Decent non-China trailer tires ?

[3930dave]

Hi Turby,

Thanks for the Greenball data.

I'll probably stay with my Max Tire pressure, at least with these wheels. They are on a old/new to me trailer. I sand blasted them in the spring before painting. I was pretty sure that they have no pressure rating stamped on them, but checking the spare just now, no pressure rating is stamped on the Wheel.

I'm new to this end of trailering, so perhaps it is just me.... but,this seems really goofy. With every other class of consumer tire, you go by the Max cold Tire pressure.

The Tire Rack info also seems to indicate that the Wheel pressure rating is the limiting factor when assessing doing this 10 psi increase.

If I use my little ST tires as an example:

1) "If you are just taking an easy drive on backroads, then the tires should be at 50 psi cold".

2) "What, you want to drive the Interstate ? OK, then you (in my case) need to be at 60 psi cold, IF your Wheels are rated to at least that pressure."

I'm a guy that pays (sometimes too much) attention to details, but it took me quite a bit of digging to come up with this "10psi beyond Tire Max" issue.

Even people that are paying some attention to their trailer maintenance could easily end up on an Interstate running 40psi instead of 60psi (in my particular example).

Wow... talk about setting people up for failure !

This ST failure rate is high enough that I'm surprised the NHTSA isn't involved and/or class action suits haven't been initiated.

Perhaps the govt stance is "A trailer is not a passenger vehicle, therefore different standards apply". Tell that to the guy in the oncoming lane that is facing a 38' 5th wheel trailer on his side of a 2 lane highway, because it just lost 2 tires on one side !

I'm coming to the conclusion that the ST standard is badly written, poorly communicated, and negligent from an engineering standpoint. Either that or the ST is a decent standard, but just never inspected/enforced. IMO, ST tires should have to meet the same high speed benchmark tests that P tires do - I'm pretty sure most do not.

If Greenball keeps their quality where it is, they will definitely be my goto ST tire in the future.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

I was flipping through magazines at Chapters yesterday, and came across this quote from Carlisle in a current diesel truck mag:

"Sidewall strength on ST tires is down about 1/3 after 3 years". I brought home a copy of DieselWorld, so it was in another publication (Diesel Power?), current edition.

It's been pretty obvious that there has been a lot of de-contenting going on in the ST market, but still, a rather surprising public quote. And yes, you guessed it, the solution (according to Carlisle) is for us peasants to buy ST tires more often, like every 3 years to be "safe".

Begs the obvious next question....... "So, that means the tire weight rating is only good on the day of manufacture, and rapidly slides downhill from there ?". Of course, few magazines editors will allow their advertisers to be asked that class of question.

If I was close enough, I'd stop by and see Ultrarunner to check if he has any of those 45 y/o tires for sale - they still seem to stand up way better than many of these "modern" ones.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

This general tire subject came up again recently, so I thought I'd bump this thread.

I benefited a lot from this discussion..... just wanted to pay it forward for anybody needing ST tires now/soon.

Rgds, D.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I wonder what the rate of sidewall strength rate is on P and LT tires in the same 3 yr period.

Chris

 

[3930dave]

I wonder what the rate of sidewall strength rate is on P and LT tires in the same 3 yr period.

Chris

That's an interesting point Chris. It would be one of several questions I'd like to ask a Sr. Tire Engineer, off the record of course.

Given the rate of catastrophic failures of ST tires, I'd say their Design Margins have been compromised the most, out of all the products that consumer normally interact with. That other recent thread on car/truck tires has plenty of examples of sidewall cracking listed, but P's and LT's seem to retain their structural integrity better.

I suspect most manufacturers of P's and LT's don't want to run afoul of DOT, NHTSA, and the rest of the alphabet soup. ST manufacturers don't appear to have anything like the same level of oversight in place.

Rgds, D.

