Hi Melanie,

Much depends on the size tires you currently have and on the total weight the tires will be carrying.  What size tires are you looking at?  And what is the Gross Axle Weight Rating of your fifth wheel?

Imports are not necessarily bad.  Most of the major brands make tires overseas.  However, in my personal opinion, I would avoid tires made in China by Chinese companies.

To know where they are made and by which manufacturer you can go to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website.  You have to know the first two digits in the tire DOT code on the sidewall.

Once you or your tire salesperson finds that, you can enter those digits into the DOT ID field in the form on this webpage:

http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/manufacture/

That will tell you the plant where the tires were manufactured and by which company.

 

As for using Light Truck tires on your fifth wheel, they are often used due to their extra load carrying capacity.  They have a little stronger sidewalls as well.  The disadvantage is they have a bit more tread than trailer tires so the tires "stick" a little when making sharp turns.  Still, I prefer Light Truck tires for heavy fifth wheels.

Tires aren't made in multiple plys any more - they have "ply ratings" and those ratings are indicated by alphabetical Load Ranges.

For example, let's look at a Load Range E tire.  "E" is the fifth letter of the alphabet so we assign it the number "5".  Then we double it to get "10".  A Load Range E tire is therefore a 10-ply rated tire.  So, an "F" is a 12-ply rated; a "G" is a 14-ply rated; an "H" is a 16-ply rated, etc.

The higher the load range (on same sized tires), the higher the load carrying capacity.  However, if you go with a higher load range tire than you have currently, you have to remember that your tire rims and axles may not be rated for the higher capacity so you can't necessarily increase your load, but a little extra safety cushion on the tires never hurts.  :)

Hope that helps a little. 

Mel, I posted to this thread, but the ether sucked it up. Loadstar tires are certainly not one of the choices I would make. If your rig weighs 14K (like mine does) you would be happy with Michelin XPS Ribs. I tossed some loadstars with less than 1000 miles on them (yes, 1000) because of tread ply separation. We put on XPS Ribs at the time and have been happy. Not a single problem with the tires, and we are still heavy. Whatever you choose to do, don't cheap out on the tires. Low price means one thing, low quality. No getting around that fact.
Pay attention to what Howard said. Since he started weighing rigs, I bet he has seen the full gamut of tires and suspension issues. The good and the bad and ugly.