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Beware cheap trailer tires

Highcountry

Highcountry

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I replaced my boat trailer a few years ago and only have about 5k miles on the replacement. A few weeks ago, I was heading over a mountain pass on a 5.5-hour trip for vacation when I heard a "whoop" sound and felt a little shimmy. The truck is so heavy duty I really didn't feel much, but a quick check of the mirror told the story as I watched pieces flying off. Fortunately, I was carrying a couple spares and had the tools I needed to remove the ruined fender. I've been hearing a lot of stories about boat and travel trailers coming stock with "China bomb" tires. I know in the future I won't hesitate to replace new tires if they seem suspect. It could have been much worse and I'm sure an undersized tow vehicle probably would have felt it more when it let go and started dancing.
 

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Goodyear Endurance is my current goto tire but they only make 14-15-16". Contrary to the Marathon, the Endurance is made in USA. Though I've seen some say theirs were made somewhere else offshore but not China.

FWIW, many swear by Sailun for heavy RV tires and they're made in China. only 2 16" sizes

There's a couple domestic brands that are reportedly reliable, Hercules comes to mind.

I've got some craptastic chicom tires on my echo atv trailer, but they're rated to 78MPH and seem to be doing fine. Can't replace them with goodyears as they're only 13". I'd have to do a lift to fit 14"

Have to replace them at 5-7 years depending on storage too, they are not dependable past that age.
 
My camper came with chinabombs, I ran them 2 seasons and called it quits on them. They looked fine but I knew my day would come. I went with GY endurance after going down the quality trailer tire rabbit hole on all the RV sites. I feel confident to run these out to 7 years then I’ll probably replace them again due to aging out, vs. wearing out.
 
flan said:
My camper came with chinabombs, I ran them 2 seasons and called it quits on them. They looked fine but I knew my day would come. I went with GY endurance after going down the quality trailer tire rabbit hole on all the RV sites. I feel confident to run these out to 7 years then I’ll probably replace them again due to aging out, vs. wearing out.
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sanda said:
I wear my TT tires out way before they time out. I've bought many different brands over the years and the endurance gave the best performance and longevity.
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I'm 5 years on mine this summer and the rears (I never rotated them) are starting to show quite a bit of wear on the inside edge. I'm pretty sure it's from a combination of the ever so slightly nose high, scrubbing, and the 2nd trailer. I cold have a blown bushing I suppose. That said, the RV is in the "shop" at a friend's RV repair place and they'll be checking the axles for proper bow and the bushings anyway. New tires are planned next spring and I'm going to step up to the 235/85R16 size to gain just a bit more height.

I picked up a nail in one and fortunately pulled off the road without incident thanks to the pressure loss alert from TireMinder. Overheating due to loss of pressure under load are probably the biggest cause of blowouts. A tire monitor is a must for me, I even have them on the 2nd trailer.
 
I had way too many problems with Goodyear trailer tires over the years. I switched to Carlisle a few years ago and they have treated me very well. USA company, founded in 1917. Some of their tires are made overseas, some here in the States.
 
jebruns said:
I had way too many problems with Goodyear trailer tires over the years. I switched to Carlisle a few years ago and they have treated me very well. USA company, founded in 1917. Some of their tires are made overseas, some here in the States.
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I did buy Carlisle radial trail hd for my 10k equipment trailer, made overseas. We will see how they hold up. The trailer only stays local where my camper travels hundreds of miles at a clip. Plus when camper tires let loose they have a lot of collateral damage.
I’m curious as to which Goodyear tire you had issues with and what the circumstances were?
 
Brutal_HO said:
I'm 5 years on mine this summer and the rears (I never rotated them) are starting to show quite a bit of wear on the inside edge. I'm pretty sure it's from a combination of the ever so slightly nose high, scrubbing, and the 2nd trailer. I cold have a blown bushing I suppose. That said, the RV is in the "shop" at a friend's RV repair place and they'll be checking the axles for proper bow and the bushings anyway. New tires are planned next spring and I'm going to step up to the 235/85R16 size to gain just a bit more height.

I picked up a nail in one and fortunately pulled off the road without incident thanks to the pressure loss alert from TireMinder. Overheating due to loss of pressure under load are probably the biggest cause of blowouts. A tire monitor is a must for me, I even have them on the 2nd trailer.
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I put a set of 235/85R16 on my fifth wheel last summer. 8 of them. OUCH! The original Firestones were six year old and the sidewalls were cracking. These are Bridgestone DURAVIS R238 LT235/85R16. Load range E. These are a steel belted commercial truck tire with a solid outer tread. They were made in and shipped from California and according to the date code they were just made the month they were shipped. Nice and fresh. Happy with them so far and look like a nice stout tire. Heavy suckers however.

