Tire brands and life expectancy for 5,000 pound TT?

[RTFMOK]

Yesterday, I saw the date codes on my lady's TT tires. 8 years old...

Does the normal 5 year recommendation for car tires also apply to trailer tires?

And if so, what are the good and bad brands of tires?

[DRTDEVL]

JIMNLIN wrote:
Provider tires are mileage and years of service proven....and one of the first out in '10/'11 era new gen M speed rated ST tire. They first hit the streets mostly in the commercial service trailer industry.
All sizes has the nylon cap under the tires tread unlike some sizes in one popular ST tire brand.

Yup. I have pulled trailers with Provider tires for work; more often than not they are replaced due to a lack of remaining legal tread than for failure.

Sure, you get the morons clipping curbs and/or not keeping them inflated, and they blow like any other. I can say for certain, though, that I can get 100k miles out of a set of Provider tires on a 8.5 x 26 Haulmark enclosed trailer without failures just by keeping them aired up properly, keeping the brakes adjusted, and not clipping curbs.

I also found that Hi-Run brand tires worked well, but their tread seemed to melt away in half the time.

[gmw_photos]

Therein lies the problem of waiting until you are on the road to replace this sort of thing. You get stuck with whatever happens to be available.

Always better to make your carefully considered choices and changes at home, while you have the time and options.

[RTFMOK]

RTFMOK wrote:

I will recommend my lady replace the tires.

Well, I did do that. But she wanted to run a little longer...

About a week into our 10 day trip, got some sort of noise happening... Pulled over and checked, could not see anything wrong on any tires.

Back on the road, about 10 miles later, BANG.

Got to a safe place, called AAA to change the tire. Then a couple more miles to Walmart.

Now have 4 new Goodyear Marathon ST LR C tires. Would have got 5, but they only had 4 in stock. Date code is about 2 years old when installed.

No damage to the trailer, and had slowed to about 45 once the tire started complaining.

Had a good trip despite the afternoon interruption. Still need to pick up one more tire to replace the spare.

[Ralph_Cramden]

RTFMOK wrote:
Yesterday, I saw the date codes on my lady's TT tires. 8 years old...

Does the normal 5 year recommendation for car tires also apply to trailer tires?

And if so, what are the good and bad brands of tires?

Sorry, refreshments are not served at this meeting. I hear they have them though at Bikeracks on Bumpers Anon meetings, and Pulling my popup with a 1 ton diesel Anonymous.

[gmw_photos]

All I could afford wrote:
Hi, my name is Mike, and I have run my ST tires overloaded, and over speed.
I sure wish Towing Annonomus served coffee and donuts at these meetings.

Hi Mike, nice to meet you. I'll see you at the side of the road ! I'll be the one with a jack and a lug wrench. Glad to help.

PS, I'll bring coffee and donuts too.

[All_I_could_aff]

Hi, my name is Mike, and I have run my ST tires overloaded, and over speed.
I sure wish Towing Annonomus served coffee and donuts at these meetings.

[JIMNLIN]

Provider tires are mileage and years of service proven....and one of the first out in '10/'11 era new gen M speed rated ST tire. They first hit the streets mostly in the commercial service trailer industry.
All sizes has the nylon cap under the tires tread unlike some sizes in one popular ST tire brand.

[Ralph_Cramden]

JIMNLIN wrote:


Good and bad brands depends on the tires size and load range. Generally the best brand is what a owner is using and the worst is the brand he had issues with.

Tires on trailers range form 13" at 1500 lbs capacity on up to 17.5" tires at 6000 lbs capacity.

So what size and load range are your OEM tires ??
And what is your trailers axle ratings ??

And ST tires are junk according to any RV forum but in the real world there are millions more ST tires on utility trailer, horse trailer, flat trailers, box trailers so on an so forth than there are on recreational trailers.

Hardly anyone on an RV forum will ever admit to running an ST overloaded, low on air, overspeed, or they clip curbs because they don't know how to drive, or like to pull over on debris filled shoulders.

I don't know how I have made it for years pulling trailers with ST tires, and the majority of them made overseas, without the issues reported on these boards. It must be a fluke.

[Atlee]

I would put Carlisle Radial Trail HD's on also.

And by the way, the only trailer tire I ever had fail was a Maxxis.

ScottG wrote:
The only tires I would put on a TT are Maxxis or Goodyear Endurance.

[RTFMOK]

Just found this article on tire aging:

https://www.thoughtco.com/the-science-of-tire-aging-3234377

Some manufacturers apparently are OK with 4-year-old tires still being called "new."

According to this article, tire aging does not really start until they are pressurized. But tires also don't like sitting, they need to roll and flex to keep the natural oils distributed.

So while this link points to some positive info, I can't say it "saves" the tires. I had hoped to hear from this forum that ST tires were longer-lived than normal car tires, but even with this "positive" article suggesting 4-year-old tires can still be considered "new," I can't see pushing this set much further.

I think the main takeaway from this link is that the dealership installing these tires did not necessarily do anything wrong from a safety or legal standpoint. But I still consider them dirty birds. Fresher tires would have been good for at least another year.

I will recommend my lady replace the tires.

Thanks all!

[RTFMOK]

I did confirm that the dealer my lady got the TT from did put the tires on in 2014 when she bought it. She did not like how the existing tires looked.

Dirty birds installed "new" 4-year-old tires! At least they gave her a set of 5.

[myredracer]

8 years? :E Much too old for ST tires. I'm replacing our Marathons after the end of this season at 5 years old and will go with the new Endurance tires. They look like they could go another 20+ years... 😞

How long they will last will depend partly on how they were treated. Heat kills ST type tires and will accelerate aging and risk of a blowout - from towing over speed rating, towing under-inflated and/or towing overloaded. ST tires can still *look* new but be due for replacement. Going up one load range on replacement tires can help a lot because it gives you more reserve load capacity (reduces internal heat). The last thing you want on a towable RV is a blowout due to the expensive damage it causes so don't take chances. 5 years is a good max and some go even less but again, will depend on how you treat your tires.

Roger Marble has some great info. on tire age on his RVtiresafety.net blog here.

[mkirsch]

My enclosed utility trailer has "Triangle" brand tires on it. 14 years old. Tires still look brand new. No signs of cracking, rot, or anything.

Would I recommend 14 years for a travel trailer? No.

I'm just saying the brand has impressed me so far.

[gmw_photos]

My next set of tires for my travel trailer are going to be Hankook RA18 light truck tires. IMO, this would be a good replacement option for what the OP has.

It has a load rating 104 which if I remember right is 1984 lbs at 65 psi for this tire. That would be approx 25% reserve for a 5K lb trailer:

https://www.amazon.com/Hankook-Vantra-RA18-195R14-106R/dp/B01G2C14U4