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Old 02-20-2014, 06:51 PM   #1
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13" tires for X17C

I have an 2011 X17C that we bought new and love. "Josey" has been our home base over the last 3 years as we've taken in Yellowstone, Yosemite, Big Sur, the Grand Canyon, Arches, Zion, Bryce, Sedona, the Cape, Acadia, Niagara Falls, the Keys, and assorted spots between. She has served us reliably. For spring break this year we'll hit New Orleans and Gulf Shores and this summer we're heading to the Pac NW to hit Crater Lake, the Oregon Coast, Hoh rain forest and Glacier. We've been in a hurry because our kids are soon to be gone.

My only problem has been tire wear. After the first trip and likely 8,000 miles I replaced those that came with the camper. We did a Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and Utah sweep and they looked okay. But then we went to the Keys and when arriving at our spot I noticed I could just about push my finger through a soft spot on the driver side tire. I may have gotten sloppy loading the trailer for the trip to the keys. The wear was extremely bad on the outside of the driver side tire. I put the spare on, could not find a tire store that had the 13" size in stock, so we drove back to Indy at 55 - 60 mph and drove through the night to minimize heat since we had no spare I'd want to use. Though I don't drive over 65 mph as a rule, the nerves of no spare and the reduced speed made that one long haul. Bought a set of Carlisle bias ply tires as a replacement. They got us to the Pacific and back, to Maine and back, and to the panhandle of Florida and back. I'm guessing somewhere short of 12,000 miles. They held up better, I rotated them, and we moved everything we could from the camper to the truck. Though I know I was nowhere near the 3500 GVW, less load seemed to help.

Being in this only 3 years, I'm not sure whether this is standard and given the miles we're putting on the tires this is just a standard life I should expect or if I should check the axle alignment for a problem. I grease the hubs annually with some expensive Royal Purple lube matching specs. I'm looking to move to a radial as I've read of their advantages. Problem is the Carlisles are rated for 1710 lbs. and the radials I see are rated for 1610. That puts me at 3220 and with the 500 lb tongue weight I suppose I'm within spec but with little cushion.

The knowledge of this board got me started. Helped me immensely with my setup, my wdh, and other assorted information that had I not had, I might never have made it to our first stop at Custer State Park in SD. So my questions:

1. Should I move to the radial? Should I expect better wear? Are my calculations correct that the 1610 lbs would be enough? There may be one 13" radial from West Lake that is rated about 1700 lbs.
2. In light of the wear, should I have the axle checked? The trailer has always pulled well and outside of the tires I'd have no other reason to suspect a problem. If so, does anyone know a good place in Indy to have the alignment checked?
3. Has anyone put 14" wheels to replace the 13"? I hate to move away from spec but there are many more options at 14".

Thanks.
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Old 02-20-2014, 07:38 PM   #2
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Trout, you are doing very very well on the tires you have!!

Generally, travel trailer tires should be changed every 6-9k. I change mine almost every season.
And more often if you just let your trailer set around. Weight, time and mileage on tires are all issues. I believe WEIGHT is the biggest issue.

13 inch versus 14 or larger; do it if you have room in tire well.
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Old 02-21-2014, 03:29 PM   #3
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Thank you very much for the feedback. It is a huge relief. I've read some places about tires lasting 5 years or 25,000 miles but their circumstances and loads always seemed a bit different. You've eased my mind about the axle and I think I'll bypass that expense and focus on the tire and then continue moving weight to the TV from the camper when possible. Only downside of going to 14's is not only tires but also the wheels. I'd need to do that for 3 instead of 2 and I'm looking at $200 vs $600.

I've read where radials will roll smoother/better and it can improve gas mileage over bias ply. I'm wondering if that is true how significant that might be. I don't want to discount the experience of others but I wonder just how significant it would be. On the other hand, it wouldn't take much to make it worth any price difference.

