What's the best "trailer" tire?

[UPSER76]

I have Carlisle 205/75 R15 load range C tires on my 5th wheel. These must be really
cheap tires as I have had 2 failures in the past 6 months. Tires are only a year and a half old and they only seem to shred wheneveer I take them over 90 mph (just kidding). Would you like to put some good rubber so I can feel confident I'm not going to rip up my trailer. I am not overloaded and I have the right pressure in them and I do stay within posted speeds. Thanx

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98 3500 QC 2x4,5sd,white sport,dually,66000 mi,dead cat,walker muffler

 

[Windrider]

Dang!

I just bought 5 of those tires from Carlisle in that very size!

I had Goodyear Marathon radials for 5 years, and never had any problems with construction. But I had at least one flat one each tire. These were slow leaks caused by picking up nails and screws in the rear tires. (That's one way to keep them rotated!)

The Goodyears are much more expensive than the Carlisles.

Can you give me any hints as to the conditions at the time of the blow outs. I'd like to know what to expect.

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Pepe (My little Mule)
2001 HO, 3. 54 rear gears Forest Green Quad Cab
Ordered 2/5/01
Supposed to ship 2/26/01 (tee hee)

 

[BCFAST]

Nothing but headaches with the Marathons! Different sizes, different trailers... what a POS!

 

[B.G. Smith]

Had 15" Marathons, disintegrated 3, went to 16" Wranglers, 8000 miles and tread came off one, now have Cooper tires, about 8000 miles so far with no trouble. Trailer rear axles are at 8000 pounds total loaded. bg

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White 99 3500, QC, 3:55, auto. most options except leather, Line-X bed liner, fiberglass running boards Rancho 9000s, bug shield and window vents, black vented 5th wheel tailgate, 110 gal. aux. fuel tank.

 

[UPSER76]

Windrider & the rest,
First let me apologize
for all the typos. Guess I was a little excited about my first post. Anyhow, on my Carlisle tires, both times the tread separated from the rest of the tire. I did replace them with Marathons and so far no problems, but now BCFAST's reply has me concerned again. I really hate having to worry about blowouts, just want something dependable.

 

[samb]

GoodYear marathons are a good tire if you make sure that it has a circled s after the size. The circle s stands for all steel radial. They run about $90. 00 apice. I was haveing blow outs and delaminatio with 2 different brands of tires until I got these GoodYears. Realy like them. Got over 10,000 miles so and every thing fine.

Sam B.

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97, Lamanie SLT, clubcab, driftwood, 3. 5 spicer 70 rear axle
96 Coachmen Royal 285rk 5th wheel, 11,000 #

 

[Okie-Go]

I have Good Year 215-85R16 in load rang E. No problems. Probably pulled close to 7,000 miles. When parked they are on boards,and I have covers ordered for them. I keep a close eye on air pressure. Max. is 80,I run about 75.

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2001 quadcab slt 2500 HO 6spd. LWB,2wd,dk garnett red, trailer tow package,camper special, anti spin 3. 54 axle, speed liner,oversized stainless steel chicken slide,66 gallon in bed aux. tank,K&N air filter,Reese 20k hitch, Terry 2000 EX 30ft. double slide 5er, 2000 20ft gooseneck for haulin jeep, firewood and huntin stuff. 5X12 tagalong for haulin the 4 wheeler. Okie Newton

 

[RAPID RICK]

When we got our horse trailer it had Cooper
ST225-75 R15 loadrange D. Less than 6000 miles
we either blew out or had the tread seperate
from from 4 out of the 5 tires. (including the
spare) Made the tire dealer give us full
credit on the Coopers towards a full set of
Goodyears the same size & load range. Within
10,000 miles we blew 2 & the tread had started to seperate from another. Full credit
again. This time I bought a set of 16in. wheels & put the 215-85 R 16 load range E
Michilen LTX - A S that I took off my dually
at 35,000 miles & put on the trailer. We have
put aprox. 27,0000 miles on the used Michilen's & never even had a flat.
I wieghted the trailer several times & no the
tires were not overloaded they were just junk
Sorry about the long post. Rick

 

[Windrider]

JGewand

The Goodyear tires are radials.

The Carlislie tires are bias ply. (At least mine are. )

I hope you replaced the whole set.

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Pepe (My little Mule)
2001 ETH/DEE, 3. 54LSD, Forest Green Quad Cab
Ordered 2/5/01
Sitting in Laredo,TX 2/26/01 (tee hee)

 

[Whitmore]

I have found that the goodyear workhorse load range E in the radial style is an excellent choice,never failed me yet,I had 6 of them on a tripple axle trailer that weighed 5200# and I hauled a 19500# backhoe on it with no failure

 

[UPSER76]

One queston?
Do you have to use a " trailer tire " tire,
or will any good radial tire work just as good?
Been told on reg tires the siewall flex to much and can't be used on trailers.

