5.5 year old tires on 5th wheel, one more long trip?

[HDGoose]

A Firestone dealer just recommended Blacklion tires. I am not sure if 'recomended' is the right term as they were the only load range G trailer tire they have to offer.

Have some Sailun tires on my 5th wheel toyhauler now. They are now just 5 years old. Made in Dec 2014, installed Jun 2015. Getting ready for a 500 run to Florida in November. They 'look good'. Always kept aired up to the 80 PSI for my trailer. Max weight of my trailer is 12k. We'll be loaded to maybe 11k for the florida trip.

Traveling down mid week, but return will be after T-day so I believe lots of places will be shutdown for the holiday weekend on the return trip.

Most of the 5 year discussion seems centered on the class A heavy coaches. Not 5th wheel trailers.

So...opinions??

[Bob_C]

Goodyear has the Endurance......and 5 years is the time to change for most of us that travel a lot.....

[MtCamper]

If you had a set of Marathons I'd suggest replacement but with the Sailuns I'd keep running them. I plan to replace mine at tread life or 6-7 years, whichever comes first. If there is tread left they'll go to one of my utility trailers.

[gruelens]

Multi axle trailer tires experience torquing of the sidewalls when making sharp turns. Some believe this added stress is reason to replace trailer tires sooner than those on motorhomes. Of course, other factors such as curbing, overweight, sunlight, potholes, etc are specific to each individual owner. All the best.

[kdauto]

Originally Posted by HDGoose

A Firestone dealer just recommended Blacklion tires. I am not sure if 'recomended' is the right term as they were the only load range G trailer tire they have to offer.

Have some Sailun tires on my 5th wheel toyhauler now. They are now just 5 years old. Made in Dec 2014, installed Jun 2015. Getting ready for a 500 run to Florida in November. They 'look good'. Always kept aired up to the 80 PSI for my trailer. Max weight of my trailer is 12k. We'll be loaded to maybe 11k for the florida trip.

Traveling down mid week, but return will be after T-day so I believe lots of places will be shutdown for the holiday weekend on the return trip.

Most of the 5 year discussion seems centered on the class A heavy coaches. Not 5th wheel trailers.

So...opinions??

I would pass on the Blacklion tires, sounds like a cheap house brand to me. I sell tires and never heard of them.

I would take a good look at your current Sailun tires. Air them up to max for a proper visual, then look carefully at the tread blocks, on the sidewall near where the tread meets and on the sidewall where it bulges at the bottom from the weight of the rig. If there's cracking or splitting, the tires are on their way out.

The 5 to 6 year thing is not a rule. I have quality 12 year old tires on my old Suburban. I will recheck them in a month when they get swapped out for the winter set, but they seemed 100% fine with no weather checking at all this spring. Cracking means the oils in the rubber mix have depleted, and you can't bring that back.

If you're planning a several thousand mile trip in very hot temps where asphalt can top 150 degrees F then maybe swap them out first.

[Bob_C]

Originally Posted by kdauto

I would pass on the Blacklion tires, sounds like a cheap house brand to me. I sell tires and never heard of them.

I would take a good look at your current Sailun tires. Air them up to max for a proper visual, then look carefully at the tread blocks, on the sidewall near where the tread meets and on the sidewall where it bulges at the bottom from the weight of the rig. If there's cracking or splitting, the tires are on their way out.

The 5 to 6 year thing is not a rule. I have quality 12 year old tires on my old Suburban. I will recheck them in a month when they get swapped out for the winter set, but they seemed 100% fine with no weather checking at all this spring. Cracking means the oils in the rubber mix have depleted, and you can't bring that back.

If you're planning a several thousand mile trip in very hot temps where asphalt can top 150 degrees F then maybe swap them out first.

Bit of difference between a LT tire and a ST tire

[JIMNLIN]

Have some Sailun tires on my 5th wheel toyhauler now. They are now just 5 years old. Made in Dec 2014, installed Jun 2015. Getting ready for a 500 run to Florida in November. They 'look good'. Always kept aired up to the 80 PSI for my trailer. Max weight of my trailer is 12k. We'll be loaded to maybe 11k for the florida trip.

If it was my trailer I would run them for just a 500 mile trip.

Your using just 80 psi in a 16" Sailun S637 load G @ 110 psi tire. Heavy tires like a load G don't like to be operated at low pressures (lots of sidewall flex).
I would sell them on CL and find a proper fitment tire per the trailers OEM axles.

A 11k-12k trailer probably has 6k axles or even 5.2 k axles as my 11800 lb 5th wheel trailer uses.
A 12k 5th wheel trailer may have 2400 lbs on the pin which leaves around 9600 lbs on the trailers axles.
Bridgestone R-238 or Michelin XPS Rib are a commercial grade all steel ply carcass . The LT235/85-16 E at 3042 lbs = will give a tandem axle trailer 12168 lb capacity.
We run these on our commercial trailers for 50k-60k miles. In this type of work we may wear out 2 sets a year however I see rv folks are using them for 7-8 years before time for new ones.

I don't haul anymore but I frequent several haulers forums. I did a search for Blacklion tires and came up with nothing.

If your trailer has 7k axles then disregard my recommendations for 16" LT E tires. At 3042 lbs they don't have enough capacity.

[Toby Dog]

If you mean by one more long trip and then you will be off the road I say keep them. They are quality tires. How's your spare? Check it.
Let the new owner spend the $800 if they want to.

