Any trailer tires NOT made in China?

40_Acre_Mule · 10-12-2009, 01:42 PM

I need to replace all four Mission tires. Only 1.5 years old and already dry rotted.
I have never gotten good service from Chinese made tires. Plus, I do like to buy American when I can.
I just called my favorite tire shop and they said ALL trailer tires are made in China.
Any ideas?

Steve Collins · 10-12-2009, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 40_Acre_Mule

I need to replace all four Mission tires. Only 1.5 years old and already dry rotted.
I have never gotten good service from Chinese made tires. Plus, I do like to buy American when I can.
I just called my favorite tire shop and they said ALL trailer tires are made in China.
Any ideas?

Check with a Carlisle Tire dealer.

I believe their USA Trail series for trailers is Made in the USA.

**Tweety** · 10-12-2009, 04:33 PM

We just bought 4 Goodyear Marathons made in the USA

henryj · 10-12-2009, 07:31 PM

Not all Marathons are made in the US, or Canada--both union shops with qualified experienced tire builders. I'm not sure what size you need, but use this link as a guide.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.j...irePageLocQty=

I'm guessing you'll need 225/75R15 LRD which is US made. Order from tirerack or make sure you can refuse the stale dated Chinese ones that may still be in the pipeline of other suppliers.

Henry

**JohnB** · 10-12-2009, 08:27 PM

This spring I bought 5 new Denman Express ST radials. They where made in Mexico. They where claimed as there premium tire and after seeing them and using them so far I can concur with that fact.

However, a new 2009 thing... they no longer offer in there catalog and Express ST radial. They now have a quality tire at low cost.... h'mmm. It is believed they too now when to a China ST radial so the jury is still out on them.

Those who can get Goodyear made in the US are truly lucky. Don't know how long it will last as they too are now made in China pending the outlet you buy them from.

For me is was a toss up this spring between Denman and Maxxis. For me Denman won based on the Premium ST Express tire but they are only is what is left in the pipe line of warehouses.

Maxxis are made in China and I think Thailand. It seems that brand has better quality control then most. Both of my Sunlines had Maxxis made in China from the factory and both have good service until they aged out or wore out. After great searching, I could not find the horror stories of other offshore tires with the Maxxis. So for what's that worth if I need new tires it would be the Maxxis brand for now as I do not have any other options for a ST radial that I would trust being an offshore tire.

Good luck

John

**Tweety** · 10-13-2009, 05:51 AM

I thought Goodyears were made in the US, then moved over to China, and very very recently brought back to the US. We specifically asked the tire shop for Goodyear Marathons made in the US, and they delivered our request. We DID have to wait about 2 weeks for them to be delivered. Based on the manufacture week, they were just made last month.

**JohnB** · 10-13-2009, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tweety

I thought Goodyears were made in the US, then moved over to China, and very very recently brought back to the US.

Tweety

If this is for sure true, it would be a good thing. Have to start digging more to find out how wide spread it is.

Thanks for the info.

John

**Tweety** · 10-13-2009, 10:42 AM

I double checked by looking at the tires, since you never know what to believe these days and I was going on the word of the tire guy. They were manufactured the 2nd week of Sept. (week 37) of 2009, and say "made in the USA" on them. We ordered them 9/8, and really wanted them on the Tweety by the time we went camping 9/18. I called 9/17 to see where the heck they were and was told that they were waiting for Goodyear to release them from production. We had a message on our machine on 10/1 that our tires were in. We never had such a strange exerience getting tires, but now we have them, and will hope for the best

henryj · 10-13-2009, 11:04 AM

I checked
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.j...irePageLocQty=
before buying Maxxis tires in the spring and all Marathons were made in China with one size in NZ, if I recall correctly.

When Tweety posted this thread
http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/ph...ighlight=tires
I checked again and most Goodyear Marathons, in Sunline sizes, were made in the US.

I don't know when Goodyear made the change, but it is obviously pretty recent. I suspect some of the horror stories about Chinese tires are true and Goodyear and their lawyers made the smart move.

I was at an RV show this spring just before buying the Maxxis tires and checked the tires on most of the RVs as I was walking by. A very small number had Goodyear Marathons. Most had private label Chinese with weird names. Tire companies have a long tradition of knocking off private brands for large retailers. Years ago I bought some Sears Allstate tires made by Michelin and they were every bit as good as Michelin. With Chinese tires, though, I think the table has been turned. I would be surprised if Goodyear owned a trailer tire factory in China. I suspect one or two Chinese factories are churning out tires with all kinds of names on them including Goodyear. By bringing trailer tires back to NA, Goodyear is most likely making them in its own factories again with experienced labor and NA quality control standards. I would not hesitate to go back to a Goodyear Marathon made in the US or Canada.

Henry

Viking · 10-14-2009, 05:42 PM

We replaced all five ST205/75-15 tires this spring.
The old tires were Goodyear Marathon made in Canada.
They were installed at the factory in 1991, so I figured we would be
O. K. to replace with same.
I was not smart enough to check place of manufacture, and I was shocked and mad when I found they were made in China.
Goodyear may not see any more of my business!
Roar

dkasten39828 · 11-15-2009, 07:45 PM

We had Maxxis tires on the 2499 when we bought it... I think they were originals. I have had Marathons and Duros on my other trailers. Both were decent tires... no bad experiences except for the one Maxxis failing, but that was likely due to age.

When I replaced all 5 tires on the Sunline, I chose Duros bias ply. It has proven to be a sturdy tire. I've already put nearly 2000 miles on them.

Others we camp with run a mix of Maxxis, Duros and Marathons. Most seem to be made outside the USA.

emam · 11-25-2009, 11:47 AM

We have 1 year old Goodyear Marathon 225/75/R15 Class D that say Made in China on them

We must have just got these before they moved back to the USA. I asked about getting tires made in the USA and at that time, the only ones were a brand that I had just had a blow out on, so I chose not to use them again.

These 225/75's are a dream. With the Class D rating, they're almost double what the stock Class C tires are rated at and one year later, they still have the little nubs all around the edges and show almost no signs of wear. Something I couldnt say about any other tire we've used up to this point.

This is after a bunch of off road driving and multiple curbs I've drove over...Hey, no one said I was a good driver