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Old 09-13-2009, 04:28 PM   #1
mbhelms
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Default 14" to 15" tire upgrade success/failure?

I am looking for success (and more importantly failure) stories. I see many posts about upgrading to 15" tires, but I am wondering if TM owners are still having blowouts after upgrading?

I recently bought a used 2007 2720SL and am looking to upgrade to 15" tires after a frustrating trip.

Here's our (all too common) story: Over Labor day, my wife, my 5 month old son, and I were traveling to San Antonio, TX from Beaumont, TX. This was only the 2nd trip in the trailer. We had been traveling 65-70 mph on I-10 less than half an hour, when the left trailer tire disintegrated. It ripped off half of the wheel cover AND the gray water drain piping. This is the point when we should have decided to go back home, but I was determined to make the trip work. So, after changing the tire, we went to PPL in Houston and bought the supplies necessary for me to rebuild the plumbing. I asked if they had a spare tire, but they were out. The rest of the trip to San Antonio was uneventful, and we had a blast.

On the way back, we tried calling several tire stores to buy a spare tire, but they were all closed for Labor Day. Halfway home, the right trailer tire suffered the same fate as the left one had previously. Fortunately, the only thing that was damaged was the wheel cover.

There we were, sitting on the shoulder of I-10 with only 1 good trailer tire. After several minutes of panicking/cursing/wailing "why me?", I had a epiphany. WALMART! I called them and learned that they had a few goodyear 14" trailer tires and could mount them on the rims. So, after getting both blown tires in the back of the truck and unhitching from the trailer, away we went to get two tires. The folks at the Sealy, TX Walmart worked very quickly to get us back on the road, and we made it back home without any other issues.

After this trip I am looking at two options: make an upgrade in trailer tires or sell the trailer. We really like the trailmanor, but are not willing to carry a truckbed bed full of spare tires everytime we take a trip. With the extremely high number of people posting on this site who have had eerily similar problems, I am looking for some assurance that I am not wasting my money making the switch to 15" tires.
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Old 09-13-2009, 06:36 PM   #2
PopBeavers
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What tires were you running? What age?

If they were ST tires, then you may have been a bit over the limit:

Industry standards dictate that tires with the ST designation are speed restricted to 65 MPH under normal inflation and load conditions unless a different speed restriction is indicated on the sidewall of the tire.

How old were the tires? Mine failed after 3.5 years of use, but the tires were 4.5 years old. Contributing to my failure was the high temperature (97F), high speed (DW was doing 65) and a pop hole an hour before the failure.
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Old 09-13-2009, 08:22 PM   #3
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Default Valve stems

Is it possible you had bad valve stems that are on recall & made in China? At the end of last season I removed all 3 wheels replaced with steel valve stems, when removing the old ones 2 were cracked & one was almost cracked all the way thru in 2 different places. I feel very lucky to not have had happen to me what happen to you. I also have a 2007 2720SL.
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Old 09-13-2009, 10:20 PM   #4
B_and_D
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I certainly feel your pain, especially with a 5 month old and no spare stuck along side the road.....and was it hot? The last time we had one was along Highway 46, it's a two-lane highway in central CA, and there was no shoulder. We had our 19-year old cat with us; had to put her in the carrier so she wouldn't run out onto the road, and I had to hold up the rear shell of the TM so that the passing semi's wouldn't blow it down. I watched some doofus try to perform an unwise pass and hoped that he wasn't going to slam into the rear of the TM (and us). It was so slanted that we had to use two jacks and multiple blocks to get our TM jacked up enough to change the tire. Blowouts are no fun.

The things that I believe caused our blowouts were age of the tires and heat. Speed seems to increase the heat in the tires.

We bought new tires (again, these are the second set of new ones) right before out trip to Sequoia Ntl Monument this summer and got heavier duty, more-ply tires, but stuck to the 14". Hopefully they'll work better than the Goodyear Marathons we had on there before. They sure weigh a lot more than the old tires, I could hardly hold them up to put them on compared to the old ones. They are higher weight rated too, but I can't recall by exactly how much.

Both of our blowouts have been on the passenger side, so, luckily we haven't sustained any damage to the plumbing.

If we've had a blowout, we always stop and try to find a replacement right away. If we have to spend the night, we'll do that rather than press on during the night or a Sunday. The last time we had our tires switched, I asked them to give us the other tires back so that we would have an "extra" spare in case we wanted to do a long trip and needed to make time. I figured that anyone could mount a tire, but finding a replacement might be tricky, depending on where you were. I'll probably find somewhere to mount one or two under the trailer (our spare is on the rear bumper).

Our tires have very few miles on them so far, but I'll keep everyone posted on their success. Other people have switched from the lighter-duty tires to the heavier ones, and so far I haven't heard any complaints.

Hopefully wmtire, our tire expert will chime in. He's very knowledgable in this area. I wish we had him here to help us with our tire decisions. He advised me via PM on what to ask for, but our local tire guy was kind of ? about what we wanted so I'm hoping what we bought will work for us.
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Old 09-14-2009, 07:49 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by B_and_D View Post
I wish we had him here to help us with our tire decisions.
What an introduction! I appreciate the compliment.

