RV Tires

[Grizzly]

I like Michelin perhaps better than any other brand of tire, however the original equipped Michelin tires that came on my son's 04. 5 Dodge/Cummins, which is a 3500 SRW, only lasted 35K. He's the original owner. Same thing happened to the original equipped Michelin tires that came on my 03 Avalon, which were toast at 30K. I've noticed the same dilemma with original equip Bridgstones. Why?

 

[HBarlow]

Usually rapid tire wear depends mostly on driving styles, inflation pressures, and road surfaces traveled but who knows?

I consider the Generals that are OEM equipment on Ram duallies only one step better than used tires but I got 65k out of them on my '06 Ram and on the C&C I have now.

Some folks probably use them up in 20k miles.

 

[RustyJC]

I consider the Generals that are OEM equipment on Ram duallies only one step better than used tires but I got 65k out of them on my '06 Ram and on the C&C I have now.

Yep, as far as I'm concerned, the Generals are just rim protectors. To make matters worse, my truck came with the outline white letters, so now I advertise to the world that I have these crappy tires. :{ Oh, well, maybe I can burn 'em off in 20k or 30k and get some decent tires onto this thing.



Rusty

 

[HBarlow]

Rusty,

I know what you mean. You can turn them around backwards to hide the General name.

 

[Matt42]

Just a thought to ponder here. A actual manufacturer can make tires for several brands of tires. They are made to the specifications of the brand paying to have the tire made. So just because a brand is actually manufactured by a good name company it does not necessarily make it a good tire of a different brand. It seems like to me anyway it will not be to many years and there will maybe only 2 maybe 3 manufacturers making all brands. just a nickels worth of thoughts.

In a prior life years ago, I worked at a now-defunct department store chain often associated with monkeys, that had an auto center. They sold tires and batteries under their house brand. At the time, most of their tires were made by Firestone and Armstrong. The company was proud of saying that "Armstrong (or Firestone) builds our tires to our specifications. " Being younger and cynical, long before becoming older and cynical, I wondered what that meant. In a moment of unusual honesty, the auto center manager put it to me this way. "Our tire buyer visits the tire manufacturer and says, we need to buy a million tires in assorted sizes over the next five years. So the tire manufacturer asks us what our specifications will be. And our tire buyer stutters and stumbles and gets red in the face. So the tire manufacturer's rep, being ready for this, because he 'house-brands' tires for lots of companies, hands our tire buyer a specification sheet and says, 'we have these available that we can mold with your name on the sidewall!' And our tire buyer says, 'Well that's absolutely amazing! That's exactly what we had in mind. '" :-laf



Among the things I learned at the time, though, was that most of the larger "name" or "first-line" manufacturers tended to make house brand tires under a subsidiary corporation. Second line manufacturers, like Armstrong, Cooper, Mohawk and some others made perfectly good tires when the standard was four ply nylon, and also made house brand tires. Michelin began house-branding Sears radials to get market penetration into the United States when nobody in their right mind would buy "those squishy-looking French tires. " That was at a time when the rest of the Sears house brand line was made by, I recall, Armstrong. Later, when Michelin gained the reputation as being among the best of the best, Sears still sold a separate line of Michelin tires, but they were marked as being made by Michelin. Another thing I learned is that a manufacturer that couldn't rise above making garbage heap tires under their own name could in no way manage to make good tires for a house brand. Unfortunately, there are even more garbage heap brands now than there were in the 1960s, and most of them seem to be from the Far East. Some of them seem to have gotten their start making tires for wheelbarrows and garden tractors, and in my opinion, should have stuck with that market.

 

[Jim Brewer]

I also read some interesting things about trailer tires on the link listed below about trailer tires (ST).



Trailer Tire Facts - Discount Tire

This is kind of amusing . . read the link above regarding "LT" designation . . "It is not designed for use on light trucks. "



Then read this link (from Discount as well). . Reading the Tire's Sidewall on "Tire Class".



Hmmm. . am I missing something? I didn't know there are "trailer tires" with an LT designation. Are there?

 

[HBarlow]

In a prior life years ago, I worked at a now-defunct department store chain often associated with monkeys, that had an auto center. They sold tires and batteries under their house brand. At the time, most of their tires were made by Firestone and Armstrong. The company was proud of saying that "Armstrong (or Firestone) builds our tires to our specifications. " Being younger and cynical, long before becoming older and cynical, I wondered what that meant. In a moment of unusual honesty, the auto center manager put it to me this way. "Our tire buyer visits the tire manufacturer and says, we need to buy a million tires in assorted sizes over the next five years. So the tire manufacturer asks us what our specifications will be. And our tire buyer stutters and stumbles and gets red in the face. So the tire manufacturer's rep, being ready for this, because he 'house-brands' tires for lots of companies, hands our tire buyer a specification sheet and says, 'we have these available that we can mold with your name on the sidewall!' And our tire buyer says, 'Well that's absolutely amazing! That's exactly what we had in mind. '" :-laf