 

[JJZ 109]

After following this thread I've been looking into replacing all 4 tires on my 7x18 Kristi enclosed trailer. For various reasons the brands are no longer matched and a couple are likely on their last leg. This is on a trailer that was purchased new 6/28/13 and probably has 5-6,000 miles on it.
The local Sam's Club seems to be the only spot for Greenballs in my area. Looks like the pricing is $69 for the ST205/75D14 Tow-Master bias and $78 for the ST205/75R14 Trans-Master radial. However, a search turned up some unfavorable news on these from the Ripoff Report, so like anything else different folks appear to be having different experiences from some posted here.
For the price and the elimination of shipping charges I'm thinking of giving the $78 dollar radials a shot. The trailer's got (2) 3,500 pound axles on it. I had truck & trailer weighed last year and as a unit they were 15,440. Truck alone was 10,220, meaning the loaded trailer was 5,220. That would be a good average figure but could vary by 200-300 pounds when full rolls of aluminum gutter coil are loaded on.

 

[3930dave]

After following this thread I've been looking into replacing all 4 tires on my 7x18 Kristi enclosed trailer. For various reasons the brands are no longer matched and a couple are likely on their last leg. This is on a trailer that was purchased new 6/28/13 and probably has 5-6,000 miles on it.
The local Sam's Club seems to be the only spot for Greenballs in my area. Looks like the pricing is $69 for the ST205/75D14 Tow-Master bias and $78 for the ST205/75R14 Trans-Master radial. However, a search turned up some unfavorable news on these from the Ripoff Report, so like anything else different folks appear to be having different experiences from some posted here.
For the price and the elimination of shipping charges I'm thinking of giving the $78 dollar radials a shot. The trailer's got (2) 3,500 pound axles on it. I had truck & trailer weighed last year and as a unit they were 15,440. Truck alone was 10,220, meaning the loaded trailer was 5,220. That would be a good average figure but could vary by 200-300 pounds when full rolls of aluminum gutter coil are loaded on.

It looks like Tow and Transmasters come in both Bias and Radial versions. I've had good luck with my radial Towmasters. Didn't read the reviews myself; I think it was Jigbuilder that was talking about negative reviews on the Transmasters.

GreenBall

I bought from these guys:

Tow-Master Special Trailer Radial Tire ST17580R13 Load Range C

FWIW, I've decided to stay away from using ArmorAll as a tire dressing. A ripoff.com article I saw on Transmasters talked about using tire dressing, but didn't say what exactly was used.

Rgds, D.

 

[JJZ 109]

Thanks Dave. I'm not much on tire dressing for my trailers, but I do have covers for them during the off season. The link you provided shows a price of $105 before shipping and it simply shows the tire as "Tow Master". Not sure if it's Greenball or not.
If and when I decide to move on something, looks like it'll be the local Sam's unless something else happens along in the meantime.

 

[3930dave]

Sounds like you have a good price at Sam's, which is not an option for me. I was curious about your post, as I remembered my Towmasters as radial...

I had the same question as you..... I think they actually use the same factory numbers for their tire listings as Greenball does. I likely called the 800# on the site to confirm with Shadow, but if memory serves (?), it was Greenball USA itself who suggested them to me.... At the time, shipping was included.

(My question probably was something like "Hi, as a Canuck, I have only limited/expensive options available to me here - do you have any suggestions for buying ST tires in the USA ?".) Unfortunately for me, there are no Costco's in Upstate NY, or I would have gone that route.....

If you can find a DOT date code on the new ones, be sure to check it.... there can be some pretty old stock out there.

Rgds, D.

 

[JJZ 109]

Just got home with 4 new Trans-Masters. They look to be about a year old, date code 4513. The local Sam's had 5 in stock and I took 4. They're mounted, balanced and here now so on they go.
As noted previously, the trailer is a 7x18 enclosed with (2) 3,500 pound axles. As it sits the trailer weighs 5200-5500. What should the tire pressure be in these? Max? Does the pressure increase as the tires heat up? I don't want them over inflated and wearing the center of the tread out as one of the old ones appeared to have been doing.