Tires specifically the 17.5"

[Motor31]

I started looking for tires the other day as the ones we have now are 5 years old and a couple are showing uneven wear as if they are going out of round. I can't find any mention of the G114 tires on the Goodyear web site at all. The search function does not recognize the size and there is no 17.5 inch tires on the selection size page either. All I find are the G614's and those are 16" and "G" rated, too small for the rig.

Has anyone else had the same experience and if so an alternative brand source?

[RonS]

Mine are 4ys old, and I'm going to X them and try to get another year out of them. I have about 23K on them, only showing ware on the outer edges. I have been told that we must go to a truck tire shop for replacement. I will watch this tread, as I'm sure someone has the answer to your question.

[wingnut60]

When I changed over from 16" to 17.5" I put on Michelins.

Michelin X XTA 215x75R17.5 Load Range J--4805lb/tire

Very happy with them. One of the minor benefits seems to be no air loss for long periods of storage.

Joe

[Gemstone]

"Michelin X XTA 215x75R17.5 Load Range J"....

having a hard time locating these on the Michelin web site....got any more info ?

Thanks
Gemstone

[wingnut60]

Got them from

www.trailertiresandwheels.com

and my wheels also.

Never tried to find them on the internet--maybe they quit making them--

Joe

[wingnut60]

http://www.michelinrvtires.com/michelinrv/tires-retreads/load-inflation-tables.jsp

this is the only reference to a 17.5 tire I found. The ones on my trailer are
NOT trailer tires--they are hiway rib truck tires. I am a firm believer that if a tire can run on a truck, and it meets the load rating I need, then it is fine for a fiver.

Check on the link I listed above and talk to the guy who knows tires (this is a hardware store in NW Ohio, and the guy really knows trailer wheel/tire combos--he will ship anywhere) to see what he says you might try. I got the link from Ron Sigo (sigo'nsuites) who used to be a regular on this forum.

Joe

[wingnut60]

Sorry, could have looked at the link myself and drilled down to where they list 17.5" tire info.

http://www.trailertiresandwheels.com/site/1284278/page/2686443

Joe

[Red Ram]

I had the same trouble trying to find the G116 on the internet. I finally went to my local tire store and they got them from their supplier the next day. I believe that I paid a little more doing it that way, but I now have nice new tires mounted and balanced.

[sje]

I have been looking at new tires and wheels for the past 10 days ,ever since I returned home from the rio valley in texas. My suite probably had 2500 miles on it when one of the chinese bombs let go. Lucky I caught it before it did any trailer damage, and ony had 90 miles left to go to get home on a 2200 mile trip. I had the same problem on my previous fifth wheel, a holiday rambler. Just didnt seem like i could buy tires that would last, those were 15'' wheels and so I just lived with it. had one blow once in san antoio at about 3.30 pm, had to change it on the shoulder, it was the drivers side. I swore I would never be put in that situation again, so now i have 16'' tires that wont stand up. Maybe its overkill but I just want a tire to hold together.

[sje]

I hit the wrong key before I was done with previous post. I have looked at the 17.5 at ricksons and the trailer tires and wheels place in indiana. I am undecided about tires. I have had quotes that are about 100 differant on the 17.5 michelins.I had my local coop quote me the cheapest tire, cant remember the name but it is made in korea. it was just a little less than 160. it always comes down to money, but I am leaning towards the michelins, because I have never had a problem with them for over 30 years, and I guess safety and peace of mind are worth something. Plan to get pressure pro system before I go south next year. sje

[rverdlm]

Mike: FWIW I would go with a Michilin in the 235R17.5H. I think it's a better tire and it's load rating is higher. I had to replace all my GY this past summer because they were throwing treads. I went with GY because I thought they would stand up and at least adjust them based on tread wear. No such luck. They basically told me there was nothing wrong with the tires. Had I known this would happen I would now have the Michilins. I asked them "if I had let them go when I saw evidence of tread seperation and they came apart and damaged the trailer you would pay". They said yes, but since they had not yet failed they would give me nothing! Go figure! Last GY I will ever buy for anything!!!

