Progressive tire shredding...101

[Thunderman]

Mike,
That makes sense to me, especially if you are using your trailer for week-ends, vacation and holidays. If you were a full timer then your decision might be different.

Thanks,

[Illini Trekker]

I see no difference in TV or trailer tires with age? The TV will be payed off in January (CQQL) now with 30000 mile and three years with the tires. I can see 50 to 60 thousand miles on the tires and some 5 plus years. I will not throw them away at 4 yrs because of age. I'm not a full timer but a long timer and watch my equipment close, at at any signs of fatigue they'll be change out. The only thing I could see that does added harm to the trailer tires is the side twist. No expert here just get all my training with the school of hard knocks and word of mouth. Thanks all at MOC!

[LonnieB]

Mike,
Buying tires 2 at a time does work for some people, and is necessary in some cases. In your case, since you have 2 pretty new tires, it wouldn't make economical sense to purchase 4 new tires. If the tires on the TV and the trailer are all the same size, rotating 2 at a time from the TV to the trailer is ok as long as both tires on any given axle are the same type, as in LT or ST.
Illini Trekker, there is no difference between TV and trailer tires when it comes to the age issue. After 4 years in the elements they all start to deteriorate. I'm not saying your tires, or anyone else's, are going to fall off the rims sometime during the 5th year. I'm not saying you should buy a new set the day they turn 4 years old either. I'm just saying all should be aware the tires are more prone to failure after the 4th year.

[noneck]

Ok...Lets try this twist. My understanding is that the Trailer use only tires have additional change to rubber compound to resist UV aging as the manufactures recognize they tend to age from side wall cracking failure. Tires on tow and other motorized vehicles age from treadware before side wall can age therefore difference in rubber composition. I would expect the rest is the same...that is the belts and such. What da ya think am I off base here?

[sreigle]

Ozz, in some years Keystone put ST tires on the Montana. On other years they used LT tires.

LonnieB, isn't it also true that the tires on the same axle should have the same load range? Our 2003 3295RK came with an odd size 16 inch tire in LR D that had ratings over 3000 lbs. Nobody stocked that tire so I always had to wait while they ordered the tire. After a tire went bad just as we were starting our day and the tire place, only one in Hardin, MT, didn't have the size, I bought a used tire in the same size but LR E. When I had bad tire wear Keystone told me having different LR on the same axle threw the axle out of alignment. I had the axles aligned (150 for both - expensive lesson) and the alignment shop agreed with Keystone. Is that correct in your opinion?

[LonnieB]

Steve,
I do believe what you say is true. The higher load rated tire will "stand up" better than the lower rated tire causing one end of the axle to ride higher than the other end. Compounding this out of kilter problem, (is kilter a word? sounds better than catty-whompous ) is the fact that the higher standing tire will have less rolling resistance than the other tire. In my opinion, these two factors would cause the axle to be out of alignment, in turn causing premature tire wear.

noneck,
I don't think you are off base here, but give this a twist.
ST rated tires generally cost 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of an LT rated tire. In my mind, and I may be way off base, if the ST rated tires were so much better engineered, and designed than the LT rated tires, they would cost at least as much and probably more than the LT. What da ya think??

[Carl n Susan]

quote:Originally posted by LonnieB


..(is kilter a word? sounds better than catty-whompous )

LonnieB - not to hijack the thread, but you made me curious. "Kilter" is indeed a ligit word.

Definitions of kilter on the Web:

* in working order; "out of kilter"; "in good kilter"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

"Catty-whompus" is yet another word with various spellings.

As for "kittywompus," no one else is sure of the spelling either, and the word is also often spelled "cattywampus," "caddywompous," "catawampus" (which is the spelling preferred by most dictionaries), as well as about a dozen other ways. "Catawampus," which dates to the 19th century, actually has two distinct meanings (and may, in fact, be two distinct words): as a noun, "a fierce and destructive creature" (possibly drawn from "catamount," an American folk term for a mountain lion), and, as an adjective, "askew, jumbled up." This second meaning may be related to "catercorner" (or "kittycorner"), meaning "diagonally across from" (from the French "quatre," meaning "four," as in "four-cornered").

This concludes our English lesson for the day.

Carl (& Susan) Youngren

[MAMalody]

Thanks for the input. I am using LT tires all around. I think I will proceed with my plan at this point. I do not fulltime yet. Have a couple of years to go yet.

Question: Based upon tread wear, why would full-timing change my plan? If I come in will all the tires the same, then I could see swapping 4 at a time. However, at this point, it would appear that I would come in with tires of varying wear and my plan would continue to work.

[LonnieB]

Mike,
Your plan would continue to work whether you full time or not. The only problem may be that you would ocasionally have to buy tires on the road from someone other than your regular dealer.

Carl n Susan,
Thanks for the English lesson, now I won't feel like a hillbilly when I use those words .

[bncinwv]

Is hillbilly a word??? Just wondering because I proudly claim to be one!!!!!
Bingo

[LonnieB]

No offense intended Bingo, I too am a hillbilly, or a hick actually .

[noneck]

Yes, Agreed...LT should provide more engineering and I do not think using them on a trailer is grounds to worry that you did anything wrong. I am on this course due to the same situations stated in this thread. Had one of my Generals shread, replaced two to keep axle matched (out on the road and at the mercy of tire dealers stock wanting to get to destination w/o over-nighter in parking lot) and now am contemplating purchasing 3 more to make 'em all the same. I am such a decision maker...still after 3 weeks not sure...