# Time For New Tires



## 2500Ram (Oct 30, 2005)

Well I just went to visit the in-laws/TT this weekend to see it covered in bird do do needing a good bath, not the in-laws







, did a visual check of the tires to make sure there was still air. All was well but checked the tread and it's getting pretty low so new tires are needed before spring. I've been told to stay away from Carlyle's brand, anyone have any experience or conformation on the brand good or bad? I called and had some quotes locally from $70-110 per tire mounted and balanced. Currently the tires are rated as ST 205/75D14. ST meaning Standard or Standard Trailer and the D meaning bias-ply and was told to get radials and agree with that. The load rating is C should I bump up to a D rate? TT has not been on the scales yet but my guess is she's going to weigh over 6k with a max trailer cap of 7k.

Thoughts or suggestions.

Thanks
Bill.


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

A couple of Outbackers have replaced and upgraded their wheels & tires. I am not sure what brand is best ... but any thoughts about increasing the size to 15" tires? tdvffjohn did this and they looked great. He also put on Al rims...pics are in the gallery.

Thor


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## 2500Ram (Oct 30, 2005)

Thor said:


> A couple of Outbackers have replaced and upgraded their wheels & tires. I am not sure what brand is best ... but any thoughts about increasing the size to 15" tires? tdvffjohn did this and they looked great. He also put on Al rims...pics are in the gallery.
> 
> Thor
> [snapback]73369[/snapback]​


I'm not sure about putting 15's on but there will be an axle flip in the near future, could I get away with a taller tire vs buying new wheels? D range tires have 4 sidewall vs C's 2?

Thoughts?

Bill.


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## Katrina (Dec 16, 2004)

I'm not sure, but I'm thinking that Andy had to go to 15" rims in order to get a D range tire. You might wanna check with him.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

PDX_Doug replaced his with bigger tires/rims. It looks nice, but is sure fills up the wheelwell...


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## camping479 (Aug 27, 2003)

I'm not sure what the load rating is but our utility trailer at work has Goodyear marathon's on it, I'm pretty sure they are radials. Our first set lasted a long time without any problems at all. When I put new tires on the outback I think that's what I'll be looking at.

Mike


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

I did not change to 15 in rims. I had my tires replaced by Nanco after having one come loose. The new ones wer 4 lbs heavier each. I did put on aluminum rims.

NotYet is the one I can think of that upgraded to 15 in rims. He has a 28 RSDS and had close clearances with the slide side and has since had the axles flipped.

John


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## proffsionl (Feb 19, 2005)

We have already changed tires on our 30RLS. Our trailer came with 15" rims. The Chinese made whatevers that came on it were dry rotting within 6 months. I did not want them changed out to another no-name brand (or worse, Carlyle). My choice came down to Maxxis and Goodyear Marathon. Both are good tires. Make sure you go to radials. We went with the Goodyears (we do not have a Maxxis dealer in Austin). No regrets, it tows well and I no longer worry if the tires will let go.


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Bill,

We switched to 15" tires in order to get 'D' rated rubber. I have not found any source that has 'D' rated 14 inchers. Our TT is a little bigger and heavier than yours, and we felt 'D' was a must. I would recommend them even on your trailer, if just for the piece of mind.

In our case, the larger wheels will require an axle flip. we only have about 3/4" clearence on the slide side. It should be noted that our slide (dinette) sits a good bit lower than the sofa slides. But if you are going to do that anyway, it's not an issue.

The Radial vs. Bias ply debate is kind of like that old Ford vs. Chevy thing, but what my tire dealer told me - and I respect his opinion - was to go with radials if you are primarily on paved roads. If you do a lot of boon-docking off road, you are better off with bias ply. We ended up with radials.

Hope this helps!









Happy Trails,
Doug


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## Reverie (Aug 9, 2004)

I believe bumping up to a "D" Load Rating is smart. The "Radial vs Bias Ply" debate boils down to a few things.

1. Cost: It's a lot easier to make a quality bias ply than making a quality radial.

2. Economy of Operation: There is a slight decrease in rolling resistance when you use a radial tire. Less rolling resistance = slightly better gas mileage.

3. Handling: Radial tires corner better because their design keeps more of the rubber on the road as the tire flexes.

Reverie


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## Steelhead (Nov 14, 2005)

Are the sidewalls on radials too flexible when considering sway, and/or tight backing and turning? I,ve been wondering since I,m thinking of radials for ours.









