What are good replacement tires for the scamp 13?

[stevebaz]

I've had good luck with Hercules trailer tires.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by floyd

It's the best tire for the job that I have found, as for price... That's here in the states, I don't know what it would be in Canada

$99.56 at Kaltire up here in the North cost of tires up here is why I always do tire replacements (unless an emergency) on both the trailer and the tug while traveling in the US.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Bob Miller

I don't know who the Tire Manufacturers and Dealers you speak of are but.....

1. At least here in CA, America's Tire/Discount Tire won't mount a tire over 6 years old, period.... I personally know this from when I had a pair of 2 year old, ST, tires mounted on trailer rims 2 years ago.
2. In the link below, two tire companies mention that a tire can last "Up to 10 years", that sounds like an upper limit, for absolutely a best case scenario, not a safe guideline.
3. I have read a considerable number of reports of overage tire failures on other RV's, often leading to significant damage and/or collateral damage to others on the highway.

Here is a link on tire age that's NOT associated with a tire company or dealer.
How Old - and Dangerous - Are Your Tires?

Here in the states...Tire Tracks, Walmart, and Discount Tire are at least three that I know of. Policies may vary from place to place... so far no statute of which I am aware. The OP is prudently shopping for tires.

You seem to be making the assumption that every tire failure after a certain age is age related. Certainly your right, even without the certainty that you're right.

Not all things are as obvious to the untrained eye as that suspicious green "meat cake" in the back of the fridge... So no one could fault you for taking the philosophical position of "when in doubt, throw it out".

[Bob Miller]

Nope, as there are all kinds of causes of tire failures, but eliminating one of the causes when you can seems to be a good idea.

[tractors1]

Another vote for Hercules; have long-haul trucker friends who swear by them and see them on a lot of big truck trailers.....

[padlin00]

I went with Maxxis M8008 on my last trailer. A bit pricey and I had to have the local shop order them but they sure were nice. I'll go that route again when the Marathons I have wear out. Although the Marathons seem pretty good, just brown.

[Roger C H]

My boat trailer had the same tires on it when I sold it in 2005 as it had when I bought it in 1973. I couldn't tell you the brand.



Here is an interesting discussion:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiret...jsp?techid=138

And here are government tests:

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/esv.../07-0496-W.pdf

[Borrego Dave]

That's pretty good Roger. I've had a couple small sailboats too and don't remember ever putting new tires on them in all the time I owned them, but then I only had to tow about 20 miles to "add water". With any long distance vehicle I wouldn't have done that.
A long time ago I bought a mint Manx dune buggy that had been sitting in a garage for 22 years. The tires all still held air and I did use them for a couple months but when dropping the pressure to the 12 lbs we need out here they were rock hard. Pretty much just dug holes to get stuck in . I replaced them with new ones but dang they sure looked good. BTW, I still have the buggy, she's got 1000's of off road miles her now. Had a few sets of tires and every mark or scrape in the fiberglass I lovingly installed, I call them beauty marks, she's not a trailer queen .

[Ian G.]

Another vote for the Maxxis here, have them on my Boler and they have been very reliable.

Originally Posted by Larry Tenhage

Princess Auto sells good tires & tire/wheel combos for trailers. Some car tires are not well suited for trailer use.
ST205/75 D14 Trailer Tire Assembly | Princess Auto

Watch the specifications on the Princess Auto tires, these are inexpensive but they are also Bias Ply, not radial

[Timber Wolf]

While I do not have an opinion on trailer tires, I can attest to tires in general coming apart from age and from the inside out. A few years back Mom gifted me her old Toyota Corolla wagon that mostly had just sat in her garage (67,000 miles in 18 years). When I got it I noticed it had four different kinds of tires on it. Mom, being a child of the depression, never bought more than one tire at the time. Not long after I got to driving it regularly it started pulling hard to the right. I had just had some front end work done (CV axles & boots) so blamed it on the shop and took in back to them. They claimed it was the tires. I didn’t believe it, the tires looked good and had no miles to speak of. One day I decided to swap sides with the tires to see if that made a difference.

