No need to switch load ratings for ST tires?
I'm getting a "new to me" 2012 Koala 21CS tomorrow. It has Goodyear Marathon ST205/75R14 C tires. I know a lot of folks are either wanting to go up in tire size, or at least in load rating. I u...
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I've come to that conclusion, that the current 205/75R14 LRC ST tires are fine. The only question remaining is which brand of ST tire to put on the "beast".
My current trailer is a 2009 HiLo Towlite 22' trailer which has 15" LR C, GY Marathons on it. They are nearly at the end of their useful life. They were built in early 2009. I've had zero trouble with them, and they've held the proper air pressure over extended periods. I always put the max air pressure called for by the tire, in this case 50 psi.
The interesting thing is two of the tires on the ground are US made Marathons, and the other two are China made Marathons. And even more interesting is the US made tires are a few weeks newer than the China made tires. There was probably a period of time when the production was overlapping, before US manufacture ceased altogether.
My current trailer is a 2009 HiLo Towlite 22' trailer which has 15" LR C, GY Marathons on it. They are nearly at the end of their useful life. They were built in early 2009. I've had zero trouble with them, and they've held the proper air pressure over extended periods. I always put the max air pressure called for by the tire, in this case 50 psi.
The interesting thing is two of the tires on the ground are US made Marathons, and the other two are China made Marathons. And even more interesting is the US made tires are a few weeks newer than the China made tires. There was probably a period of time when the production was overlapping, before US manufacture ceased altogether.
skipnchar wrote:
My 8,000 lb. Rockwood has traveled over 90,000 towing miles on it's OEM 6 ply tires (C rated ST). I"ve had one flat and one tire cut completely in half from road debris (larger or going to 8 ply tires would not have prevented either). Also check the number of posts where folks have gone to overrated tires (moved up to a D or E rated tire) and still have blowouts. Blowouts are NOT caused by using the correct size tire provided you're not overloading your trailer. SOME brands are just poorly manufactured. I say this after WATCHING two different brands of ST tire blow up while sitting on the bumper in the spare tire position. Kind of hard to lay that on overloading :)
Good luck / Skip
