2005 Sunline Solaris #2753 New Tires

[flbradjr]

Hi All,
I just replaced my Maxxis tires with Goodyear Endurance tires.
Good service with the Maxxis but thought I would try the Goodyears.

The trailer information calls for 50 PSI but the installers wanted to
set the PSI at 65 which is the max for the tires. That's my dilemma.
Who to trust. Any and all replies are welcome.
Not tripping for a few more weeks. Thanks, Brad.

[Tinstaafl]

For trailers, it's generally recommended that you go with the max pressure stamped on the tires. Less, they tend to overheat and wear poorly.

That 50 PSI recommendation may have been appropriate for the original tires, but your new Goodyears are most likely tougher than those.

[JohnB]

Hi Brad,

Goodyear only offers the Endurance tire in your tire size (ST20575R15 LR C) in load range D. You have jumped a load range by going with that tire. This is not necessarily bad; understand it is a heavier load-rated tire.

I know you said you would try the Endurance out, and you would like to know if you do 50 psi like the prior Maxxis or 65 psi like the tire shop stated. Here is the quick answer, you bought a heavier-load range tire. If you run the Endurance at 50 psi, like your prior load range C Maxxis, you have not gained anything from buying the heavier load-rated tire. The Endurance gains its higher load-carrying capacity by the higher air pressure.

Now that you have a higher load range tire, what do you want to do with it?

From what I know, you can go with the 65 psi; it will not hurt the tire. The tire will run cooler with less load on it, and less tire heat is good. You only jumped one load range on tire size. The camper may bounce slightly more if you can notice it due to the old-style rigid suspension, but you will gain a good amount of reserve tire capacity. And reserve capacity is very good to have in tandem and triple axle trailers. For the camper itself, I do not see a mechanical issue with the load range D tires on your camper.

If you want to sort this out on reserve tire capacity, load the camper as you would when camping, including freshwater if you haul it to camp. Then get individual trailer wheel weights from a truck scale. (You might have to get separate axle weights as individual wheels can be complex, pending the scale near you) Find the heaviest wheel weight or axle, add at least 20% more capacity for your reserve capacity. From a tire pressure chart, you look up the needed pressure to meet or exceed the heaviest wheel or heaviest axle load, to help ward off interply shear in the tires. More reserve capacity is OK, just not under. Interply shear is real and unique to tandem and triple axle setups. The tires do not turn; they drag around the turn, and the tire slowly tears inside over time pending how close you are to max load of the tire. You need excess reserve tire capacity to keep this shearing action from happening.

Tireman9 on our forum is a retired tire engineer who is also an RV’er. He knows the interplay shear much better than I do; he is where I learned why my tires failed even though I was under my side wall stated load ratings, and by all tire specs.

If you want my opinion, I would have weighed the camper to see how close was to the tire ratings, and if I jumped to the D’s to gain the needed extra reserve capacity, I would have run them at 65 psi. My weight might change some in the future. In this trailer application, I can find more negatives going less than max cold pressure than running them at max pressure. I learned the hard way with tire failures; one has to pay attention to the weights, pressures, ratings, speed, age, and the need for reserve tire capacity or run the risk of a tire failure while camping.

Hope this helps

John

[flbradjr]

I'm Back - and need to apologize for not providing all my information.
I think the original tires were Carlisle when I purchased my 2005 T-2753 in Jan 2006.
Used them until 2014 when I had a lot of tire problems - one even failed on the way to my tire replacement store. Quite a learning curve.
I bought the Maxxis M8008 LR D (apologizes to JohnB) and even though they were rated 65 psi I kept them at 50 PSI. More learning curve needed. I think my biggest problem with the Maxxis - leaking air - was because I had installed a TPMS system.
Yesterday I could feel the difference between the old 50 psi's and the new 65 psi's and I appreciate the PSI Tutorials from you both. I'm sticking with the 65 psi and I had chrome/steel valves put on the wheels to hopefully stop the air leak problem encountered last year.
Thanks again for sharing all your accumulated wisdom. Brad

[JohnB]

Hi Brad,

OK, maybe we better pass along some more learning. Tell me if I understood your last reply correctly.

Your first set of Goodyear Marathons (GY trailer tire of the time) was in service from a new camper built in late 2004 or by mid-2005, which you acquired in Jan 2006. Then in the year 2014, you changed the tires after you had several tire issues. This is about nine years on the same set of ST trailer tires.

Then somewhere in 2014, you bought Maxxis LR D and ran them at 50 psi until this summer, 2023. This is about nine years also.

Trailer tires often age out before they wear out unless the camper is usually towed cross-country. About 20,000 miles is an approx tread wear usage I have found on an ST trailer tire that is in alignment and not wearing out from misalignment. Some may get slightly more or less. Now comes the age thing: ST trailer tires are degrading internally due to the natural rubber breakdown; they are losing strength from aging. This aging strength loss is not related to mileage or looks. Exposure and storage outside in the sun also speed up the aging process. Cracking in the tire treads and side walls can also show up being excessive in year five on some brands.

The standard recommendation is to change trailer tires every five years from the date of manufacture stated in the tire DOT code, ideally five seasons worth. Going over into the 6th year and beyond, you were fortunate not to have more issues than you did. Suggest trying and staying closer to the 5-year plan.

Here is Roger's blog; he is a member and does not get time to read all posts, but he has a lot on his site. https://www.rvtiresafety.net

Here is a lot of info on the tire age, https://www.rvtiresafety.net/search/label/Age

Happy camping this season.

