# New Tires



## vern38 (Aug 18, 2003)

Well finally had the tires on the Outback replaced this morning after 3 years. Had 2 very worn out tires and 1 so so. Kept 2 of the old ones which looked pretty good so I could have them mounted to take on a really long trips. I believe it was Pete that asked me which brand I was going to purchase. The name on them was DEESTONE. You get one guess at who made these tires.







The rating was 1780lbs per tire at 50psi. These guys fixed me up really good, paid $290.00 for 5 tires mounted, balanced, new valve stems and cores with a road hazard warranty. For the money I feel like I did ok even though they didn't have F***STONE on them. The Outback has always pulled good but after taking the rig out for a short test run after the tire change WoW what a difference it made with the style change and balancing, It pulled smooth as glass. Also went ahead and greased the bearings as well so we would be ready for the Holiday and Winter Camping.














did I say winter camping? Forgot some of you had to put the ole Outback to bed for the winter.









Vern


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## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

Sounds like a steal on the tires. I'm FAR from wearing mine out, but always worry about deterioration from sitting around in storage, and the hard winters. I'm thinking maybe one more season on these yet.


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

Vern, did you get another set of bias ply's, or did you switch to radials?

Tim


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## vern38 (Aug 18, 2003)

Tim, a set of bias ply's. The changes that were made was the style of tread design and having them balanced. They use to have a all terrain style of tread, what the heck for who knows. I went to strictly highway/street tread.

Vern


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## RVCarolina (Jul 31, 2004)

Vern, you might be interested to know that "Deestone" tires are actually imported
from Thailand (of all places! - who'd have quessed!) anyway, they seem to have
a good reputation. I did a little Internet research on tires a while back, when I was
thinking of changing to radials, and came across the "Deestone" name. I don't
recall any bad press, so it sounds like you got a good deal. Let us know how they
wear, so the rest of us can consider them when its time to "re-tire"








Good luck! Fred.


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## Reverie (Aug 9, 2004)

Here are my two cents on tires...

Bias Ply vs Radial Ply. The bias ply will be more inherintly stable due to their construction. Radials can be made with stiffer side walls but it sort of defeats the strength of radials which leads me to my second point...

Radials tires have a smaller contact patch with the road thus they develop a lower rolling resistance. This means they roll easier. This means you will notice they are easier to keep "at speed" when you are towing. The downside is they tend to wobble more no matter how well they are balanced. You can buy radials with stiffer sidewalls but that tends to negate my first point.

Whatever you do, make sure your tires are balanced well and have adequate tire pressure in all four tires. When one tire of the four is significantly below the pressure of the others, the others sustain increased and unbalanced wear as they fight to keep the trailer rolling in some simbelance of a line.

CampingNut told me he had ordered some of the "pop-up" pressure indicators for his TT. I wonder how well they work.

Reverie


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## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

My wife always gets the turkeys with the pop-up sensor and they work pretty well.

Uh, sorry, I guess I should try and stay on-topic.


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## Reverie (Aug 9, 2004)

It's just a hunch but I'm pretty sure if you put a fully pressurized trailer tire with a pop-up indicator into your oven and baked it for six hours at 350F you still wouldn't want to eat it and in all likelihood it would explode and damage your oven. Of course so many of us with 2003 models don't actually HAVE an oven...

Reverie


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## Paul_in_Ohio (Sep 29, 2004)

Even if you did, I don't think you could get a 14" tire in it anyway


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## j1mfrog (Jun 6, 2004)

I use these and I really like them. They're accurate and reliable.

Valve cap monitors.

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product.../p-6401/c-10101


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

It all depends on how you baste it.......we like ours deep fried, so you have to take those little pop up things out anyway.


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## dmbcfd (Sep 8, 2004)

I am already sick of turkey just listening to you guys. Can you say triptophan?

Steve


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

Many years ago, when I had my Prowler TT, it was in outside storage. Kids apparently were fooling around in the area and did a little damage. Things like rocks against the tail lights. Another thing they did that I didn't see for weeks later was to remove wheel weights.

