15 inch tire recommendations

Originally Posted by modhatter

Where is the year of the tire displayed? Another question: Who do you get to mount and balance the tires. Call me silly, but I can't envision a TM up on the hydraulic lift at a tire dealership. Do they do it, or do you have to bring it to a RV shop?

Every on the road tire sold in the United States is required to have a Dept of Transportation (DOT) code on the sidewall. This code (which can be a combination of letters and numbers), when decoded tells the manufacturing plant, size, ply, etc of the tire. The very last four digits (since the year 2000) will tell the week (1st and 2nd number) and the year (3rd and fourth digit).

EX: 2304, tells it was manufactured the 23rd week of 2004.

You may find the complete code on only one side of the sidewall and a partial code on the other. You need the complete code, and may have to crawl under the trailer to read it, if it is on that sidewall of the tire. Look for everything after the letters DOT

We discussed it here:

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...tire+date+code

EDIT: Sorry for the same information already provided by Dina. We must have been typing at the same time.

[Brutus]

After being burned myself buying "new" trailer tires that were nearly a year old, I now alway check the date code. Like wmtire said, they do these tires in runs. In fact, our 2005 TM had 2604 for a date code on the original tires. I now have a new pair of 15" rims (trailer is already lifted), but I'm holding off putting rubber on them until next spring. Waiting for the winter/spring production run...

Very interesting and informative. Thank you Country Girl.

[T and C]

Originally Posted by countrygirl

We have done this in two different ways. First we took off the tires one at a time and drove about 3 miles had the tire balanced at Tire Kingdom brought it back and put the time one. Repeat process for other side.

More recently we took the TM to a different tire shop (best price) and had the tires replaced one at a time while was stood there and watched. The new tires are also balanced. We decided we like to take the tires off one at a time and reinstall ourselves.

You can not jack the TM up at or on the axle. You can not lift it with a car jack.

I will see if I can find the tire date thread for you. The date is on the side wall of the tire. It may even be on the side wallturned to the inside of the mount. Mine were the first time I looked. I could not see it on on the side wall that was easy to see ...I had to scoot under the TM with a pad and pencil.

I bought new tires a couple of months ago. When I checked at Walmart, they told me I would have to take my wheels off and bring them in for installation of tires. A serious hassle.

So, I called around and found a Goodyear dealer that had a lot that I could "pull through" without having to back out of a tight spot. I was in the waiting room a few minutes later, and the manager came to get me. "We can't figure out how to get the wheels off."

Seems they were almost as unfamiliar with the Trailmanor as I was. I had only had it a couple of weeks. They had never seen one before. So, I undid the clamps and raised up the roof. Problem solved. They just used a floor jack. BTW, the guy showed me the date stamps. The tires were only a couple of months old.

Now it is sitting out in the driveway in the "up" position. It is raining so I checked it to see if the seal is watertight. It is. However, there is a slow drip from the corner of the Fantastic Fan, so I have a leak.

A dishpan is ok for tonight. What material does one reseal the cover with when the sun comes out?

Tom