General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

[rolmops]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

I have used Chinese tires on my trailer for the last 3 years.They were less than half the price of American tires and according to the production date they were less than 5 months old when I purchased them.Regardless of country of origin,dry rot sets in the day the tire rolls of the production line and while sitting in warehouses the dry rot continues.A 5 month old Chinese tire is better than a 5 year old never used US tire.
It is probably more economical to buy the newer cheaper Chinese tires and change them a bit more often than it is to buy the expensive ones and having to replace them a year later because of dry rot.
When you trailer a lot over long distances,you should buy the highest quality available,when you trailer short distances,you can probably make do with the cheaper ones.Your bearings are probably more prone to cause you trouble than your tires

 

[cbavier]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

Jim I think if you would put this in a poll that the American Tires would get the votes 4-1

I have a 12,500 Lb GVW Fifth Wheel that had an option on the tires from the factory. The original Equipment tires were ST but as an option the buyer could choose 245/75r/ 16's 10 ply rating. It is a 1998 and has had two sets of tires since new and will be getting a new set in the Spring all made in the USA. They never wear out but crack from exposure to sunlight. I plan to put them on my truck in another year and wear them out. I personally would stick with tires made in USA. I've just heard too many horror stories from blow outs after 6,000 miles or less about Chinese tires. When they blow on a Fifth Wheel the damage to the trailer runs into the thousands of Dollars. I would not want to take the chance of a blowout on the highway pulling a boat, let alone the damage it could do to the boat.

 

[Crownin' Around]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

1) I would strongly suggest to anyone to always buy American whenever possible and support the American worker. We have far too many jobs that have gone over seas.

2) As an employee of a large tire manufacturer, I can tell you that there are plenty of tires still made in the USA!

3) Trailer tires are very different than car and/or LT truck tires. There are obvious external tread differences but many more unseen differences in construction. Chief among these differences is the trailer tires ability to carry weight vs. a car tire and secondly, side wall flex. Even the bead construction and compounds used are different because the tire is intended for a specific function.

4) Back on topic: Chinese tires have come along way in recent years. It really depends on the manufacturer as to the quality of tire you get. Alot of "well known" tire companies have or are building tire plants in China.
However, I can tell you from inside experience that Chinese tires on the whole are not as good a quality as American made tires. I personally, if given the choice would not run Chinese, primarily for the quality factor but more so for the fact it was not made here.

5) That said, I do have Maxxis tires (made in China) on my travel trailer that I had to buy in a pinch (road side flats..yes more than one..it sucked!) I have had these tires for 3 years now with no issues and would probably buy them again based on my experience....but more than likely will not in favor of an American made tire!

The bottom line...we as the consumer have the power..do your homework first!!

 

[204 Escape]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

My 2 cents worth. I bought a 3,500# LARSON I/O F/S deck boat new. It had Carlisle tires on it. They had never been pulled (except at the dealership), to my knowledge when I bought the boat.

I pulled the new boat, and my old boat, that had NEW COOPER trailer tires on it, to the local tire shop, and had them switch the tires out, from one boat to the other. I grabbed one of the Carlisle tires, and I personally thought that they were lighter, softer, and weaker in the sidewall, than the COOPERS.

Just my opinion !!!!!!

(I'd rather spend the money, and get a trailer tire, than have a blowout, and have to leave my trailer, and boat alongside the road !!!!) AND, yes I have a spare tire with me at all times !!!!!! (s)

 

[JimS123]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

1) The bottom line...we as the consumer have the power..do your homework first!!

That's why I posted the question in the first place!

So far I have leaned that the ONLY tire made in the USA in my size is a Carlisle USA Trail. My local Trailer dealer won't sell them because he's had problems in the past.

My local boat dealer sells Load Rite boat trailers and they all come with Chinese Load Stars, and he claims that he's never had a problem.

Sow what's the verdict for Kenda Load Stars?

 

[Crownin' Around]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

That's why I posted the question in the first place!

So far I have leaned that the ONLY tire made in the USA in my size is a Carlisle USA Trail. My local Trailer dealer won't sell them because he's had problems in the past.

My local boat dealer sells Load Rite boat trailers and they all come with Chinese Load Stars, and he claims that he's never had a problem.

Sow what's the verdict for Kenda Load Stars?

Jim,

the current production of Goodyear Marathons are built here in the USA.

 

[JimS123]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

Jim,

the current production of Goodyear Marathons are built here in the USA.

My local Goodyear Dealer said USA. My local trailer dealer said China. Various forums on the internet said China and some USA.

Since there is some controversy regarding that opinion, and I wanted to know the real answer, I contacted the manager of trailer tire sales for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.

He said China. I assume he would know! I also assume he would not have lied since he knew the answer would lose him a customer!

