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Old 10-09-2013, 07:29 PM   #1
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OK, Any LT tire failures to report?

I have seen many threads about failing ST tires. Lots of threads asking about the merits of switching to LT tires or not, how about hearing from those who made the switch? Phoenix has a poll that attempts to track these numbers but I wonder if that poll might be skewed toward ST users. I'd like to hear from those brave souls who made the leap and switched to LT tires.
Any failures to report?
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Old 10-09-2013, 07:56 PM   #2
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Nope, had some bad valve stems, but that has nothing to do with the tires.
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Old 10-09-2013, 08:39 PM   #3
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We did a 3000 mile trip this summer through southern New Mexico,Arizona on up through California to Yosemite. I just had new Michelin LTX m2 tires installed on my 78 Safari with original worn out axles before the trip and I'm sure glad I did. Temperatures ranged from 100 to 122 degrees on my truck temperature gauge foremost of the trip. I've never noticed this before but the shoulder was littered with blown tire treads and rubber everywhere, not here and there but a constant sea of tire treads and rubber. I'm sure the heat had everything to do with it and I was worried the whole trip until we got into cooler temps. Trip was great and we had zero problems.
Granted its only 3000 miles but the extreme temps were scary, guess I better plan better or at least cross my fingers vacation time doesn't fall on another major heat wave.
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Old 10-09-2013, 08:48 PM   #4
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Desertair27 - ours were in that temp range this summer in TN. I'm told 180 is the "trigger" point and the TPMS I use is set to alarm me if try get to 157 (I suppose to give me time to get off the road before it blows). Was I sold a bill of goods? No blowouts on the LTs at 124 degrees...

Bruce - I think Phoenix has one LT failure on his data from the polls...
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Old 10-09-2013, 09:08 PM   #5
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Desertair27 - ours were in that temp range this summer in TN. I'm told 180 is the "trigger" point and the TPMS I use is set to alarm me if try get to 157 (I suppose to give me time to get off the road before it blows). Was I sold a bill of goods? No blowouts on the LTs at 124 degrees...

Bruce - I think Phoenix has one LT failure on his data from the polls...
Valid info about the tire temperature, but I think desertair27 was talking about the ambient temperature ranging up to 122F!

I've shared some of dznfog's valve stem problems but the tires themselves (the Michelin LTX 15") have had no problems in a year of travel in Texas weather.
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Old 10-09-2013, 09:44 PM   #6
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When I converted to 16" wheels and tires on both my rigs, I had metal stems put in rather than the rubber ones. The Costco price was under $2 each wheel, extra. Of course they still use a rubber seal washer between the wheel and the stem, but probably are well worth the slight extra cost. A great tire, with a poor stem will fail just as well as a poor tire with a poor stem. I have seen one year old rubber stems crack and fail due to sun exposure. Like everything else it seems that we even have poorly made rubber stems these days.
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Old 10-09-2013, 09:54 PM   #7
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Our ST tire woes go way back. We have a 2005 Safari 25FB (7400#) that we have now towed 115,000 miles. We bought this trailer new. The OEM Marathons thrilled us with three separate catastrophic failures in the first 10,000 miles. We went with a series of three sets of Maxxis ST's. Even though these did not provide us any blowouts, tread separation issues took them out within 20,000 miles.

In November of 2010, we finally fitted our dear Lucy with a set of 16" wheels and Michelin LT tires. Lucy had been towed 65,000 miles at that point. We have recently hit the 115,000 miles mark. That means that we now have 50,000 miles on this set of Michelins. There has not been the slightest issue with these tires. They show hardly any tread wear. They hold their pressure very well. I can only recall two occasions where I had to add air pressure.

I will also confess that I sometimes tow Lucy at speed that border on stupid. I found myself earlier today up near 80 MPH on US 65 in Arkansas on our way home from Wyoming.

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Old 10-09-2013, 09:56 PM   #8
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Valid info about the tire temperature, but I think desertair27 was talking about the ambient temperature ranging up to 122F!
You are correct David.
Thanks
Mike
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Old 10-09-2013, 10:14 PM   #9
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Well....I started the whole "switch to 16" wheels and LT tires thing"
back in May of 2005 after a blowout on a GYM. See: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f438...ml#post1067516 I remember taking a whole lot of flack for my trouble, but the results speak for themselves.

