"Highways" article about all RV tires

[Art-n-Marge]

The November/December 2010 issue of Highways Magazine from the Good Sam Club (GSC) has a pretty good article titled "Tracking RV Tires". It seems to match what we've experienced here. The information was gathered from GSC's RV Owners' Advisory Council (RVOAC) from 100's of comments, questions and suggestions.

It will be available online in the future but not for a while (I think they want us to enjoy the paper version first). For those non-member Good Sam'ers here's some "Key Survey Findings" from the article:

- On Trailers, tires load range C, D and E are significantly more likely to fail. On motorized RVs it's LR F & H.
- Motorized RV tires experience more curbside damage. Towables more often sustain driver side damage.
- Towable RVs sustain more damage from tire failure than motorized RVs.
- Trailer owners are more aware of their weight than motorhome owners (75% versus 65%).
- Motorized RV owners are less aware of their failed tire's load range than trailer owners (65% versus 26%).

This all made sense to me. Trailers are lighter constructed and use ST tires which just don't seem as strong as they need to be. The sizes that failed are used with the larger trailers and to me it seems that the heavier the rig, the more exponential chance of failure. Most trailers also have more slideouts (and weight) on the driver side - it's true for my rig 5,500lbs versus 5,100lbs. Finally with all motorized RVers I know they don't care to weigh or know their weight points as trailer owners because the motorized RV is so heavy and more solid, most figure that adding more weight is not a concern. Because of Trailer contruction I think we have to care more - but everyone SHOULD know their weights and ratings regardless what they have. In fact, I know worry about it with my vehicles, so much so that we longer carry the barbells when we vacation travel in the car any more. Vehicles have weight limits too and I guarantee the cargo weight is exceeded after five passengers and their luggage. Something to think about - just because it fits, doesn't mean you should bring it along.