New guy old subject..tires
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 a...
Forum Discussion
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
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