Thanks again.
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Old 02-24-2014, 05:52 PM   #4
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I pulled the trigger today on the Kumho 857 series replacement tires (185/14C). It will be my first time on radials as the previous set were bias plys. It was not a cheap or easy endeavor. The tires ran about $26 more per than had I gone with the same Carlisle I have now. Plus I had to purchase the 14" rims at $40 ea. Then there is the mounting and balancing at $16. So figuring the balancing goes either way, I'm in $66 more per tire this time around. The tires are rated @1874 lbs. up from 1710 lbs. of the Carlisles. It is perhaps a little over kill given the limits of the axle and GVW of the camper (3500 lbs. that we don't surpass). I'm hoping the relative light load for the tires will result in improved wear. I'm not going to kid myself, I'll still watch the tires like a hawk on our 6000 mile journey this summer but I am hoping for a little less worry.

I checked the camper's wheel wells on Saturday and there appeared to be plenty of clearance to absorb the additional .4 inches these tires have in radius over the Carlisles. The purchase was not really difficult but not a one stop easy buy either. Tire Rack had the tires but not rims. Discount tire had the rims but not the tires. So the tires are being shipped to my house, the rims to Discount Tire and they will mount and balance them. I later found Walmart has the tire as well. Even with shipping they were a little cheaper from Tire Rack but its good to know Walmart will be an option if I need to replace them. Of course, if I do, I won't be happy.

I plan to hold the tires at home until mid-March and then do a test run before our spring break trip. That will be about 1800 miles and a good test before heading west. I'm also planning to keep the old set of tires and put them on at the end of the season and store the radials here at home until spring. I went with the cheaper white rims and will miss the look of the aluminum rims I currently have.
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Old 02-24-2014, 10:17 PM   #5
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Just curious did you look into a load range D tire in an ST? I'm looking at tires fir my 23B and torn on what to get.
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Old 02-24-2014, 10:41 PM   #6
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Strange how poorly made trailer tires are.
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Old 02-25-2014, 04:47 PM   #7
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I think I looked at every trailer tire made. Pickings are slim in the 13" rim. In truth, they are probably pretty slim in the 14" as well for my purposes. There are many more 14" tire options but by the time I measured the diameter most started eating up more room in the wheel well than I was comfortable with. I had a spreadsheet I started working from on the tires I looked at (see below - there are others I've stumbled on since my purchase, especially in the 14"s). I also spent a good deal of time on Google typing in a particular tire followed by the word "forum". One thing you'll find, fellow RVers are not afraid to share their opinions. You do have to watch the dates on the forum posts as some go back 10 years or so. A lot can change over time. For example, going back in time, people swore by the Goodyear Marathons. But as they moved their manufacturing to China, opinions changed pretty drastically. I do think there are some tires that are better than others. But the key above all seems to be proper inflation and managing the weight you put on the tires. I had the Carlisles and there are many out there that consider them garbage, but they probably ended up being my second choice.

Ultimately I went with the radials because I read on one of these boards that Jayco was going to begin putting them on the new campers in the coming months. I figure if Jayco is confident that these things aren't going to blow up and cause trailer damage under warranty I can feel good about it as well. Even though the Kumho does not have an ST it is a trailer tire. I found the feedback of those running them to be about as consistently good as any tire. Maxxis is another that receives really good reviews but they are in the 14" market only and had a load range C vs. the Kumhos load range D. Hope the information below is of value.

Tire Co Type Dia Width Rim Sz Weight Size Cost
Carlisle Bia 24.8 7.4 13 1710 ST185/80D13 93
Towmaster Bia 25.8 6.8 13 1660 ST185/80D13 83
Nanco Bia 24.6 7.2 13 1730 ST185/80D13 79
Kenda Bia 24.4 7.2 13 1725 ST185/80D13 93
West Lake Rad 24.7 7.3 13 1710 ST185/80D13 78
kumho Rad 25.6 7.4 14 1874 185r14c 115
Martin (Loadstar) Rad 26.3 8.2 14 2040 ST205/75R-14 95
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Old 02-25-2014, 04:50 PM   #8
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My apologies on the table, or what was a table in the post above. I spent some time making it pretty and easy to read, hit "post reply", and all my work went down the tubes.
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