............A few comments , first off , for those with 5'vers with 6 hole hubs , most 6 holers are 5200 pound axles . 8 holers will be either be 6,000 or 7,000 axles . If , youse guys with 6 hole hubs would like to upgrade to a 16 inch , LT type load range e tire ; you can purchase 6 hole , 16 inch wheels rated at 80 psi from Southwest wheel in Dallas , tx . This will only work if there is sufficient clearance so the larger tires will articulate within the wheel well of your trailer .
............Michelin XPS ribs are THE premier trailer tire currently available at a decent price in a load range E catagory . And , are probably as capable as the Goodyear load range "G's" costing a lot more money and Still "blowing out" as evidenced , And Reported on this forum . , jf
RandACampin wrote: Yet another post about someone changing perfectly good brand new tires because of the mania on this forum about tires. I just dont get it, why would you do this. Quit listening to all the doom and gloom on the forum about tire issues.
Yes a few posters report tire failures, however very few can say with any degree of certanty what caused it, its always easiest to say "cheap chinese tires". Any number of factors could have caused these failures, inflation, overloading, over the speed limit of the tire, road debris or a combination of them.
The number of posters here reporting tire failures are a small percentage of the RV population in toto. I have had many years of good luck with the dreaded Carlisle tires, I wonder why that is?
Save your money, use your brand new tires until they need replacing and go camping.
-rog
I’ve had 5 of the cheap Chinese tires to fail. I had to do something else. The trailer I had at that time was a Laredo 29BH. With all the stuff in it loaded and ready to go it weighed 9300 pounds. (not overloaded). I drove between 65 and 70 most of the time. I guess you can blame the tire failures on the speed, if you have to blame something besides the junk tires. All this tire failure came in approximately 9,000 miles of pulling. Since I upgraded to LT225/75R/16 E rated B F Goodrich Commercial TA tires, I’ve pulled approximately 7,000 miles, same speed as before. No more tire problems. When I traded the camper for the Cougar I have now the 16 inch tires and wheels came with me. They fit fine on the Cougar also. I usually pull two or three long trips per year. (over 700 miles). If you only pull your camper 35 miles or so to the local SP, then you could possibly get by with the Chinese junk?????? Not me. I’ve learned my lesson. It’s also very important for tires with 65 or more psi to have metal high pressure valve stems. BTW I have posted a picture of a failed Chinese tire before on this site that still has 65 psi in it. We people that post about going to a better tire than the Chinese junk tires are not tooting our own whistle. Just trying to help others learn what we’ve learned by experience.
* This post was
edited 05/13/08 07:09pm by Cox89XJ *
Switch your rims to 16" and go with Michelin RIB XPS tires. I had 4 Cooper tires fail on my 5er when it was new and the replacement Goodyear's had 2 blowouts. I put on Michelin 225X75x16E XPS RIB tires and am now on my 3rd set without any blowouts.
I also use metal valve stems and drive slower in high temps.
I had a Chinese tire pretty much explode leaving parts of by brand new Cougar scattered on I-95 just north of Richmond last year. What made it even worse was that I had just picked it up from the dealership. It was empty, I never exceeded 60 mph, tire pressures were checked by the dealer and again by me prior to leaving. It happened about 30 miles from the dealership. Keystone repaired the damage and replaced all 5 tires w/Denmans. I haven't had an issue since. I don't know why the tire blew, but it sure taught me a lesson about tire safety & maintenance. After looking at the remains of the blowout and how that tire was made, I'll only stick with brands that I know. I've thought about going with 16's but the Denman's are holding up well so far.
DCHAVILIN:
Just my 2cents worth: I bought an 07 Flagstaff by FR. After about 5k miles, while on the road, I noticed that my left front tire was going down. I pulled over and by that time it was totally flat. I put the spare on and took the tire to a local tire shop for repairs. They noticed that the tire was coming apart and you could see the steel mesh between the treads. Also he checked the other 3 and noticed the same situation. I bought one new tire because I didn't want to travel without a spare. When I got home I contacted the Tire company (Carlisle) that had provided the tires for FR. They asked that I send back the flat tire, which they paid the shipping and they would evaluate it. After receiving the tire, they agreed that it was a manufacture's defect and sent me 4 new tire of the same make and size. I had them mounted at a cost of $60 and went on my way. Took the 5er back to the storage yard. A week later, went to check on it and found that two of the tires were very low. Put air in and took it back to the tire shop where they were mounted. Come to find out that two of the four tires were coming apart from the sidewall. I didn't want to take any more chances with these tires so I replaced them with new set of Denman St225/75R15 tires E rating. The Carlisle's were 205/75R-15.C rated. Come to find out that the Carlise tires were rated to carry a total weight of 1820lbs each for a total of about 7300lbs. The sticker on the trailer shows that Dry it weighs about 7800 not including A/c, Propane etc. So you can see they were really under weight to begin with. I called the dealer and was told that the mfg. puts the tires they feel will carry the posted weight. To make a long story even longer, I contacted Carlisle again after purchasing the new Demans and explained what was going on. The asked me to send the receipt and the old tires back. I talked to them yesterday and was told that they are sending me a Check to cover the total cost of the new tires. I'm happy about that, but still concerned about the folks that buy Rvs with under rated tires.
Well, just wanted to let you know what I have been going through and wish you good luck.
Happy Camping
The fear of Chinese tires expressed in the forum is very interesting to me because over an 8 year period I had 4 instances where the tread peeled right off the USA manufactured Goodyear G614RST tires on my trailer. Goodyear paid us thousands of dollars to repair damage to our trailer from those blowouts. Finally, last November, after the 4th "peeling" I decided that buying yet another Goodyear, expecting a different outcome, was the definition of insanity. I had all 4 removed and replaced them with Chinese made Freestars. I have now run the Freestars for more than 15,000 miles and they run cooler than the Goodyears ever did. They are also nopt wearing unevenly, which was a characteristic of the Goodyears. I'm VERY happy with them at this stage and I no longer have a fear of Chinese tires.
I like the Michelin tires, yes they cost more but you get what you pay for. Check out Les Schwab for a good price. If your rig can handle 16 in. then I would consider upgrading the wheels and go to Michelin E rated tires.
Lots of documented problems with the GY G614s like Ed White says.
Lengthy "Warning" thread on Escapees - with associated tales of woe.
However, many still like (and use) them.
Same for the Chinese tires (try a search here).
But . . . .maybe they are finally getting their "act" together.
I'll vote with "countryrose".
JC
* This post was
edited 05/25/08 01:50pm by ol Bombero-JC *
I did a check on that long Excapees post back in January-- 20 pages, 286 posts then( I may have missed a couple), 9 individual posters had problems with the G614s, some multiple, 5 did not have problems. So while it appears as a long post on the problems with G614s there were not that many individuals reporting problems. Some of the posts were reporting problems on 15 and 16 inch E rated tires. The rest of the posts discussed the problems that could cause blowouts and tread separation, the benefits of different brands, etc. There was even a poster who had problems with a 17.5. I don't deny that there have been problems with the G614s but I would consider replacing mine with another set when it comes time. I have the G614s with a build date of early 05 (don't remember exact date) on my Cameo with over 35,000 miles and haven't had any problems. In fact I had a nail in one of mine that didn't penetrate the steel tread -- it was bent over. To be safe that tire is now my spare. And yes -- I was bored that day.
Offline
