About tires..

[Dave Nowlin]

There have been many posts about tires. Well today I decided to do a little research. Since the OEM tires on my Ford are Continental, I started there. I talked to one of their engineers who said they don't make tires for trailers. He said that when you take a normal run of the mill LT rated tire which hasn't been built expressly for trailer service you can be inviting problems. He spoke of the stresses with dual and triple axle trailers which aren't encountered on trucks. He spoke to the fact that most "E" rated LT tires have two belts of steel and two of polyester in the tread and the sidewalls aren't the same either. He mentioned the fact that although an "E" rated tire can handle a certain rated load, on a truck it doesn't support that load 24 hours a day. He suggested going to a "G" rated tire to allow for a little more forgiveness. I called Montana Customer Support and was told the aluminum rims on my unit will withstand the 110 p.s.i. inflation pressure of the "G' rated tires. This will allow a little more fudge factor. Goodyear makes a Unisteel RST, G614RST, LT235/85R16 tire which is made expressly for trailers. I believe this is the OEM tire Sunnybrook uses on their Titan Series. A set of them costs about the same as a set of Michellin XPS Ribs which are "E" rated. These might be a good replacement tire to look into. It has four belts of steel in the tread.
Dave Nowlin

[ole dude]

In reading about the Goodyear tire in the Escapees forum, I might question the tires. I believe it was discussed in the HDT forum.

[Dave Nowlin]

Thanks for the heads up Ole Dude. In reading that thread one thing kept coming up over and over. The Fifth Wheels those folks were pulling were way heavier than our Montana's. Many of them are now wanting to move up to 17.5 inch "H" rated tires. Seems to be the same principle I am advocating here. Heavier rated tires to make them a little more forgiving or put another way a bigger fudge factor. In fact how many here have weighed each individual wheel on their Monte? We might not be overloaded overall but maybe we are overloaded on an individual tire or two. I just try to operate on the principle of "Murphy's Law seems to be operative in RVs too."
Dave Nowlin

[Eagle Man]

The more I read, the more confusing it becomes. In my Montana manual, it states:

"LT - The 'LT' indicates the tire is for light trucks or trailers.
ST - An 'ST' is an indication the tire is for trailer use only."

Page 71, FWIW.

[Dave Nowlin]

I agree it is confusing. The Michellin XPS Rib is an LT rated tire but listed for RV use. The Goodyear tire I mentioned earlier in an LT rated tire developed just for trailers. There are other LT rated tires that the manufacturers don't recommend for trailer use. When we make sharp turns with our 5ivers we put sideways stress on the tread that light trucks don't. Many tire manufacturers therefore don't recommend we use their tires. There aren't really very many non-Chinese made tires rated for use on our RVs and many of the tire companies don't believe there is suitable volume to justify making tires for us. At least that is what the guy from Continental told me. They claim to be the second largest tire maker and Michellin claims to be the largest. Go figure that Goodyear does want to make these tires.
Dave Nowlin

[Glenn and Lorraine]

quote:Originally posted by Dave Nowlin

There have been many posts about tires. Well today I decided to do a little research. Since the OEM tires on my Ford are Continental, I started there. I talked to one of their engineers who said they don't make tires for trailers. He said that when you take a normal run of the mill LT rated tire which hasn't been built expressly for trailer service you can be inviting problems. He spoke of the stresses with dual and triple axle trailers which aren't encountered on trucks. He spoke to the fact that most "E" rated LT tires have two belts of steel and two of polyester in the tread and the sidewalls aren't the same either. He mentioned the fact that although an "E" rated tire can handle a certain rated load, on a truck it doesn't support that load 24 hours a day. He suggested going to a "G" rated tire to allow for a little more forgiveness. I called Montana Customer Support and was told the aluminum rims on my unit will withstand the 110 p.s.i. inflation pressure of the "G' rated tires. This will allow a little more fudge factor. Goodyear makes a Unisteel RST, G614RST, LT235/85R16 tire which is made expressly for trailers. I believe this is the OEM tire Sunnybrook uses on their Titan Series. A set of them costs about the same as a set of Michellin XPS Ribs which are "E" rated. These might be a good replacement tire to look into. It has four belts of steel in the tread.
Dave Nowlin

He mentioned the fact that although an "E" rated tire can handle a certain rated load, on a truck it doesn't support that load 24 hours a day.
SAY WHAT?? What's he do, jack the truck up off the tires every night?