John

[flbradjr]

Hi JohnB,
Thanks for the good advice. I'll try to stick closer to the 5 yr mark.
But I try to do a through inspection - check for tire wear between treads
and the sidewall.
Marathons - year ??
Maxxis code 2713 (yr 2013)- put in service 2014
Goodyear Endurance 3222 (yr 2022) in service 2023
And of we go to the Adirondacks-Rollins Pond/Fish Creek-swim right off of the campsite.
Brad

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by flbradjr

I'm Back - and need to apologize for not providing all my information.
I think the original tires were Carlisle when I purchased my 2005 T-2753 in Jan 2006.
Used them until 2014 when I had a lot of tire problems - one even failed on the way to my tire replacement store. Quite a learning curve.
I bought the Maxxis M8008 LR D (apologizes to JohnB) and even though they were rated 65 psi I kept them at 50 PSI. More learning curve needed. I think my biggest problem with the Maxxis - leaking air - was because I had installed a TPMS system.
Yesterday I could feel the difference between the old 50 psi's and the new 65 psi's and I appreciate the PSI Tutorials from you both. I'm sticking with the 65 psi and I had chrome/steel valves put on the wheels to hopefully stop the air leak problem encountered last year.
Thanks again for sharing all your accumulated wisdom. Brad

Your original Carlisle tires were probably made in 2004 or 2005. Unless you recorded the DOT serial date we can't be sure but either way you ran them way longer than the recommended life for ST type tires (3 to 5 years max) which may be the reason for your tire problems.


What was the TPM system. If properly installed and of reasonable quality (ie they cost $300 range) I have no idea why you had problems. What brand TPMS do you have? How were they programmed?



Do your "chrome/steel" valve stems have a nut on them as in "Bolt-On" stems or are they rubber with a thin chrome cover. There is a BIG difference in performance and reliability between the two types. I cover this in my RVTireSafety blog.






OOPS I replied before reading all the posts. A couple years ago (Aug 26 2022) I did a "Tire Autopsy" on one of JohnB's tires. When done we could see the large belt detachment showing that John was running on borrowed time. It is entirely possible that if he had continued to use that tire he would have had a catastrophic belt separation with the attendant $$$ worth of damage.

[JerryR58]

Hi Everyone,

I find this thread very interesting. I had so many tire problems with my T2970 when I had it. Five tire failures with the first being two years from new. The original tires were General ST 205 75R 15 Load Range C which I kept at 50-55PSI.

One failed due to a lump on the side. I am guessing either hitting a curb, or hole. The next one in year three blew out on I75. The next one went bad on the same trip a thousand miles later in Florida in the summer. The Disney Car Care Center was great in getting warranty on my tires, and by recommendation they installed Nankang with the same size and load rating. The next year one of those tires failed. It grew in size, so large that jacking it up raised the other axle before the Nankang was off the ground. It was blistering hot and it showed about 55PSI at that time.

I replaced them again with Carlisle ST 205 75R15 Load Range D. I inflated to 65PSI. Within a year or two I had one fail due to a puncture from a dog shaped tooth rock that ruined that tire. The rest of the time I had no further incidents. I replaced at about the 5 year mark.

The next set I decided to increase to a ST 225 75 R15 Load Range E. The brand was Good Ride. I ran those until I sold the camper in 2018, they were about 5 years old. They were the only set of tires that I did not have any problems with. I had inflated those to 80PSI. I noticed no handling differences.

The 1999 T2970 had the rubber ride suspension which may have contributed to some of the failures since when it hit a bump, curb, hole or whatever that tire seemed to take the entire impact.

The failures for me were so frequent in the early years that I carried two spare tires as three times my failures were about 150 miles out on a trip and I was in the situation where I didn't have a spare and a long way to go.

My 2018 Outback RB266 came with ST 225 75 R 15 Load Range E to start. We towed it somewhere around 20-25K miles. I replaced them at the beginning of the season last year as the left rear got a nail in the side as we got home. They have been replaced with a brand that my dealer said try these and let me know. They are called Ultra CRT, he said they are made my Carlisle and came with a one year road hazard. So far, they've gone from Michigan to Key West and back along with an assortment of other trips. They have about 4-5K on them so far with no issues. This year looks like Virginia Beach, with another trip to Florida. It is planned to be a 5-6K miles of towing it this year.

I am a believer of a higher load range to stay out of trouble. I had my T2970 to experiment with for 19 years. I had it weighed at all four wheels and the tongue with nothing outstanding as far as differences in weight. I had more failures on the right side than the left, four on the right and one on the left. I am what I consider to be careful and avoid hitting curbs and things of that nature. I think that there is more debris on the right side of the road and that accounted for some of the failures. But again, load range E kept me from having issues.

Our little T2075 we picked up for the daughters to use came with ST205 75 R15 Load Range D which were new. I would expect with this little trailer and its weight that it shouldn't have too many issues. It's light and the tires are above what it came with.

Just my two cents. I know there are people here who know more than I, but I have had some experience with tires and have been towing for close to 30 years now.

Thanks for letting me ramble on!

Jerry

[flbradjr]

To Tireman9 Using the Scotch part of my heritage - Scotch/Irish/English I purchased my TPMS from Amazon. Very cheap. <$70. works Ok
MY valve stems are the Bolt On ones - so hopefully good choice.

To JerryR58 I think you are right about R side road debris - Most of my flats are on the right side of my car - especially as the tires get close to the end of useful life.

Thanks to you both. Brad