[A/S] Radial or bias ply Tires?

["Terry Tyler" <tylerbears@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Jim W in SF CA area #18248 -

On our 1977/31' Airstream, we use ST225/75R15 tires which have a carrying capacity of 2540 pounds
for each tire (at 65 PSI). I've used many brand names of the years and have not found a
statistically significant difference between them in terms of wear or reliability. 

We began towing travel trailers in the 1960s and have never worn out a set of tires before their
five years was up. Each of us is different and each of us have our own idiosyncrasies. For me, a
tire older than five years is an accident looking for a place to happen. I've had ply separation
twice during that time and both tires were close to the five year mark. Each time I saw the
separation occurring before I had a serious problem and both times, I had to patch my wheel well
with a piece of aluminum (I carry several pieces for just such occasions). I may be dense about some
things, but it doesn't take me long to figure other things. 

Two weeks ago, we came back to our home base after seven and one half months. During that time, we
put 14,366 miles on four new tires. The brand name on these tires is Carlisle and they performed
flawlessly. By the way, our Airstream weighed 8750 pounds in October 2000 on the scales operated by
"A Weigh We Go" during the annual Escapade in Goshen, Indiana. There were 1200 RVing families at the
convention and close to 500 of us weighed our rigs. Each year, I've gone to a "weigh in" and each
year, I learn more about distributing the weight inside our Airstream so all four tires are
supporting about the same number of pounds.

Hope this helps,

Terry
mailto:tylerbears@airstream.net