New tires

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Floating Cloud

I had nitrogen before and wish I still had it. Never needed to fill the tires.

My last set of van tires came filled with nitrogen - how pure, no one knows. I didn't notice any difference in need to adjust tire inflation. Now I have 78% nitrogen - works fine!

This can be a large subject, but the summary is that dry air is good (and the nitrogen-enriched or oxygen-depleted air produced for tire inflation is usually nice and dry), but whether the components other than water vapour are nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, or unicorn breath doesn't matter.

[gbaglo]

Whole Foods is now selling nitrogen-infused air?

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by blue_bullet

It looks like Michelin makes an XPS commercial retreadable tire that is quite expensive.

Michelin makes lots of commercial (truck, bus, and trailer) tires. My motorhome has the RV version (essentially an all-position all-season tread) of one of their truck tires... it would make a good travel trailer tire, if anyone needed a 235/85R22.5 travel trailer tire!

Originally Posted by Rossue

Been weighing ST vs. LT tires and have read much pros & cons. What is interesting is that Oliver is touting for their 2016 trailer several upgrades including nitrogen filled Michelin LTX MS/2 tires.

Originally Posted by Rossue

Wonder what size the Oliver is using- a 235/75 R15?

The Legacy Elite II brochure and the Elite equivalent don't list the actual tire size, but do mention 16" wheels. There are not many common 16" ST tire sizes - generally ST235/80R16 or ST235/85R16 - so perhaps Oliver wanted a different size. Of course, they may also have wanted LT-type tires.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Rossue

In checking my tread depth I don't want to go back out before replacement; we had a loss of traction on Kebler Pass from Crested Butte to Hwy 133 in CO that had the trailer sliding left at pretty low speed. That road is a smooth dirt/gravel/clay- or whatever and it had rained some the previous week, yet feel a more aggressive tread might have made a difference.

I agree - the generic "trailer tire" tread isn't very effective. If tread life really doesn't matter, as so many people say, perhaps a good trailer tire choice would be one of the "all-weather" tires (Nokian WR) in an Extra Load (XL) version for suitable capacity (many sizes of the WR come in XL, including two sizes that I have put on our van and a car).

[cpaharley2008]

BlackJack is home and I'm close to $700 poorer. Four new load C ST205/75R15 5 ply tires @ $90/each, mounting and balancing and new tire stems @$15 each, disposal fee $5 each, installed 4 new seals and cleaned/repacked all
bearings @$95/hour, parts $25 plus tax. The tires have a 2 year warranty and were made in March 2015.

[Iowa Dave]

Attaboy Jim, get the Willy Nelson theme song playing and get "On the Road Again. Have a great day
Dave

[cpaharley2008]

Yep, going down Shenandoah NP next week for some fall foilage and camping with the grandkids

[steve dunham]

We were going on a trip to the West Coast so I purchased two new ST tires for the trip over the internet from a large nationwide tire retailer . I took the tires to a local tire shop to be mounted and balanced. The tire shop said they had a hard time balancing the tires .( There were 6 large weights hanging on one point along the tire) Thinking something must be wrong I took the rims / tires to a second tire shop and got the same results. I called the tire mfg.and got nowhere. I called the tire retailer and was told to have the tires removed from the rims ,
send them back and when they received them ,they would send me two new tires. I would have to pay for the tire removal , return freight , and the mounting & balancing of the new tires. I gave these tires to a friend for his firewood trailer and bought two new tires from a different retailer
This week (6 weeks later) I got a call from both the mfg, and the retailer asking me if the issue
with the tires had been resolved.
It seems that the quality of both the tire mfg and the tire retailer are equal
ZERO.
I guess there is some virtue in buying local !!

[Rossue]

Originally Posted by steve dunham

T
It seems that the quality of both the tire mfg and the tire retailer are equal
ZERO.
I guess there is some virtue in buying local !!

Agree & more than many know. Have been researching for a good amount of time now and have narrowed down the short list of LT tires: Yokohama Geolander HTS 6-ply for $512. or Goodyear Wrangler HT 8-ply for $600. The Yokohama are from a National chain new to town and the Goodyear from long-time local store who said he couldn't get the Yokohamas anymore and it was probably older inventory.

The catch is that either choice requires going to a 215/75 R15 from the stock 205/75 R15. Does anyone think this will be a problem?