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Sailun are great tires even if from china. I have had more domestic tire blow than china tires

My current go to tire is Triangle tires made in china but the have domestic wear-houses they are very well priced and seem to hold up excellent. A friend of mine runs a tow truck / logistics business and has overloaded his trailer quite a few times and they have not blown yet and with 50k miles they still have decent tread
 
jebruns said:
I had way too many problems with Goodyear trailer tires over the years. I switched to Carlisle a few years ago and they have treated me very well. USA company, founded in 1917. Some of their tires are made overseas, some here in the States.
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I never had good luck with the Goodyear on my vehicles or trailers but these endurance are very good tires. Having towed many TT's over the years I've gotten more miles on them than any other brand.
 
My Cougar tires oem are 225 75R 15E 10 ply. I wanted to upgrade to a 12 ply but the tire fella I do business with advised me not to go 12 ply because it would be a rough ride on the trailer and knock the **** out of it. He explained that its a balance between not enough ply and too much ply...so not to go for the 8 ply or the 12 ply and that 10 is perfect for my 5th wheel at a 10,000 pound GVWR.
Based on his lecture I bought the Goodyear Endurance 10 ply.
 
unclelala said:
Whats the size you have now...your not talking new rims as well are you ? How much height will you gain ?
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My trailer had LT225/70/16s when i bought it in 97 i put 235/85/16s on it thats a 4” tires size difference so i gained 2” hieght
 
I'm on my second set of GY Endurance on our Airstream. I replaced the first set out to age, (about 6-7 years). They wore well and survived trips to Alaska and Newfoundland, over 25,000 miles. I've had no issues with them, though I've read others have.
 
unclelala said:
Whats the size you have now...your not talking new rims as well are you ? How much height will you gain ?
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Currently 235/80R16. 235/85R16 are nearly 1" taller overall. I'll only gain 1/2" but that puts me at a perfect level and I expect the tires will run slightly cooler due to less revs/mile. If I ran them out on miles vs time, they would also last a little longer.

The larger size has +120lbs per tire capacity (though I'm still well under) so I could even run a little lower pressure than max and smooth the ride some. We all know the benefits of a taller sidewall and while it isn't much, the cumulative differences add up and it makes sense to my pea brain to spend a few bucks more per tire for the benefits.

There are plenty of RV owners that want to step up wheel size, mostly from 15 to 16 but it's often hard to do without an axle flip or spring replacement due to lack of clearance.
 
unclelala said:
My Cougar tires oem are 225 75R 15E 10 ply. I wanted to upgrade to a 12 ply but the tire fella I do business with advised me not to go 12 ply because it would be a rough ride on the trailer and knock the **** out of it. He explained that its a balance between not enough ply and too much ply...so not to go for the 8 ply or the 12 ply and that 10 is perfect for my 5th wheel at a 10,000 pound GVWR.
Based on his lecture I bought the Goodyear Endurance 10 ply.
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He was right and did you a solid. You did the right thing sticking with a 10 ply*.

I've tried to explain that to those that say you should put Sailun S637 tires or Goodyear G614 on a 10-12K GVWR 5th wheel. It's going to pound the living sh*t out of the trailer and suspension. It's a LOT more unsprung weight and the sidewall stiffness will break stuff even running lower pressures. I always ask if they would put HDT truck tires on their pickup, or for that matter solid train wheels. That usually gets them at least thinking.

The GY Endurance have a high load capacity and are rated to 87MPH. For my 12K GVWR 5th wheel I still have nearly 1K lbs of capacity left in each tire (3420lb rating). People also tend to overlook the wheels aren't even rated for those high loads and in many cases, the higher PSI (if needed).

* They're not really true 10-ply tires anyway, they are "equivalent."
 
Hankook makes a really good trailer tire 14 ply G rated have them on my skid steer trailer.
 
flan said:
I did buy Carlisle radial trail hd for my 10k equipment trailer, made overseas. We will see how they hold up. The trailer only stays local where my camper travels hundreds of miles at a clip. Plus when camper tires let loose they have a lot of collateral damage.
I’m curious as to which Goodyear tire you had issues with and what the circumstances were?
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Marathons. Junk. They were on a lot of trailers as standard equipment for years. Poor wear was my biggest issue. Get maybe 3-5K out of them before they were worn out. Not a heavy trailer either. Figured it was axle misalignment the first time it happened, but a different brand on the same trailer produced much longer and even wearing results. Happened several times on several trailers.

Maybe the Endurance is better than those older ones, but GY has just lost me as a customer, given my experience with them.
 
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Goodyear Marathons were garbage, but the Endurance is an excellent tire. I'll never run anything else on a travel trailer again. I have lots pf miles on them under multiple trailers and they hold up great, even with quite a bit of forest service road miles.
 
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