 

[RAPID RICK]

You don,t have to use a "trailer" tire. Just
use a good load range "E" light truck tire.
You DON'T want to use a "P" rated tire. They
are passenger car tires. Rick

 

[Big MAK]

If your tires are working anywhere near rated weight stay away from Goodyear Wranglers. They'll throw tread the first chance they get.

 

[Mel Fuelling]

I use Carlisle ST Radials on 2 horse trailers
that are carrying a medium load. C rated on a tandem axle & D rated on a single axle. I bought them because a concrete contractor with an overloaded flatbed had them on his trailer; said he couldn't keep anything else on it. A good truck/industrial multi-line tire dealer told me that he has some race car owners with large enclosed trailers that
shred most tires; says Michelin XPS rib E rated tires do the job for them. I credit Michelin tires with saving my life at least 3 times in the last 30 years, but some say some other brands are just as good or better
today.

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93 Maroon/Gold D350 CC Dually,5sp,LE trim, A/C,Raven cab height w/contractor side windows, PW inj. , K&N in OEM housing w\altered added inlet, class IV receiver hitch, Maroon cloth 60/40 '97 F150 bench seat, KYB shocks,& behind the seat,not yet installed: Moog upper & lower ball joints, PST poly graphite upper & lower control arm bushings and Praise Dyno Brake pads & shoes.

 

[Ramboy00]

JGewand-
I have been RVing for more years than I care to remember and have always been told by people that should know to use trailer tires. Their reason is that these tires have UV inhibitors in them to protect the sidewalls during long periods of not moving. They cost more but I have never had a tire failure on any trailer I have owned.

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'99 D3500, auto. ,2WD,3. 55 LSD, all options, Banks Power Pack w/K&N filter, '99 40ft. Alfa Gold Triple-slide 5'er

 

[Bill Stockard]

Mark,

You are so right!!!!

Our 5er came from the factory with 16" Goodyear Wrangler HTs. Two of them threw the tread and damaged the wheelhousings, and after no assistance from Goodyear, I replaced all of them for Michelin XPS Radials. Over 2 years now and towing in temps as high as 110 degrees, no more problems. The tread still looks great.

Bill

 

[Okie-Go]

Now you guys are scaring me with the Goodyears,I did buy the warranties from Discount. Any problems I will probably go with the Michelin. Have Coopers Range E on gooseneck wood hauler.

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2001 quadcab slt 2500 HO 6spd. LWB,2wd,dk garnett red, trailer tow package,camper special, anti spin 3. 54 axle, speed liner,oversized stainless steel chicken slide,66 gallon in bed aux. tank,K&N air filter,Reese 20k hitch, Terry 2000 EX 30ft. double slide 5er, 2000 20ft gooseneck for haulin jeep, firewood and huntin stuff. 5X12 tagalong for haulin the 4 wheeler. Okie Newton

 

[Bill Stockard]

Okie,

The Goodyears on the 5er were Warngler HT light truck tires. Other Goodyear products may do OK. I've had Goodyear Wrangler AT & ATS tires on my last 3 Dodges with no problems at all.

I wore out 2 sets of Goodyear 15" Marathon Radials on our previous '93 Hitchhiker II and never had a problem.

Bill

 

[Okie-Go]

Mine are the ht. Went out in the rain and looked. I wonder if I have anything to worry about. They are wearing good and the trailer is about 9500 empty. I would say I am at 11,000 loade and ready to go. I am going to weigh the rig and trailer next time I pass a scale.

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2001 quadcab slt 2500 HO 6spd. LWB,2wd,dk garnett red, trailer tow package,camper special, anti spin 3. 54 axle, speed liner,oversized stainless steel chicken slide,66 gallon in bed aux. tank,K&N air filter,Reese 20k hitch, Terry 2000 EX 30ft. double slide 5er, 2000 20ft gooseneck for haulin jeep, firewood and huntin stuff. 5X12 tagalong for haulin the 4 wheeler. Okie Newton

 

[Big MAK]

If I remember right it's the Wrangler HT that's the biggest problem. Read a couple months ago that Goodyear is finally in a class action over it. Something about them failing more often then the Firestones everyone got so worked up over. But the Goodyears don't fail as often on car/truck applications since they aren't near rated load (so not much press).

For example: my trailer tips the scale around 14,000. The typical truck that comes with the same Wranglers will tip the scale at 5-7,000. I think those tires are rated at 3,500 lbs per -- so with 2,500 pin weight I still have 11,500 on the tires (just under 3,000 each). Not too far from rated weight but still should be safe. Not with the Goodyears.

What all the above means is that if you aren't anywhere near rated weight on the tires you probably don't have much to worry about.

The Wrangler HT I'm referring to are load rated e truck tires. They were standard equipment on ford trucks and a-lot of high end 5th wheels for quite awhile. The worse were the "HT", they then reworked the mfg process and those tires come with a little "s" circled right of the HT. The HT-s tires may be better? Goodyear bought me five of them after repairing the damage caused by their HT -- the verdict is still out. But the reports I've heard of failing Goodyears on trailers is still pretty prolific so I may have some good hay wagon tires to give to my farming relatives.