new goodyear tires designed for RV's

[tomman58]

Went to the Tampa RV show yesterday to check out the 338 TT like the one we have now. Boy what a difference 4 years makes, a lot of new features and other things changed to make them better.
The one change are the tires, now they are Good year RV Tires E series and are made in the USA. So long to Chinese tires. The head of the Jayco representation (not a sales guy) explain how they were part of the design of a tire that is made for us! The side walls are heavy to help in bruising on curbs etc. The tire itself is designed to straight pulling, so the belts and tread are different. The tire is also speed rated for 85MPH not that I would ever drive that fast but does show a far better grip on the reality of the tires.
We travel a lot and put 10,000 miles on our trailer some years, so time to buy a new one. Oh I am adding the leveling system as I am getting frigg'n old.

[gmw_photos]

rbpru wrote:
We all agree that having a premium tire available for TTs is a good idea.

However, when trying to compare them to the quality of the tires currently available, remember the TT industry puts 2,000,0000 tires on the road every year. GY's production is a drop in the bucket compared to the number of tires currently in use.

As more TT manufacturers feature these premium tires and put them in the hands of the average owner it will be interesting to see how they perform.

And while I agree with you in principle, rbpru, my only nit to pick with your statement is "premium tire".

At this point in the process, since the tire has only been out for 18 months or so, at least in my mind, it has not yet earned the title of "premium". That is an attribute that may or may not be earned over the next, let's say five years or so. At this point, it falls into the category of marketing fluff.

It's like hiring a new employee. I need to see how they work out over some period of time.

EDIT: where I worked, we had essentially a 90 day period where a new person had to walk the straight and narrow. During this period, they were the FNG..... and needed to prove themselves.

This tire is the FNG.

[rbpru]

We all agree that having a premium tire available for TTs is a good idea.

However, when trying to compare them to the quality of the tires currently available, remember the TT industry puts 2,000,0000 tires on the road every year. GY's production is a drop in the bucket compared to the number of tires currently in use.

As more TT manufacturers feature these premium tires and put them in the hands of the average owner it will be interesting to see how they perform.

[gmw_photos]

tomman58 wrote:
....snip....

I am always amused at those that would rather live in a cave than step into the future,LOL My career was involved with many engineers from most auto plants and my projects were cutting edge and innovative so in my retirement I tend to go in the future rather than sitting and complaining. That's me, like I really enjoying owning a Volt and really like electronic cutting edge. Lots of fun. Now a better mousetrap of a tire, can be a good thing.

That's me Tom ! Caveman here. I prefer to buy and use things that are "proven".

In my almost 40 year career as a machinist, I spent my years making the transition from old manual machines right on into the world of CNC.
One of my responsibilities in my last decade was to work thru, with the software engineers the latest versions of both current O/S and current application software that ran the machines.
At times in these processes, we had to temporarily fall back to "what we know works", in order to actually have a functioning shop.

In retirement, I like being a caveman. It's part of why I like my horses. Yes, the car has been invented, but there is something satisfying about dealing with the simplicity of "one horsepower".

This theory is why I run LT tires: I know they work.

Caveman here, over and out.

[tomman58]

GrandpaKip wrote:
I’ve got over 20k miles on a set of Maxxis 14” tires. Had one flat from a nail, that is now my spare. I’ll probably replace them in the next 2 years. I would love to replace them with LTs, but am very limited with a choice. I have no interest in a larger size. By then, maybe the Endurance will still have its fans.

I too replaced the tires on my 338 with Maxxis after the last blow out and they are doing good at this point. I do look forward to having a new Goodyear and seeing what a made in America redesigned TT tire is.
y like
I am always amused at those that would rather live in a cave than step into the future,LOL My career was involved with many engineers from most auto plants and my projects were cutting edge and innovative so in my retirement I tend to go in the future rather than sitting and complaining. That's me, like I really enjoying owning a Volt and really like electronic cutting edge. Lots of fun. Now a better mousetrap of a tire, can be a good thing.

[GrandpaKip]

I’ve got over 20k miles on a set of Maxxis 14” tires. Had one flat from a nail, that is now my spare. I’ll probably replace them in the next 2 years. I would love to replace them with LTs, but am very limited with a choice. I have no interest in a larger size. By then, maybe the Endurance will still have its fans.

[SoundGuy]

gmw photos wrote:
I don't know what the failures were caused by. All I know is they shredded, they were ST, and none of the LT tires shredded.

Here's one of them.



I already have a solution to this problem, and it's called LT tires on my trailers.

I'll go one better 😛 ... here's a Chinese manufactured ST205/75 R14 that came off a brand new Coachmen trailer sold just six months earlier so at most this tire would have been no more than a year old, most likely less.



All other tires on the same trailer showed no signs of failure of any kind, this one simply blew apart for no apparent reason. The owner chose a set of Goodyear Endurance ST tires as replacements, the same choice I made when I replaced my off-shore bombs on my own Coachmen, one of which also failed, though not anywhere nearly as badly as this one. :E

[gmw_photos]

It could be that "some" ST tires are better now. However in the last six months, at my barn, I have seen a failed Provider ST tire, and a failed "BCT" ( bejing china tire ) ST tire on two different trailers that I personally know were maintained correctly. We have numerous different trailers there, four of which are mine.

I don't know what the failures were caused by. All I know is they shredded, they were ST, and none of the LT tires shredded.

Here's one of them. And no, I don't have time to be dinking around taking shredded tires back to a dealer for them to potentially send in for evaluation, etc. Why should I ? I already have a solution to this problem, and it's called LT tires on my trailers.

I'll leave the beta testing to others. I've got things to do when I am home, and beta testing "new improved ST tires" is not on my list of fun ways to spend my day. I'd rather go camp, or play with one of the horses.

