My China bomb story, could I have prevented it.

myredracer wrote:
Sigh.... :( I feel no farther ahead on learning what is a good brand of ST tire or type to buy.

Personal opinions, rhetoric, mis-information, accusations, facts, distortions of fact, no facts, guesswork, etc., etc. Hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. For me, I would just like a name or two or three that I can consider for a good choice in an ST tire. It's almost to the point of staying away from them completely because it's hard what to believe.

I've heard that the Marathon tires are being made in China? Is this true or not? Someone above claimed they are made in the US. Is it a true statement that Carlisle truly are made in the US. Don't know what to believe.

Some googling came up with a comment on one forum that said "All the Carlisles should be sent to Beruit to burn in the street!" A few other forums are recommending Denman tires. Haven't heard of them yet. Lot and lots of bad press on Marathon tires.

Our TT weighs nearly 7,000 lbs and has 4 x 1820 lb C tires on it. Almost to capacity in static state. If I am hearing right, it would be a good thing to go to at least D rated tires and even E rated tires? Would E tires be overkill?

Unclear on wheel rim width and diameter. Just to confirm, your rims need to be able to handle the higher air pressure of the D & E rated tires? And with LT tires, we'd have to replace the rims as the rim diameter and width is different? Don't want to have to replace the fancy alloy wheels on our new trailer to upgrade the tires. What about rim width for C/D/E tires? Our dealer was unable to tell us what the width is on our new trailer (with alloy wheels). Our brand has an order option of Marathon tires, but they tell you zip about technical stuff. How would your average uninformed RV buyer know why to upgrade to Marathon tires? Right off the bat, price is a deterrent anyway.

With more air pressure in tires, is the harsher ride going to be detrimental to the trailer or beneficial? I'd like to tame the bounce we have and are looking at installing shocks. Maybe tires with higher air pressure will help this...

Looking forward to what comes up next!! :B Great entertainment at the least.... :B

Lowsuv wrote:
nobody can say that there is some brand of number one ST tires .
Consumer Reports tested Maxxis MA-T1 Escapade passenger car tires in their November 2012 issue on page 60 .
Consumer Reports purchases their tires and that issue covered about 62 all season tires and 16 winter tires .
The Maxxis were in the lowest 25 % .
Snip...

kedanie wrote:
Keep in mind that, in an earlier thread, FE all but admitted that he is indeed a "Internet Shill". His statement was that in this forum he doesn't have to admit it and you can't prove it.

Trying to argue with him is a never ending battle. He has the backing of the tire industry and the operators of this forum. The only thing you can do is point out the errors in his logic and hope that those reading will realize the fallacy that he promotes.

Keith

• No one has provided information to scientific analysis that prove anything
• Marketing of tires is just like marketing of anything else, needs to be taken with a grain of salt especially when there is little / no proven technical basis
• Tires made in China or ST tires made anywhere, when used properly, work just as well as any other tire
• If there were real issues, the sales of these ST or Chinese tires woul stop, but the fact of the matter is ST and Chinese tires continue to sell despite all the "wisdom" on the Internet
• Manufacture in the USA is no guarantee, in and of itself, of quality. Junk is made here just as junk is made in China also.
• We have no way to know the exact conditions under which failed tires were used. In other words even so-called "quality" tires can fail dramatically when used outside of spec or common sense.
• Continuing these tire discussions are of little use but they still persist, because like anything on the Internet, anyone with a portal can show up and post anything as fact and countless others will latch on because "if it is written or on the Internet then it has some modicum of truth."

JJBIRISH wrote:
....Maybe a little straight talk from the US tire industry would help with their credibility, but I don’t see any credibility coming from the tire builders here…

JJBIRISH wrote:


A few answers and thought provoking statements.



“The ST tire is just designed to withstand heavier loads than comparably sized tires from other designs.”