[bddadles]

I personally consider them to old and would change. If you have never seen the damage from a blown tire trust me you don't want to. Plus if you have full body paint that can be another repair adventure. I'm a full timer and take no chances.

[scbwr]

I don't think you really need to replace them. It may make more sense just to consider purchasing a TPMS kit if you don't already have one as it would allow you to monitor tire temps and alert you if you start to lose any air.

But, if you are so concerned that you're going to be worried the whole time you're on the road, then get some good replacements, especially if you plan to keep the trailer and would be replacing the tires anyway.

[kdauto]

Originally Posted by bob caldwell

Bit of difference between a LT tire and a ST tire

No kidding? Since I sell both, I think I know this. I don't know why you mention this as Sailun makes LT AND ST tires in popular 16'' trailer sizes. I don't think HD Goose posted which type he wanted nor currently had, but the wear and cracking evaluation is the same.

I am at the exact same stage with my Goodyear Marathons and decided to run them this year since we obviousy couldn't go too far. They are starting to have tiny cracks at some treadblocks. I'll likely change them next spring unless this covid situation remains and we can't go far once again.

FWIW Sailun now makes a 235/80r16 ST that has a load index well over 4000 lbs, one goes up to 4400 lbs. O.P. does NOT need G rated tires for an 11-12k trailer. Any 235/80R16 St tire will be amply sufficient.

[grindstone01]

My advice would be to do a good tire inspection and go on your trip. As far as new tires, I have ordered my last set of Sailuns to be delivered at a camp ground ( with the cg's permission) and a local Walmart did a cash and carry mount/disposal for $10 each tire.
My Sailuns are 4 years old with 40k miles on them and they still look good. At this time I plan to get 6 years out of them and then decide when to replace, depending on inspections (jacked up and spin).
I run my Sailun G tires at 100 PSI based on weights and tire wear patterns (sidewall is 110 PSI max)

[HDGoose]

Originally Posted by kdauto

No kidding? Since I sell both, I think I know this. I don't know why you mention this as Sailun makes LT AND ST tires in popular 16'' trailer sizes. I don't think HD Goose posted which type he wanted nor currently had, but the wear and cracking evaluation is the same.

I am at the exact same stage with my Goodyear Marathons and decided to run them this year since we obviousy couldn't go too far. They are starting to have tiny cracks at some treadblocks. I'll likely change them next spring unless this covid situation remains and we can't go far once again.

FWIW Sailun now makes a 235/80r16 ST that has a load index well over 4000 lbs, one goes up to 4400 lbs. O.P. does NOT need G rated tires for an 11-12k trailer. Any 235/80R16 St tire will be amply sufficient.

Thr trailer originally had E rated tires on it. We had only had the trailer for a few months, and I did not check the date codes on the tires then. This was my first RV trailer. We had a blowout after about 1400 miles into a Florida road trip in july or 2015. It was hot. All I did then was to check tire pressure, which was good that morning. No tire was leaking down.

The owner of the tire shop that Good Sam sent out to put on the spare for us, said he also had a toy hauler, and experienced a blowout with factory tires. When I did the math for my trailer, the stock tires were close to max when the trailer was at 12K. So I went with the G rated tires. we generally are at 10.5 to 11.5 when traveling. I still run the tires pressures at the factory 80 PSI spec, and am just now getting age on them.

In our current usage, will never wear out the tread. We travel to Florida once a year (1000 miles round trip), and then travel to places with in 300 miles usually every three weeks. Just not this year. so maybe 5000 miles a year?

The trailer sits on my gravel RV pad, tires aired up, not in direct sun until late afternoon.

I will be looking them over this afternoon and make my decision then.

I also did not find out much about the Blacklion tires except that they are second tire "economy" tires . So something is not first tier about them and I will not consider them.

[kdauto]

Originally Posted by HDGoose

Thr trailer originally had E rated tires on it. We had only had the trailer for a few months, and I did not check the date codes on the tires then. This was my first RV trailer. We had a blowout after about 1400 miles into a Florida road trip in july or 2015. It was hot. All I did then was to check tire pressure, which was good that morning. No tire was leaking down.

The owner of the tire shop that Good Sam sent out to put on the spare for us, said he also had a toy hauler, and experienced a blowout with factory tires. When I did the math for my trailer, the stock tires were close to max when the trailer was at 12K. So I went with the G rated tires. we generally are at 10.5 to 11.5 when traveling. I still run the tires pressures at the factory 80 PSI spec, and am just now getting age on them.

In our current usage, will never wear out the tread. We travel to Florida once a year (1000 miles round trip), and then travel to places with in 300 miles usually every three weeks. Just not this year. so maybe 5000 miles a year?

The trailer sits on my gravel RV pad, tires aired up, not in direct sun until late afternoon.

I will be looking them over this afternoon and make my decision then.

I also did not find out much about the Blacklion tires except that they are second tire "economy" tires . So something is not first tier about them and I will not consider them.

HD, since yours is a toyhauler, a lot of things come into play, like what you load and how you load it. On a 12 000lb 5th wheel there is typically only 9500lb of weight on the tires, the rest goes to pin weight on the truck.

I'd recommend possibly weighing your setup using individual (per wheel) scales when ready to camp.

The OE tires are a real crapshoot. I see some pretty sketchy OE tires on the smaller rigs from popups to small 5ers. On the large,more expensive 5ers I looked at up here they typically use better tires like the GY Endurance or such. Stay with a name brand tire and 80% capaity of your tires and you should be fine.