[Mayoman]

Please correct me if I am wrong but other forums seem to point out that Goodyear will stand behind their tires if you have a blowout and pay for not only the tires but repairs to your 5er whereas Michelin will not pay for any trailer damage. This makes me want to replace my G114's with the same tire.

[Stripit]

Goodyear is funny on some claims and will go full boat on others, no rhyme or reason. Having the tire fail and them getting the dead tire and inspecting it, will in a lot of cases get you a warranty claim. But like Dave said, they also will take the stand, no damage, no money and no discount on replacement tires. Hard to understand what they are trying to do. Then we also hear the statements from some of my customers that Michelin will tell the owner of a failed Michelin tire that they(Michelin) make great tires, and if it failed, you must have done something to damage our tire....no warranty. Michelin calls their 4805 lb capacity tire a J rated tire and Goodyear with the same 4805 lb capacity a H rated tire. Both are 17.5 inch, but check to see that the tire you buying has a speed rating of 75 mph, not 62 mph. These tires are normally sold at the heavy truck and commercial tire dealers, many of the smaller tire stores can not get them, or say they cannot get them. Shop for prices, as they can vary by many dollars per, as much as close to $100.00 each. Buying online is one option, and then having a local tire shop install and mount, could save some money. Then again buying from the local guy might get you better service and may match the online pricing. Always worth checking out when your in a town or RV park and not stuck on the side of the highway.

[bstark]

Yeah, Goodyear will stand behind their tires IF you keep the carcass and submit it to a certified Goodyear dealer AND he agrees the thing didn't suffer some internal damage from an errant curb strike, pothole etc., Whereas the Michlin's in a straight rib pattern are of a higher rating and in my perusal of the forums, have never found any reference to: tread separation, out of round, impossible to balance etc., I have had All of those conditions exist with my numerous Goodyears over the years and never received an adjustment dime from Goodyear for the same reasons outlined by Dave; Gee, we're sorry your tread separated but you didn't keep the carcass so you're out of luck. Gee, that tire is really oval don't know what could have caused that, sorry. Gee, we've never had a tire that required that much weight to balance there must be something wrong with the balancing equipment used by the certified Goodyear Dealer, sorry. The last example came to a just solution with the dealer simply re-ordering another tire for me as "good faith" for all the business I'd given him. He said he'd put it on an axle of a low-boy trailer that was used to haul a dozer and the dozer wouldn't even notice.

If I were keeping the trailer there's not a chance the replacement tires would be anything but Michlins.

[rverdlm]

AMEN!!!

[Motor31]

Long post, sorry.

We got our tires mounted and hit the road last week. We did have one glitch. The tire wear on one tire was due to a bent axle. The same axle and location that the Goodyear store in Wichita jacked up, using the axle rather than the spring shackle location when I had a flat at the last rally they held in Wichita. Since it’s more than a year down the road there is no way I can get them to cover it. Lesson learned, do NOT let a tire store jack up the trailer unless they do it to my specs.

I got the tires from the source that Wingnut posted. Great guy to deal with and all tires are recent (04/10) manufacture. I went with Goodyears. The Michelins were only $5 more but the 62 MPH rating was not a good idea. I called the factory rep and they told me that the rating was solid and they did not recommend using it even at 65 MPH, which is my normal cruising speed. I do get faster on downhills and drive a lot of hot area roads too. He was less than knowledgeable about the warranty covering damage to the trailer if one blew. He did not want to say that tire damaging the rig would be covered. I have had good luck with Goodyear over that issue on an older trailer that I was not the original owner for. The Goodyears are rated for 75 MPH.

Here is another part of the story. Those of you with 17.5” tires check the wheel manufacturer. It’s part of the casting or a stamping on the inside (inside being the inside of the trailer position not inside to the tire) portion of the wheel so you have to crawl under the rig to see it.