Dallas


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## cookie9933 (Feb 26, 2005)

Reverie said:


> It's a lot easier to make a quality bias ply than making a quality radial.
> 
> Reverie
> [snapback]73450[/snapback]​


Reverie,

Since virtually all cars have radials, the tire companies are turning out many millions of relatively hard-to-manufacture tires? I'd expect they'd have figured out how to do it easily by now. But, you may be right. I just wasn't aware of that.

Also, we replaced original Nancos with 225-15, load range D, Goodyear Marathon radials. We got aluminum wheels too. And yes, there is a clearance concern on the left side due to the dinette slide. So far, no eveidence of the tires rubbing.

Bill


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## 2500Ram (Oct 30, 2005)

Good info everyone, the marithons were the $110 per tire but if they last more than 3 years it's worth it, I'm going to guess we put about 3000 miles on the TT last year but expect a trip to Minnesota this year so that 1 trip is 2200 miles round trip, so good tires are needed.

Bill.


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## Not Yet (Dec 13, 2004)

I swapped up to 15 inchers and D rated Marathons. I also went on to flip the axles because I was rubbing on drivers side. I should post of picture. The rig is visible higher. I swapped up after having two blowouts on the highway this summer. I have not driven enough to determine any other differences in towing characteristics from the 15D radial or the axle flip.

Jared


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## chetlenox (Feb 3, 2004)

After fixing 4 flats in 22 trips with the old 205/75-14 load range C Duro tires, I upgraded (Christmas present to myself). Since in this part of the country we have a Les Schwab in every small town (and because they fixed the actual tire on 3 of those 4 flats for free, even though I didn't buy them from Les Schwab) I went to them. They sell Allied brand radial ST tires. Since I couldn't get a higher load range with a 14' wheel, I upgraded to 15' wheels and 225/75-15 Load Range D Allieds. I've got plenty of wheel-well room on my 29RSS, and the new wheels and tires look great (sorry, no pics). The whole package was in the ~$650 range including my old tires and wheels as trade-in (I replaced the spare as well).

I've towed over the Cascades once since then, and they towed great. I could swear that the trailer had a little less wiggle than normal, but I assume that is just wishful thinking.









Mostly I'm just glad I've got a lot more carrying capacity and much more rubber to guard against flats. The only downside that I could find (besides my wallet being lighter) was that my tire cover no longer covers the spare due to the size increase.

Chet.


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## cookie9933 (Feb 26, 2005)

I have written previously about blow-outs on Outbacks. Virtually all (or maybe 100%) of the blow-outs we have heard about in this forum have been on trailers 27 feet and up. In my opinion, this is because on the heavier Outbacks the 205-14 load range C tires are at their limit under typical use. Have your load slightly unbalanced where one or two tires are carrying more than their share, or be driving in hot weather, or be a little underinflated, or do something else that adds a little more stress to your tire(s) and a blow-out happens. This is not to say that a blow-out is inevitable on the bigger Outbacks, but it is certainly more likely.









That's why we upgraded to the Goodyear Marathons. We bought 5 tires and 5 aluminum wheels and paid $80 per tire and about $60 per wheel. Add a small charge per tire for mounting & balance plus 6% tax and it was just under $800 out the door. I really wasn't happy to shell out the dough on a new trailer with only 300 miles on it, but prudence got the best of me.

Bill


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

Chet

Time to buy an Outbackers.com spare tire cover









Thor


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## cookie9933 (Feb 26, 2005)

2500Ram said:


> Good info everyone,Â the marithons were the $110 per tire
> Bill.
> [snapback]73496[/snapback]​


Bill,

Check out this link:

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/findTireD...519&rd=15&ar=75

You can get those tires for $82 each. Guess the price has gone up 2 bucks.

Bill


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## outbackgeorgia (Jan 28, 2004)

All,

I agree with the previous posts, the larger Outbacks are near their load limits with the standard tires/wheels.
Note the 21RS and possibly the 23RS (I have not checked) have the dump handles just in FRONT of the tires.
A loose handle fell off and caused a blowout (in Gague, NM) on mine 2 seasons ago.
Check your handles!
I switched to Maxxis Radials last season (all 4) and they are fine, but not really loaded on the 21RS.
Keystone says radials are OK if all are swapped.
Underinflation (even 2-3 lbs) and heat/overloading are the usual suspects (outside of road hazards) for blowouts.

Outbackgeorgia


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