10 Ply tires on 25' Safari

[dfschultz]

I am replacing the tires on my 2005 25' Safari, am thinking about 10 ply tires, is this overkill? Will this cause a hard ride for the trailer? Should I use an 8 ply tire? Really don't want to go to the expense of buying 16 inch tires, so I think I will stay with the 15 inch wheels. Thanks!

[centennialman]

I just put 10 ply on my 22 ft. Safari, so will be interested to see the responses. The first trip out she glided right along. Taking her out again next weekend as well. I was a bit worried they might be too big but they have plenty of space around them and ride well.

[handn]

10 ply tires really don't have 10 plys. They are load range E ST tires with a 10 ply rating. In the old days of bias ply tires, there were 10 plys.
I had them for a short time on my 2004 25 foot Safari. Do they ride rough? Yes noticeably so if inflated near their 80 psi inflation limit.
Perhaps they provide a little blowout protection. I went to them when I had repeated blowouts in hot weather driving with load range D ST tires. Eventually I had a blowout with the E tires and went to 235 R 15R, load range C rated light truck tires. Mine are Michelins but a number of companies manufacture them. They work well on a smaller lighter Airstreams as there is plenty of load capacity. They ride like a dream and blowouts have been a thing of the past in five years of driving some of it on rough roads in very hot weather. I can drive as fast as I want but normally drive under 70 to conserve fuel.

[tjdonahoe]

I would say that is over kill, D rating would be plenty.

[KEIZER]

I use to work for a national tire chain. Was trained by Michelin and serviced many tires, off road construction equipment, highway tractors, farm machinery, travel trailers, and passenger vehicles. Around here many of the white box and airstream trailers even the tandem units are using Light Truck tires. Like HANDN mentioned tires are not manufactured like they use to be. Todays technologies have advanced tires along ways. Personal example: On my 3/4 ton Dodge I run LT in the summer though in the winter I switch over to passenger tires. They can handle the load fine, through handle better then Light Truck tires in the winter. If the tire is designed to carry the weight I see no need to spend more on a higher rated tire and stiffen up your ride.

[jcanavera]

I think your D rated ST tire has significant reserve. I don't believe trying to upgrade to an E rated tire is worth the time and $$. If you've had good performance from your D's, there really don't need to move up. By now, with the age of the trailer, you should know if the existing rated tires have been an issue.

After losing both D (original equipment) and E rated ST tires on my Classic slide out due to belt slippage, I upgraded to 16" LT Michelin tires. The move to the E's was an attempt to avoid the problem I had with the D rated Marathons. I was surprised by the Maxis E rated tires also failing. In all cases I run sidewall pressures, 65 psi on the D's, and 80 on the E's. The D's started failing at the end of 3 years of use. The E's failed on the first trip of year 4. My Classic is the heaviest trailer that Airstream has built on a tandem axle and my gross weight can vary between 8,400 lbs t 9,100 lbs dependent upon whether I'm carrying full propane and fresh water tanks.

My belief is that ST tires under heavier loads lose their reserve capacity over time and in my situation don't really have more than 3 years of service life. Going to LT's is really more economical if I use a 5 year life cycle for them rather than replacing the ST's sometime during their 3rd year of use.

Jack

[batman]

Originally Posted by dfschultz

I am replacing the tires on my 2005 25' Safari, am thinking about 10 ply tires, is this overkill? Will this cause a hard ride for the trailer? Should I use an 8 ply tire? Really don't want to go to the expense of buying 16 inch tires, so I think I will stay with the 15 inch wheels. Thanks!

I have e rated tire on my 22' Safari and love them. Smooth and quiet.
For credible tire info check out this very cool link.
RV Tire Safety: "Interply Shear" and other Techno Babble
Be a well informed buyer. Good luck with your purchase.


-Dennis

[Air Cruiser]

We upgraded our axles to 3500 lbs each on our 1999 25' Safari in the Spring of 2011 and went from 14" wheels to 16", and that also increased our braking ability. We wanted to be able to run Michelins so we could be somewhat stress free about blowouts, and went with Michelin XPS, 16" tires, which I believe are load range "E". We feel we have a smooth ride & cannot really tell she is back there.

We have not had a blowout. Next Spring we'll be at the fifth year for them -- the magical year which we feel all tires need to be replaced, including our car tires.

Deb

[streamintrip]

Well, for me it is E rated tires. At 80psi they are rated at 2,840# so I run them at 75#. Yes they are 10 ply rating (not 10 ply), but I believe I get a bit more puncture and blowout protection than D rated tires. We tow about 8,500 mi/yr, and we get 5 years out of them over the 3 Airstreams we've owned (93,00,05), which is OK for us. No blowouts yet, but had a couple of punctures which were repaired (thank goodness for TST's!). I know a lot of people are going with 16" Michelins, but these 15" jobs are working well for us, so why change?

[A W Warn]

Originally Posted by dfschultz

I am replacing the tires on my 2005 25' Safari, am thinking about 10 ply tires, is this overkill? Will this cause a hard ride for the trailer? Should I use an 8 ply tire? Really don't want to go to the expense of buying 16 inch tires, so I think I will stay with the 15 inch wheels. Thanks!

Not sure about your wheels, but mine have a inflation limit of 65 psi, stamped into the back side of the wheel.

I've been running E rated tires at 60 PSI for several years. No problems so far, with ~ four years and about 10,000 miles on them. Airstreams recommends 50 psi for my trailer, so the extra 10 psi inflation gives some extra load capacity for each tire and additional resistance to tire sidewall rollover during pivoting turns.

As far as ride, I can't tell any difference while towing and I have seen no popped rivets nor has there be any damage to the interior.

When I went to the Airstream factory, they offered Power King Tow Max in 15" as an option to the GYM. I chose the Power King Tow Max and bought them from my local tire dealer.

[streamintrip]

My OEM aluminum wheels are rated at 80 psi according to Alcoa.

[Boxite]

If one wishes to run more than 65 psi then be CERTAIN to replace those rubber Schrader valves with METAL VALVES. The rubber ones are only rated at 65 psi while the metal ones are considered permanent replacements and good for 130 psi. (according to Discount Tire.)

I am running E rated (8 ply) ST tires inflated to 70 psi with original 15" aluminum wheels with no problems on my 22' Sport.

[rodsterinfl]

Already mentioned but I went to do the same thing the first day I bought my Airstream and we found the OEM wheel max pressure rating stamped at 65psi. That limits it to D rated unless you plan to get wheels too. The Safari rims, I was told, were Chinese, not the Alcoa of the upper trims. Two years later I ended up getting the Sendel wheel used on the Eddie Bauer with E rated Michelins also matched as the same as OEM EB models. It was around $1200 but now I can buy LT tires and 16" tires.