 

[reelfishin]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

Several of the local GY dealers here carry Carlisle, Cooper, or Trail Star tires and don't offer the GY Marathons for what ever reason.
I've tried Cooper trailer tires, they're the most costly and I didn't have any luck with those at all. I had two sets, both had vibration issues and required huge amounts of weight to balance them. The Carlisle tires usually are pretty close with no weight, and they seem to do the best over time as far as cracking or dryrot. I have one set of 5.30x12" Trail US tires that are over 12 years old and appear as new. On the same note, I have the same p/n tire on a boat trailer that are only 4 years old which have huge straight cracks beginning to show in the sidewalls. Those see more sunlight than do the older set but they have under 100 miles of use. The older set have a lot use and carry far more weight.

The common brands to see around here now are Trail Star, Load Star, H188, Carlisle, and Trail Master. Goodyear tires only show up here and there as original equipment on some larger trailers, mostly large enclosed trailers. I have little doubt that if I had to buy tires local, chances are in a pinch I'd only be able to find Chinese made tires. I'm even starting to see more Chinese passenger car tires lately.

I'm not sure that I agree with the one statement that trailer tires are built to withstand more UV light, I've had passenger tires that went many years without cracking, yet most trailer tires show cracks in only a year or two.
I've still got the original tires on my car, it's 7 years old with only 18K on it, the tires look fine and I'm not likely to just throw them away as long as they still look new. The car just don't get driven enough to justify it. When it does leave the yard, it rarely goes more than 10 miles at a time. I priced new tires, both Chinese and US made for the car, I feel I'm far better off with old US made tires with good tread than cheap new Chinese tires. Other than that, I can't justify spending $700 on a set of new original Michelin tires just to get another 18K out of them.

The bottom line is that it's a judgement call, if you run the highway with a heavy boat and do it often, then buying top of the line US made tires is probably the way to go, but if you tow only a few miles a year and the trailer sits 95% of the time, it really wouldn't pay to have high dollar tires.
Of course, I do have one neighbor that removes his trailer wheels and stores them in the basement or garage when not in use. The boat and trailer sit on jack stands when not being used. His tires stay like new, but he goes to extremes. I'm also sure he probably uses his boat less than he would if it were ready to tow without all the added work.

 

[Krichbourg]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

Its not WalMarts fault. They only sell what is available.[/QUOTE]

In many cases, Walmart has forced companies to move out of Country in order to hit a price point and keep their products in their store. It is WalMarts fault.
Sam is rolling.
Buy American whenever possible.

 

[artistwood]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

so.....which one????? i use both on cars but have no experience on trailers...

 

[Lou C]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

I made an interesting discovery looking around on the Tire Rack, if you are sick of using Chinese made trailer tires, and have 15" rims, Goodyear makes the Wrangler AT-S in a 235/75-15 size that is an LT tire, D rated, for 2300 lbs each. They cost a bit more, but I may go that way when I have to get new tires. I hate buying anything not made here, but I have used Load Star bias tires without a problem.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...ewall=Blackwall&partnum=375QR5WRATS&tab=Specs

Now trailer tires in a 225/75-15 size would be rated higher if D rated, maybe up to 200 lbs more.

 

[Mark42]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

To the point of the thread title, " General concensus on USA vs. China Tires? ", this is my experience:

One of my trailers (Load Rite) came new with Load Star tires in 2005. Still no problems, and no dry rot cracking. The other trailer (Escort) is second hand, and came with Carlisle tires that performed fine. Date code showed they were from 2000. They were replaced this season with H188 brand (Chinese) tires and rims. I can tell no difference in performance or handling, but the H188 tire does have heavy tread wrap around to the side walls that should protect them better from scuffing/rubbing on curbs, etc than the Load Star or Carlisle tires that have minimal wrap around tread. The H188 brand are priced a little higher than the Load Star brand.

I would have bought Carlisle to replace the 530x12 LR C on the Escort trailer, but the Carlisle USA Trail tire w/galvanized 5 spoke was $99.00 each, the same in the H188 was $52.50 and the Load Star was $49.00. The Carlisle being nearly twice the price of the H188 and Load Star was just too much for my wallet. I went with the H188. So my input to the consensus is that Carlisle priced themselves out of my purchase.

 

[JimS123]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

To the point of the thread title, " General concensus on USA vs. China Tires? ", this is my experience:

I would have bought Carlisle to replace the 530x12 LR C on the Escort trailer, but the Carlisle USA Trail tire w/galvanized 5 spoke was $99.00 each, the same in the H188 was $52.50 and the Load Star was $49.00. The Carlisle being nearly twice the price of the H188 and Load Star was just too much for my wallet. I went with the H188. So my input to the consensus is that Carlisle priced themselves out of my purchase.

I have no problem paying double, just for the sake of "made in America". My concern was that I heard too many negative comments on the USA Trail, while the comments on the Load Stars are generally good.

 

[JBF 1962]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

" As to Chinese rubber, most don't comply to DOT standards, just avoid them. "


Now that just couldn't be any more wrong if you tried. Unless it's labled off road use ony, it HAS to be DOT compliant.

http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5656181/Chinese-intermodal-tires-giving-importers.html

 

[dockwrecker]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5656181/Chinese-intermodal-tires-giving-importers.html

Proves my point! DOT MANDATED compliance. And the article is talking about intermodal transport tires used in container shipping. Different animals. There's plenty of tires whether US or Chinese that aren't DOT compliant and must be labled as off highway that potentially could be used under a trailer. So the lesson learnd today kids is READ THE SIDEWALL!