When I sat down to take the first tire off I got a real close look and could see a ripple I had not noticed before. Running my hand over the tire I could feel the humps and bumps. It was coming apart from the inside! I checked the other tires and three of the four were the same way. I called around and Sears had a screaming deal on 80,000 mile Michelins so I made an appointment and headed out. Two miles from the store the left front tire peeled off a section of tread and it would bang the fender and slap the road each revolution. Dang if I was changing a tire two miles from getting new ones so I limped in at 10 mph with horns serenading me all the way. If something like this happened to a trailer tire I might never notice until it came apart, out on the road, in a bad place/weather.

Before you say comparing the old Toyota to a trailer is apples & oranges, dosen't a rarely driven car with tires getting flat spots sound a lot like a trailer that sits around waiting on the occasional camping trip?

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Ian G.

Watch the specifications on the Princess Auto tires, these are inexpensive but they are also Bias Ply, not radial

Their actually carry both, Ian. I have these in my Wish List, waiting until they go on sale, which will almost certainly happen over the winter. There 15" ST radials went on sale a month back, and were $139 for them mounted on rims like this.
ST205/75 R14 Trailer Tire Assembly | Princess Auto

[Bob Miller]

Originally Posted by Timber Wolf

While I do not have an opinion on trailer tires, I can attest to tires in general coming apart from age and from the inside out. A few years back Mom gifted me her old Toyota Corolla wagon that mostly had just sat in her garage (67,000 miles in 18 years). When I got it I noticed it had four different kinds of tires on it. Mom, being a child of the depression, never bought more than one tire at the time. Not long after I got to driving it regularly it started pulling hard to the right. I had just had some front end work done (CV axles & boots) so blamed it on the shop and took in back to them. They claimed it was the tires. I didn’t believe it, the tires looked good and had no miles to speak of. One day I decided to swap sides with the tires to see if that made a difference.

When I sat down to take the first tire off I got a real close look and could see a ripple I had not noticed before. Running my hand over the tire I could feel the humps and bumps. It was coming apart from the inside! I checked the other tires and three of the four were the same way. I called around and Sears had a screaming deal on 80,000 mile Michelins so I made an appointment and headed out. Two miles from the store the left front tire peeled off a section of tread and it would bang the fender and slap the road each revolution. Dang if I was changing a tire two miles from getting new ones so I limped in at 10 mph with horns serenading me all the way. If something like this happened to a trailer tire I might never notice until it came apart, out on the road, in a bad place/weather.

Before you say comparing the old Toyota to a trailer is apples & oranges, dosen't a rarely driven car with tires getting flat spots sound a lot like a trailer that sits around waiting on the occasional camping trip?

Great example TimberWolf.
As tires age they can deteriorate from the inside and that tire that looks great on the outside can be falling apart inside. Of course one could take them off and have the casing inspected every year, but then one is just adding to the cost per year/mile and will still have old tires.

And right..... you won't notice a trailer tire coming apart until it way to late.

[Carol H]

The discussion on tires is always an interesting one with lots of people having had had a good experience with X brand and others having not so good experience with the same brand. Its a bit like X brand of car or truck ;-)

Funny enough the set of trailer tires that have performed the best in regards to feel as well as longivitiy for me is a brand I had to purchase in a very small one tire shop town in an emergency situation. A brand I had never heard of before and have since only meet one other person at a fiberglass trailer rally that has had the same brand and funny enough they had purchased theirs in the same town in an emergency situation as well. They performed ok for them as well. We had a good chuckle over that.

