what's the best tire?? - RV-Dreams Community Forum

mesquite47 · RV-Dreams Community Member

what's the best tire??

The Bear II · RV-Dreams Family Member

I spent a year reading RV and Truck Forum posts to determine which tire brand to buy for my 5th wheel.

After doing the research it became evident that the Michelin XPS Ribs would be the best tires to buy. The posts were positive about the tire and many of the transporters as well as RVers, indicated they had gotten more miles than expected from the tires. These reports came from drivers that put over 100K mile per year on their trucks. trailers and RVs.

I've had them on my 5th wheel for two years. Very happy with the tries. Recently I discovered that I had a set of four on the rear of my old dually I used to tow the 5th wheel with. Those tires were used when I bought them, still had 50% tread left and I put another 20,000 miles on them before getting my new truck. Never had a problem with them.

el Rojo and Pam · RV-Dreams Family Member

I changed my oem tires (16" E rated Chinese) to 17.5" H rated Goodyear 114's. These are actually commercial truck tires. I think the goal you're after is to have a "healthy" margin of error in weight capacity and a quality made tire. Most people will say American made.

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

Assuming your rig now has “G” tires on it, the upgrade to Goodyear G114 “H” tires is something you will not regret. Many of the tire problems are not brand as much as RV vs. a commercial grade tire. (You can do upgrade from "E" tires as well but you need to discuss this with "Scott" below.)

You will need to change your wheels (rims) for these tires but the tires will last an easy 45,000 miles and won’t blow out like a many of RV “E” and “G” tires will regardless of brand.

Go here: www.trailertiresandwheels.com

Call: (419) 272-2277 Ask for Scott and tell him what you want. He will make sure they fit. They will come mounted, balanced and ready to install. Highly recommended and expensive – but in the long run a lot less expensive than having your rig damaged by a blow out.

We have lots of people on this forum who have done this over the years. Haven't yet seen a post saying they made a mistake.

FastEagle · RV-Dreams Family Member

Automotive industry tire retailers have manuals with approved replacement recommendations for just about any car, light truck, SUV or multi passenger vehicle and the procedures for plus sizing them at an owners requests.

There are no guidelines, other than industry standards, to go by when replacing RV trailer tires. So owners are at the whim of the tire retailer they have chosen for assistance.

The standard notations about replacements for your trailer’s tires will be found in it’s owner’s manual. It will tell you to use replacements the same size and load capacity as your original equipment (OE) tire or others with equal or greater in size and load capacity. Those are standard safety precautions published by NHTSA. The owner’s manual will also tell you to ask the vehicle manufacturer for recommendations. Seldom will the manufacturer recommend anything other than OE tires unless they had previously recommended options for the model trailer in question.

When making your own decisions you need to start with the information found on the trailer’s federal certification label. That label - for trailers - is found on the LH side of the trailer forward of the axles and on a visible external section.

The certification label will list the size of the OE tires and the cold air pressures necessary to provide the load capacity to safely transport your trailer around on the highways. The label also lists the trailer’s GVWR & GAWR. The GAWR may differ from load capacity found on the individual axles. That’s because the trailer builder is certified to set that figure. From that figure OE tires are selected and fitted. The basic rim sizes will also be on the label, something like 15X6J or 16x6J or even 16x6.5.

Almost all trailers come equipped with Special Trailer (ST) tires. All GAWRs from 7500# down can be fitted with ST tires.

I’m only going to say this about replacement tire fitments. None of the major tire manufacturers will recommend using replacement tires with less load capacity than the OE tires provide.

Brand names can be very unpopular with some posters just as they can be unpopular with others.
I wanted to put that in before I posted this reference because I’m not plugging a brand name or manufacturer with this reference. I’ve just found it to be the most descriptive information about ST tires as you might find anywhere else on the WWW.

http://www.carlisletransportationproducts.com/cms_files/original/Trailer_Tires__Tips_Best_Practices.pdf

FastEagle

relicverse · RV-Dreams Community Member

Don't know about what tires, but we are adding metal above tires to protect slideouts.