Among the things I learned at the time, though, was that most of the larger "name" or "first-line" manufacturers tended to make house brand tires under a subsidiary corporation. Second line manufacturers, like Armstrong, Cooper, Mohawk and some others made perfectly good tires when the standard was four ply nylon, and also made house brand tires. Michelin began house-branding Sears radials to get market penetration into the United States when nobody in their right mind would buy "those squishy-looking French tires. " That was at a time when the rest of the Sears house brand line was made by, I recall, Armstrong. Later, when Michelin gained the reputation as being among the best of the best, Sears still sold a separate line of Michelin tires, but they were marked as being made by Michelin. Another thing I learned is that a manufacturer that couldn't rise above making garbage heap tires under their own name could in no way manage to make good tires for a house brand. Unfortunately, there are even more garbage heap brands now than there were in the 1960s, and most of them seem to be from the Far East. Some of them seem to have gotten their start making tires for wheelbarrows and garden tractors, and in my opinion, should have stuck with that market.

Good post. I was generally aware of the facts you reported but don't think I ever actually heard it from someone who had been on the inside and knew the details.

 

[HBarlow]

This is kind of amusing . . read the link above regarding "LT" designation . . "It is not designed for use on light trucks. "

Then read this link (from Discount as well). . Reading the Tire's Sidewall on "Tire Class".

Hmmm. . am I missing something? I didn't know there are "trailer tires" with an LT designation. Are there?

IMO that information is Discount Tire propaganda intended for their sales staff to achieve their best interests.

I consider it incorrect and false information.

Our Dodge Rams are light trucks and are OEM equipped with LT tires.

Manufacturers of large and heavy fifth wheel trailers routinely equip them with LT tires because they know an LT tire is a better choice for their products.

I have read that ST tires, being intended for use on trailers which are non-passenger carrying vehicles, are not subject to the same performance standards ad LT tires are. I can't prove that is accurate but when you consider the fact that all ST tires with the exception of GY Marathon STs, molded in 15" sizes, are made by companies in Asia, it appears likely. I like to refer to them as "Will Pop" brands because they will.

 

[RustyJC]

Hmmm. . am I missing something? I didn't know there are "trailer tires" with an LT designation. Are there?

Although I just paid good money to get rid of these things, here's a prime example of a trailer specific tire that carries the LT designation - Goodyear G614 RST. Note that it only comes in size designation LT235/85R-16.



The Goodyear Wrangler HT in size LT235/85R-16 was also widely used on 5th wheels where a load range E tire was required. It came as OEM equipment on my Jayco Designer XL 3610 RLTS.



Rusty

 

[Jim Brewer]

There's a thread on rv.net where a bunch of people have chimed in on trailer tires . .



RV. Net Open Roads Forum: Fifth-Wheels: china bombs??????

 

[RustyJC]

There are threads everywhere (including many on iRV2) on RV forums dealing with trailer tires. That's because most RV trailer manufacturers use only the bare minimum to get by - lots of these tires are loaded to 90% to 95% of their ratings and have extremely high failure rates. That's why I upgraded from the G614s (rated 3750 lbs @ 110 PSIG) to 17. 5" Michelin XTAs (rated 4805 lbs @ 120 PSIG).



Rusty

 

[gerry]

Getting more affordable Michelins

The best tires for your application if you insist on sticking with 15" wheels and tires are Goodyear Marathons in the size you mentioned, but they typically develop small sidewall cracks in a few short years.



You could install a set of four 16" wheels and tires for a lot less than $1600. Try less than $800 depending upon where you live.



Here are the wheels: http://www.southwestwheel.com/store/p-408-nw128700.aspx for $39/wheel.



And here is an excellent tire: LT225/75R16E 115/112Q BFG Commercial T/A® A/S - Sam's Club for $149/tire.



Harvey and anybody else wanting to chime in, since reading your advice and doing a lot of time on the computer I find that Ribs would cost about $254 per plus freight but Michelin makes a LTX A/T2 that is $160 plus freight that has good specs for my application. Any opinions? Thanks Gerry

 

[RustyJC]

The XPS Rib is an all steel construction commercial-type radial.



The LTX is a fabric and steel construction typical consumer radial. They were OEM on my wife's Durango.



Two completely different animals, as far as I'm concerned.



Rusty

 

[HBarlow]

Gerry,

Rusty already provided a thorough answer.

If you want tires for a serious heavy fifth wheel I would stay with my recommendation to use the XPS Ribs.

If your trailer was OEM equipped with 15" wheels and tires, which I think is the case, the Michelin LTX should provide excellent service.

Few of us ever wear out an XPS Rib due to towing mileage and tread wear. We normally replace them after five or six years to avoid internal casing failure. In a lighter trailer such as yours you would probably never wear out an LTX either.

 

[gerry]

Ltx a/t2

Thanks for your quick answers, Gerry