Ridgeway Sport ST Tires?

[Teoma]

Anyone have any first hand experience with Ridgeway Sport ST 205/75 14inch bias tires? I just bought a new Wildwood TT and those are the tires. The Date of Manuf of the tires is early March 2015, they have about 200 miles on them. My wife and I will be taking a 6 week 4000 mile trip in the next few weeks and I debating with myself about upgrading to Maxxis tires before we leave or gamble with whats on there.
Thanks

[Westcoasting]

Teoma wrote:
Anyone have any first hand experience with Ridgeway Sport ST 205/75 14inch bias tires? I just bought a new Wildwood TT and those are the tires. The Date of Manuf of the tires is early March 2015, they have about 200 miles on them. My wife and I will be taking a 6 week 4000 mile trip in the next few weeks and I debating with myself about upgrading to Maxxis tires before we leave or gamble with whats on there.
Thanks

I went through three years of headaches with trailer tire blowouts and tread separation before putting wrangler HT's on my trailer, no issues since! I had Super Trail, Maxxis and Goodyear Marathons all go to **** on me. Now I'm going to upgrade to 16" just to get a heavy duty tire on.

Towed through the 80's and 90's and didn't even think about tires and no one I knew had problems with tires. Get back into a trailer in 2010 and have nothing but problems with multiple brands of trailer tires. I will never ever buy another.

[TexasChaps]

Teoma wrote:
Anyone have any first hand experience with Ridgeway Sport ST 205/75 14inch bias tires? I just bought a new Wildwood TT and those are the tires. The Date of Manuf of the tires is early March 2015, they have about 200 miles on them. My wife and I will be taking a 6 week 4000 mile trip in the next few weeks and I debating with myself about upgrading to Maxxis tires before we leave or gamble with whats on there.
Thanks

Maxxis UE168N bravo LT commercial truck tire..
I have dual axle 14in wheels on my TH, very first thing I did was to replace the ST bombs with the bravo 205R14C. I bought my TH damaged.. the previous owner had a china bomb blowout that damaged the underside and destroyed the gray water drain and valve.

no problems or worries after 15000 miles. upgrade and be done with it..

BTW: ST has 1760lb max load rating, LT Bravo has 2270lb max load rating. that's a 28% extra safety margin. Just make sure your rims can handle 65 psi.

[rbpru]

After 15,000 miles of towing a TT I bought used, I just changed the tires because they were dated 2009.

They were the factory tires, you know those dreaded China bombs that everybody frets over.

The RV industry has put 1,000,000 tires on the road each year for the last three years, so naturally they select the least expensive tire that will do the job.

If you want to feel safe then by all means buy the best you can, road hazards like to puncture them also.

Oh and surely you are not going to tow with anything less than a diesel with dual rear wheels, you know those crosswinds and all.

[Socalz]

My 2016 Dutchmen Denali came equipped with Ridgway Sport ST tires in an E-rated 235/80x16 and yes it's Ridgway without the e. You get a few more hits on Google with it spelled that way, but info is still rather sparse. The good news is that they're NOT China bombs. Mine have a YT plant code on the sidewall which shows that they are made by Birla Tyres in India. Having never heard of Ridgway or Birla before, I guess the bad news is that I may possibly own India bombs instead.

I've decided to leave the Ridgways on for at least a year while they're under warranty with the idea of possibly swapping them out for a set of Carlisle F-rated 235/85x16's later on. I have a Tyreminder TPMS to help me keep a close eye on the Ridgways.

If you change tires don't forget to install metal valve stems at the same time. My last trailer was equipped with China bombs and when I lost the first one I had Maxxis tires installed. Within 18 months I lost 2 of the Maxxis tires when the cheap Chinese rubber valve stems failed. I had all my tires dismounted, installed metal valve stems, reinstalled the tires and never had another problem.

