Which eight LT tires?

[rebar]

I'm sold on LT tires for trailers after learning new airsteams were being delivered with michelin tires.. I've already run some R250's on my first TH with good results. But reading that airstream is selling their trailers with LT tires on some has turned me into a believer..

But what I would like to know is why michelin? They make some great tires that Ive ran on my trucks, but why did airsteam pick the LTX MS2 225/75 r16?

Does it have the most rigid side wall? Wouldn't a A/T or the Rib be more rigid? And why do they say trailers don't exert as much force to tires as trucks do? Braking is probably more grueling on tires than acceleration.

I wish someone on youtube would chop up a bunch of LT tires to compare sidewall thickness's. But sometimes I wonder if the common knowledge "ST's having stiffer sidewalls" was untrue.

Anyway.. If your running LT tires on your trailer, can you tell me which ones and why you chose them? And I want to run the same eight wheels so I only need one spare..

Thanks!

 

[GAmes]

I also run Michelins on my RV. It came with 15" Goodyears which I quickly sold along with the rims after ordering 16"rims from an on line store. The reason, my '97 has 16" Michelin LTX tires. When the rears get down to about 3/16 I take them off and put them on the trailer. Counting the spares I have 12 identical tires going down the road. Unfortunately the wheels are different, but my reasoning is I can find a tire shop to swap tires if need be. The reason I'm a fan of LT tires is that every RV of any size that rolls out of IN is equipped with LT tires, albeit they are China bombs but LT none the less.

 

[NIsaacs]

And I want to run the same eight wheels so I only need one spare..

Thanks!

What size tires are you running on your truck? Will they fit the trailer? In general, a Dodge wheel will not fit a trailer, not enough backspace. The tire/wheel, will hit the frame/springs before mounting to the hub.

 

[AH64ID]

I also run LT’s on my trailers.

I know all the internet hype about sidewalls on ST’s being stiffer but I don’t but it for an instant. I have several dismounted ST’s in the yard and they all have very soft/pliable sidewalls.

I switched to LT’s on my TT in 2014. The trailer tracks better, brakes better, and has better puncture resistance. I did have to upgrade to 16” wheels to find a tire with enough load for a 5200lb axle, but that’s not an expensive upgrade.

I have since sold that TT but moved the wheels/tires to my 5th wheel. They are Bridgestone R500’s in LT225/75R16. I will most likely buy the same tire when I go to replace them.

I keep a short toy hauler of my dads at my house and it was due for new rubber. It had ST235/80R16’s on it but I just had some Kendra AT2 LT245/75R16’s mounted. I will get them reinstalled today. I went with an AT since this trailers main use is hunting on a very nasty back road. I wanted better lateral traction and braking in the snow/mud/ice.

The LTX MS2 isn’t the tire I would have personally picked for a trailer, but it doesn’t look bad.

 

[JR]

I prefer a closed shoulder lug on my trailer tires. They don't scrub quite as much as an open shoulder design. But in all honesty most people will age their tires out before they wear out myself included. I have around 20k miles on my tilt deck and the tires are still well over half tread. They wear like iron. I keep them covered from the sun when not in use but in another year or so I'll probably have to think about replacing them based on age.

 

[Jim W]

On my old Cougar I was able to use Michelin XPS Rib tires, the size and capacity (load rating) were excellent for my trailer. The size was LT245/75R/16E, the XPS RIB tire is an all position tire which worked great on my Cougar.
Unfortunately Michelin CO. does not make the correct size tire for my current trailer which uses a G rated tire. So I went with Goodyear G614 tires for my Cedar Creek.

 

[Wiredawg]

I like Michelin... my first two Ram Cummins trucks came with them... my first 5er came with Goodyear, but after 3years, rotated truck tires to triple axle 5er, and did that the remainder of the 12 years I owned it, and with the subsequent Cyclone.

I'm going slightly off topic in that when I went to 19.5s on my former Ram 4500 and it came time to change them out, 19.5 Michelins turned out to be too pricey... I've doe well with Continentals,

So back to topic, I really liked running Michelin LTs on my trailers when they were same size as my truck.

Cheers, Ron

 

[Cummins12V98]

Anything in the GY ENDURANCE line will be a very dependable tire. They have been on the market for 4 years with no reported non road hazard failures.

I run them on my 7k boat Trailer all summer long towing at 70.

Many new RV's are coming with these tires.

 

[Tuesdak]

@Cummins12V98 I am one of the few that had trouble, tread cracking, on the new GY tires. I also do not like the 'run cool' shallow tread design due to greater hydroplaning risk. Ask my neighbor who was running them in the rain when a semi and the guardrail played ping-pong with sideswiping his RV. They couldn't say if the semi hit him first or he hit the semi. https://www.turbodieselregister.com/threads/st-tires-again-but-different.257951/page-4#post-2563024

The 16" (upgraded the rim size from OEM 15") "LT" Michelin LTX tires on my 5th wheel were 7 years old when I replaced them due to age. I am running a steel casing Commercial Michelin XPS Rib "LT" now.

@rebar rumor is the turning force with a tandem axle trailer "scrubs" the tires and is hard on sidewalls. Supposedly ST tires are better for this. IMO ST's don't last long enough to prove the rumor. However a tougher LT tire will resist the road hazards the front axle kicks up for the rear tires to "eat". The front trailer tire literally stands the nails up for the rear tire to get punctured.

A tire pressure monitoring system for the trailer will only warn you of a loss of air pressure. Plenty of ST tires have failed "tread separation" at full inflation and do expensive damage when they fail. Make sure your trailer is insured!

Do balance your trailer tires. No need to shake your trailer to death.

