New Tire Suggestions (and a new truck to brag on!)

Hello Everyone,

Am planning my first big outing w/ the Cat in April, and would like to replace the tires. Any suggestions? Also, I'm guessing that would also be a good to repack the wheel bearings? And...the battery died last fall after being plugged in for several months (duh....). I'm assuming I need to replace rather than try to charge it?

Speaking of which, what do you think of the Battery Tender? I think I could use one.

Now, about the truck. I just traded for a 2005 Chevy Silverado 3500, dually, diesel, 4WD, crew cab. I seriously love this truck. No more sliding hitches...yippee! And as luck would have it, it had a B&W gooseneck hitch on it. I understand I can get the 5th wheel hitch to replace the gooseneck ball. I've heard good things about B&W...have you?

Am also think of vinyl planks, and am wondering how anyone else covered the front of the slide. Pics would be great.

Thanks for your help. Happy travelin'...

Congrats on the new truck, sounds very nice!!!! The B&W Companion is the way to go. It is a great hitch.

I think you will really like the new truck. We traded to virtually the same truck last year and also have a B+W hitch. The companion does work real well. It has a square tube that drops in place of the ball. The hitch is u-bolted to the tube and uses that + the bed for strength.
We also changed tires on our Cat last year. We bought Towmaster from the local tire dealer. I did upgrade to E tires. 10 ply. Big difference. I have been reading a lot of people using Michelin LT tires. Apparently this is the way to go. I wasn't aware that we could use truck tires last year when I changed.
And finally, I wrecked a battery also. Left it in till December. I didn't realize there was a draw when not plugged in. Bought a large deep cycle battery from walmart. $80.00. Replacement warranty. In case I forget again.

Thanks for your input. It's reassuring to know I'm not the only dummy at times...

I have been thinking Michelin all along, and unless I hear differently, will likely pursue them.

And glad to hear Walmart has the battery. I'll just bite the bullet and go for it. Someday hope to have solar panels and will then look at 6 volt.

Thanks again!

Throw a set of Michelins on there and you'll be hooked for Life. Be sure you get the correct load rated tire though.

Only draw back for a dually are those two extra tires you have to buy. ;


Do you mean the slide out awning cover to cover the awning ?
Yes get those on your slides, keeps leaves and trash from getting on the top of the slide and messing up your seal if you pull the slide in with stuff up there. You'll need some kinda support for it when it rains though. it will pool water , a beach ball, plastic frame , or something you can stick under it, just don't forget to take it down before you hit the " in " button.

Sorry if this was unclear--am replacing tires on the Wildcat. Thanks.

Deanna

there is a difference in trailer and truck tires, trailer tires have a stiffer side wall. I would not put anything but trailer tires on a trailer

I guess that would be called reading Uncomprehension.


Yep, you'll open up a whole new topic of trailer tires. Theres been some big debates on here as to which one to use.

I myself am still using 3 of the stock ones and one no name brand that I got from a local dealer. mastercraft or something.

In my observation, just taking care of the tire with proper air pressure, and alignment and not trying to run like a nascar driver down the road you can use just about any trailer tire and get good service. Most are rated for 65mph top speed.
Be absolutely sure they put a HD metal air valve on the rim. The plain rubber one's will fail without notice.

The tires I see on other sites that most people are using are Michelin. Either LTX MS-2 or a lot of people are using the XPS Rib tire.
They are saying the sidewalls are plents stiff as these are E tires.
I don't have this info first hand. I would do more research first before I'd buy them. I'd start at the Michelin dealer.

Untill this year, I wasn't aware that truck tires were being used on trailers, but if they work, great. Probably a much better tire and I'm sure ride and fuel mileage would be better too.

We wouldn't do this on our landscape trailers but we use a G rated tire on these. 12 ply I think. These trailers are loaded to 15 to 20 thousand pounds at times. The heavier tire doesn't get hot and blow out as easy.

I heard somewhere that Michlin does make trailer tires, I will have to do some research on it and will post what I find.....

And you guys are the reason why I love posting questions here. Great research and thanks for your help.

Deanna

You will have far better battery life by using a battery maintainer. I use one on my Corvette through the winter and the battery isn't harmed. Everyone in my Corvette club uses one as well and you will find that almost all car collectors use one. Just having purchased this new 25RL I will be installing 2 maintainers on it before next winter (I'm using 2 group 27 12 volt batteries).

You should use only trailer tires on a trailer. They have stiffer side walls and are less flexible while supporting the trailer. You don't want soft side walls which are nice for road handling on a sports car. You want tires that will support the heavy weight demands that trailers need. Can you imagine putting 12,000 pounds on 4 light truck tires?

Kim

This tire business is very confusing, as I think you all already know.

Michelin considers an RV to be a motorhome, so that part of the website is not helpful.

It seems to me that a "trailer" on that website is what a semi hauls!
I couldn't find a trailer tire less than 17".

Otherwise, when I entered some specs to search for a tire, I usually came up with a truck tire.

Any other ideas? What about other brands? I would love to stay with Michelin, but am very confused about what tire to even look for.

I can see that this topic is almost as controversial as what type of RV to buy!

From what I've read on here and several other forums, Maxxis seems to be a very good trailer tire. I cannot speak from experience but from my research,that will most likely be the next tire that I put on the Cat. I am pretty sure from previous posts that others on here have the Maxxis tires. Hopefully they will chime in and share their experience. I have always had Goodyear Marathon's in the past. Had them on my previous fiver, boat trailer and utility trailer without ever having one problem. I have however seen a lot of other people having problems with them since they were being produced in China. I believe they are no longer produced in China but due to the problems that others have had, I am shying away from them.

KH

Many options available to those with 16" wheels. Not so much for those of us with 15" wheels.