Sushidog · RV-Dreams Family Member

Have you weighed each wheel to be sure you are within the tire's (and axle's) weight limit? I find that sometimes people load their trailer with little thought to where the weight is placed, so even though they may be within the trailer's GVWR they may exceed it on one side, or even exceed the axle rating fore or aft.

Chip

RickandJanice · RV-Dreams Family Member

Both Goodyear and Michelin are good choices. Goodyear got a bad rap a few years ago when they had a bad run on some of their "G" tires but at the same time, some of the well know higher end trailer manufactures were also putting them on trailers that were pushing the weight limitation of the tires. We were caught in both of those scenarios and had two tires throw treads and damage our trailer in two separate instances. I can say that Goodyear stood behind the issue and not only replaced the tires but also reimbursed us for all damages without any questions other than "have you included everything before we close this claim". So needless to say, we have stayed with Goodyear but also upgraded to 17.5" "H" rated tires with larger wheels from www.trailertiresandwheels.com .

As stated, the key is to get tires that are rated above the GAWR of the trailer. The way these tires can get twisted and scrubbed when backing into camp sites, I think it is always better to have a safety margin that exceeds the GAWR of the trailer. Getting individual wheel weights is also a very good idea for many reason but especially to make sure the tires you use can handle the actual weights on each wheel.

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

Rick and Janice:

Your comments about the Goodyear “G” tires are correct as well as your weight limit comments.

The reason I, and others, recommend “H” tires is because they don’t blow out like the “G” tires are known to do. I’ve actually purchased other brands of “H” tires and they were fine as well. But due to the large amount of miles, under some very challenging conditions in very northern Canada I’ve put on the Goodyear “H” tires, I recommend them for any rig that has “G” tires on it. If you ever physically compare the “G” to the “H” tire un-mounted you’ll see why the “H” are in a different class.

For those worried about trailer “manufactures ratings,” etc. as pertains to putting “H” on a trailer with “G” tires: Trailer OEM’s offer this as an upgrade option all the time. The reason they are an option is because they cost more and many people look at price first when buying a new rig. “G” tires are a way to keep the price down. We’re not going outside the boundaries of safety installing “H” tires – we’re increasing them significantly with the commercial grade “H” tires.

I’ve recommended Trailer Tire and Wheel, as noted above in one of my posts, because Howard found this company first and I, and others, have gotten outstanding service and pricing from them on many different occasions; and they can supply them mounted and balance on the new wheels (rims) they require ready to bolt on. (BTW, Howard is on his second set which aged out, they didn’t wear out.) I don’t get a commission. However, I do like seeing people not having blowouts on the side of the road all the time with “G” tires on larger 5ers.

sdman · RV-Dreams Family Member

We are one of the ones who did a lot right by reading here before we set out FT but didn't upgrade the tires and wheels. We had Load Range E on our 40 foot 5th wheel when we purchased it. Our weights are just on the edge all of the way around, wheel, axle, GVWR. We also have a TPMS on all of the tires and I am meticulous at keeping them at the correct pressure. However, after 6k miles we had 2 sidewalls go out and one blowout within 30 days. The second sidewall and the blowout happened just 200 miles apart so we didn't have a spare at the time on a Sunday afternoon in the remote part of the UP in Michigan. Anyway, we took the advice then and went with the 17.5 GY Load range H from Trailer Tire and Wheel. I had the wheels and tire combos sent to the our UP campground and I installed them there. It only took 3 days to get them! Yea, pricey but the feeling of safety it so much better. IMHO I recommend that anybody with a large rig have these put on when you purchase the rig. The people like Bill and Howard absolutely know what they are saying with this.

Mark

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'll have to go along with the recommendation of the 17.5" wheels and the "H" or above rated tires, and they were the Goodyear G114 tires. When we were researching for our fifth wheel, we found that DRV Suites automatically went to the better tires and wheels for their 38-foot and longer trailers. In the years that I've been on the different forums, I don't recall anyone saying that the better sized and heavier rated tires gave them a problem unless it was a road hazard or their own mistakes in maintenance or checking of the tires.

Terry