Tires for Fiver

[Tgator1]

We just got back from our planned trip from south Texas to Alaska. We were about 23 miles into our trip when we experienced a low tire on our Titanium fifth wheel (dry weight about 8200 lbs.). Good Sam sent a tow truck who put on a spare and found two small "pin prick" leaks on the flat tire. We decided to return home where we could line up buying a new tire and start out the next day. On the way home (yes, just 23 miles away) we had a blow out to a different tire on the other side of our RV. It took out the trim around the wheel and we are waiting for our insurance company appraiser to assess the damage amount. Both tires were Towmax tires (ST23580R16, load range E) that were purchased new in June of 2012 and had less than 3000 miles on them. I check them regularly and had filled them to 80 PSI before this trip. My question is: are there any good, dependable trailer tires available in this size that are load range E or better? I'm considering Goodyear Marathons, but saw lots of negative reviews on-line (Google it if you want proof!). We still want to make our Alaska trip, but need tires we can depend on.

[Me_Again]

The Works wrote:

Dandy Dan wrote:

Tgator1 wrote:
Again, thanks to everyone for the helpful information. I ended up with Bridgestone Duravis R250's (LT245 75R 16) purchased at Discount Tires. I'm looking forward to several years of explosion free service from them!

For what it is worth, Bridgestone and B F Goodrich are both owned by Michelin. When the BFG recall came out I only had a couple thousand miles on mine and they replaced them with XPS's :B:B

Cool!!

As I posted at the bottom of page 3, Michelin does not own Bridgestone Tires. It is Bridgestone/Firestone.

Chris

[The_Works]

Dandy Dan wrote:

Tgator1 wrote:
Again, thanks to everyone for the helpful information. I ended up with Bridgestone Duravis R250's (LT245 75R 16) purchased at Discount Tires. I'm looking forward to several years of explosion free service from them!

For what it is worth, Bridgestone and B F Goodrich are both owned by Michelin. When the BFG recall came out I only had a couple thousand miles on mine and they replaced them with XPS's :B:B

Cool!!

[The_Works]

Dandy Dan wrote:

Tgator1 wrote:
Again, thanks to everyone for the helpful information. I ended up with Bridgestone Duravis R250's (LT245 75R 16) purchased at Discount Tires. I'm looking forward to several years of explosion free service from them!

For what it is worth, Bridgestone and B F Goodrich are both owned by Michelin. When the BFG recall came out I only had a couple thousand miles on mine and they replaced them with XPS's :B:B

Cool!!

[Me_Again]

Dandy Dan wrote:

Tgator1 wrote:
Again, thanks to everyone for the helpful information. I ended up with Bridgestone Duravis R250's (LT245 75R 16) purchased at Discount Tires. I'm looking forward to several years of explosion free service from them!

For what it is worth, Bridgestone and B F Goodrich are both owned by Michelin. When the BFG recall came out I only had a couple thousand miles on mine and they replaced them with XPS's :B:B

Bridgestone is not owned by Michelin. It is Bridgestone/Firestone!

Michelin does own BFG and Uniroyal.

Chris

[Mountainman42]

Tgator1 wrote:
Again, thanks to everyone for the helpful information. I ended up with Bridgestone Duravis R250's (LT245 75R 16) purchased at Discount Tires. I'm looking forward to several years of explosion free service from them!

Interesting! I tried to purchase XPS Ribs, same size as you, to replace Towmaster 235/80/R16's, same as you, and Discount Tire flatly refused to sell them to me because "they aren't the same load carrying capacity as the originals". They waited till my rig was up on the jacks and 2 wheels already removed before the "service manager" came to inform me they wouldn't sell me the Ribs but would sell me some GY 614Gs at $100/tire more than the Ribs. Sounded like a scam to me then, and still does after reading that they had no problems selling them to you.

You definitely made the right choice going to LT tires to replace the Towmaster ST junk!

[Dandy_Dan]

Tgator1 wrote:
Again, thanks to everyone for the helpful information. I ended up with Bridgestone Duravis R250's (LT245 75R 16) purchased at Discount Tires. I'm looking forward to several years of explosion free service from them!

