Patience and persistence pays off

[Taurus2415]

After having two blowouts on our last long trip I decided to upgrade all four tires. One of the blowouts was from tread separation and the spare was suspected dry rot because the sidewall disintegrated. Yes, I check my tires before every trip and have a TPMS.

After much research I chose to go with Maxxis tires and increase the diameter by one size to give me a little more margin for speed and weight rating. My goal was to get tires that were manufactured recently so I didn't buy old tires after they ever hit the road. I called around to local dealers and most of them were no help to my request to get tires no older than 6 months. I even had one tell me that late 2013 was the best I would do because Maxxis hasn't been making tires lately. I will remember this dealer next time and avoid them.

I finally found an online supplier that took the time to go to the warehouse and find four tires that I wanted. They had a date stamp of 2715 which equals July 2015. I am very glad I didn't give up and settle for old tires because dealers were either too lazy or uncaring to provide a special request from a customer. I will have them mounted and balanced tomorrow and now I am a happy camper

[BigJohnD]

Care to share which online dealer that was? I don't need tires now, but will probably change out next year at the 2 year mark. Debating the 16" LT upgrade, or going with the Maxxis. Either way seems to be an upgrade. Been a long time since we've had a small rig with ST's, and the Rainier is too new to form an opinion yet really.

[Taurus2415]

It was www.realdealtires.com. Their price was very competitive and shipping was free. Add the cost of mount and balance locally these tires still cost less than Discount Tire. I was ready to pay for good tires but no more than I needed.

[BigJohnD]

Appreciate the link. I think I've come across them before in research, but that's all I've done is research so far. Have yet to call with questions like you had, manf date. I'm picky with that as well. I can probably guess, but which tires did you remove from the rig?

[BigJohnD]

What size did you go with? Our stock tires are the 225/75 R15. Did you go with the 8 ply or 10 ply?

[Tunce the traveler]

Thanks for that tire info, it's almost time for new tires on mine.

[Taurus2415]

BigJohnD, I took off the original Greenball 205/75R14 tires and replaced them with Maxxis 215/75R14. That small change gave me 500lbs more of weight rating and speed went to 100. Now I would never tow anything faster than 65 but at least I have more margin for those hills when speed creeps up to 70 for a short while.