Anyway, I know I ain't no engineer as I learned about tires the hard way. Many Many Many years as a Tire serviceman on both big and small rigs and passenger tires. Service manager of a truck tire and auto tire shop. And even more years as a Co-Owner of a very reputable, still in operation tire shop in Reading, Pa.
They have been using LTs on trailers for many many years, back when "ST" were just 2 letters that followed each other in the alphabet, without a problem. I swear the tire industry had nothing better to do than come up with the Special Trailer tires to generate more business.
I'll stick to the LTs for my replacement tires.
Ever try to go into a tire store with a warranty problem and they had the STs in stock to get you back on the road again? Most all TIRE stores carry the LTs few carry STs.
Now if you want the little more fudge factor with the G rated than by all means go for it but it does not necessarily have to be an ST.

[richfaa]

We just put a set of 4 LT , made in USA tires on the 3400 ..and about this sideways stress stuff.The last time I noticed the rear wheels on my truck do not turn so why are there not ST tires on the rear???Also my truck sets on all 6 tires 24 hours a day.. I just looked out the window and there it is..

[wegriffin]

I find it incredible that Montana would manufacture their products and then install tires that may not be considered safe. They would be facing a tremendous lawsuit (probably class action)----one that would be strong enough to literally put them out of business. Does anyone else find this disconcerting?

quote:Originally posted by Dave Nowlin

There have been many posts about tires. Well today I decided to do a little research. Since the OEM tires on my Ford are Continental, I started there. I talked to one of their engineers who said they don't make tires for trailers. He said that when you take a normal run of the mill LT rated tire which hasn't been built expressly for trailer service you can be inviting problems. He spoke of the stresses with dual and triple axle trailers which aren't encountered on trucks. He spoke to the fact that most "E" rated LT tires have two belts of steel and two of polyester in the tread and the sidewalls aren't the same either. He mentioned the fact that although an "E" rated tire can handle a certain rated load, on a truck it doesn't support that load 24 hours a day. He suggested going to a "G" rated tire to allow for a little more forgiveness. I called Montana Customer Support and was told the aluminum rims on my unit will withstand the 110 p.s.i. inflation pressure of the "G' rated tires. This will allow a little more fudge factor. Goodyear makes a Unisteel RST, G614RST, LT235/85R16 tire which is made expressly for trailers. I believe this is the OEM tire Sunnybrook uses on their Titan Series. A set of them costs about the same as a set of Michellin XPS Ribs which are "E" rated. These might be a good replacement tire to look into. It has four belts of steel in the tread.
Dave Nowlin

[8.1al]

Who says that Montana is installing unsafe tires on their products? Just because the tires are labeled LT does not make them unsafe. Goodyear recommends their Tracker HT light truck tires for trailers. By the way they are a 6 ply

[Dave Nowlin]

I believe you are missunderstanding what he meant by our tires aren't carrying full rated load 24 hrs. a day. I believe the "E" rated tires are rated @ 3,042# per tire. I don't believe that my truck as it sits with what is in it weighs 12,168#. My Montana on the other hand has the same weight on the tires when parked as when towing. That's the point he was trying to make. Maybe valid maybe not.
Dave Nowlin

[Dave Nowlin]

I forgot to anwer your question Rich. What he was talking about is when we make a sharp turn with a multi axle trailer the tire tread sees a lot of sideways applied force which it doesn't see on my truck. In fact this brings something to mind. My oldest son is an over the road driver and has been for about 20 years He tells me the tandem axles on a semi are very hard on a blacktop parking lot and can actually do damage when the tractor is in a hard turn backing a trailer. It can tear up the asphalt.
Dave Nowlin

[Glenn and Lorraine]

quote:Originally posted by wegriffin

I find it incredible that Montana would manufacture their products and then install tires that may not be considered safe. They would be facing a tremendous lawsuit (probably class action)----one that would be strong enough to literally put them out of business. Does anyone else find this disconcerting?

"install tires that may not be considered safe."

Neither tire, the ST nor the LT, can be consider unsafe in anyway shape or form. It's just that the STs are not necessarily any better than the LTs or vice versa. They both do the job. The biggest problem I see is when you have a problem on the road. As I said previously, LTs are available at just about every tire dealer in every place we travel. You will not find that to be a fact when it comes to the STs and especially the specific ST size we have on our Montys.