I had to purchase the unheard of brand tire when I noticed while at the gas pump that a set of 3.5 year old rather expensive tires where starting to come apart between the treads from the inside out on a rather long road trip - at about 2400 miles into the trip & about 600 miles that day on a not so smooth California back road. This was actually the second set of tires that I had to replace on this trailer that were 4 years old or less due to the same problem. Had previously experienced the same with a horse trailer. I suspect the suggestion of the local tire shop that one should not expect to get 10 years out of a trailer tire - is due to the fact that trailers sit for long periods of time than a car does allowing for the rotting from the inside out situaiton. Yes lots of people get longer life than 4 years from a ST tire but perhaps they are doing relatively short trips of a few hundred miles or less.

As a result of my ST tire experience over the years I really don't have a preference to one brand over another but I do prefer radials over bias tires and rather than go through the pain of attempting to find trailer tires in the middle of no where while on a road trip & pay dearly for them, do your shopping in the comfort of your home before leaving town.

[Ian G.]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

Their actually carry both, Ian. I have these in my Wish List, waiting until they go on sale, which will almost certainly happen over the winter. There 15" ST radials went on sale a month back, and were $139 for them mounted on rims like this.
ST205/75 R14 Trailer Tire Assembly | Princess Auto

Your right Jim and I knew that. I was refering specifically to the link in the post.
But do watch some of the cheaper priced tires as they are Bias Ply

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Ian G.

Your right Jim and I knew that. I was refering specifically to the link in the post.
But do watch some of the cheaper priced tires as they are Bias Ply

Ah, gotcha. And here I thought I was going to make you smarter.

[Donna D.]

Tires... isn't this a fun discussion. Tires made in the US versus China tires versus tires made in some third-world country. Give it up. It's not about tread, it really is about age. Be safe everyone!

Trust me, I'm thinking about that AGE as I now have four tires to buy... instead of the (mostly) two. But, I won't risk my trailer.. to damage or fellow travelers. YMMV

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Tires... isn't this a fun discussion. Tires made in the US versus China tires versus tires made in some third-world country. Give it up. It's not about tread, it really is about age. Be safe everyone!

Trust me, I'm thinking about that AGE as I now have four tires to buy... instead of the (mostly) two. But, I won't risk my trailer.. to damage or fellow travelers. YMMV

Tires can dry rot, oxidize (even internally from damages and repairs), suffer broken belts,tread separation, bruises which damage the linings, etc.
Age is a factor of course, and a reasonable person might choose to subscribe to a timely replacement schedule.
I have seen everything listed above many dozens of times in a large fleet with equipment of all ages. The vast majority of these failures were less than three years old and many of them only months.

Anyone who thinks that he is immune to tire loss from defects and abuse by simply using the "Logan's Run" method of tire care should be aware that the risk of a new tire having initial defects resulting in catastrophic failure could easily outstrip the risk of keeping a proven 6 year old tire, which is well maintained and inspected, for another year.
I have seen a large enough sample to exceed mere anecdotal evidence.

So... exactly how long can a reasonable person keep a well maintained set of tires before he becomes (as you imply) an irresponsible menace to public safety?
Personally I have yet to roll up behind a 13Scamp and shudder with trepidation at the the thought that he might have superannuated tires!
There are so many other, much more likely, ways to die!

[Donna D.]

Donno Bob, at which point does someone decide the asset they're towing behind them is worth more than (maybe) $200 bucks worth of tires? Okay for me, that's $800 worth of tires for something I've paid close to $30,000. No brainer...

[honda03842]

Since there are only two tires on our trailer, we simply buy two new tires every three years and keep the best one as a spare.

We also have pressure/temperature monitors on the trailer tires so we can see what's happening back there.

[stevebaz]

I'd rather be behind a trailer with 6 year old tires with 30,000 miles on them than be behind the same trailer with 6 year old tires with 300 miles on them.

The criteria I find important to me, I'd rather have an actual 4 ply side wall tire than a 2 ply side wall tire rated at 4 ply. This is sales point used on cheep tires, I try to stay away from them.

Any tire you buy these days have reviews on the internet today. A tire with unusually high negative comments doesn't seem to be a tire of choice. Why learn from others mistakes.