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Old 10-03-2011, 02:08 PM   #1
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1981 31' Excella II
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235/75R15XL vs 225/75-15 trailer tire

After reading about the drawbacks of poor quality control and poor availabiliy and low speed ratings of typical trailer tires I was wondering why not go with a 235/75R15XL which has a load rating of 2183 lbs at 50 psi. My Excella II has a GVWR of around 7000lbs and empty it is just over 5000lb. I expect I will be somewhere between those two. This is a much higher quality speed rated tire that should handle high speeds and high loads. I probably won't be going over 65mph anyway but I like having that margin. I know it is not a trailer tire but who cares. A tire on a trailer should have a much easier life to a similarly loaded light truck or SUV tire. Why go to 16" rims if it is not necessary? I would feel much better doing this than running some off brand Chinese made trailer tire with little or no quality control.

I am looking at this tire but there are other good ones out there as well.

P235/75R15XL 108T BFGoodrich® Long Trail T/A® Tour

Perry
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Old 10-03-2011, 02:24 PM   #2
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Hi, Goodrich still made in the USA???, I hear Goodyear is China.
Good luck on the whole tire issue, there are those that say you
must use trailer rated tires, has to do with sidewall load etcetc.
I replaced my 700-15s with Korean E rated 700-15 bias tires, they ride hard
but track great..
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Old 10-03-2011, 02:27 PM   #3
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What you suggest works for me on my 25 Safari, 6300 gvw. I am using Michelin LTX P235 R 75 15 XL (extra load). Weight per tire is about what you quoted.
The ride is much better than it was on my E rated ST trailer tires inflated to 75 pounds and I plan to tow at 70 mph as I have a big, powerful tow vehicle and my Airstream tracks like an arrow.
There is plenty of clearance for the tires and they installed on the stock rims.
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Old 10-03-2011, 02:36 PM   #4
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I use Michelin LTX MS LT235/75-15 at 50 psi and think they're great.
I have about 25,000 miles on them and they still have most of their tread.
I'm much happier to not be beating up the 'stream with an 80 psi E rated Chinese piece of c#$p.

Just my opinion.
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Old 10-03-2011, 03:23 PM   #5
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I have the. 15"Michelins and likewise like them. Be sure you get the right one. There are many threads on that tire as well as ST tires that you can research in the forums. I have not read of one negative issue with either the 15" or 16".
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Old 10-03-2011, 03:30 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by perryg114 View Post
After reading about the drawbacks of poor quality control and poor availabiliy and low speed ratings of typical trailer tires I was wondering why not go with a 235/75R15XL which has a load rating of 2183 lbs at 50 psi. My Excella II has a GVWR of around 7000lbs and empty it is just over 5000lb. I expect I will be somewhere between those two. This is a much higher quality speed rated tire that should handle high speeds and high loads. I probably won't be going over 65mph anyway but I like having that margin. I know it is not a trailer tire but who cares. A tire on a trailer should have a much easier life to a similarly loaded light truck or SUV tire. Why go to 16" rims if it is not necessary? I would feel much better doing this than running some off brand Chinese made trailer tire with little or no quality control.

I am looking at this tire but there are other good ones out there as well.

P235/75R15XL 108T BFGoodrich® Long Trail T/A® Tour

Perry
Because some of us have big heavy AS'es. (The trailer, I mean).
four of those give me 8732# on the axles. I am running 7600# on the axles now (plus 950 on the tongue).

GVWR is 10,000. With about 1200 on the tongue at GVWR, that makes 8800#s) Too close for my comfort!

The more you use them, the more weight they gain.
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Old 10-03-2011, 03:48 PM   #7
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We switched too

... add our name to the growing list of people who had problems with Carlisyle (Chinese made) tires. Our sidewall failed. Luckily we found the problem before a blowout.

After reading a number of threads, we went with the Michelin LTX 235/75R15 as well.

John
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Old 10-03-2011, 04:17 PM   #8
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I think I am going to go with the BFGoodrich version. I have had really good luck with their tires. I have them on my Ranger and on my wife's car.

I don't understand the sidewall argument. A trailer tire should have an easy life other than having to carry extra load. It does not have to propell the vehicle or withstand the stress of torque and steering loads, physics is physics. Those of you that have front wheel drive vehicles know how long rear tires last compared to the front. They just sit there and hold the back end of the car up.