[wegriffin]

Point well taken. A few years ago, in the boondocks of Nebraska, we had some difficulty finding a replacement ST tire for our camper...when I did find the tire(s), I just replaced all of them as they had been on the camnper for about 4 years and were beginning to show cracking....best investment I'd made in a long time.

quote:Originally posted by Glenn and Lorraine

"install tires that may not be considered safe."

Neither tire, the ST nor the LT, can be consider unsafe in anyway shape or form. It's just that the STs are not necessarily any better than the LTs or vice versa. They both do the job. The biggest problem I see is when you have a problem on the road. As I said previously, LTs are available at just about every tire dealer in every place we travel. You will not find that to be a fact when it comes to the STs and especially the specific ST size we have on our Montys.

[OntMont]

I asked B.F.G. directly for a recommendation for my trailer. Here is their response:

Thank you for your interest in BFGoodrich tires and for sending us your
email. We appreciate the opportunity to serve you.

We do offer the Commercial T/A All -Season in a LT235/85R16/E that would be
a good tire for your 5th wheel trailer. However, If you would like a tire
that has an all steel construction and is a tire we normally recommend for
this type of application is a Michelin (Michelin owns BFGoodrich) XPS Rip.
For more information on this tire visit the Michelin website at
www.michelinman.com.

[Ozz]

There have been many posts about tires. Well today I decided to do a little research. Since the OEM tires on my Ford are Continental, I started there. I talked to one of their engineers who said they don't make tires for trailers. He said that when you take a normal run of the mill LT rated tire which hasn't been built expressly for trailer service you can be inviting problems. He spoke of the stresses with dual and triple axle trailers which aren't encountered on trucks. He spoke to the fact that most "E" rated LT tires have two belts of steel and two of polyester in the tread and the sidewalls aren't the same either. He mentioned the fact that although an "E" rated tire can handle a certain rated load, on a truck it doesn't support that load 24 hours a day. He suggested going to a "G" rated tire to allow for a little more forgiveness. I called Montana Customer Support and was told the aluminum rims on my unit will withstand the 110 p.s.i. inflation pressure of the "G' rated tires. This will allow a little more fudge factor. Goodyear makes a Unisteel RST, G614RST, LT235/85R16 tire which is made expressly for trailers. I believe this is the OEM tire Sunnybrook uses on their Titan Series. A set of them costs about the same as a set of Michellin XPS Ribs which are "E" rated. These might be a good replacement tire to look into. It has four belts of steel in the tread.
Dave Nowlin

I thought that the Aluminum wheels we have on the '07 3400RL would not work with high pressure tires, am I wrong?
Ozz

[SlickWillie]

I just hope my ST Missions last til we get this ST/LT thing sorted out! I would sure fill better riding on Michelins.

[Karl]

The following link has an interesting article about the ST tires.

http://www.automedia.com/Tow_Far__Tr...cr20040501tt/1

[Mudchief]

Thanks Karl, That was a good article.

[richfaa]

That article would indicate that if you put LT tires on your camper, which I did, you really messed up????

The load range on my LT 235/85R16E tires that we just purchased is 3042 at 80PSI..that would be 6084 per axle..we have 6K axles. That is just within spec.


Edit again..went out at looked at my spare which IS the Mission OEM tire and the spec is 3520 at 80PSI which is 7040 per axle.. The numbers say the LT tires are just within spec for the 6K axles but way out of spec for the 7K axles.

Such are the numbers..For those that believe specs are meaningless..no problem...In my case we ARE within specs with the LT but would have been better to go with a ST..At times it may be best to pay attention to the numbers rather than the "experts" I should have paid more attention to the specs...my fault and lesson learned.

[OntMont]

Until fairly recently, at least to '05, Montana's came with U.S. made, LT tires. I can't see that there can be any real problem continuing to use them. I would suspect that the Chinese ST's are just cheaper.

When I was looking for replacements for our LTs, I could not find a brand name ST with the required weight rating, they may exist, I just could not find any. Since our originals were LTs, that is what I replaced them with. Mine happen to be Yokohamas, which was not my first choice, but they were readily available where I was at the time. Since then, I have become quite pleased with them, for one thing I have never had to add any air, and that is in nearly 6 months, and several thousand miles of towing. The OEM tires required air just about every week, but that may have been a valve stem problem rather than a tire problem. Incidently my new valve stems are not metal, but some kind of plastic that the tire shop assured me is rated for my application.