TIre recommendations? We are towing 8500# travel trailer. We’ve had numerous blowouts with China bombs over the years, partly due to Texas heat and high speeds. We are over the blow outs and need something that will hold. We currently have 15” but looking to go to 16” LT that can handle higher speeds of 75mph. What has worked for you with the higher speeds? Tia!

not agreeing with that at all. in the last 10 years I have had 1 ST failure (factory tire 6 years old) and 1 LT failure on my truck. both road debris issues in construction zones. but what I will concede is that the bottom of the barrel ST tires is what everyone is comparing their LT tires to, no one runs top tier ST tires and wishes they were running LT tires. here is a good explanation of the differences and why you shouldn't run st on a car and why you shouldnt run lt on trailer"Trailer Tire requirements differ greatly from automotive tires. Automotive tires must maintain traction during all driving conditions: pulling, stopping, turning, or swerving. Because of this they must have more flexible sidewalls to maintain tread to road contact. Since trailers have no driving torque applied to their axles, the only time trailer tires must have traction is during the application of trailer brakes.Trailers with heavy loads, high vertical sideloads (like camper trailers), or trailers with inadequate tongue weight can be affected by trailer sway problems. Automotive bias or radial tires with their more flexible sidewalls can accentuate trailer sway problems, whereas the stiffer sidewalls of the ST (special trailer) bias ply tires help to control and reduce sway problems. For this reason it is not recommended that (P) Passenger or (LT) Light Truck tires be used on trailers. Best trailer control will be achieved with (ST) Special Trailer tires."as for testing it is pretty much identical except for two tests, the P tires have one test that the ST does different, and the ST has a much more extreme full load test so how is that inferior, they are testing for two different things as neither is supposed to be used for the other.

Goodyear Endurance ST tires. They will meet your speed rating requirements and are US built

I had a 35’ 5er and used 16” Michelin XPS Ribs LT tires to replace the OEM Chinese tires. Rated for 3,042 lbs which was fine for my trailer. I also live in Texas and towed in temps as high as 106 at 70 mph for hours at a time. 1st set lasted 9 yrs and replaced due to age even though they only had about 17,000 miles and still looked new. (Michelin says inspect yearly at 5 and replace at 10). Replaced with another set and sold it 4 yrs later. Never a flat or even a low tire. Added 2-4 lbs air at the start of the season and good until next year. But they are not cheap.

I have had excellent service from Maxxis and Goodyear ST tires on my 4500 lb TT and I use only LT tires on my tow truck (Ram 1500). At your weight for the TT I would use LT tires. Rolling, rolling, rolling

15" trailer wheels can come in 5 or 6 lug hubs. If you have 6 lug wheel your part way there. I doubt you can find a 5 lug 16" trailer wheel. Trailer wheel need to have a zero off set. My old 1997 11200 lb 5th wheel trailer came with 5200 lb axles/6 lugs and 15" ST225/75-15 D Marathons. Sold wheels/tires to a guy with a lawn service trailer. I bought four 16" grey steel modular trailer wheels (1997) from my local commercial trailer mfg. I thought I had wheel well clearance issues so went to a LT225/75-16 E at 2680 lbs. Next sets have been a bit taller in a LT215/85-16 E at 2680 lbs. Run all my LT E tires on rv and non rv trailers at max 80 psi. The taller (32" dia) LT235/85-16 E at 3042 lbs capacity works better on heavier trailers with loaded 5.2k...6k axles. LT tires that their mfg has recommended to me for my trailer use are;; Cooper Discoverer HT-3 Bridgestone R-238 all steel ply carcass commercial grade Michelin XPS Rib commercial grade all steel ply carcass Goodyear Wrangler HT BFG Commercial A/T 2 Firestone Transforce HT Be sure and make your wheel well measurements first for proper clearance issues.

Tires- LT or ST | Good Sam Community

ktmrfs
Explorer II
Aug 21, 2023
Mr. C wrote:
First blowout ever, today. 3+ yr old/2500mi 225/75R15 Trailer King. I'll be sticking with ST. So I guess my best choices are GY Endurance or Maxxis M8008, which I had on a previous trailer.

Where are the Endurance made?

Thoughts on either tire?

I believe endurance are made in U.S.

I've run Maxxis and endurance. I'll give the nod to Endurance
a) they carry a real speed rating w/o derating load. IIRC 85mph (M?) which means it must be tested per M ratings which is more stringent than the ST 65 rating
b) At least the set I had didn't need much weigh to balance, way less than any of the previous 4 sets of Maxxis I've run
c) cost is on par with Maxxis, In fact when I bought mine a few years ago, at discount tire it was actually a few dollars less.