Welcome to the family of trailmanor owners, Mbhelm. I can certainly understand your frustration, but I don't think changing trailers is the answer. You will read tire horror stories in the Airstream, Casita, and Jayco forums as well.

Our members here have been trying out different tires, and other things, that have all been mentioned by B and D, Mac_Falls, and PopBeavers above.

Tire failures can be caused by so many different things. Sometimes it's age, brand of tire, pressure, load, damage.......or a combination of all.

We are still early in what is referred to here as the "great tire experiment". We are experimenting with different brands, sizes, load ranges, etc....all in order to see if we can come up with our own recommendations of things that that may work better for our members. It is an entire community effort. We are thinking that the stock 14 inch tires (on Tmanors equipped with that size) are almost being stretched to their load carrying capacities (or maybe over).......hence we are changing to tires with higher load capabilities.

In your case, the two options that seem to be working well so far for everyone that has tried it.....is to either upgrade your wheels and tires to 15" or use a LT Euro metric 14 inch tire. This Euro tire will be an 8 ply rated tires as opposed to your stock 6 ply rated marathons.

The cheapest and easiest route, is to go with the Euro metric tires. You won't have to change wheels, but will get a tire that is designed for more load and speed. You can easily find these tires in the Kumho, Hankook, and Cooper/Mastercraft brands. Tirerack.com is one place to look, if you don't have a local dealer who can get them. We have several members who have done this, and I have heard nothing negative so far. A 195/R14C Euro size tire will almost be a direct drop in replacement to your stock 215/75R14 marathon. Some of our members are also trying out a 205/R14C Euro tire, which is a little taller than the marathon. Don't get confused by the "C" designation in the Euro sizes. It doesn't mean it's a Load Range C tire (which is 6 ply, like your marathons)....but means "commercial".......as in heavier commercial applications. Those Europeans have a different way of doing/designating everything.

I would heed Mac_Falls warning about the valve stems, and use the metal type, instead of the rubber stems. It will also help you later on down the road, if you decide to put an aftermarket tire pressure monitoring system on your trailer (which is another thing that our members are trying).

You should be able to find all kind of info on everything I referred to above, here in the forums. We have had many discussions about all of it.

Again, welcome to the family. Everyone here is most helpful....................unless you are a Longhorn fan. LOL
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Old 09-14-2009, 11:39 AM   #6
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Some of us need to be very careful with tire diameter. When I back my trailer into the garage I only have a quarter inch of overhead clearance. Any tire that would have a larger diameter would require that I deflate the tires to back the TM into the garage. I doubt that I could go to 15 inch wheels and then find any tire that has a diameter not more than what my 14s are.

Because I back it into a corner, within not more than 3 inches in back or on the street side, it would be near impossible for me to add air or set the rear jacks. So I would be parking the TM on under inflated tires, which I do not think is a good idea.

Thanks to wmtire's last post, I now have a list of tires to consider next time. I am sure he or someone else has mentioned them before, but I just do not recall seeing it.

I have another special requirement. Because we frequently tow an ATV trailer with us behind the second truck, I really would like both trailers to have interchangeable spares. They don't have to be identical as far as I know. Just close enough to use to get to a tire store if I have a double tire failure on either trailer.

I switched to TowMasters July 2008. Only because my local shop recommended them because he sells a lot of them to local gardener's for their trailer ans he says some of them are heavier than you would think. No one has complained to him about the TowMasters.

I will likely replace them after 3 years, whether I need to or not. By them we should have a bit more data around here.
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Old 09-14-2009, 03:54 PM   #7
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mbhelms - I had my dual blowout in almost exactly the same spot that you suffered the first failure! Maybe that area of I-10 is jinxed.

I did have a TPMS that warned me in time to get off the road before the casings came apart. Ironically it was the first trip with the TPMS. I really did not need that thorough of a test...

wmtire - thanks for posting the details on the Euro tires. I am leaning towards that solution when I buy tires in the near future.
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Old 10-31-2009, 02:17 PM   #8
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I checked Tire Rack's website and the Khumo 205/R14's are made in China while the 195's are Korean.

I have become sensitized to crappy Chinese made stuff so will stay away from the 205's.

Hmmm! Wonder if Korean stuff is any better.
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Old 10-31-2009, 02:28 PM   #9
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I installed the Kumho 205's last spring on our TM. Put around 3000 miles on them this year (now in storage). So far no problems whatsoever. With these tires I am not worried on where they are made. Metal stems, of course. Also, my trailer fits perfectly in the garage. I have roughly a inch or two too spare, even with the slightly taller 205's. And lastly, I didn't need to upgrade the wheels.

Mike Anderson
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Old 10-31-2009, 05:58 PM   #10
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Interesting...my 205's are made in Korea. The 205's were unavailable for quite some time earlier this year, so maybe they had a problem with their old manufacturer or plant, and they now are using a new one. Hopefully they have the same level of QA.

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