That's a good questions because even american built cars have many parts from other countries. The last I knew Cooper and Goodyear were making some of their tires still in the US but even that could've changed. The only way to know for sure is read the label.I have Maxxis on my TT and are great tires and have no compliants whatsoever. I've only heard good things about them on this forum. Wish you luck, I'm sure others might have better info. Can always google to see what is out there !!!
Dana & wife Terri
Daughter - Stephanie
Son - Phillip
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TV - 2003 Suburban
TT - 2004 Jayco 29 BHS
I switched to high quality (Michelin) passenger 14 inch car tires after carefully comparing load capacity and determining I can use the same tire size in a load range B. I have had no issues towing so far. If you use larger sizes you can switch to LT truck tires if needed to have adequate laod capacity.
Trailer tires do not have to meet any DOT standards and in many cases are poorly constucted and have a maximum life of 10K miles (according to Discount Tire).
Good luck...just went through the process of trying to find trailer tires. Even the Maxxis tires which came on our Sunline were made in China. Getting replacement Maxxis would have been expensive as nobody in our area carries them. I ended up going with Goodyear Marathons.....made in China. I'm not thrilled about it, but there wasn't much to choose from. Two rv dealers that I've dealt with are still selling Carlisle, which has a questionable reputation on the forum.
With the Goodyears, if I have a problem, there should be a Goodyear dealer nearby to assist with any warranty issues. My new tires will be taking their first long haul in a week or so...I'll certainly post any problems I have.
If you can get Maxxis, I think they would be as good a choice as any. I'm still undecided about the option of using LT tires on a travel trailer, but if the Marathons fail prematurely, I'd have to consider replacing them with LT tires.
In the bigger picture....this country has to do something about monitoring the quality of goods coming in from China and other foreign countries. We're quickly getting to the point that we don't even have the choice of buying American made goods....and we're just putting our fellow Americans out of work.
2001 Dodge 3500 DRW V10 Magnum
2002 Sunline T280SR
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When I ordered my new Rockwood I was concerned it would have Chinese made tires and I specifically requested Goodyear (no knowing at the time they'd moved manufacturer of MOST of them to China). Having had great luck with my Canadian made Marathons (40,000 miles) I had no doubt this was the way to go. Guess I got lucky because when I picked up the trailer it DID have Goodyear Marathons but they were made in New Zealand. I've been very happy with them but I WILL not use Chinese made tires if I can help it as I have NO faith in their production methods or their integrity. Good luck / Skip
Good luck.
Just took delivery of a new trailer (and not an entry level model to boot). Tires are Mission...made in China. I went around and around with the dealer and the manufacturer over this. They have the DOT seal of "approval", so that was good enough for them. Both said that they have "no problems" with them.
I am and will be extra vigilant with these tires...as we should with all tires on our rigs.
Trailer tires do not have to meet any DOT standards and in many cases are poorly constucted and have a maximum life of 10K miles (according to Discount Tire).
Dick
This comment led me to do a Google search on DOT standards. I didn't find too much but I did find the following (from DOT):
Standard No. 119 - New Pneumatic Tires - Multipurpose Passenger Vehicles, Trucks, Buses, Trailers, and Motorcycles (Effective 3-1-75)
This standard establishes performance and marking requirements for tires for use on multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, buses, trailers, and motorcycles. Its purpose is to provide safe operational performance levels for tires used on motor vehicles other than passenger cars, and to place sufficient information on the tires to permit their proper selection and use.
Standard No. 120 - Tire Selection and Rims for Motor Vehicles Other Than Passenger Cars - Multipurpose Passenger Vehicles, Trucks, Buses, Trailers, and Motorcycles, to Rims for use on those vehicles, and to Non-Pneumatic Spare Tire Assemblies for use on those vehicles
(Effective 8-1-76)
This standard specifies tire and rim selection requirements and rim marking requirements. Its purpose is to provide safe operational performance by ensuring that vehicles to which it applies are equipped with tires of adequate size and load rating and with rims of appropriate size, type designation, and manufacturer identification.
What DOT standards really accomplish for us consumers, other than tire labeling, I'm still not sure. But, it sure is an interesting point of discussion.
There are hundreds of threads on trailer tires, but I went with Michelin XPS Ribs. Yes, they are Light truck tires, not trailer tires. But I never noticed any undue scrubbing on my 31 foot 10,000 trailer. I also went up a load range from C to D and got rid of the aluminum wheels and got chrome steel and metal valve stems. This was because I was running 80 pounds pressure for the heavy load. It was expensive, but not compared to a lot of the horror stories you will read about trailer blow outs and $2,000+ damage from the tire fragments.
BTW, if you are prejudiced, Michelins are French. :-)
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