My first set of LT tires were BF Goodrich Commercial T/A's LRD and I put about 85,000 on them. Over that time, I picked up 4 nails and that was the only drama. In 2010 I took that set out of service because they were starting to show some tendancy to cup. I replaced them with the same BF Goodrich Commercial T/A's but in LRE because they discontinued the LRD. I now have approximately 45,000 miles on the second set. On my most recent trip, a month long trip to Wash DC, I picked up my first nail in the new set. I had a shop in Clinton dismount the tire and patch it from the inside. That's about the extent of the drama I've had with this set. For the record, I run the tires at about 42psi, I've never had any rivet problems or cabinets coming apart on my trailer, and this set (LRE) are wearing perfectly even and still have at least 75% of the original tread depth. I usually travel at around 65 mph, but occasionally get up to 75 mph.
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Old 10-09-2013, 11:27 PM   #10
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I had both LT tires blow on my boat trailer on the same day. I was trying to get one more trip out of them before replacement. They had plenty of tread, but they died of old age. Guess I shouldn't punish 12 year old tires with a heavy load in the heat of summer.

MY FAULT! The trailer now has new LT tires, the only grade of tire I will use.

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Old 10-10-2013, 03:17 AM   #11
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The only Michelin LT tire failure on the poll was reported by "Withidl". See his comments below:

"... the tires failed due to age (they were actually 10 years old; June of 2001 to August of 2011)."

Personally, I have Michelin XPS Ribs (225/75x16) on our 19-foot Bambi; and they were installed about 3 years and 15,000 miles ago. They still look brand new with hardly any wear, and I have had no problems with them at all. I now tow with confidence in 120 degree summer heat (ambient air temp in degrees F). I made one 1,000 mile trip driving 75 mph, but have returned to a cruise speed of 55-60 due to the significant improvement in gas mileage when towing at the lower speed.
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Old 10-10-2013, 04:15 AM   #12
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The best thing I've done to my camper was to put on LT tires. I put these on.
RY215 Commercial Light Truck Tires | Yokohama Tire Corp.
First thing I did when I bought my camper was to remove the brand new LRD ST tires and craigslist them.

The first thing I noticed about the LT tires I bought was that they were heavier duty than the st tires. When doing a U turn the st tires looked like the wanted to come off the rim compared the my LT tires. I've actually had a hubcap come off doing U turns before. My LT's have a highway tread (which look good on older campers) and now my trailer pulls straight as an arrow, with or without my reese wd anti sway hitch.

Yokohama say's these tires can be retreaded 3 times which tells me they have a high quality tire casing that will last at least 10 yrs I suppose. Tires on trucks that get recapped go many years. My tires are 4yrs old now and look like the day I bought them. Believe it or not but I've never had to add any nitrogen to them since new, still 55psi.

Tires for trailers is not rocket science, you just need high quality heavy duty tires.
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Old 10-10-2013, 04:35 AM   #13
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We are somewhere over 30,000 miles on Michelin LTX Load Range E tires. One picked up a screw and had a slow leak for several thousand miles, so I guess the Michelin Man tried to strangle that screw.

We've used Michelins on all vehicles for many years and usually get around 65 to 70,000 miles from them—and they have very good traction even when worn down to 3/32" tread depth. Michelins are very popular with Airstreamers and reports on other tire threads have almost universally been positive. It is one of the too few brands that have been superior quality for as long as I can remember.

Gnee (I worry about my short term memory when I can't type my own name)
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Old 10-10-2013, 05:42 AM   #14
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We just got back from an 11,000 mile adventure across the United States and Canada to Alaska and back with our little 22 ft 2 axle Safari . I did not splurge for Michelins this time but put a set of Cooper 235/75R15s P rated Trend Setter tires on it .
On this trip we encountered just about every road condition and surface that there is on this planet. As well as making a great many tight U-turns on paved and gravel surfaces "side drag on the trailer tires" and again scooting across Texas in the August heat at 70 plus MPH, these low cost Non ST tires performed flawlessly. No flats , no problems whatsoever .

I use the P rated tires mainly because the load rating is more than sufficient and the fact they have a lot more flexibility to absorb variations in the road surface ,small objects,rocks, pot holes etc, without transmitting the movement to the axle and trailer while running at a much lower air pressure.

The amount of travel in a trailers suspension is so very tiny when compared to the suspension travel of trucks and cars , I like to give it a bit more cushion that these P rated tires offer . And have never encountered any problem at all in crosswinds , sharp turns , etc. due to the much softer sidewalls.
And yes, the fact that the little 22 Ft Airstream with 2 axles only weighs about 5,200 pounds fully loaded , and will function beautifully with P rated tires did enter into our decision to go with it other than a bigger one.