[phone_man]

Tires come up every few months with a lot of diehard testimonials from posters. My personal experience is usually different than most people on here. I ran "china bombs" for 5 years on a popup and then 4 years on a 34ft TT and never, ever had one single issue. Two years ago I bought a set of Maxxis tires and had my first blowout in almost 10 years of trailer towing. I've also towed trailers at my job, which are all Goodyear Marathons and have never had a tire failure.

[SprinklerMan]

Cup fan wrote:
I have the same tires (different size) on my 2015 Rockwood. And I have been toying with the same dilemma of replacing my tires before our trip to Yellowstone this summer. I have tried to research these tires in an attempt to find some reviews, and have not been able to find any information whatsoever. I even went to a local tire shop yesterday and he hasn't heard of them either. At the very least, I'll have these balanced before we go. I was considering replacing them with LT tires, but can't find them in a 15" my size, so the concern is finding a brand that is any better than what I've got now. But I'll definitely check out the tires from Tire Rack that the other posters have recommended. In the meantime, if anyone finds out anything about the Ridgway tires, I too,would be curious to know about it.

If you have 6 lug rims , move up to a 16 in rim and your selection of LT tires increases leaps and bounds . Put the old tires and rims on craigslist and recoup 1/3 to 1/2 the cost

[Huntindog]

Never heard of that brand.
I take it that it's from China? They seem to keep making tires under constantly changing brand names. That doesn't give me a lot of faith in the product.

I will suggest that you bite the bullet and get into the 16" LT truck tires. Much better availability and quality.. If you have 15s now, I am certain that you can get 16s to fit. Trust me, it is well worth the effort and $$.

[JIMNLIN]

I wouldn't draw any conclusion about any tire type or brand reliability from just one or two folks reporting "they had a problem" or what you read from just one RV website.
Too many unknowns.

If anyone needs to know anything about how a tire brand or tire type is holding up do a internet search as this gives you input from all type of trailer owners from many different RV webs and non RV websites.

[LarryJM]

gmw photos wrote:
Part of the decision whether to change the tires for something else may also depend on how you define "upgrade".

Yep and for those considering the KUMHO route might want to read the following My Kumho Tire Saga.

BTW my experiences with the so called "CHINA BOMBS" has been the same as spadoctor, but only for about 100K+ miles over the last 20 years and two different trailers.

Larry

[Teoma]

I have seen the Kumho 857 on tire rack but I can't seem to get the price to come up on their website. I'll give them a call.
Thanks

[Cup_fan]

I have the same tires (different size) on my 2015 Rockwood. And I have been toying with the same dilemma of replacing my tires before our trip to Yellowstone this summer. I have tried to research these tires in an attempt to find some reviews, and have not been able to find any information whatsoever. I even went to a local tire shop yesterday and he hasn't heard of them either. At the very least, I'll have these balanced before we go. I was considering replacing them with LT tires, but can't find them in a 15" my size, so the concern is finding a brand that is any better than what I've got now. But I'll definitely check out the tires from Tire Rack that the other posters have recommended. In the meantime, if anyone finds out anything about the Ridgway tires, I too,would be curious to know about it.

[gmw_photos]

Upgrade would be Maxxis or Kumho 857 (anyone know where to buy Kumho 857 tires- I can't find them anywhere). Not may choices in 14 inch tires.
Can I upgrade to 15 inch wheels if I find the same bolt pattern. There is lots of room between the tandem tires.
Thanks

Yes, I got my Kumho 857's from Tire Rack.

Another choice could be Hankook RA08 ( not from tire rack though I don't think ).

I like being able to get tires from Tire Rack as they generally have inventory and can ship immediately.

In 15" there is Good Year Cargo G26 ( tire rack ) or Good Year Wrangler HT ( tire rack or any Good Year dealer should be able to order them )

[Lynnmor]

Goodyear ST's are made in China.
Get the Kumho's.

[spadoctor]

I have towed over 250000 miles and never a "China bomb" failure only a US made Goodyear.