I knew something was wrong when I noticed the pop cans in the fridge were dirty from rubbing togeather and vibrating. I attributed the problem to rough roads and really didn't think any more about it -- until the leaf spring broke. Yeap, balancing is pretty important and it's hard to know when a TT or 5 wheel is out of balance.


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

> I am already sick of turkey just listening to you guys. Can you say triptophan?


You guys were talking about turkey?? I was talking about tires.....


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## shake1969 (Sep 21, 2004)

The last turkey I ate tasted alot like a bridgestone P22575R15. Getting the stuffing in through that schrader valve was tough!

Seriously, though, I like my tires round and full of air. Kinda like me.


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## Reverie (Aug 9, 2004)

Talking about tires...

At what point should I replace my tires. We are actually the second owners of our TT. The first owner apparently didn't pay much attention to tire pressure so the tires are pretty cupped. With proper inflation they track pretty true.

Reverie


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## camping479 (Aug 27, 2003)

Reverie,

I plan on keeping the tires on ours for 5 years or until they start to crack on the outside, whichever comes first. I'm sure I won't wear them out before they hit 5 years.

There was an article in trailer life a year or so ago that recommended replacement after 5 years, worn out or not. Tires start to break down from the inside out, so it's really not possible to see any breakdown in the structure.

Mike


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## hurricaneplumber (Apr 12, 2004)

Information about using Nitrogen instead of air for tires. Neat idea.

The Benefits to Using Nitrogen

Consistent inflation pressure over longer periods
- Nitrogen permeates through the tire at a rate of 35% slower that oxygen (air)
- Under inflated tires flex and build up heat, breaking down the rubber over time
- 60% of blowouts are caused by under inflation
- Consistent inflation improves tread life
- Vehicle handling is improved

Longer Tire Life
- Nitrogen is a dry gas which disperses heat more rapidly resulting in cooler running tires. This preserves the integrity of the rubber, belts, and bead
- This inert gas also significantly slows the chemical aging process associated with oxygen and moisture (air)

Improved fuel efficiency
- Passenger cars realize 2-3 miles per gallon gains (4% on average*)
- Trucks realize gains of 2+%
At 4% fuel efficiency enhancement, the savings are significant to the car owner
- At 4% on a vehicle with 20 mpg rating, this saves approximately 2.5 gallons per week based on 40 miles per day @ $1.90 per gallon that adds up to $228 savings per year

Nitrogen Tire stuff


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

Now that's something interesting that I have never seen before. Wonder what the cost and availability of nitrogen is? I suspect the cost and hassle is just too high to mess with, but interesting nonetheless.

I would have to talk to my physicist son about this, but I would think that an initial fill of a newly-mounted tire with nitrogen, might provide substantial benefit throughout the life of the tire, even if it is "topped off" later with normal air. I.e., get 80% or 90% of the easy gains and forget about the rest.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

The air we breath is 78% nitrogen and that number goes up the higher you are.

Not sure about the quoted benefits but I guess anything is possible.


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

When I was in the Navy, all the aircraft tires were filled with Nitrogen. I've never heard of filling automotive tires with it though.

Tim


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## Reverie (Aug 9, 2004)

In the Air Force we not only filled the tires with Nitrogen we also serviced the struts with it. From what I understand Nitrogen is less compressible then regular air so the service life of the struts and the tires was longer. If we worked on certain systems we used pressurized Nitrogen to blow dirt off of circuit boards. It is a very cold gas so you need to be careful when you handle it.

That reminds me of the time one the Junior Crew Chiefs was out servicing struts at about 2 AM (0200 for us military types). He had on all the protective gear including a full-face shield. He needed it. The braided hose seperated and suddenly the hose with it's sharp metal braid end was whipping around uncontrollably. It hit him across the face knocking the shield off. It must have been an evil piece of equipment because it then whipped around and hit him across the eyes. The driver of one of the maintenance trucks was driving by and alertly drove his truck up on the runaway hose. The technician was very lucky because he didn't lose an eye. After a week he was back at work.

War-Stories, I have a million of them.

Reverie


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## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

We use nitrogen on some of our fire trucks too. It propels the dry chemical out of the tanks and down the hose line. (aircraft fires)


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