The new ST tires. Fact or fiction (marketing)

LarryJM wrote:

Huntindog wrote:
It is good that some manufacturers seem to be stepping up the quality of their ST tire offerings.. And even better that many of the proponents of ST tires on this forum are welcoming these new tires with open arms.... Though I must point out that since they are now so happy about this, that they must recognize the inferiorority of the previous tires... Despite many past statements to the contrary.

Now to the point of this post: Years back I studied the govt. testing standards for LT tires vs ST tires. It was a real eye opener and cemented my decision to pass on ST tires.

I am not interested on doing that again. It is a very hard read, and takes a lot of time. And having found my tire solution, I am not interested in go back to STs.

The question I have is about the new Higher speed ratings. Are these tires tested to to that by the govt? I am not so sure. Having an ST tire designation may limit at least some of the testing to the 65 MPH speed limit for ST tires. I doubt the regs have been changed because of these new tires.

If they are not being tested to the new ratings, then it is just marketing..... Again!

I tend to believe the worst as these new tires still have a very low price point. That was one of the primary reasons for the ST.
"The ST tire is an affordable solution for your trailer tire needs"
IOW, a cheap tire that is good enough.

Premium materials and construction cost money and should raise the price... Yet these new tires are still much less that half the price of a premium LT tire.

I smell a rat.

If I were an ST tire fan, I would want to know the truth.

While I'm not 100 percent sure you're apparent belief that the gov't actually does all or even most of the testing is probably incorrect. While the gov't might set the standards and even establish the testing protocals it is the manufacturer thru contracting with independent agencies who do the actual testing and pay for that testing. They way this often works is the manufacturer tasks the independent agency/company to test using some protocols with the test results/deliverables given directly to the gov't (i.e. the manufacturer might not even see or have access to the reports and the gov't is the specified COTR for that contract).

This along with the reasonable less strenuous testing for non passenger carrying vehicles like trailers and the fact that passenger/LT tires must carry a speed rating that equals or matches the max speed of the vehicle they are put on naturally makes LT passenger carrying tires much more expensive and exhorbantly over designed and tested for use on a trailer which doesn't need 110mph speed tires and a failure rate say multiple that which is reasonable for a non critical trailer application.

The one thing I do blame ST tire manufacturers with is there less than stellar QA oversight especially if their tires are made overseas. I would bet that the majority of ST tires are used on cargo/equip/utility type trailers that are mostly used locally by individuals and businesses and never see the sustained highway speeds of RV use. Thus lower quality and testing standards that might result in higher failures, especially catastrophic type such as tread loss/blow outs is a very reasonable trade-off for the much lower cost of say an ST tire from a business prospective which profit wise is the driving market for ST tires and not the RV industry.

I'm a firm believer that if an ST tire users understands and accepts what he is buying, and it's design limits and adheres to those most ST tires are totally acceptable for use. With the exception of one set of Kumho 857 tires, I have been running GY Marathons since 1995 on two trailers with no catastrophic failures and generally excellent service. As a SWAG, I've probably bought 20 to 30 ST tires in the last 20+ years and generally run them at very close to their max load and in that time have put probably close to 150-200K towing miles on ST tires.

With all this said I will be giving the GY Endurance tires a try the next time I need tires for my trailer.

Larry