It is good that some manufacturers seem to be stepping up the quality of their ST tire offerings.. And even better that many of the proponents of ST tires on this forum are welcoming these new tires with open arms.... Though I must point out that since they are now so happy about this, that they must recognize the inferiorority of the previous tires... Despite many past statements to the contrary.Now to the point of this post: Years back I studied the govt. testing standards for LT tires vs ST tires. It was a real eye opener and cemented my decision to pass on ST tires.I am not interested on doing that again. It is a very hard read, and takes a lot of time. And having found my tire solution, I am not interested in go back to STs.The question I have is about the new Higher speed ratings. Are these tires tested to to that by the govt? I am not so sure. Having an ST tire designation may limit at least some of the testing to the 65 MPH speed limit for ST tires. I doubt the regs have been changed because of these new tires.If they are not being tested to the new ratings, then it is just marketing..... Again!I tend to believe the worst as these new tires still have a very low price point. That was one of the primary reasons for the ST."The ST tire is an affordable solution for your trailer tire needs"IOW, a cheap tire that is good enough.Premium materials and construction cost money and should raise the price... Yet these new tires are still much less that half the price of a premium LT tire.I smell a rat.If I were an ST tire fan, I would want to know the truth.

The new Goodyear Endurance tires show some promise - and I have them on our new Cardinal fifth wheel (since the day after we bought it). They are American Made so far are very smooth riding. Before each trip (we use our trailer a minimum of 8 days/nights each month) I check air pressure in each tire and so far it's been 80 PSI in every tire before every trip.Previous tires almost always lost some air during the month and I'd have to add 3 to 10 pounds.Time will tell, but I'm a happy owner of Goodyear Endurance tires so far. I know the naysayers will say they're not going to pay to be a tester for Goodyear - but, after some serious damage from a blowout with a previous trailer (another brand of tire) - I'll happily pay for quality and that's what I see from this Goodyear tire.Are they government tested/rated - can't tell you that.

rjshiflet wrote:The new Goodyear Endurance tires show some promise - and I have them on our new Cardinal fifth wheel (since the day after we bought it). They are American Made so far are very smooth riding. Before each trip (we use our trailer a minimum of 8 days/nights each month) I check air pressure in each tire and so far it's been 80 PSI in every tire before every trip.Previous tires almost always lost some air during the month and I'd have to add 3 to 10 pounds.Time will tell, but I'm a happy owner of Goodyear Endurance tires so far. I know the naysayers will say they're not going to pay to be a tester for Goodyear - but, after some serious damage from a blowout with a previous trailer (another brand of tire) - I'll happily pay for quality and that's what I see from this Goodyear tire.Are they government tested/rated - can't tell you that.And your post is my whole point. There have been MANY promising reports over the years. None of them have stood the rest of time. The industry has played the consumers for suckers again and again. They call it marketing.It it isn't being tested by independant labs in accordance with govt. regs. (internal testing doesn't count) then it is just more smoke and mirrors.The real point of interest is do the govt. standards even allow/require an ST tire to meet any standards above the 65 MPH ST limit... And just what does that testing if it exists entail?

To each their own - that's a decision I made. My brother-in-law uses LT tires on his fifth wheel and he's had far more blowouts than I have sticking with ST tires. Life would be very boring if everybody thought exactly the same way. Happy trails to you!