We had the Chinese version, “Vision”. They do have a rep in the US but they are not a lot of help on technical info. I spent an hour at a Discount tire store (3rd place I went looking for tire stems) while they checked their inventory and called around looking for stems for me. They called the commercial places as well as the manufacturer. No luck.

The tire stems are located on a rounded portion of the rim. There is no flat surface for the stem gasket to mate to. They originally used a very thick gasket in the shape of a “top hat” and squashed the hell out of it against the curved surface of the rim to seal it. That is an inside curve at that location so the gasket has to seal before the metal base of the stem contacts the wheel and cocks it off to the side. No one had the same thing to replace it. No one had a high pressure stem that would fit the hole either. The manufacturer rep suggested a large thick base rubber stem be used but that is only rated to 100 psi. When that was pointed out to them the guy said no problem, he’s never “heard” of one failing yet. Since I know that a hot tire will get up to 140 psi when started at 125 cold I was not going to use that option. I figure a working pressure almost 50% higher than design specs is a bad thing.

I ended up at a tire / wheel trailer specialist in town. They had no gasket that would work on the inside. They did have a thin wall “top hat” style gasket that would fit on the outside of the rim and below the tension nut on the stem. I used the old gasket and the new one as a back up on the wheels I swapped out. That same nut is a 14mm nut and I had to go buy a long socket and grind down the outside wall of it to get it to fit inside of the tire stem hole to get to the nut. That location is a tight fit!

I used the best of the old tires on the bent axle as there was no time to replace it before I had to go to Washington. The trailer axle folks said that it would still wear the tire but not enough to replace it for this years travel. Next winter we will replace it in Tucson. No sense in ruining a new tire on that spot so the new one is on the back of the truck in a tarp for now. After 1800 miles I see no major wear on the inside rib of the tire. All the tires are holding pressure too. Estimated replacement cost of the axle, with a new Dexter unit and my old brake equipment mounted is under $600.00 including labor on a one day job. I can handle that.

[billr]

Wow Mike, glad you got it all sorted out. I think the GY way it the right move. I agree about the speed rating, and since they will not budge on that we have to defer to their expertise. Also the trailer coverage in case of a tread loss etc.

Thanks for all the helpful info!

Safe travels.

Bill

[wingnut60]

It has been 2 years since I replaced my 16" GY tires/rims with 17.5" Michelins/rims from www.trailertireandwheels.com and have yet to regret the expense for a moment. The one downside to the theory is the 62 mph rating on the tires--I cannot figure that out, but I can tell you that I don't stay below that speed (somehow, the new 450 setup lends itself to higher speeds until the wife alarm goes off). There is no evident wear on the tires, and no real loss of air pressure when stored, and I have over 12000 miles on the new tires/wheels.
There have to be other options on the market, but 4805lbs/tire has to contribute to long life and heat resistance.
Your results may vary...............
Joe

[Motor31]

The 62 MPH speed rating isn't a theory, it's what the manufacturer rates them at. Give the manufacturer a call, not a dealer, the main company representative. Of the dealers I called only one out of 4 had the speed rating available, the others just said they had no info on it even after checking their spec sheets. The cost ratio wasn't an issue as the price for Michelins was only $5 different, and was lower to boot from the supplier I used.

I chose not to get the Michelins because of the speed rating and the lack of confidence the rep expressed for warranty issues if the rating was exceeded. We often get over 70 on downhill runs on steep mountains. I also had experience with Goodyear's warranty response and was happy with the way they treated me on the trailer we had before the MS.

[wingnut60]

I shouldn't have used the word theory--I have to agree that Michelin should know what their tires are good for. And I am not a tire expert, just one who has driven over 70k miles annually for the last 39 years. Two blowouts in all that driving--just lucky, I guess. But
most of that driving is in pickups and cars, not towing trailers. But, have been towing trailers since 1979 and never have had a trailer tire blowout, believe that or not. Statistically, I am way overdue for a $$ disaster?
Looking at the Michelin and the tread depth and the weight rating, I am not worried that I might go over 62--or 65--or? I check pressures and temps daily--more often when I travel TX hiways in 100+ temps, and the tires have never seemed to get hot enough to worry that something is going to happen.
Now a near disaster was the DRV factory letting my trailer out the door when it weighed dry at 15815 with a 16000 GVWR and the 16" GY tires.
I didn't buy it new, but it is rediculous for the seller AND buyer to put a trailer on the road with 185lbs of cargo capacity. That is one of the reasons GY 16" tires were failing on DRV units, I think.
I have the 17.5 tires now, but still have the 7K axles--would like to change them out to 8K, but in THEORY, I am under the axle capacities.
Joe

