New guy old subject..tires

Something I guess I never thought about speed rating. Driving to colorado and back this year I cruised for the most part 65-70 mph which puts trailer tires at their max speed. So at 65 are st tires on the verge of destructing, or is that just a speed in which that's all they certify them for. If I cruise 68 am I looking for trouble? Answering other questions on rim size and wheel well I have one of those trailers that sits kind of low around the tires instead of up in the air. So I'm guessing from the looks of things I might and I that's a big might, may be able to fit a 225 75 15 at to the absolute most. I have 1 1/2" between the inner tire and wheel well and about 4" around the top.

Edit: after doing a little research I found on goodyears website stating that if st rated tires are going to be towed between the range of 66-75mph that you should add 10 psi above the max cold pressure and also this does not increase load capacity.

Txfirerescue77 wrote:
Hey everyone, new guy here from East Texas. I own a 30' Four Winds. I'm
Looking to replace my tires before next summers trip to Colorado. My TT has 205 70 15's and the tire choices seem pretty slim as far as quality. It has new P rated tires that came on it when I bought it back in Feb. It made it to Ouray and back this summer just fine but everyone has criticized my tires and now I feel the need to change them but all I'm reading on ST tires is horrible blowout stories and that I should go with an LT tire but I can't find anything in my size or close to it? Any suggestions?

There are a number of options for you to consider. For driving at posted limits your best bet may be the European commercially designed light truck tire. The 215/70R15 in a LRD is 26.9" tall and has a load capacity of 2271# at 65 psi. You may need new rims for that tire because the rim range is 5.5 - 7" and you current rims may not have the ability to handle the increased load capacity/air pressure.

FastEagle

My .02....I agree with the majority of the posts made here. I just bought 4 new tires for my rig last weekend.

I ended up going with radial tires as opposed to bias-ply. I stuck with an ST trailer tire and bought some Hercules Power STR's in 205-75-15, Load Range D... (the ones on it were load range C), the D's were only $3 more per tire! Well worth it for the extra margin as far as I'm concerned.

We'll see how they hold up. The seem to be well constructed to me, but I know exterior looks don't mean much.

I honestly believe the TWO most important things (that are very often overlooked) one can do to avoid tire failures are:

1) Before you leave for a trip, either the day off or night before, check the COLD tire pressure and inflate to the maximum stated sidewall pressure, in my case the Load Range D's are 65PSI.

2) MOST ST trailer tires (at least to my knowledge) are only speed rated to 65mph, PERIOD! If you exceed 65 for a long duration, especially if your loaded heavy, you will overheat that tire, weaken it and eventually it will fail. I keep my speed between 55 and 60mph while towing and just take my time, let all the speedsters pass me by.

- also if you misjudge and hit a curb or some other object with one that could also weaken the tire and cause an eventual failure.

- I won't argue this point, but I also believe in getting the tires balenced when you get new tires. Your wheel bearings will live a lot happier life if you do. For those who choose not to, that's their business. To me it's cheap insurance.

I'm not suggesting that this would eliminate all failures, but I would bet adherence to both above points would cut down the likelihood a lot.

I once blew out a trailer tire on a small Viking P-up. Scared the heck out of me when it blew out (very loud bang).

Trouble is, these were 8" tires and I was rushing to get the trailer back home after work one day. I know they were properly inflated, but the road surface was just milled in preparation for re-pave, and I was doing 65-70 mph, mabye even over 70 for some of that time. I'm sure with the very rough road surface, coupled with my excessive speed, it overheated the tire and it let go.

I learned my lesson the hard way, thankfully without much damgae to the p-up afterwards. Learn from my mistake. Inflate to max sidewall pressure cold, drive 55-60mph on the highway, avoid curbs and you greatly improve your changes of a happy, long tire life. Again, my .02 for whatever they are worth.

