ST Tire Manufacturers: Any Difference?

[Philip]

Hello Again Folks,

I am just about ready to buy new 15" tires for my 2008, 2720 TM (upgrade from 14" tires). I have purchased the required lift kit from the factory to make this upgrade. All this work is being done, as many others have done, to hopefully reduce the chance of blowouts.

Before I purchase the tires I had a couple questions about the tire selection. I am sure this has been discussed in times past but I would appreciate the forums knowledge repated if possible. Here goes:

1. I have focused on looking at 225/75 - 15" ST tires from Goodyear and Maxxis. As far as I can find out the Goodyear & Maxxis tires come in 6 & 8 ply designs which determine the load carrying capacity. I plan to go with the higher load carrying 8 ply design. Both manufacturers have the same max. capacity(2540 lbs.) at max. pressure(65 PSI). Additionaly the Maxxis has a 10 ply design with a max. capacity of 2830 lbs. at a max pressure of 80 PSI. The cost of the 10 ply Maxxis is only $10 more($105) than the 8 ply. At last(LOL) my question is: Is there any disadvantage to having a higher capacity(10 ply) tire even though you don't really need that capacity? I am of the opinion that a higher margine of excess capacity would result in a lower duty cycle which would reduce the chances of a failure. Opinions are cheap and someone may know of facts that may tell me otherwise. I estimate my TM to be about 3600 lbs fully loaded.

2. I have only looked closely at Goodyear & Maxxis ST tire brands. Does anyone know if one brand of tire is of better overall quality than another? I have seen others on this forum talk about other brands - Kumho, Carlise, Cooper, etc. Is one brand better than another?

I plan to do everything I can think of to reduce my chance of tire failures including steel valve stems.

As always any help from forum members is appreciated.

Take care,

Phil Friess

TV - 2005 Toyota 4Runner with factory tow package
TM - 2008; 2720
Prodigy brake controller
EZ WDH.

Are you sure your '08 2720 needs a lift kit? Ours came with the lift and the 15" wheels fit just fine. I understand the lift came standard sometime during the '06 model year.

[scrubjaysnest]

Phil,
My gut would be go with the 10 ply but why don't you pm wmtire as that his business.

[Wavery]

The problem with tire selection is that tire manufacturers seem to go in cycles. It seems that the tire manufacturer that was popular a few years ago falls into the unpopular set due to bad reviews.

I'm sure that there are many poorly built tires out there but I am of the opinion that a lot of people jump on the band-wagon at the same time, then 5 to 6-years later those tires all start failing at once due to age. People start bad-mouthing the manufacturer all at once, then some other manufacturer gets all that business.

I recently bought Maxxis tires for my '04 TM but there is no way that I would recommend them to anyone as being "the best choice". I simply won't know for another 4-5 years whether they are a good choice. By that time, the Maxxis tires may have fallen from grace and some other manufacturer will be there to pick up that business. I'll be the 1st one to admit that I chose the Maxxis because everyone else seemed to be buying them I also couldn't find a lot of bad reviews on them (just a few)..

The Marathons that I took off of my '98 TM were 8-years-old. My first instinct was to buy another set of Marathons because those lasted so long without issue. I found out that Marathons had fallen from grace and a lot of people were trashing them.

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Scott O

Are you sure your '08 2720 needs a lift kit? Ours came with the lift and the 15" wheels fit just fine. I understand the lift came standard sometime during the '06 model year.

Scott,

I did talk with the TM factory and they said I would need the lift.

The TM is presently in my sons garage a fair drive from me. I will check it out when I get the chance to see if it looks as if it has the lift.

What does the lift spacer look like on your TM? Just a steel plate? About how thick is the spacer?

Take care,

Phil

[ShrimpBurrito]

Phil -

You can see a picture of my lift kit from the factory in post #2 of this thread:
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ead.php?t=8732

But given your 2008 model TM, you may not have that but still have a lifted frame due to the spindle arms on the axle having a different angle. If you read through that thread you can read some folks' ground-to-frame measurements. Of course, that doesn't mean you still can't add the lift kit. It just means if you do, it might be higher than an older TM with the lift kit due to the different axle.

Dave

[Philip]

Originally Posted by ShrimpBurrito

Phil -

You can see a picture of my lift kit from the factory in post #2 of this thread:
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ead.php?t=8732

But given your 2008 model TM, you may not have that but still have a lifted frame due to the spindle arms on the axle having a different angle. If you read through that thread you can read some folks' ground-to-frame measurements. Of course, that doesn't mean you still can't add the lift kit. It just means if you do, it might be higher than an older TM with the lift kit due to the different axle.

Dave

Dave,

Thank you for leading me to your picture of the lift kit installed. I know my TM does not have anything that looks like that.

I will have to check to see if my 2008 2720 TM has the higher lift suspension that Bill and others have talked about. Will check wheel well clearance as Bill suggested.

Thanks to you and all the forum members for the help.

Take care,

Phil

[pauloh]

An update to earlier posts here, which may assist someone pondering new tires: I'm in a rural area far from the big tire stores, so chose to order my tires online at discounttiredirect.com (the online version of Discount Tire, a national chain). They seemed to have the best prices with free shipping. I ordered the Maxxis 225/75 - 15" ST "E" range tire ($121. each, I ordered 3 to include my spare). Got a call next morning from a nice service manager (who said he was in Phoenix) explaining they did not have that tire in stock, trying to get me to order "D" rated they had in stock, but offering to call (either Maxxis or his supplier, I'm not sure which) to see how long it would take to get the "E". This I hope he did, before he emailed me the next day that they weren't currently available and that there was no information about when they would be again; did I want to backorder "E" tires or get the "D" tires now. I had been waffling on whether to order the "D" or "E" range anyway (see previous discussions), so I just ordered the "D" instead (these were also cheaper at $108. each, delivered by UPS). Anxious to get them on the TM and move on...

FYI, the tires are not boxed/bagged or anything, just 1 loose tire and the other 2 tied together with plastic straps, shipping labels stuck on them. (UPS man baffled why I only ordered 3 tires for my NTM 2005 Toyota 4Runner. I pointed to TM.) The tires look good, each one has a date code of 5109, which I decipher to mean they were made in the 51st week (late December) of 2009, so about 15 months old. I had asked the service mgr. about the issue of "old tires"--he stated that Discount Tire has so much sales turnover on tires, they never ship anything older than 18 months from manufacture, and to return the tires if I was unhappy for any reason. I'm OK with tires of this age, they sure look "fresh" for over a year old.

So now I'll take off my old TM tires/rims, go down to the local service station and get them changed to the new tires adding the steel valve stems, put on the ebay tire pressure monitors I just bought (Secutire wireless tire pressure monitors, 4 for about $25.), http://tinyurl.com/4dvwnw5 , get the tires balanced, put them on the TM, and go for a test drive (once that last snow drift between the TM and the road melts down). Hope I don't drive over a nail in the first mile.

Originally Posted by Scott O

Are you sure your '08 2720 needs a lift kit? Ours came with the lift and the 15" wheels fit just fine. I understand the lift came standard sometime during the '06 model year.

15" Tires Fit My 2008 2720 Also (had 14" from the factory). Mine Had The 2" Lift Built Into The Axle Itself, Didn't Need The Blocks.

[Bill]

Philip -

We have discussed a different answer to the "Do I need a lift kit?" question.

Take a look at post number 8 here
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ead.php?t=7306

or post #7 here
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ad.php?t=10326

Bill