Tires - Good insights for one and all!

[batman]

Originally Posted by Tireman9

As the saying goes "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink".

Tireman9, Awesome blog! Just want to say thank you.

I find it amusing to read some of the replies here on the AS forums.
Even after being introduced to the scientific analysis of years of research.
People will formulate there own idea of what is correct, based on rumor, innuendo and superstition, regardless of the facts or evidence of the contrary.

The world is not flat, just your tire!

-Dennis

[BlackAces]

I often post in this forum. I'm a trailer tire user and researcher. Been doing it for the better part of 10 years. I'm a stickler when it comes to safety and tire industry standards. (Comes from my 40 years as an aircraft mechanic).

I know this doesn't fit well here but it's about some he said she said stuff.

The steel cased LT235/85R16G tires developed and marketed for trailer service only have a single rim width size, 6 and a half inches. That's their manufacturer's recommendations.

The owners upgrading to the larger steel cased tire will normally use their existing 6" wide rims if they have the load capacity/psi rating for the upgrade. Their words of experience are normally "they work just great on my old rims". So sometimes even though it's not recommended or even safe that kind of word is passed and accepted.

BlackAces

On edit: A tire manufacturer's rim recommendations can be trumped by a vehicle manufacturer. It's fair to mention that but it's normally done with high speed specialty rims and tires and the safety responsibility shifts to the vehicle manufacturer.

[Skater]

Originally Posted by avionstream

Curious, what did the T man have to say?

I think he covered it above, but the conversation starts here and goes through the next couple posts.

Originally Posted by AtomicNo13

Was that an e rated Carlisle?

D rated.

[Action]

Originally Posted by SCOTTinNJ

How about putting it this way. What would you suggest in a 15" tire on stock rims for a 8800# gvwr trailer? Serious question. My exact trailer spec. [emoji2]

Since no one addressed your question and with no other data I would seek a tire with a load capacity of 2600#.

However you might want to weigh your trailer hooked up to the TV in it's maximum capacity. Or add weight for things like full water tank if you weighed the trailer with empty water, waste, grey water & propane tanks. Assuming that number is less than 8800#s, divide that number by 4 and divide that number by 85. Move the decimal to the right by 2 places. Round up to the nearest 100. Then I maintain tire pressure at max load as this is what I expect out of the tire. BTW I rarely travel faster than 65mph and this is a factor for capacity.

If you weigh the trailer and the axle load is greater than rated GVWR you will need to put the trailer on a diet! RVs like many humans gain weight as they age.

For what it is worth this is what I do. Others may have a different input or thought process or what ever. There is a margin built into the above and running at less than full load increases that margin.

>>>>>>>>>>>>Action

[xrvr]

Again Maxxis e rated ST tires will do just fine.as I posted earlier in response to this question. Maybe it was deleted.

[switz]

Determine the axle rating for the trailer. The tire rating should, at the recommended inflated pressure, equal or exceed the axle rating.

The OP has a 2010 Flying Cloud (per his signature) and the 2010 parts manual stated it came with 3,800 pound rated axles. In a perfect world, each tire would need to support at least 1,900 pounds.

In weighing the individual wheel locations on our 2013 25FB, which also had 3,800 pound rated axles, we have found that there is one tire that carries nearly 200 pounds more than the others. The 25 FB right rear had the most load. The Classic had three at nearly the same weight and the left rear was lower by 150 pounds partially due to the removal of the water heater with 6 gallon storage capacity tank.

While the total weight of our Classic camping ready was 9,261 pounds, the two 5,000 pound rated axles were supporting 8,064 pounds. Thus, the factory installed Load D Goodyear tires rated at 2,540 pounds each had adequate load capacity with nearly a 25% reserve.

So the issue on lighter Airstream trailers may not be Load D versus Load E, but the quality of the materials used to build the tire and proper inflation at all times.