The 11,000 mile trip included the Top of the World Highway between Dawson City in The Yukon, thru Chicken , Alaska , to Tok , Ak. and the Cassiar highway thru western British Columbia which the northern part of it greatly resembles the original Alcan Highway that I had driven back in 1970.
The Airstream made the journey with absolutely nothing having to be fixed along the way , and upon arriving home , a good cleaning was all that was needed to get ready for our next trip. I feel the low low pressure "38" psi tires contributed somewhat to this.
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Old 10-10-2013, 06:11 AM   #15
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not sure if I am comparing my apples to your oranges

My van came with metal pressure monitor valves. I had a slow leak and figured out it was the valve. It had rusted. I went to the ( Chevy ) dealer to get a replacement , and the parts guy said that the metal valves are discontinued , and that the new ones are rubber/plastic. Since they knew of a problem, I was hoping that it would be under warrantee. NOPE $$$$$$$$. I am now saving to replace the other three, that all have started to rust.

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When I converted to 16" wheels and tires on both my rigs, I had metal stems put in rather than the rubber ones. The Costco price was under $2 each wheel, extra. Of course they still use a rubber seal washer between the wheel and the stem, but probably are well worth the slight extra cost. A great tire, with a poor stem will fail just as well as a poor tire with a poor stem. I have seen one year old rubber stems crack and fail due to sun exposure. Like everything else it seems that we even have poorly made rubber stems these days.
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Old 10-10-2013, 06:15 AM   #16
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As a tire engineer, I have dealt with these types statistical problems in the past. The problem always boils down to comparing apples to apples.

For example: It would be incorrect to infer that because someone who had a series of failures with ST tires, who then switched to LT tires and has not had any failures, that LT tires must be superior in some way. The reason this is incorrect thinking is that there are too many other things that could be impacting the results. Allow me to list a few:

1) If 10% of the people experience something, that means that 90% do not. So if someone experiences a tire failure, it also means he is not likely to experience another.

2) Many people who experience tire failures, upgrade their maintenance procedures, and/or change their operating conditions (speed, loads, etc), and/or upgrade their tires and wheels.

3) People who do not experience tire failures tend not to be interested in discussing tire failures other people had - and vice versa. That means the population of people looking at this thread (and others like it) tend to be folks who have experienced a tire failure. (PLEASE NOTE the use to the word "tend" - meaning that it is far from a 100% cause and effect. Many people are just naturally interested.)
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Old 10-10-2013, 06:31 AM   #17
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As a tire engineer, I have dealt with these types statistical problems in the past. The problem always boils down to comparing apples to apples.

For example: It would be incorrect to infer that because someone who had a series of failures with ST tires, who then switched to LT tires and has not had any failures, that LT tires must be superior in some way. The reason this is incorrect thinking is that there are too many other things that could be impacting the results. Allow me to list a few:

1) If 10% of the people experience something, that means that 90% do not. So if someone experiences a tire failure, it also means he is not likely to experience another.

2) Many people who experience tire failures, upgrade their maintenance procedures, and/or change their operating conditions (speed, loads, etc), and/or upgrade their tires and wheels.

3) People who do not experience tire failures tend not to be interested in discussing tire failures other people had - and vice versa. That means the population of people looking at this thread (and others like it) tend to be folks who have experienced a tire failure. (PLEASE NOTE the use to the word "tend" - meaning that it is far from a 100% cause and effect. Many people are just naturally interested.)
I agree completely. I have had more than a couple of stats classes in my day. However, I also live in the "customer service, mechanical world" and my experience allows for the little hairs to stand up on the back of my neck when there's a rat. And up they are.

There are way too many people here, particularly in the hot south, who have had multiple ST failures to ignore.

Yes, it takes time, volume and valid statistical failure mode analysis to draw accurate definitive conclusions, but real world experience of failure has borne out to be at least an issue, if not the root cause many more times than not. And yes, I have had to drag the engineering community behind me many times to prove it when the volume isn't there for a statistical conclusion.
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Old 10-10-2013, 06:34 AM   #18
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I don't disagree with Capri....AT ALL

But I would also add that people who own Airstreams , and especially people from this forum " tend " to be a lot more careful of their trailers, and research more than owners of SOBs.
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Old 10-10-2013, 08:21 AM   #19
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I can only relay personal experience with the 16" Michelins on our 12 classic. I took the GYMs off and switched to the LTs for peace of mind. I had no failures but want to tow at the speed limit. About 5k miles on the LTs with no issues.

Just wondering what is on all those u haul trailers flying down the interstate.
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Old 10-10-2013, 10:35 AM   #20
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Looking more and more like Andy is right - again.

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