or cabinet doors are being shaken open, etc. I know, that's not a great way to determine that attribute, but it's the only observation I have.
In my case, on this trailer ( funfinder ) I have absolutely zero added clearance to go to a larger diameter tire, so I was limited to staying with something same diameter as OE fitment. Also, in my case, the change from OE ST load range C, was 1760 pounds at 50 psi, to these Kumho tires as load range D, 1874 pounds. So I was happy that I went up in load capacity, and was able to stay at essentially the same diameter ( 25.6" ).
Hopefully, we can get some users of this tire to weigh in with their own experiences, good or bad. With any luck, some honest info can be shared, and when someone does a search for this subject, they will find this thread and find useful info without the all too often discussion of LT vs ST, etc, etc.
Not "opinion". And hopefully, no snide comments.
We all see that many times folks come to the forum asking for advice on tires for their camper, and there are many, many campers that use 14" wheels. Sadly, many trailers come with tires that are barely adequate regarding load capacity, and some of these are due to the fact that the OE fitment is load range C.
However, in the north american market, the Kumho 857 is available (only) as a load range D, in 14", so for many applications, this would be one step up in load capacity.
Kumho USA markets this tire as "for trailer use", so for our purposes here, that makes it a good choice. It also has a 99 mph speed rating, which gives a margin of reserve in that category.
I have these tires on my camper trailer, and have noted ( pic attached ) this tire is designated as a LT Radial. If my reading of this is correct, this means it falls within the category of light truck tires, if that matters to a potential user. Perhaps Tireman and/or CapriRacer would weigh in on whether they believe this LT designation on the sidewall really means "light truck".
I took a little time and poked around on the internet, and looked at the Kumho worldwide site, as well as their webpages for, Australia, S.Africa, Italy, Chile, Brazil, Turkey, Japan, Russia, Austria, Spain, Great Britain and Germany. In all of these markets, it is sold as a tire for "light trucks, vans, 4x4's, and commercial" use.
Ok, having said that, I will start: I have a set I bought thru tire rack and had my local dealer mount and balance. I now have about 15,000 miles on them. They are showing very little wear, and as measured, they are wearing evenly. I note that because I run 65 psi ( sidewall max ), and these tires as fitted to this trailer are running at less than half of their rated load in pounds. Some folks I have heard have suggested this could be a prescription for a classic case of seeing the center wear more quickly, due to what might appear to be "over inflation for the load applied". But so far, that is not the case. They are, as I said wearing evenly.
I have had no flats, and no failures yet. I do inspect them ( as I do the truck tires ) frequently for inflation, nails or other objects in the tread, etc.
Also, from what I can tell they do not ride appreciably "harder" than the previous OE load range C ( 50 psi ) tires. At least, from what I can observe, as in, things I leave laying around inside the trailer while traveling, seem to be no more or less likely to end up on the floor, no drawers or cabinet doors are being shaken open, etc. I know, that's not a great way to determine that attribute, but it's the only observation I have.
In my case, on this trailer ( funfinder ) I have absolutely zero added clearance to go to a larger diameter tire, so I was limited to staying with something same diameter as OE fitment. Also, in my case, the change from OE ST load range C, was 1760 pounds at 50 psi, to these Kumho tires as load range D, 1874 pounds. So I was happy that I went up in load capacity, and was able to stay at essentially the same diameter ( 25.6" ).
Hopefully, we can get some users of this tire to weigh in with their own experiences, good or bad. With any luck, some honest info can be shared, and when someone does a search for this subject, they will find this thread and find useful info without the all too often discussion of LT vs ST, etc, etc.