-Greg

Just thinking here…

Let’s see almost all never experience a tire blowout, or even know about the controversy, even though they are often overloaded driven to fast and not well maintained often abused…

Based solely on the fear caused by the few that have had blowouts, very many of them having been aired over and over on the internet forums along with the many stories that are reported by a friend of a friends, friend, that knows a guy, all proving how big and bad the problem really is… change is needed…

The choices of change are…

Buy a better tire and maybe 1 up it in load range or size…

To or three upsize and don’t worry about the tire builder…

Switch to a 15” LT tire with new rims and tires assuming there is room, normally requiring a size and load range update…

Preference is to go to an All Steel LT upgrade in 16”

Or to go from a P rated 205x15 on a 5” rim, to a LT235/85R16 load range G on a 6.5” rim… or from the current 5430 tire load limit that is on the 7000GVWR trailer, to a 15,000 tire load limit for that same 7000GVWR trailer…

I am way ahead of all of this… here is my new tires being balanced… the added advantage is they without the added expense they will be like a run flat under my trailer… no TPMS needed…

You're in Texas so check the MPH rating on the tires of your choice. Major problem with ST tires it they are only rated up to 65 mph. As long as you only travel below 65 mph you'll be ok. Kinda hard to do that here in Texas....

At least D's. Good luck.

Thanks for all the replies, I really don't want to stir the pot. I have narrowed it down to the maxxis m8008 in a 205 75 15, now one last question. It comes in a C load range with 1820lbs at 50 psi or also a D load range with 2100 lbs at 65 psi. My trailer is 5300 dry and gvwr is 7700 so my guess is go with D rated for extra assurance.

I went through the same thing last summer. What I did was go to a place that sells tires for contractors equipment. The tires they use to hall bull dozers etc, seemed like a good choice since I hate flat tires or blowouts. The tires that they put on the equipment trailers are rated 14 ply. Price was only about $20 more per tire. I not longer have to worry about tire problems.
The equipment that these tires carry around weigh much more than my trailer.

Txfirerescue77 wrote:
My current wheel width is 15x5 and I have some wiggle room but not a ton, I was thinking about a 215 70 15 in D load range. Everybody talks about cheap trailer tires and blowouts galore that it makes buying, what should be a relatively simple purchase, a royal pain of research. I want something that will hold up as everybody else does, but I
Can't afford to brake the bank in the process. Looking at the maxxis it has good and bad reviews like all the rest do. I do have to ask, are all the blowout stories due to faulty tires or more along the line of improper care, such as too low of air pressure, too infrequent of use, and so on?

you're sure that is a 5" rim ? That's pretty narrow.

EDIT: I just did a little checking, and I see that some 15" steel wheels are in fact 5" wide. Hmmmm, that is going to limit your choices. Any chance you can budget a change of wheels also ?

Txfirerescue77 wrote:
My current wheel width is 15x5 and I have some wiggle room but not a ton, I was thinking about a 215 70 15 in D load range. Everybody talks about cheap trailer tires and blowouts galore that it makes buying, what should be a relatively simple purchase, a royal pain of research. I want something that will hold up as everybody else does, but I
Can't afford to brake the bank in the process. Looking at the maxxis it has good and bad reviews like all the rest do. I do have to ask, are all the blowout stories due to faulty tires or more along the line of improper care, such as too low of air pressure, too infrequent of use, and so on?

Your questions are going to open that worm can but I'll tell you what's MO and what I did.
There are numerous posts about tire failures and terms like "China bomb" and such on this Forum and others. When failures are reported, there is usually little to no background information available. What seems to be consistent is that the Mfg.'s supply cheap tires that are right on the ragged edge of handling the loads involved. Very seldom is use or maintenance given and if it is, it is that, "I never drove over 65 mph and checked my tires and pressure every 100 miles." MO is that very few owners of these failed tires have weighed their rigs and know how they are loaded, have little experience with long distance driving and tire wear, and have exceeded the tire's abilities (over loaded, axle misalignment, speed, age).
MO is that most LT truck tires have better durability than an ST tire but there are a few ST mfg's. that have made efforts to build a better tire. That list would include Maxxis, Carlisle RH trail, and Kenda Karrier. I'm sure there are other good ST tires, I didn't try to include them all. I chose to buy the Carlisle RH Trail because they are built similar to a Maxxis with the inclusion of an extra cap ply. They are sold locally, they exceed my load requirements, and they fit. They also didn't break the bank. They are made in China, at Carlisle's plant so if you have issues with everything Chinese, get Maxxis, they are from Thailand.