Doesn't seem to have been many ST tire failures this year.

[CapriRacer]

In comparison to past years, there doesn't seem to have been as many ST tire failures.

Does this mean the tires are improving?

Does this mean this year was just a mild year (weatherwise?)

Does this mean fewer people are complaining?

Does this mean people are paying more attention to tire condition and tire maintenance?

What say you?

[Francesca_Knowl]

ken white wrote:
IMHO, it is not if marginal ST tires will fail, it is when, and they fail rather quickly once they decide to go....

Oh and for all of those believers that the sidewalls of an ST tire are tougher than an LT tire, this is BS.

The sidewalls are 2-ply polyester and the carcass is very light compared to an equivalent LT tire...

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but it's my understanding that few if any LT's have something other than two-ply polyester sidewalls, though some may have sidewall enhancements such as the turnups provided by Dunlop on its off-roader, The Mud Rover.

Which of course is unlikely to be a choice anyone would make for a trailer.

[ken_white]

IMHO, it is not if marginal ST tires will fail, it is when, and they fail rather quickly once they decide to go....

Oh and for all of those believers that the sidewalls of an ST tire are tougher than an LT tire, this is BS.

The sidewalls are 2-ply polyester and the carcass is very light compared to an equivalent LT tire...

[myredracer]

A statistician would not put any value on tire failure reports between this year and the last based on posts on this forum. There's too many factors that could skew the results. As mentioned, it could be because some forum members are taking better care of their tires after reading reports here. Or it could be because after reading tire reports on the forum, they just accept what happens to them. I highly doubt it's because owners are upgrading to LT tires.

Besides, for every person that goes to an RV forum, there's thousand or tens of thousands of RV owners out there that never use forums so there's no accurate data for failures in the general RV population.

It seems to me that a lot more failures are due more to "operator error" and other factors as opposed to where they are made. I have found Roger Marble's (a former tire engineer)RVtiresafety.com blog to have excellent info. With ST tires, it appears to be very important to keep speed down below 65, to maintain correct pressure all around, to not overload tires and to regularly inspect the tires.

There's other factors that can lead to failure or premature wear such as alignment issues, loose wheel bearings, weak frames/suspensions and worn bushings.

I now follow all the precautionary measures including a TPMS. We now have over 1,000 miles on our Marathon LRD tires in the first year of our latest TT, so we must be doing something right, lol...

[ken_white]

Just returned back from having DRV do some warranty work on my camper and I had an instantaneous blow-out on the way out.

This failure took out the aluminum panel, fender flare, mounting straps, and rubber seal...

Luckily, I was able to get off the highway quickly and my hydraulics and electrical were unscathed.

Got everything repaired at DRV, and it cost me extra time and quite a few $'s, but the trailer looked almost as good as new - still needs some buffing on the fiberglass wall and a decal installed.

On the way home, had another blow-out right at the toll booth, so no damage, and while repairing that, found a big bubble on another tire.

Only had one spare, so I had the drop the trailer on the side of the toll road to find a tire dealer on Saturday and get the bad tire replaced with a Carlisle.

Got back to the trailer and replaced the bubbled tire and used the bubbled tire as a spare - risky but I made it home.

The tires - Power King Tow-Max...

The worse tires ever IMHO.

I am going to get a set of Sailun S637 tires.

EDIT: Tires have the air pressure checked before every trip - 80 psi.

Rarely travel over 65 mph but it does happen sometimes.

Tires only have/had about 1500 miles on them.

[Chris_Bryant]

I bet I'm the only one here who has actually worn out a set of trailer tires- worn the tread down to near bald, with 90 K miles.
Michelin XCA 7.00-15 LT LR E.

Of course, that was only 2 1/2 years.

It's been a while 😉

[Huntindog]

brirene wrote:
I've noted this several times in posts over the last year or so, but then again I think the whole "chinabomb" thing was a bit overblown (no pun intended) in the first place. And I agree that quality has improved over the past4-5 years. The notion that more people are using LT tires is kind of silly, as I bet it's a very small percentage of the general rv population. As mentioned, a small percentage of rv users actually frequent forums like this, and so are ignorant of the issue. Guy I worked with replaced his tires a while back. I asked what he put on, and his response was he had no idea, but they were cheap. There's the vast majority. All imho, of course.

