Bias vs Radial

[ROBERT CROSS]

And yes I still use the GYM.....
Second set on our 03 Classic.
Bob

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

And yes I still use the GYM.....
Second set on our 03 Classic.
Bob

And there's the key to your success, Robert. 2011-2003/2= 4 years use on each set.

Wonder when Goodyear started adding the nylon belt, they didn't used to do that. Maybe the new ones are better?

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by SteveH

And there's the key to your success, Robert. 2011-2003/2= 4 years use on each set.

Wonder when Goodyear started adding the nylon belt, they didn't used to do that. Maybe the new ones are better?

I have heard that they are now being made in Canada but haven't been able to confirm that.
Got this set in 09 and they were made in Chinanana, oh cr@p now I'm really 'gonna katch it.

But I've had GYM's on both AS's since 1987, and 'til I have a problem......

Bob

[SteveH]

I will not argue with success.

But, I still remember a year ago looking down at the tires on a friend's '07 25 footer at a rally, and noticing one of his tires was seperated, a GYM, of course. That was September 2010, so the trailer was only three years old, but I don't know the actual age of the tires. Anyway, when he went to the tire shop, he found out that all four of the tires were seperated.

I have decided, no matter the brand, I have bought my last "ST" tire.

[kds]

Originally Posted by bwoodtx

I had two tire failures last wekend. One was a tread separation and the other was a blowout. Took out my wheel wells, about a 3X2 piece of floor, water pipes, stripped tank valves of the tanks and tore up wiring. Both failure were in the same wheel position-left rear and on different days. I will be replacing all four with 7.00-15 bias ply tires. I'm done with radials on my trialers.

Just curious which brand of bias ply tires you purchased and where? I am close to San Antonio and will probably purchase my tires from there.

Thanks for your help, Bruce.

Kelly

[dannydimitt]

Just got back home with an 05 22 ft Safari , when I picked it up way up there near Lake Michigan last week 2 of the junk 215/75R14 GYM were falling apart in the sellers driveway. He had put 2 new ones on the other side last year. I put the spare on the back axle then SLOWLY drove over to Rockford Ill. to a Discount tire store. Bought 2 carlisles , mounted one in front of the spare and put the other in the back of my truck just in case it was needed on the way home to Bastrop Tx. "had a generator , compressor and tire tools in the truck" made it home without further problems and took the two new Carlisles to the Discount tire here at home and they took them back and I got 4 new 8 ply rated 700/15 bias ply Carlisles that they now call st205/90D/15 . put them on some allow wheels from my stack of stuff and hope that will be the last tire purchase that I will ever make for the 05 Safari. It stays in a barn with no windows except when traveling, and will never have to fret over when some junky radial tire is going to explode and rip the campers guts out ! it will allso give the AS better ground clearance. they list those new 8ply 700/15s at $96 bucks each. and yes they are tubeless. a radial will never be able to age as gracefully as a nylon bias. I ran across an old Firestone 500 gum dipped 4 ply tire mounted on an old airstream wheel a couple of years ago in Austin , " some one had put it out for trash " That old tire was probably made back in the sixties and had been in someones dark shed for decades ! It still holds air tubeless and I am running it on an old trailer of mine ! Try that with a 45 year old radial !!!
Thanks for looking !
Dan

[dannydimitt]

the thing that saves most folks from the misery of radial failure is that they usually were them out before they come apart. I have seen car radials blow out by simply sitting in a spare tire holder in the trunk. have seen dozens of truck radials come apart and throw the tread off while ripping battery boxs fenders air lines and every thing else they can reach off the truck or whatever they are on .
take a closer look at the tires on a container chassis thats under all those shipping containers going down the highway. They all run bias ply nylon tires on them , mostly either 1100/22.5 s or 1000/ 20 s if they still have the split rims .
these trailers spend most of their lives sitting in yards and get out on the road A LOT less than most . The nylon bias ply tires simply last many years longer than a radial under these conditions. "much the same as our camp trailers"
hope this sheds a bit more light on the bias / radial debate
BE SAFE !
Dan
PS the rated load for those 700/15 8 plys on my last post is 2600 pounds at 65 PSI.

[slowmover]

That line of CARLISLE tires is "rated for highway use", which is different than having a speed rating. Nor are there traction or temperature ratings for it. Good enough for a TT being hauled to a deer lease to live out it's life. But really for an ATV or riding lawnmower trailer.

If a tire isn't good enough to go on a passenger vehicle, then it's design, construction and quality is more than suspect for use on an expensive travel trailer.

Hope it works well for you. If a hurricane comes I might slap a set on this interim trailer I have. At $400 for a set, mount & balance, price + a known brand name is the single attraction of them. And I already have several mounted spares, JIC.

How much weight did they take to balance?

.

[dannydimitt]

The 8 ply nylon 700/15s took about 4 ounces each to balance.
I bought a set of 235/75R15 General car tires " the cheapest in that size that Sams had" back in 93 and put them on our 66 24 ft Airstream. Pulled that old trailer on many trips up to the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho , Colorado,Wyoming Etc. on those cheap tires, "they were about 35 bucks a pop. back then" and had no problems whatsoever with them . Put a set of 700/15s on it about 2001 and never a flat or anything . The 66 25 ft is heavier than the 05 Safari we use now and the 700/15s
will be a huge improvement from the 215/75/14 GYMs that came on it .

[slowmover]

Thanks for the info on balancing. Sounds like a decent tire for what it is.

I, too, "like" the 7.00x15 sizing (YOKOHAMA RY215 radial on last TT). It is today sometimes referred to as 7R-15 (FYI) in radial sizing.

I appreciate, also, the cross-reference number to that Carlisle.