[aftermath]

Huntingdog, 12 years is a long time and ST tires have made some improvements. I have nothing against anyone who wants to run LTs or those who want to run STs. Pick your poison I suppose.

I don't understand the straight line towing claims. And I have a hard time believing that LTs are weaker in the sides and can't handle the pressure that comes from turns. My TV has LT tires and 2 of them are on the front where there is considerable turning and flexing.

I had Carlisles on my hybrid which blew shortly after I purchased it. They were underrated for the weight. I replaced them with some off brand I got at Les Schwab. Had no trouble. Got a used Airstream with GYMs and after about 5 years I replaced them with Maxxis. The GYMs did have some belt failure developing in two of them. The Maxxis were great. They aged out and when I looked at replacing them I saw the Carlisle HD tire that had great ratings, was an E load tire and had a much higher speed rating than the Maxxis. They were also less expensive so that is what I have. No problems here so far.

So, there are lots of choices out there. If you are still open to ST tires there are some much improved options here too.

[Westcoasting]

Huntindog wrote:

JIMNLIN wrote:

He said these were by far an important tire upgrade. period. The light truck tires do not have the rigid side walls that these new ones do and are not made for straight line pulling.
Like I said this was a head guy from Jayco and his info was invaluable. To bad all of us do not have access to people other than sales guys that have other interests.

LOL...the guy needs to stick with his product. His statements tells me he's not very knowledgeable about ST or LT tires.

Give him this blog http://www.rvtiresafety.net/2018/01/why-do-trailer-tires-fail-more-often.htmlfrom a actual tire engineer (Tireman9 ) for him to better educate himself on the subject of ST vs LT tires.
There are dozens of subject matter for days of reading about tires for all types of trucks/motorhomes/trailers/etc.

ROTFLMAO.

What exactly is so difficult about straight line pulling that requires "special" construction?
And LRE LT tire have plenty stiff sidewalls.

It appears that this new endurance tire is a LOT closer to LT type construction, including a higher price point that was previously unavailable in STs.

The 100,000 question is whether enough people will pony up the extra $$$ for what MAY turn out to be a quality ST tire.

The second big question is will the long term testing live up to the hype.

I have 5 different trailers and have run the whole gauntlet of st tires with failures of every major one. Now i only have Saliun St's on one trailer and am happy with them, the rest i have changed over to LT tires... Wrangler HT's on two of them now and Bridgestones on two others. I will never ever go back!... Well maybe once a tire gets like 5 years of good reviews i might.

[gmw_photos]

tomman58 wrote:
...snip...

I will be picking up my new Jayco 338RETS in April. I will have many thousands of miles on it by this time next fall. I'll let you know about the differences. I tow a lot in the past 9 years I've towed for 190,000 miles with one blow out and new tires every 4 years on my TT.

That'll be a good test. Looking fwd to hearing your thoughts and experience with them.

[tomman58]

gmw photos wrote:

babock wrote:
I just replaced the 14" tires on my new TT with Maxxis. After all the beta testers prove the Endurance tires have good quality, I will buy them next.

I did step up in size from 205 to 215.

Good plan in theory, but sadly, most of the guys that are buying them to do the beta testing for you likely won't do many miles. We see this all the time here. Someone will say, "I've done a whole 8000 miles and they are great". If those same guys had a car tire failure in 8000 miles they'd scream bloddy murder.
Let's face it, most travel trailers are owned by working stiffs that only get to go out a few weekends a year, and maybe one long trip. Then it gets parked again. Not exactly good long-term testing.

I will be picking up my new Jayco 338RETS in April. I will have many thousands of miles on it by this time next fall. I'll let you know about the differences. I tow a lot in the past 9 years I've towed for 190,000 miles with one blow out and new tires every 4 years on my TT.

[gmw_photos]

babock wrote:
I just replaced the 14" tires on my new TT with Maxxis. After all the beta testers prove the Endurance tires have good quality, I will buy them next.

I did step up in size from 205 to 215.

Good plan in theory, but sadly, most of the guys that are buying them to do the beta testing for you likely won't do many miles. We see this all the time here. Someone will say, "I've done a whole 8000 miles and they are great". If those same guys had a car tire failure in 8000 miles they'd scream bloddy murder.
Let's face it, most travel trailers are owned by working stiffs that only get to go out a few weekends a year, and maybe one long trip. Then it gets parked again. Not exactly good long-term testing.

[babock]

I just replaced the 14" tires on my new TT with Maxxis. After all the beta testers prove the Endurance tires have good quality, I will buy them next.

I did step up in size from 205 to 215.

[Huntindog]

ktmrfs wrote:

Toolguy5 wrote:

BurbMan wrote:
ScottG, he meant "us" as in trailer towers, not "us" as in Jayco. He said Jayco was on the industry design team that helped spec the tire with GY.

Yikes, just looked them up and $175 EACH?!?! I paid $500 out the door for the whole set of my current LT's.

Michelin Rib LT's run around $225 each. I put them on my 5er 2 years ago including spare. So $175 each for Endurance is not so bad.

I paid $480 for a set of 4 endurance 225/75-15 LRE including the america's tire replacement program last July. The maxxis were noticeably more expensive.

yes, LT's would be nice but I can't get 15" LT's with a high enough load rating.

16s are the sweet spot for LTs. Most TTs have too small a tire from the factory IMO.
The TT I first put LTs on started it's life with 205/14 LRC ST tires. After several tire size LRE increases, and rim sizes, I finally got to the solution. Michelin 16" LT XPS RIBs.

If you really want to go to LTs, it is likely possible to put 16"
LTs on your TT. If I could do it on that old TT of mine, you probably can too.
It isn't cheap. But my TT tires are now every bit as reliable as my TV tires. No need to baby them, checking on them constantly for signs of trouble.