Translated is, the ST tire is rated to carry its fully rated load, (so are LT tires. P tires must be degraded for trailer axle use.) or in normal speak has no safety factor built into its specifications like the other type of tires that are also passenger carrying tires and must have a reserve built in (The only reserve difference is the way the tires are regulated. Then the reserves are provided by air pressure, not excess tire load capacity.) and also need to be de-rated even farther under some conditions…

The truth of the matter is ST tire will carry very little more if any at all, except for the easier certification standards (They are certified to their function.) and allowable ratings… if you allow for a respectable 15 % reserve in the ST tire the ratings would be very close to the same… (Reserves for all tires are derived from their published load capacity via tire pressure manipulations up to and including the maximum amount as depicted on their sidewalls. Anything other than that would have to be described on the tire’s sidewall information.)

The only real differences are legal ones that I am criticized for bringing up even though they exist and are real… I’m with you on that one.

Let’s not forget that RV tires have more UV protestants built into them… So say their manufacturers.

But in real life RV tires last no longer, if as long, and even worse the ST tire will last on average half as long as non RV tires in passenger use even with similar limited use… (ST tire manufacturers will tell you the same thing. But you left something out. LT & P tires are regulated differently and are setting around on more than adequate load capacity reserves. Most often the ST tires are not. The more load on the tire even in stationary usage will degrade faster.

Industry lobbying kept the ST tires from construction standard upgrade consideration when other tires had the standards changed and raised… the industry argued that the ST tire is not a passenger tire it is for trailer use only and there was very little risk of injury or property damage from their use as already built…

(You will have to provide a reference to support those statements. Being specifically designed for trailer axles does not in itself disqualify them from carrying passengers.

Geographical location is not a prerequisite for inferior production techniques. A journey via internet research will reveal many tire plants around the world in much better physical conditions than you might perceive. We live in a global society and peoples that produce goods for the global population have certification standards.

ISO/TS 16949 is the technical specification for automotive quality management systems. It formalizes, under a single global standard, the quality management system requirements that must be satisfied by those trading in the automotive industry.

ISO 14001 addresses "Environmental Management." It is the standard for what the organization does to minimize harmful effects on the environment caused by its activities and to achieve continuous improvement of its environmental performance.

How would one pass an unannounced management inspection if they were not, in fact, trained and qualified by the certification standards.

FastEagle

FastEagle wrote:
I could write in this thread all day and not penetrate the numerous fallacies that have already been posted. So, I’ll just post a few specific observations.

Tire testing: It is a subject that comes up in a long tire thread.

Manufacturers of tires suitable for use on our highways must first accomplish the necessary conditions to achieve permission to display the DOT symbol/acronym on their tires. That will require a series of tests approved by the DOT. That does not mean the DOT will oversee the testing. Initially the tires will be tested by their manufacturer. When they determine their tires are good enough to pass all testing standards they will use a third party testing facility (approved by the DOT). Only a percentage of the final production run will be tested. The paperwork is then submitted to the DOT for approval. Once approved the tires are shipped to wholesalers/retailers for distribution.

The ST tire is, as its name implies, special. Therefore, its DOT approved testing criteria will be tailored to its designed function (s). The ST tire is not designed for the drive or steer axles. It does not have to provide the construction necessary for those positions. The ST tire is just designed to withstand heavier loads than comparably sized tires from other designs.

The best example of the load capacity disparity between the ST tire and a like sized LT tire is quite an eye opener to those that are not very familiar with the various tire designs. The ST235/85R16E has a 3640# load capacity at 80 psi. The LT235/85R16E has a load capacity 3042# at 80 psi. Most often the LT tire will be heavier in weight than the like sized ST tire. That extra weight will most often be in the form of added items - taller treads, extra steel belt, sidewall inserts, etc. - that provide durability which does not add strength.

ST tires are speed restricted to 65 MPH. What does that mean? At 65 MPH it’s providing 100% of it’s load capacity.

Speed ratings are set by the tire’s manufacturer. There is a highly touted LT tire that has a 99 MPH rating when used on it’s designed market and a 75 MPH rating when used on self propelled RVs.

Already too long. Maybe more later.

FastEagle