[Motor31]

Yup MS was pretty stupid loading up lightweight capacity units almost all the way up to their GVW dry and empty. We forgot all about buying one when we saw an 04 setup like that. It wasn't until the 05 38' models that they started to get to a reasonable CCC with the 8k axles and 17.5" tires. We were looking for a fulltime unit and I'd much rather have one that has a 3k CCC than a 500 lb limit like we looked at in Montana. The 2200 lb ccc on ours is barely adequate and forces us to make sure the tanks are dry before we move. We only hold about 20 gallons of fresh while on the road.

I never did get an answer when I asked the factory rep at the first rally what the changes were that allowed them to take the same 38' rig and raise the GVW from 18,500 to 20,000 in 06.

[wingnut60]

Mike,
Hope your solution to the stem gaskets holds up--first time I have ever heard of that type of problem. I got my wheels at the same time I got the tires and they came with the steel stems.
I am beginning to hear some odd noises from my springs--it it probably time to rebuild the shackles/bolts.
Joe

[Motor31]

Grease the suspension first. You may just have some trapped moisture / dirt in there. Do the cheap thing before you swap out hardware.

[Diesel-Gypsy]

Mike,
Hope your solution to the stem gaskets holds up--first time I have ever heard of that type of problem. I got my wheels at the same time I got the tires and they came with the steel stems.
I am beginning to hear some odd noises from my springs--it it probably time to rebuild the shackles/bolts.
Joe

Joe, on a pre-trip inspection in March I found a broken spring-eye bolt on my spring ride suspension.
The wet-bolt was broken in 2 at the point where the grease gets out of the bolt.

You'll need to check each bolt, and using a socket wrench is a good way to test the spring-eye bolts for integrity.

Rick

[wingnut60]

Mike and Rick,
Thank you both for the suggestions--I intend to do an in-depth inspection of both sides before my next trip.
Joe

[RustyJC]

I changed the 3 year old G614s over to the 17.5" J-rated Michelin XTAs just prior to Memorial Day. Yes, Goodyear has been good to us about replacing tires and repairing damages related to tire failures (I've had Goodyear Marathons, Wrangler HTs and G614RSTs fail in 5th wheel service over the last 15 years), but based on my experience with Michelin XPS Ribs on a previous 5th wheel and on the truck, I'd rather go with a tire manufacturer whose products have never given me a problem.

So far, so good. We'll be going from the Houston, TX area to Williams, AZ and back in July, so I feel much warmer and fuzzier now.

Rusty

[wingnut60]

Found the source of my wheel noise--RF brake had the self-adjuster break and was wandering around in the drum--minor fix, no damage.
But had to replace the spring eyebolt bushing at all the frame mounts--brass bushings, all worn in half. Nothing wrong with the RE center pivots.
Just about everything under the trailer is good to go at this point.

I have maybe 20k miles on the trailer in 3 years--it sat on a pad for its first 2 years before I bought it--and the drums/linings look real good, very even wear.

I also had the springs located to the lower mounting holes, and was going to replace the shocks (2 were leaking) and tried to figure out spacers to use the same shock number. Could not get a spacer to work--1" on each end left no stud to put the nut on, so called Monroe and got the number for similar shocks with 1.8" more travel--should work ok. Old shock number was 555001, new longer one is 555025, in case anyone is interested. And it isn't easy to get the old ones off, even with the wheels off, as access is somewhat limited and old stem threads were rusty/dirty--being able to hold the stem/housing while backing off the nut was a chore.
Joe