For what it is worth, Bridgestone and B F Goodrich are both owned by Michelin. When the BFG recall came out I only had a couple thousand miles on mine and they replaced them with XPS's :B:B

[The_Works]

Bite the bullet and buy some Michelin XPS Ribs. We have over 15K miles on ours and they look brand new and we haven't had a problem with them, haven't even needed to put air in them.

[Tgator1]

Again, thanks to everyone for the helpful information. I ended up with Bridgestone Duravis R250's (LT245 75R 16) purchased at Discount Tires. I'm looking forward to several years of explosion free service from them!

[AB_Spotman]

My Goodyear 614 had complete failure this weekend...BOOM, back left tire. Pressure good when I started out, but maybe a little old, or ran over something. For the record, the age was 7 years according to DOT date. Fortunate, damage was minimal.

Over the past six years and 3 different trailers, I have blown out a exactly 3 tires(one on each trailer), all rear tires. One was China made LT, a brand I had never heard of, one was a Goodyear Marathon(ST) and now the Goodyear 614.....only common point was that they were all over 5 years old at the time of the blow out. I am replacing all 4 with Sailun 637...almost 1/2 the money of the Goodyear 614 and while not a long track record, they are getting an okay reviews. Rated for 3750 lbs at 110 PSI.

I considered the Carlisle 235-85-16 load F-ST(95psi, 3900 lbs), dealer strongly recommended this(contrary to the negative posts, the dealer says that they hear no more negative than other tires). One reason I chose S637's was that on the Carlisle website they say..."..the combined capacity of all of the tires should exceed the loaded trailer weight by 20 percent"...so in effect, not much more load capability that a Load E (3042lbs at 80psi)...the added bonus is higher speed rating...not like I haul over 60-65, but does happen from time to time. I figure I have a little more load capacity at speed.

Last thought on a long post....have any of you guys ever checked the loaded weight, wheel by wheel....most people I talk to blow the rear tires...I am curious to see if the rear tires are carrying more than 1/2 the combined weight on one side...

[kydale]

Maxxis....do the research. ST tire not made in china. For me they were very reliable.

[Allworth]

Most fiver tires age out with plenty of tread still on them. Not counting the bombs, of course.

Different topic: 245/75R16 is an almost exact replacement for 235/85R16. (or 230 or /80)

[Me_Again]

Tgator1 wrote:
Thanks for the feedback. I'm still researching and will finalize my decision this weekend. I am leaning towards the Bridgestone R250's based on information received here and other websites. Just want to make sure the Bridgestones are similar quality tires as the Michelin Ribs. On a set of 4 tires, the difference is about $250 (per Tire Rack & Discount Tires). The original tires on our Titanium were 235 80 16, but that size is not available anywhere that I can find on these LT tires.

I ran Ribs for 6.5 years and 40K+ miles and sold them for 200 bucks on CL. This time I bought R250's, which I feel are just as good or better that the Ribs. Coming up on three years this fall with the R250's. Not air pressure loss, track straight as an arrow. No sign of wear yet. Bought the R250 based on the lower price and VERY happy.

Both will out live ST tires 2-3 times and provide about as great of service as there is available.
Chris

[Tgator1]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm still researching and will finalize my decision this weekend. I am leaning towards the Bridgestone R250's based on information received here and other websites. Just want to make sure the Bridgestones are similar quality tires as the Michelin Ribs. On a set of 4 tires, the difference is about $250 (per Tire Rack & Discount Tires). The original tires on our Titanium were 235 80 16, but that size is not available anywhere that I can find on these LT tires.

[The_Works]

the bear II wrote:
After researching the various RV & Truck forums plus reviews on other websites for about a year, I decided to go with Michelin XPS RIBS for my 5th wheel. Very few RVers had anything bad to say about them. Quite few mentioned they actually got more mileage out of the tires than expected.

They've been on for two years with no complaints.

We put the XPS RIBS on our 5th wheeler last year, currently we have over 15,000 miles on them with no problems. They are pricier that other brands but we full time and I wanted a little piece of mind concerning tires. When the truck needs tires I'm planning on putting Michelins on it also.