I've used Maxxis tires on dirt bikes and ATV's for years. Some of the best tires made at any price in my opinion.

When it comes time to replace the tires on our Cat, it will be Maxxis if available. (Hopefully that is about 4 years down the road.)

I run the Maxxis and I recently had to replace one and I put another Maxxis on. Odd thing, the old tire had over 15k miles on it and it developed a bubble on the sidewall. Dealer said something separated in the tire from sidewall stress. It was the rear passenger tire and I sure am glad it was on the outside so that we spotted it.

How long did you guys keep the factory tires on your wildcat? I have the 16" load range E tires but I am always leery of running off brand tires.

Our tires were from 2006. Factory tires. One blew up last summer and after inspection, another had slight cracking. There wasn't many miles on them but we decided to replace all of them. The tires were aired up when we left the house and within 30 miles it blew. Don't even know what brand they were. Before I changed that tire that day, I did look at the others as well. They were all plenty warm. I think too much weight. I put E tires on when I changed. Now run cool.

I talked on the phone with a guy today at Big O tires. He was really pushing a tire made by Carlisle, mfg. in the US. He quoted me $120 per tire, load E (10 ply).

But he also recommended Omni Commodore, made "overseas" as he put it, for $81.70 each.

I asked him about other US made tires, and of course one is Goodyear, but he wouldn't recommend it b/c of a history of blowouts, according to him.

He also mentioned the Michelin trlr tires, but they only come in 16".

I asked about Maxxis, and he liked that tire and said he could order them. I asked if they were made in Mexico and he said no, "overseas."

He also did NOT recommend going up to a 16" wheel. When asked why, he said something about just sticking w/ what the trlr came with.

So while I'm not too confused, I am frustrated at what appears to be a small number of not too great choices.

I am not made of money, but I'm very willing to spend what I need to in order to get a great tire and a little peace of mind.

Are we back to where I started?

Heres my example again.

my camper I bought used from RVwholesalers.

Talked to the guy that traded it in.

He took it from Va to Calif and places inbetween and it had the stock tires on it. He said he picked up a nail somewhere in Calif.
Put the spare on. Which I noticed the repaired tire just as he said on the spare tire rack.

So. on those same stock, china made tires, I pulled it from Ohio to Ga when I bought it. Changed out the repaired tire for another china made tire. So I have one brand new tire , and 3 stock tires.
I did change out the rubber valve stems for HD metal one's on all the wheels. Thats a must do.

I've made a couple of trips to FL. A few trips to North Ga, a trip to Myrtle beach, and a few 2 hour trips.

So those china tires have been From coast to coast, with the previous owner, and I've put a couple thousand miles on them since I've owned it. No problems to report so far. They have not been balanced either. I can leave stuff on the table and its usually still there when I get where I'm going unless its a really ruff road or bridge crossing.

I drive 65mph, solid, I may hit 70 if I'm passing or coasting down a hill. but I back off to 65 or less.
Most trailer tires are rated at 65mph max. They start to heat up at high speeds, thats when they BLOW.
Keeping the wheel bearings greased properly is another way of keeping the heat down. poorly lubed bearings can cause heat build up also.


The china tire I bought was about 70 bucks. and yea if they still have them I'll probably buy some more. But as it looks I may have to replace the 3 stock tires because of age rather than tread wear.

I think Oldelmer1 can run the same story by you also. So in my MHO, you don't have to have a 200 dollar tire. the china tire will go just as far if you want to save a few bucks. Yea it bites that they're made in china.


I'm sticking with my 15" tires also.

I put Maxxis on last year and very happy with the performance. They are rated E for 80 PSI and my rims say 80 PSI and I use 75 PSI. Ask Tater about the Carlisle tires they had on the 5er and they can send pictures of blow out. I would stay away from the Carisle.

Aw right...thanks for the stories. I'll take a look at the Maxxis, search a little bit more for other options, and go with what feels right and is available. I really appreciate your input!
Deanna

My cost was $475.00 out the door.

Goodyear Marthon came on our trailer. They were made in the USA. Had one to blow 2009 and had the tire shop to order another Goodyear Marthon. When that one came in it was made in CHINA. ran another 1000 miles and found two more with budges in the tread when during a pretrip. Replace those two with Maxxis E Rated. I am running the Maxxis on the rear axle and the newer goodyear and the OEM that was the spare on the front axle of the trailer. Have replace all valve stems with HD metal ones.
Rhino quoted "I would stay away from the Carisle." I second that Quote.

bsmall2800 wrote:

Kim wrote:You will have far better battery life by using a battery maintainer. I use one on my Corvette through the winter and the battery isn't harmed. Everyone in my Corvette club uses one as well and you will find that almost all car collectors use one. Just having purchased this new 25RL I will be installing 2 maintainers on it before next winter (I'm using 2 group 27 12 volt batteries).

You should use only trailer tires on a trailer. They have stiffer side walls and are less flexible while supporting the trailer. You don't want soft side walls which are nice for road handling on a sports car. You want tires that will support the heavy weight demands that trailers need. Can you imagine putting 12,000 pounds on 4 light truck tires?

Kim

Kim, why dont you do what I did and use a two bank battery tender (only one charger) has leads for charging two batteries at the same time.

The reason I'm considering 2 maintainers is that I can get them for $30 each. When and if they fail I only have to replace one at a time. Unless of course you've found a cheap two bank tender that is worth considering?

thanks, Kim

Kim, remember its not the cost of the tire so much as is the cost of having the tire tear up the side of your trailer. That is a LOT MORE $$$ in the long run. A better tire will cost you less. I run Maxxis E [15]

Will be ordering Maxxis tires and getting metal valve stems today.
Thanks again for help!