After running a cargo trailer 550 miles a day on a delivery route and even using bias ply ST tires ... IMO they are all garbage vs. a LT tire. 10-15K miles out of a set before they were bald IF they didn't separate like the earned rep for the name of China Bomb. Vs a steel casing tire is No Contest. The "BOOM!" of the ST spare tire separating on the spare tire carrier at the trailer repair shop scared the #ell out of the employees.

 

[rebar]

Thanks everyone.
I'm running third gen rims with old LTX 265/70/17s right now, but thinking I need to switch to 16" E350 rims part #29576 with 1/4" positive offset. That will move the tire out about a inch further, yet be "centered" enough to keep the trailer wheel bearings happy if I need to swap. I wonder if I'm getting carried away, but the goal for this 16' toyhauler yet to be built by Jensen, is to be tough enough to take up washed out rocky fire roads up in the rockies, and who knows where else.. Only needing one spare sounds trivial, but my GF and I will load every square inch of space considering the trailer is only 7x16..

The thing about michelin AT2's are that there not quite aggressive enough for off road imo and are never considered when comparing the best AT tires on the market.. So Ive been looking at more popular AT tires, but Ive never heard about anyone running AT tires on trailers except the jeep guys but they don't run tandem axles.

So now knowing some of my travels will be rough, maybe muddy middle of nowhere, can I run KO2's on the truck and the same size Ribs or R250's on the trailer and have the same circumference? Or would it be a bad idea to run one Rib and three KO2's on the truck if I get a flat? Maybe I do need two spares because I'm going off road, but either way I think I need eight 16" E350 rims mainly because 17" tires are hard to find in mexico and the americas..

Thanks!

 

[Hoefler]

I jumped up to 17.5" tires and wheels when I needed tires last time. It wound up costing $5.00 more to purchase the tire wheel combo, than just replacing the old 16"LT tires. Granted I when with steel mod wheels, but I am good for 6005 pounds per wheel and tire. I haven't had a blown tire or cracked wheel in 5+ years. I was replacing a least one wheel a year from cracking. replaced under warranty every time, but a hassle. I had gone to LT tires over 10 years ago after experiencing several blowouts on 2 years old tires. Best decision I had made.

 

[AH64ID]

I’ll often carry two truck and two trailer spares for back road travel. I’ve never considered one spare for both.

I also carry a plug kit and have a compressor hard mounted on the truck.

 

[SSage]

I ran the Firestone Transforce LT tires on my bigger trailers, thats what my tire guy recommended. Held up fine on a heavy triple axle toy hauler that was very heavy. But if the Mastercrafts are cheaper I go that way now, don't run as many miles these days. My little 24' flat deck dove tail PJ trailer came with Cooper Discover AT tires with mild open lugs and I really haven't had any issue with them at all either. Been running Cooper and Mastercraft on most of my vehicles recently.

 

[rebar]

I’ll often carry two truck and two trailer spares for back road travel. I’ve never considered one spare for both.

Seriously, four spares for back road travels? Where do you mount them and where do you go?

Ive never had a flat in my life, ever..

 

[GAmes]

Ive never had a flat in my life, ever..

Wish I could say that.

 

[AH64ID]

Seriously, four spares for back road travels? Where do you mount them and where do you go?

Ive never had a flat in my life, ever..

On my previous TT I had a pair of mounts on the rear bumper. I haven’t done that yet on my 5th wheel, but it’s in the plans.

For the truck there is only one place I take two spares, but we sometimes go a couple times a year.

The extra spares just live in the bed when we take a 2nd.

Most of my flats have been in one area, and they are nearly all rock punctures. It also is why I am very picky about what tires I run.

On a trailer the tires are so close that they both run over the same things so a double flat is a real possibility.

 

[GAmes]

I've had a few double flats on the highway too. The front tire blows and the shrapnel takes out the one behind it.

 

[AH64ID]

My folks were headed here on Thursday with their 5th wheel and heard a noise. TPMS showed no issues. Less than a minute later they watched a tire fly off in the mirror. Problem is that it was the 2nd tire to fly off, so they pulled over with no wheels/tires on the drivers side.

Not sure what caused the first wheel to come off, but the 2nd one was likely from being overloaded. The studs a sheared off at the hub. They found one wheel the next morning, it had been run on for a little but without any rubber but not too long.

Also not sure why the TPMS didn’t give any warning until 2-3 minutes after they pulled over.

 

[JR]

Wow! That had to be ugly!

Does their TPMS let you know if it completely loses signal from a wheel? It sounds like it just froze on the last known pressure....scary either way.

 

[AH64ID]

Wow! That had to be ugly!

Does their TPMS let you know if it completely loses signal from a wheel? It sounds like it just froze on the last known pressure....scary either way.

Yes it does, but the no signal message is delayed vs a 0 psi with a signal. They will be chatting with the TPMS company.

It wasn’t as bad as it could have been. They were 1.5 hours from my place and the initial report was that the local tow truck company could only move it with a flat bed, which wasn’t as feasible as the tow company originally thought.


My brother and I loaded up a couple tires, lug nuts, and a brake drum off a trailer parked at my place...along with the needed tools and headed west into a setting sun. I also had my folks call Oregon State Police to provide some roadside hazard security with lights and flares.

Once on the road we reassessed the situation and my dad confirmed that the remaining lugs were viable. Once the OSP showed up and blocked a lane my dad installed the spare on the “good” hub and with a block between the axle/frame he could support the weight on one tire and did a escorted 10mph limp to town, so my brother and I turned around as we wouldn’t be much help at that point.

Les Schwab fixed the trailer enough to tow to the next town where the selling dealer is. They dropped it off tonight for a more thorough repair. At a minimum a propane line was cut, and possibly bent axles. At least no one was hurt and it’s at a good repair facility.

Not fun for them, but it will all work out okay.