Huntindog wrote:It is good that some manufacturers seem to be stepping up the quality of their ST tire offerings.. And even better that many of the proponents of ST tires on this forum are welcoming these new tires with open arms.... Though I must point out that since they are now so happy about this, that they must recognize the inferiorority of the previous tires... Despite many past statements to the contrary.Now to the point of this post: Years back I studied the govt. testing standards for LT tires vs ST tires. It was a real eye opener and cemented my decision to pass on ST tires.I am not interested on doing that again. It is a very hard read, and takes a lot of time. And having found my tire solution, I am not interested in go back to STs.The question I have is about the new Higher speed ratings. Are these tires tested to to that by the govt? I am not so sure. Having an ST tire designation may limit at least some of the testing to the 65 MPH speed limit for ST tires. I doubt the regs have been changed because of these new tires.If they are not being tested to the new ratings, then it is just marketing..... Again!I tend to believe the worst as these new tires still have a very low price point. That was one of the primary reasons for the ST."The ST tire is an affordable solution for your trailer tire needs"IOW, a cheap tire that is good enough.Premium materials and construction cost money and should raise the price... Yet these new tires are still much less that half the price of a premium LT tire.I smell a rat.If I were an ST tire fan, I would want to know the truth. While I'm not 100 percent sure you're apparent belief that the gov't actually does all or even most of the testing is probably incorrect. While the gov't might set the standards and even establish the testing protocals it is the manufacturer thru contracting with independent agencies who do the actual testing and pay for that testing. They way this often works is the manufacturer tasks the independent agency/company to test using some protocols with the test results/deliverables given directly to the gov't (i.e. the manufacturer might not even see or have access to the reports and the gov't is the specified COTR for that contract).This along with the reasonable less strenuous testing for non passenger carrying vehicles like trailers and the fact that passenger/LT tires must carry a speed rating that equals or matches the max speed of the vehicle they are put on naturally makes LT passenger carrying tires much more expensive and exhorbantly over designed and tested for use on a trailer which doesn't need 110mph speed tires and a failure rate say multiple that which is reasonable for a non critical trailer application.The one thing I do blame ST tire manufacturers with is there less than stellar QA oversight especially if their tires are made overseas. I would bet that the majority of ST tires are used on cargo/equip/utility type trailers that are mostly used locally by individuals and businesses and never see the sustained highway speeds of RV use. Thus lower quality and testing standards that might result in higher failures, especially catastrophic type such as tread loss/blow outs is a very reasonable trade-off for the much lower cost of say an ST tire from a business prospective which profit wise is the driving market for ST tires and not the RV industry.I'm a firm believer that if an ST tire users understands and accepts what he is buying, and it's design limits and adheres to those most ST tires are totally acceptable for use. With the exception of one set of Kumho 857 tires, I have been running GY Marathons since 1995 on two trailers with no catastrophic failures and generally excellent service. As a SWAG, I've probably bought 20 to 30 ST tires in the last 20+ years and generally run them at very close to their max load and in that time have put probably close to 150-200K towing miles on ST tires.With all this said I will be giving the GY Endurance tires a try the next time I need tires for my trailer.Larry

There is no rat. And the ST vs LT debate is foolish now. Pay more for the LT if you want to, no one cares, its a personal choice, each have had their share failures and in most cases the reported failure is questionable. IMO companies who make ST tires are simply feeling the heat and some have finally improved their offerings. I believe Carlisle started it all about 5-6 years back with their RH series. But very little was known about how good they were, nor their higher speed rating and many lost trust in the name due certain tires in years past failing. Now they have the HD series appears to be an even bigger leap. I'm currently running a mix of Westlakes (75mph rated) and Carlisle HD's (81mph rating) and the HD is clearly looking better after a few thousand miles. And I ran their RH series on my previous TT for nearly 10,000 miles and they still looked great when I sold it. I'm sold on the Carlisle's and have no reason to change. The Goodyear Endurance series looks alright so far too, and it too has a speed rating well over 65mph. But its much too new to have any real feed back. It will be interesting what GY does with the Marathons. I question why they still produce them if the Endurance is that much better.

The new ST tires. Fact or fiction (marketing) | Good Sam Community

Atlee
Explorer II
Aug 11, 2017
The 14" Maxxis tires on my previous trailer did not have a nylon cap under the tread. One of my Maxxis broke a steel ply in April of this year. I was lucky to notice it when I made an emergency stop to use the facilities on board the trailer. It wouldn't have been long, at highway speeds for it to come apart, with the resulting damage to the trailer. Those Maxxis were almost 4 years, and had over 32k miles on them.

