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Old 04-08-2007, 09:53 AM   #21
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Susan... an 80% failure rate is huge, but what are the parameters of the study?

I'd really like to read about this. Do you have a source you can quote please? I haven't seen any definitive studies on this to date. I've read complaints about just about every brand of p-metric ST tires on every forum, but haven't been able to find any definitive research yet. Goodyear Marathons and Carlisles seem to be mentioned most frequently as failing, but that may be because they're mounted on more trailers than any other brands.

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Old 04-08-2007, 10:06 AM   #22
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Quote:
Susan... an 80% failure rate is huge, but what are the parameters of the study?

I'd really like to read about this. Do you have a source you can quote please? I haven't seen any definitive studies on this to date. I've read complaints about just about every brand of p-metric ST tires on every forum, but haven't been able to find any definitive research yet. Goodyear Marathons and Carlisles seem to be mentioned most frequently as failing, but that may be because they're mounted on more trailers than any other brands.

Roger
Roger, will go back on my history and see if I can find where I read it and will send it to you.
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Old 04-08-2007, 10:38 AM   #23
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Roger, the 80% was quoted in one of the Casita forums. I will try to contact the person. Have you looked at http://199.79.180.162/cars/problems/complain/ and http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/index.cfm
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Old 04-08-2007, 12:01 PM   #24
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Roger, the 80% was quoted in one of the Casita forums. I will try to contact the person. Have you looked at http://199.79.180.162/cars/problems/complain/ and http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/index.cfm
I did look at those after you posted them, but I there isn't anything definitive there. 52 complaints about Marathons in eight years out of the millions sold aren't many. There may even be thousands of unreported failures, but compared to the number installed, it still may be relatively a small percentage. Even at that, there needs to be some way of determining how many failed because of defects and how many failed for other reasons.

Roger
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Old 04-08-2007, 01:04 PM   #25
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Just a small warning: "205/0QR14 D" on the Sizes and Pricing page is not a tire size, so the people who assembled the information at the Tire Rack for this line of tires did not know what what they were doing, or were not careful. The Tire Rack is apparently a reputable company, with lots of good information posted on their web site, but any information from them specific to this tire is suspect. All three sizes are similarly incorrect.

I was guessing the incorrect size might be intended to be something like 205/80R14 (with a "D" for load range), although a 205 mm wide 14" tire would more commonly be a 205/75R14. The "Q" happens to match the speed rating, so it might be 205/80QR14 D, using the old scheme of placing the speed rating before the radial designation. Check Tire Rack's specs page for the same tire, and now the "0" is gone... so it looks like a blank on one page just became a zero on another. It's pretty bad when you have to guess the size of a tire you're considering buying.

For a more authoritative source of information, check out Kumho Tires. As discussed in the Casita forum topic, the 857 is a commercial-service tire, suitable for trailer use (as well as trucks and vans). The actual size of the 205-width tire is 205R14 - the aspect ratio is not specified, and is about 80 (from the dimensions), so the Tire Rack people were perhaps trying for "205/80QR14"; from their own description page it should have been 82 series, or 205/82QR14. There is no indication on the Kumho page of the Q speed rating, but the load capacity does match the 109 load index assigned by Tire Rack (they call it a 109/107Q, presumably meaning 107 at Q speeds, and 109 at some lower speed).

In the end, if you want a high-pressure, high-load tire in this size range, the Kumho looks fine... I just suggest going to the best source for reliable information.
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Old 04-08-2007, 03:02 PM   #26
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One thing that seems not to be general knowledge is that some of the tire failures are due to valve stem failures. I had a valve stem fail and destroy a tire. A few months later the same thing happened to a friend. Metal valve stems solve that problem.
Nick has nailed it!!

I've had tire after tire fail on our various trailers from pop-ups to utility to eggs. I've had radials, I've has bias, I've had fifty dollar tires and I've had ten. We've probably blown six tires over the years if we've blown one.

When I lost a reasonably new tire on our 5500 Trillium while driving I-81 in Virginia last summer we went on the spare for twenty miles or so to a big-truck tire place just outside of Harrisonburg. (The name inexplicably escapes me at the moment) but I was so impressed with both the apparent level of competence and the concern that they showed for our petty problem that I actually wrote a letter to the ownership last year commending them for their service. (If I had the trailer outside, I'd have their name. I wrote in in our log book.)

While my Loadstar bias ply tire had indeed failed, the tire guy convinced me the problem was NOT with the tire but with that cheesy standard rubber valve stem that I, and likely 90% of the rest of us, had on my trailer tires. While our egg was on the line between a pair of fifty-three foot Freuhaufs (and feeling rather tiny & chagrinned), he explained that those are fine for 36 PSI passenger car tires. The minute you put fifty pounds behind such a stem, it goes south on you and as soon as it heats up is an accident waiting to happen.
I was really sold when his installer guy, who had NOT been party to our conversation in the office asked me out in the bay if I wanted him to put "...some real valve stems in...". I was convinced.
Curiously, the rest of that trip and a couple thousand miles since have NOT required me to pump up either tire pre-trip as is my routine. Almost invariably, my tires lose air by sitting. Perhaps it's not the valve stem... perhaps it's just good karma. But if I went out to the Pearl right now and put the gauge on the tires I guarantee neither of them is below 48 pounds and more importantly neither of those metal valve stems has a crack at the base.
So my bias-ply tires will run just fine with no radial rockin' & swayin'.

Just sayin'


Doug

Special... this week only... House in Miami for sale with metal valve stems thrown in!
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Old 04-08-2007, 04:23 PM   #27
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Yup, I was going to mention the valve stem, too. Snap-in rubber stems are supposed to be good to 65 PSI, but I don't think there would be any harm in using a metal stem as long as the rim design would permit one to seal up properly.

Good info here:

http://www.techtirerepairs.com/tech_...0Issue%202.pdf
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