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

Proves my point! DOT MANDATED compliance. And the article is talking about intermodal transport tires used in container shipping. Different animals. There's plenty of tires whether US or Chinese that aren't DOT compliant and must be labled as off highway that potentially could be used under a trailer. So the lesson learnd today kids is READ THE SIDEWALL!

How many do you think even pay attention to this:
All "ST" tires have a maximum speed rating of 65 mph......

 

[reelfishin]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

How many do you think even pay attention to this:
All "ST" tires have a maximum speed rating of 65 mph......

Think about that the next time an enclosed race car hauler passes by on the freeway at 80mph.
They almost all come with Goodyear Marathon tires.
Better yet, try driving 65mph on any of the interstate highways and not getting run over these days. I just got back from FL, made the drive up I95 and traffic averaged around 88mph the whole way. Go slower and your an accident waiting to happen. More than once I found myself running even much faster just keeping pace with traffic.

If you were to go out there and try to do 65mph or less you would no doubt be a traffic hazard.

If you think about the lack of speed ratings on trailer tires, it might make good sense to just run LT tires on a trailer used over the highway.
While I don't recommend driving with any trailer at that kind of speed, sometimes you don't have much of a choice. I rarely haul any of my boats any distance, I have driven long distances with a trailer in tow, often several thousand miles at a time. So far I've never had a tire failure on a trailer but I also wouldn't make the drive on rotten or under rated tires if I could at all help it.

 

[Lou C]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

Think about that the next time an enclosed race car hauler passes by on the freeway at 80mph.
They almost all come with Goodyear Marathon tires.
Better yet, try driving 65mph on any of the interstate highways and not getting run over these days. I just got back from FL, made the drive up I95 and traffic averaged around 88mph the whole way. Go slower and your an accident waiting to happen. More than once I found myself running even much faster just keeping pace with traffic.

If you were to go out there and try to do 65mph or less you would no doubt be a traffic hazard.

If you think about the lack of speed ratings on trailer tires, it might make good sense to just run LT tires on a trailer used over the highway.
While I don't recommend driving with any trailer at that kind of speed, sometimes you don't have much of a choice. I rarely haul any of my boats any distance, I have driven long distances with a trailer in tow, often several thousand miles at a time. So far I've never had a tire failure on a trailer but I also wouldn't make the drive on rotten or under rated tires if I could at all help it.

that's what's nice about the Goodyears I mentioned above, they are a D rated LT tire, but in a size that will fit 15" trailer rims and speed rated to 99 mph (Q rated).....

 

[dockwrecker]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

Goodyear tires. Not on anything I'll own. Ever. JMHO. Been left high and dry too many times to suffer their quality issues again. There's some applications they get right, (same with any tire manufacturer) but LT tires aren't one of them and nor are trailer tires. Outsourcing at it's worst. They do a good job at specialty high performance stuff and OTR heavy truck, but not much else. Just because it says Goodyear means nothing as far as it's origin of construction.
I've stated here repeatedly about what I run on my rigs, be it truck, car, motorcyle or boat trailer. I'm selective from experience as a former tire distributor. There's not a brand out there I'd hang my hat on that does it all, and I advise caution to those that think that an LT tire delivers trailer tire performance just because of it's weight rating. That's just flat wrong but if you want the risk, it's your dime and hopefully no one else's suffering. Trailer tires are specific for a reason. If you think you're smarter than a tire engineer, then go for it.
I see no need to fear some of the asian manufacturers such as Maxxis or Kumho that have invested in state of the art facilities with advanced technologies. Face it folks, there's a small market for trailer tires and not much tech money spent on new development. But when it has been invested on new radial tech such as a few of the asian co's have, you benefit from a superior product. US tech hasn't invested in this limited market as it's frankly not profitable to do so, especially in non radial sizes. Those of you in the 8-12" tire world will forever be stuck with 40+ year old tech. There's no money in it for a manufacturer to develop anything better.
As I stated earlier, read the sidewall and understand what the hell you're spending money on, including how old that "new" tire really is in trailer size. Some sit in warehouses for years. And towing beyond 65 mph for most of us is stupid also with a trailer of any weight and definitely idiot zone for anyone with tires that are under 14".
Be smart. It sucks that we spend so much money on "proper tires" that we have to change out because of weather cracks and such but the alternative may cost you or someone else their life. Much of boating is expensive and this is another example of why we have regs like proper PFD's, lighting, ventilation, marine starters and flame arresters. Pay attention to your rig and don't skimp on something that could save your life or someone else's.
JMHO.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: General concensus on USA vs. China Tires?

All of my trailers run the Chinese Load Star tires. I have been using them for over 10 years and have never had a tire problem.

The set on my dual axle trailer still look new after 4 years.
No dry rot cracks at all.
I run them hard too....70 mph for extended times on the highway.