[Greg A]

Discount Tire put me in Yokohamas on both our cars a few years back. Had to replace both cars under 30k mi went back to Michelins. I personally won't buy Yokohamas again.

[gbaglo]

I had Yokohama Geolanders on my Ford Explorer. When I replaced them, I could suddenly hear the engine, and I could hear myself think. Municipality next door replaced the Geolanders on their equipment with another brand.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by steve dunham

I guess there is some virtue in buying local !!

Especially with things like tires. Way easier to get warranty work done too, plus they fix flats for free.

I try to buy locally if at all possible, and am willing to pay a bit of a premium to do so.

[Rossue]

Can't find an LT Michelin in a 15"; Oliver is using 16" wheels. Thanks for the warning on Yokohamas- seemed like I had a similar experience on a new Sequoia once.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by Greg A

Discount Tire put me in Yokohamas on both our cars a few years back. Had to replace both cars under 30k mi went back to Michelins. I personally won't buy Yokohamas again.

This is the opposite of what I've experienced . The contractor I worked for had a fleet of 20 service trucks . Michelin tires gave the poorest performance usually lasting only 30 to 35
thousand miles before needing replacement. They switched to some house brand tires from
Tires Plus and got close to 60 thousand miles out of a set of tires plus the cost was about half.

[Rossue]

The last set of tires bought for a Ford E-150 recently were Toyo's. The Hankook's didn't last well and was told that Michelins were not a good choice because they didn't have a lot rubber. So it doesn't surprise me that they are not a good choice for big work trucks.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by Rossue

The last set of tires bought for a Ford E-150 recently were Toyo's. The Hankook's didn't last well and was told that Michelins were not a good choice because they didn't have a lot rubber. So it doesn't surprise me that they are not a good choice for big work trucks.

The service trucks were 3/4 and 1 ton pickups and vans . Don't know if that qualifies as big work trucks.

[Kountrykamper]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Just got off the phone, the new tires are Loadstar, made by Kenda (chinese) and they come with a 2 year warranty. The rv dealer states thay have had -0- complaints with this tire as compared to other brands. BlackJack will be home tomorrow. Anyone here have any first hand knowledge of these tires?

I am curious how they do and feel Jim.

Those are the same tires I have been looking at that I posted in another thread that are sold by Etrailer
Radial Tire Tires and Wheels | etrailer.com
And easternmarine
Radial Trailer Tires w/o Rim at Trailer Parts Superstore

They have good ratings and are available in C or D load range.

[Bill and Earline]

Originally Posted by Rossue

Agree & more than many know. Have been researching for a good amount of time now and have narrowed down the short list of LT tires: Yokohama Geolander HTS 6-ply for $512. or Goodyear Wrangler HT 8-ply for $600. The Yokohama are from a National chain new to town and the Goodyear from long-time local store who said he couldn't get the Yokohamas anymore and it was probably older inventory.

The catch is that either choice requires going to a 215/75 R15 from the stock 205/75 R15. Does anyone think this will be a problem?

The math calculations would be that the tire will be 0.4 inch wider, 0.3 inch taller and will raise the trailer 0.15 inch. Can't imagine that would be a problem. Manufacturing tolerances are not that accurate from one brand to the next, so give us a report when they're installed.
Bill

[Rossue]

Thank you Bill; will report on choice. I realize that we're somewhat in a niche category, with the 20K miles/year so far. Probably not the only ones though and my interest was piqued by the Oliver decision to move to LT tires.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Greg A

Discount Tire put me in Yokohamas on both our cars a few years back. Had to replace both cars under 30k mi went back to Michelins. I personally won't buy Yokohamas again.

On the other hand, I had a set of Yokohama tires many years ago when I was running in autoslalom competition, and they worked well and wore well for what they were doing. Like any other brand, Yokohama has a range of models with different characteristics.

Originally Posted by Rossue

... was told that Michelins were not a good choice because they didn't have a lot rubber. So it doesn't surprise me that they are not a good choice for big work trucks.

There is a huge range of Michelin tire models. Tires sold for original equipment use (the tires on the vehicle as it comes from the factory) tend to have little tread depth (they handle better right off the lot, and they're cheaper, but the don't last as long as they could), and there are differences between styles of aftermarket tires. I wouldn't draw any brand conclusions from someone else's experience with a limited range of models.