Tire Life

[hehbr]

How many miles can one expect from a set of trailer tires. Assume proper inflation and loading not exceeding 90% of trailer GVWR.

[Ray,IN]

This DiscountTire.com webpage offers some insight to ST tires and their use. I find their mileage projections disheartening, but I've read the same numbers on other websites. This is why I upgraded to the next higher rated LT tires designed for trailer use.

[FastEagle]

I think Discount Tire has used old information from the old Carlisle tire web page and under another name. For a long time Carlisle described their bias designed trailer tires as having a life expectancy between 5,000 & 12,000 miles. They also said trailer tires degrade as mush as 3% per year. So, they will normally age-out in 3-5 years. In the past, I’ve seen Maxxis say their 8008 radial trailer tires should last 20,000 miles under normal conditions. The age-out figures were the same and are pretty standard for those manufacturers that will print such information.

Finding a manufacturer’s tire data book for ST tires is just not going to happen on the WWW. The closest I’ve come is by reading ST tire warranties that combine safety and maintenance in a single document. The newest one I’ve found is by Power King for their TowMax branded ST tires.

Here is the link to that site.

http://towmaxtires.com/tires/Landing.aspx?application=warranty

FastEagle

[hehbr]

Wow. I live in Florida and that would mean in a 15,000 mile round trip to Alaska I would need 3 sets of tires.

[CampDaven]

Found some stuff. Just trying to help.

http://fasteagletiretalk.blogspot.co...cycle.html?m=1

http://m.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTrailerTireFacts.dos

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by hehbr

Wow. I live in Florida and that would mean in a 15,000 mile round trip to Alaska I would need 3 sets of tires.

That is exactly why I switched to the tires in my first reply; Power King load range G, LT tires. The previous set were Sailun S637 Tires of the same specs, but they are hard to find in the U.S. They are common in Canada.

[wingnut60]

Ray,
You already wore out the Sailuns?
Joe

[bartlettj]

When I had a popup with dinky bias ply 12" tires, it really only got 3-5k miles on a set- the treads would wear out and I would get bubbles and ply separation. I was on my 3rd set of tires on that trailer in just a few years when I sold it. I was very careful about inflation and maximum speed, and even paid extra to have the tires balanced. That trailer was very close to the maximum rated load of those tires and was stiffly sprung- it bounced all over the road and tended to jerk a lot. Now that I have a TT I've put 3k miles on it and the ST tires show some tread wear but haven't given me problems yet. I think it depends on how close to the max the tires are loaded and the quality of the tire you are using.

[Skip426]

Original equipment tires on my last 5er, were Goodyear ; north american made; tire load capacity was way over what was required for the trailers 10,000 GVW. Total capacity for the 4 tires was 15,000+.
I balanced the tires when I got the trailer new and rotated them every year. Towed 40,000 miles before I noticed a seperation in the sixth season, with 40% tread remaining.
Only replacements available, without an extended wait, were, Goodyear : China , but I traded the unit off after 10,000 miles on the tires.

[hehbr]

Many people on this forum and others have expressed opinions about using LT tires vs ST tires on their trailers. Are there any disadvantages to using LT tires? It seems to me that LT tires are designed for heavier loads and have longer mileage life, so what if any is the downside. Thanks.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by wingnut60

Ray,
You already wore out the Sailuns?
Joe

Sorry for the delay replying. No, didn't wear out the Sailun's. Broke a spring center-pin in AK, axle slid back to the hanger on that side, scrubbed off the tread and wore flat spots on one tire. I replaced that axle set of Sailun tires with Power King LR-G, the other axle still runs Sailun's that now have near 30,000 miles, with about 1/2 tread remaining.

[JIMNLIN]

Originally Posted by hehbr

Many people on this forum and others have expressed opinions about using LT tires vs ST tires on their trailers. Are there any disadvantages to using LT tires? It seems to me that LT tires are designed for heavier loads and have longer mileage life, so what if any is the downside. Thanks.

There is no downside with a good major brand LT tire on a trailer. The trailer industry (including RVs) used P and LT tires long time before the tire makers gave us the low cost ST tire.
And ST tire issues aren't just a china thing as we had the same issues with ST tires when they were made in the USA by BFG/Firestone/Goodyear/Delta/Cooper/Delta and others that I've forgot.

The biggest issue with LT tires is size and load range choices. Years ago we had lots of size and load range choices in 14"/15" and 16". Now its a few 16" and a couple of 15" and no 14" although we have a few off shore LT brands in 14" and 15" that are popular with the trailering public (RVs included).

[wingnut60]

Ray,
Hope that was the only problem on your trip. We made it up there last year, and had to replace Michelins while in SLC on the way up with Cooper Roadmaster 160s. No complaints so far on them with maybe 17000 miles. These are the 17.5s
Joe

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by hehbr

Many people on this forum and others have expressed opinions about using LT tires vs ST tires on their trailers. Are there any disadvantages to using LT tires? It seems to me that LT tires are designed for heavier loads and have longer mileage life, so what if any is the downside. Thanks.

One disadvantage highlighted on tire forums is tread grip. ST tires are designed to slip sideways on the road surface while LT tires grip the surface much better. This creates much more sidewall deflection than ST tires because LT tire sidewall construction is not as rigid (except for LT tires specifically designed for trailer use) as ST tires.
That said, i doubt I'll ever return to buying ST tires.