Another view on tires

[OntMont]

There is a fellow I know slightly who operates a long established RV business in Ontario. He also writes a column on towing issues in a Canadian RV magazine www.rvlifemag.com

I wrote to him, asking his opinion of the ST tires that are now commonly supplied on most trailers. (He sells Airstreams, Sunnybrooks and HitchHikers). Here is his response. I think that the first paragraph says a whole lot! Also, note that he says Goodyear make a tire with a dual LT/ST designation.

Hi John

Many of the trailers we sell we change the tires to LT tires from the
ST.

It is pretty much as you suspected. As near as I can tell ST just means
not good enough to use on a car. We do not have a lot of experience with
the 16" Marathon's as yet but I suspect they will be about the same
quality as the 15's. Which is acceptable but not great.

I would stay with the LT tires when you replace your tires.

The only issue we ever had with LT tires was Goodyear once made a tire
where the sidewall plies wrapped around the steel tread plies. The
turning action of the trailer where the two tires fight against each
other caused the steel belts to saw through the sidewall plies and
Goodyear had to recall all the tires used on RV's.
Goodyear makes LT tires with a small st designation on them.

I have never had a problem with Michelin, Bridgestone or Yokohama
tires.

I would only recommend the "G" tires where you absolutely need them to
carry weight as they are pretty stiff riding on lighter trailers.

It would be a good idea to weigh your trailers axles sometimes just to
see what weight you are carrying on the tires.

Thanks for writing.

Andy

[Waynem]

Thanks John. It says a lot.
I ran onto a CAT scale on the way here. I don't have my paperwork in here with me, but I remember the trailer axle weight being 10,900 and some pounds. That's good for my new Michelins with a load capacity of 3042 per tire.

Thanks again.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

Some very good information John.
Maybe with the exception of "ST just means
not good enough to use on a car." I like what he has to say.

[Fire5er]

Great info. Will use when I have to replace these tires. Thanks!

[bsmeaton]

With all due respect, the first paragraph does say it all - that the magazine is willing to publish who ever is willing to write!

With all of the resources he must have available to him, that is a disappointing answer on ST tires. Any of us can come up with a subjective opinion, but I think you were looking for a more technical response.

His recommendation to install LT tires are fine for you and me, but I'm sure he knows he could not legally retail out a rig with tires rated less than the axle rating (or GVWR). It is a liability that even Keystone was unwilling to take when they went back and had thier wheels retested to the higher rating before installing the 7K axles. Simply put, there are no LT tire options (proper load) that fit our wheels on the 7K axle rigs. Weighing our rigs and installing tires rated less than the rated capacity stamped on the rig is a personal risk we would have to be willing to take ourselves. Myself, I think I would rather risk potential inferior tires than risk overloading superior tires.

Always interesting to hear the view of others, but I personally think we have better tire expertise right here on the MOC.