But then previously I ran 4 sets of Maxxis on my two trailers, around 125K total miles with no tire failures. Did pick up nails twice, but the trailer TPMS caught that and likely avoided a blowout.
TXiceman
Explorer II
Aug 21, 2023
Get the best tire you can for the RV and tow vehicle. Above all, do not go with a cheap Chinese tire. Use a good quality TPMS and weigh the loaded trailer to ensure you are not overloaded and stay within the speed rating for your tires.

Every time we go out we have people blow past us at 75 mph plus and from the cheap trailer, I am sure they are running the original cheap Chines tires with a 65 mph speed rating.

Ken
Grit_dog
Navigator
Aug 21, 2023
Mr. C, there are a select few LT 15” tires with pretty good load ratings, if you can find them and if they fit. All larger sizes as I recall.
Falken AT3 may be one of them.
Slowmover, above, while good intentions, only recommended a tire that doesn’t exist anymore.
BackOfThePack
Explorer
Aug 21, 2023
Are ST tires now rated for passenger service? Was illegal not long ago, and Id suspect still is.

QC always suspect where liability doesn’t amount to much.

A travel trailer isn’t a construction materials trailer gets dragged around a metro. A failure isn’t the problem a TT experiences with a blowout. Not in damage nor time spent on the highway shoulder.

Non-ST is an easy choice thereby.

Matching load requirements to tire choice remains for research.
I used Yokohama RY-215 last time and may again.

Start with a scale ticket after loaded for camping, full fresh water + propane.
Use reality over guesstimates.

.
Huntindog
Explorer
Jul 23, 2023
Mr. C wrote:
Zero damage. The tire held together pretty well...

[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53063617705_90b3fcd498_q.jpg[/img

]Good, you dodged a bullet. How did you catch it? TPMS?
So another tire getting ready to blow... Typical of ST junk.
Mr__C
Explorer
Jul 22, 2023
Noticeable bulging in the tread of the other tire on the same side...
Mr__C
Explorer
Jul 22, 2023
Zero damage. The tire held together pretty well...
Huntindog
Explorer
Jul 21, 2023
How much damage to the TT?
Mr__C
Explorer
Jul 21, 2023
First blowout ever, today. 3+ yr old/2500mi 225/75R15 Trailer King. I'll be sticking with ST. So I guess my best choices are GY Endurance or Maxxis M8008, which I had on a previous trailer.

Where are the Endurance made?

Thoughts on either tire?
Hannibal
Explorer
Jul 10, 2023
StonedPanther wrote:
Huntindog wrote:
CapriRacer wrote:
As a tire engineer, I find these discussions very interesting. It's hard to sort out the experiences some had recently against someone who remembers the way it used to be long ago.

There was a time where LT tires didn't perform very well - which is why the government tests were changed. What we don't have is reliable information about current tires. This is partially because things have improved to the point where actual failures are fairly rare.
I am on a few forums. One thing has not changed over my 30+ years of towing RVs.
Tire problems were, and still are easily the most common topic

That's because 95+% of folks on forums know as much about towing and trailer tires as they do when it comes to determining what end is the business end of a screwdriver.

My tire BLEW OUT LOL. That happened sometime after Joe Blowout took a long trip and stopped to pee every 60 miles by pulling off and riding down debris filled road shoulders to make the pee stop, maybe clipping a curb a few times too.

How many times since RV forums have been in existence have you seen someone admit they had a tire failure of some sort and it was their fault. I don't think I've ever seen one.

We’ve had travel trailers and 5th wheels since 1994. I maintain proper pressures in my truck and trailer tires. The trucks go down the same highways at the same speeds the trailers go behind us. Usually 65~mph. I’ve never lost a truck tire even at up to seven years old and one set over 70k miles. While I’ve never had a blowout on a trailer tire, I’ve had several ST tires with tread starting to separate and I felt the vibration. One our last 340 mile trip, I had two 18 month old ST tires begin to separate causing bloated tires. They had just over 700 miles on them. These were Tire Kingdom National brand 225/75 R15E ST’s. I’ve had the best luck with Goodyear ST’s even during the Marathon years. I got seven years out of a set of Carlisle radial E’s way back when they were called junk. I might try a set of Goodyear Endurance ST’s on my 8500~lb TT. For $500~ more, I can upgrade to a set of 5 Goodyear Wrangler Workhorse LT225/75 r16’s on new 16” rims and forget about trailer tire worries. If it were negligence as you say, the tow vehicles of these negligent owners would be suffering the same tire troubles.