OK, Any LT tire failures to report?

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by Birdmaestro

Looking more and more like Andy is right - again.

Poppy

Which "Andy"?

[perryg114]

The statistics that you talk about below are the exact reason I use LT or P metric tires. They have alot of history behind them and the manufactures do care because lives are at stake and not just a trailer. If trailer tires had the engineering and quality control backing that passenger car and truck tires have, then I would say yes they can perform as well as anything else. I think the ST tire failures are statistically significant and are not a result of a smaller data set.

Perry

Originally Posted by CapriRacer

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.)

[John&Vicki]

Originally Posted by SteveH

Which "Andy"?

Steve...

Andy in Ontario. He was maybe the first to use 15" Michelin LT's and took a lot of gas about it. Here's a link:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f438...tml#post914066

Poppy

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by Birdmaestro

Steve...

Andy in Ontario. He was maybe the first to use 15" Michelin LT's and took a lot of gas about it. Here's a link:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f438...tml#post914066

Poppy

I confess to not going to re-read that thread after quite some time....but it depends on what trailers he's recommending them. On my 30'er there was not enough weight capacity to use the 15's, with any reserve with which I was comfortable. On a shorter AS, maybe, depending on your scale readings. The 15's are not LTs, they are p-metric XLs (extra load) rated at 2180 pounds, IIRC.

I just put them on my van yesterday...I do like them and would use them on smaller ASes.

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by Birdmaestro

Steve...

Andy in Ontario. He was maybe the first to use 15" Michelin LT's and took a lot of gas about it. Here's a link:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f438...tml#post914066

Poppy

OK, thanks, just wanted that clarified because there is another well known "Andy" on here that advocates using nothing but what is OE, or the GYM's.

[John&Vicki]

Here's a link that works:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f438...tml#post914066

The ones he mentions here are listed as LT's:
235/75R x 15 LT Michelins - Post dated 2010.

Great idea to start this thread BTW. Sample size will always be fairly small, but nice to have empirical evidence about tires as opposed to opinion.

Poppy

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by Birdmaestro

Here's a link that works:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f438...tml#post914066

The ones he mentions here are listed as LT's:
235/75R x 15 LT Michelins - Post dated 2010.

Great idea to start this thread BTW. Sample size will always be fairly small, but nice to have empirical evidence about tires as opposed to opinion.

Poppy

Nothing on their website but these in that size.

P235/75R15/XL 108 T

The only 235s in an LT are 80 aspect ratio and 17"...or 85s in a 16".

They are all named an "LTX", which is a marketing name and not a construction term. Adds confusion a lot.

[John&Vicki]

Rich...

Maybe it's changed in the last three years? In any event, what are the thoughts on these for a '90 25' Excella, dry weight 5,000 pounds? Are there 15" LT's that would work? I don't like the pot stickers there are on there now, but I'd rather avoid the expense of going to 16" (I'm trying to recover from SDO - shiny object disorder).

Thanks,
Poppy

[dznf0g]

Without knowing your weights, I would look at the P225/75 R15s mentioned above. I know of no 15" LTs out there. Some are using a Continental "commercial" tire (European rating, I think, but they come on some import work vans). Their specs look fine, in your case.

[dannydimitt]

Originally Posted by Birdmaestro

Rich...

Maybe it's changed in the last three years? In any event, what are the thoughts on these for a '90 25' Excella, dry weight 5,000 pounds? Are there 15" LT's that would work? I don't like the pot stickers there are on there now, but I'd rather avoid the expense of going to 16" (I'm trying to recover from SDO - shiny object disorder).

Thanks,
Poppy

well, back in the mid 90s , we ran a set of P metric 235/75R15 Generals from Sams, on our 1966 24 ft Land Yacht . load rating was about 2100 each.
they performed perfectly for many years .

[mutcth]

Originally Posted by dznf0g

Without knowing your weights, I would look at the P225/75 R15s mentioned above. I know of no 15" LTs out there. Some are using a Continental "commercial" tire (European rating, I think, but they come on some import work vans). Their specs look fine, in your case.

I'm doing that - using 15" Nokian Hakka C Van tires on my Safari SE, since I couldn't find 16" trailer wheels with a 5-bolt lug pattern. I was VERY happy with the Michelin LTX tires installed on my (now sold) single-axle Argosy by CanAm, but my tire engineer friend praised the Nokians - plus they're Load Range D.

10,000 miles on the Argosy tires and 10,000 miles on the Safari tires with no issues.

Come to think of it, we towed our T@B for 10,000 miles as well on non-trailer tires with no problems either. Lots of hot, high-speed towing on that cross-country trip.

Tom

[Nehemiah]

I have seen no threads on 32' Excella's. I bought new Tow-master tires (5) prior to the Southwest Adventure Caravan and had two blow outs, and damage on both sides of my rig from the tread separation that followed. I was checking temps with an infared thermometer and rear tandem tires treads were running 104 F and fronts were running 98F. The pressures were 77 cold and would rise to approx. 80. These were E rated 2830# capacity at 80 cold. Can anyone offer suggestions? Thx. Beechplace 18 Towing with 3/4 ton Deisel.

[dannydimitt]

Originally Posted by beechplace18

I have seen no threads on 32' Excella's. I bought new Tow-master tires (5) prior to the Southwest Adventure Caravan and had two blow outs, and damage on both sides of my rig from the tread separation that followed. I was checking temps with an infared thermometer and rear tandem tires treads were running 104 F and fronts were running 98F. The pressures were 77 cold and would rise to approx. 80. These were E rated 2830# capacity at 80 cold. Can anyone offer suggestions? Thx. Beechplace 18 Towing with 3/4 ton Deisel.

Are not the Tow-master tires a brand of Chinese ST radials ?

[rodsterinfl]

Powerking Tomax is what I currently have. They are Asian but not sure of which country.

[dkottum]

Originally Posted by Bruce B

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?
Bruce

Looking through this thread, the only LT tire failure reported was on 12 year old LT tires on a boat trailer and the thread has wandered to other topics.

That's looking pretty good for LT tires.

[bovk]

I switched to 16 " rims and Firestone Transforce HQ tires 20 k MI ago (20 ft AS) and there is no sign of wear or a problem.

[Happy-rver]

There were 3 trailers from Ontario Canada on this years South West Caravan, second group. One was a 25' Safari pulled by a Freestar, the second was a 27' Safari pulled by a Routan and the third was a 34' Excella pulled by a GM diesel. All were on the Michelin LTX tires installed at Canam RV in London, Ontario. Our trailer was the 27' and before the caravan started we had to go to Travelers Rest Resort at Dade City FL to pick up our trailer. We made the run to Durango in four days using mostly interstate at 70mph most of the time. The outside temp was over 100F through quite a bit of Texas and did hit 108F briefly. At the end of the caravan we tried to add up all the trailer tire flats, there had to be over a dozen. All 14 LTX's from the great white north did very well thanks, and no one from anywhere other than Canam will be touching my trailer tires in the near future.

Larry

[dkottum]

Larry, what is the magic touch Can-Am has, that others who sell LTX's don't have?

[Bill M.]

The magic is in using good tires.

[dannydimitt]

Na , it's the Canadian air in the tires !