Perry
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Old 10-03-2011, 05:01 PM   #9
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when you have the chance, watch a triple axle trailer tire on a slow turn. if the tires have good traction, the front/rear tires look like they'll get sucked off the rim. it is less severe with a double axle and almost non existent on a single axle.
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Old 10-03-2011, 05:53 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by Rawn77 View Post
I use Michelin LTX MS LT235/75-15 at 50 psi and think they're great.
I have about 25,000 miles on them and they still have most of their tread.
Great to hear since I just put a set on Elouise 3 weeks ago!
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Old 10-03-2011, 06:25 PM   #11
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Well it would be nice to have a poll to determine if anyone has had a blowout with RV tires and compared that to the failure rate with the trailer tires.

Unfortunately, the trailer tire market seems to be driven by the utility trailer market. I have a 16ft flatbed utility trailer and I put cheap used car tires on it and the tires will dry rot on it before seeing 1000 miles. It will never be driven any distance with the tires anywhere near capacity.

RV's for the most part don't see much miliage either or boat trailers for that matter, full time Airstreamers are the exception.

Trailer tires in general are an investment in dry rot. If you are over 8000lbs then it is a good idea to go with the 16 inch rims and run truck tires.

My 31 foot Excella maxes out at 7100lbs. So 2000lb per tire should get me there and if you combine that with the 100+ MPH speed rating you are probably good for more than that. I assume the the tire is rated for max load at max speed.

Perry
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Old 10-04-2011, 05:58 AM   #12
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You must be close to maxing those tires out and they still seem to be holding up well. If I got my specs right on your 30' Flying cloud you have a GVWR close to 9000lb. Loaded you are probably at least 7000lb.

Perry

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rawn77 View Post
I use Michelin LTX MS LT235/75-15 at 50 psi and think they're great.
I have about 25,000 miles on them and they still have most of their tread.
I'm much happier to not be beating up the 'stream with an 80 psi E rated Chinese piece of c#$p.

Just my opinion.
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Old 10-04-2011, 06:26 AM   #13
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Perry,
I'm running the Michelin 235/75/15XL tires on my Ambassador. Only a few trips and a few thousand miles on them, but good so far. Rich Luhr, editor of Airstream Life, has been using the same tires as well. He has written a lot of his tire issues in his blog.
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Old 10-04-2011, 07:06 AM   #14
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Well I just bought a BF Goodrich version and I will let everyone know of my experiences with them. They seemed to have good reviews and a 108T rating. Some of the tires in that size have a 105 rating which will carry less weight.

Here is some useful information on tire load ratings.

Tire Tech Information - How to Read Speed Rating, Load Index & Service Descriptions

Perry
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Old 10-12-2011, 10:33 AM   #15
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After reading something FINALCUTJOE posted.

Trailer Tires Explained - TDR Roundtable

I am feeling better about purchasing my XL tires. The D rated Goodyear Marathons are 31lb each. My tires are 37lbs. Yeah they are a few mm wider which gives you free load capacity but some of that is heavier construction overall. The above article said trailer tires push the specs to the limit because they don't need a safety factor since they are not rated for passenger use. The risk is loosing a trailer and not the tow vehicle. I would rather have the conservatively rated XL truck tire than something that is cheaped out to the max to increase profit.

Perry
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Old 10-15-2011, 08:54 AM   #16
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I made the switch yesterday from 15" Marathon's to 16" Michelin LT's on my '05 31D Classic. My Marathon's, made in the USA, had many sidewall bubbles after only one year and 12,000 miles of service. In an incident two years ago I had a Marathon tread separate and bash in an aluminum panel at considerable expense. I could have purchased 60 new tires for the cost of the aluminum repair! I now have 4 Alcoa 15" rims, hub caps and lug nuts for sale if anyone needs wheels in excellent condition.


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Old 10-15-2011, 09:26 AM   #17
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put me in the Michelin LT camp. 40,000 miles, no problems. my trailer weighs 5800 on the axles so I got a lot of spare capacity. double axle. yeah, they squirm a bit backing. no problem. they do not leak down every month either.
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Old 10-23-2011, 06:56 PM   #18
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The first 900 miles was uneventful. On the way back we were running between 65 and 70 MPH and the tires were barely warm. I think the new tires are going to be ok.

Perry
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Old 11-16-2011, 02:10 PM   #19
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I'm looking at the Michelin's.

Michelin LTX M/S2 P235/75R15XL.

I find it interesting that the same tire model is sometimes a P and other times a LT.

LTX M/S2 | Michelin Tires

Is there any difference in construction with the P's and the LT's?
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Old 11-16-2011, 07:34 PM   #20
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I also have found that confusing, but after reading as much as I could find I am about to get the Michelin LTX MS2 XL 235/75/15. I plan on putting these on my 2008 25 foot Safari. I just put it on the scales yesterday with it mostly empty weighing in at 5480 lbs. Even loaded the way we travel it wouldn't get over 6000 lbs. I feel this is well within the limits or these tires. Hope this helps.

Mike
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