My new trailer came with 15" GY Endurance tires on them, they are also LR D. They have 2 polyester plies, 2 steel plies, and 2 nylon plies.

JIMNLIN wrote:
Maxxis doesn't use a nylon cap under the tread in all sizes......to help hold the tire together which may be one reason for Maxxis tire complaints.
Maxxis doesn't say in their advertizing which sizes don't have the cap.

I wouldn't be surprised if Maxxis updated the 8008 tires for the higher speed ratings and a new tread design/carcass profile to match the competition.....in all their sizes.
JIMNLIN
Explorer III
Aug 11, 2017
Maxxis doesn't use a nylon cap under the tread in all sizes......to help hold the tire together which may be one reason for Maxxis tire complaints.
Maxxis doesn't say in their advertizing which sizes don't have the cap.

I wouldn't be surprised if Maxxis updated the 8008 tires for the higher speed ratings and a new tread design/carcass profile to match the competition.....in all their sizes.
time2roll
Nomad
Aug 10, 2017
Airstreamer67 wrote:
All I know is that my last set of Maxxis STs lasted for eight years and many miles with no problems.
My first and only set (Maxxis) came apart just shy of four years.
SoundGuy
Explorer
Aug 10, 2017
Today at my local dealer I had the opportunity to examine 3 tires - Goodyear Marathon LR C, Carlisle HD LR D, and Goodyear Endurance LR D. All brand new, unmounted, ST 205/75 R14. When bearing down as much as I could with my own body weight both the Marathon and Carlisle collapsed noticeably, the Endurance barely at all ... no question the Endurance has a much stiffer sidewall. Of course the Marathon has now been discontinued so between the Carlisle HD and Goodyear Endurance the only advantage I see to the former is it's noticeably lower price, I presume because it's manufactured overseas vs the Endurance which is manufactured in the US. I now have 1000 km on my recently installed Endurance tires so this test, though hardly scientific, helps explains why my trailer tows so much better now than it did previously with the stock off shore LR C tires.
Airstreamer67
Explorer
Aug 03, 2017
All I know is that my last set of Maxxis STs lasted for eight years and many miles with no problems. I expect my new set to perform as well.
kcfissel
Explorer
Aug 02, 2017
Your search for 'ST tires' found 550 matches.

Enough already!!!
gmw_photos
Explorer
Aug 02, 2017
The owner manual for both my equipment and horse trailers dexter axles specifically state that either ST or LT are approved for use on their trailers up to the load capacity molded in the sidewall. P tires are approved for use but the load capacity molded in the sidewall is to be divided by 1.1
JIMNLIN
Explorer III
Aug 02, 2017
Tires have improved immensely since then. Today's Ps, STs and LTs are all designed for specific applications by the tire manufactures. Nobody says you have to listen to them, anymore than you have to pay attention to specs on your TV if you do not want to.

Agree on the improvements however we know a ST tire because of restrictions is a designated trailer tire only.

The tire mfg don't tell us the P or LT tire is specifically designed for just a single purpose only nor do they come with "to be used only" warning on the tire .
rbpru
Explorer II
Aug 02, 2017
Let me clarify a point, look at the original tires on vintage TTs from the 1940's, 50's and early 1960's. They had car tires in them, what today we refer to as "P".

My 60's vintage 14 footer had car tires, it was pulled buy a 400 cu/in plus engine in a station wagon behemoth that never new it was there. It did have a WD hitch however.

Tires have improved immensely since then. Today's Ps, STs and LTs are all designed for specific applications by the tire manufactures. Nobody says you have to listen to them, anymore than you have to pay attention to specs on your TV if you do not want to.

We all make the choices we feel will resolve the issues at hand.
JIMNLIN
Explorer III
Aug 02, 2017
LOL....that picture weighs more than 42 lbs. :B

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