Agree. But the people on this forum ARE informed of the issue. So a larger percentage of the posters on this forum than the general population have likely taken steps to address the problem.

That would make for fewer posts about it.


As for the "new" ST tires with the cap.... Maybe they are better. Maybe not.
But these same companies cheerfully took my money selling a product that they KNEW was a problem.

They have burned their bridges with me. They get no more of my money.

I have found a solution that works.

[Francesca_Knowl]

Shanester wrote:
My Sunnybrook 5er came with LT tires from the factory. I thought that was interesting. LT225/75/16 load range E.

What brand of LT's did they put on?

[Shanester]

My Sunnybrook 5er came with LT tires from the factory. I thought that was interesting. LT225/75/16 load range E.

[brirene]

I've noted this several times in posts over the last year or so, but then again I think the whole "chinabomb" thing was a bit overblown (no pun intended) in the first place. And I agree that quality has improved over the past4-5 years. The notion that more people are using LT tires is kind of silly, as I bet it's a very small percentage of the general rv population. As mentioned, a small percentage of rv users actually frequent forums like this, and so are ignorant of the issue. Guy I worked with replaced his tires a while back. I asked what he put on, and his response was he had no idea, but they were cheap. There's the vast majority. All imho, of course.

[Francesca_Knowl]

Are any of the "failures" posted in this thread new/previously unreported? I ask because some of them have a ring of familiarity, perhaps brought about by repetition every time this subject arises.

Dates of occurrence, however general, would be most helpful in sorting this out. This especially since the O.P.'s question has to do with his perception of a drop in RECENT new reports, or at least those reports made this year/season.

[OldGreaser]

I have gone through my second set of ST's. Total mileage on the trailer is about 34,000. Trailer is 40ft, 18k lbs and triple axle. The original Towmax tires were shot around 16,000 miles. Failures 2 and 3 happened within 50 miles of each other. Only 1 of the original 6 tires appeared serviceable at that time. I installed a set of Maxxis ST's. At 23,000 miles, I noticed a huge lump on the inside of one tire. Another tire had picked up some road debris and had a slow leak that could not be patched. I opted to begin a transition to Michelin LT's and installed 2. Around 25,500 miles, another Maxxis developed a slow leak. That same day, a piece of road debris cut the rubber stem on my spare, necessitating another tire stop. (All other wheels had steel stems.) We got home without a spare and I opted to complete my transition to Michelin LT's before we headed out on another major trip. Two of the Maxxis tires appeared to still have service life. They are presently laying in my garage until I get around to selling them. All tires on the trailer including spare are now LT's with steel stems. I'm at roughly 34,000 miles with no problems or visible signs of wear. For the record, I have always run a TST tpms system. It caught 4 of my 5 tire failures while rolling. The first failure was a 'full shrapnel' blowout. I heard a bang, saw pieces of rubber flying in my mirror, and then heard the alarm. The other 4 failures gave me a low pressure alarm that let me get off the road before I went flat, and also avoided possible trailer damage, so I am sold on the tpms. I am also sold on running LT's. They are rated above my axle rating. YMMV.

[Justaguy]

Lantley wrote:

coolbreeze01 wrote:
2,400 miles into my Towmax STR test on 225 75 15 E's. So far so good.

Looks like you have a new rig.
Not to jinx your situation but my prediction is your OEM ST tires will not last more than 2 seasons before you have a issue.
This has been my experience on 2 RV's.
I have zero faith in OEM ST tires.

Got 10,000 miles out of the Westlakes that came w/our rig. No problems but I wasn't going to push it. Put Maxxis on last week,

[old_guy]

education brings out the best in us

[Dave_H_M]

i don't pay any attention to tire failure threads. Always the same song - just a different verse.

I am running Firestone transforce LT's and not looking back.

[mena661]

People are driving slower.