Remember: A tire is just a "tool" you use to get a job done

This in response to a report of tread cracking of some traction design tires placed on a custom heavy car hauler trailer. The owner was blaming the 4-year-old tires.

I do note that when there are tire problems, including actual "failure," it's common for some to say "My xxx brand tires failed, I will never buy xxx tires again".

Well, sorry to tell you but there is no such thing as "Fail-Proof" tire. This was even part of the testimony mentioned by DOT spokesperson during the Ford Explorer rollover fiasco of 2000.

Today's tires are amazingly robust. Even when they are made in Japan or Timbuktu, and we all remember how bad "Made In Japan" was when were growing up. As I pointed out in the thread, the subject tire an All season traction design was not at all appropriate for heavy trailer application. Both the tire type/size was wrong and the tread pattern was wrong.

Why is this the tire's fault?

If you put a truck tire with a heavy off-road mud traction tread design on the front of your 40' DP and had loud noise and vibration and harsh ride would that be the tire's fault? Would simply changing tire brands from say Bridgestone to Michelin solve the problems if you selected just another heavy off-road mud traction tread design? No of course not.
From my experiences as a tire engineer, I can tell you that I can probably "fail" any tire in under an hour and under 50 miles if you let me set the conditions.

A tire is just a tool you use to get a job done. If you don't select the correct tool that is appropriate for the job you want to be done why is it the fault of the tool manufacturer? Think of the absolute best tool company. Now select one of their flat blade screwdrivers.
 OK now start using it as a chisel and pound on it as you try and cut through some rusty bolts. After cutting through a few bolts would you blame SK or MAC or  Snap-On or ???? if the point of the screwdriver is dented and chipped?

Different tires are just tools with different intended usage.

Basically I would suggest "Rib" or "All position" designs for the front position and if you intend on occasional off-highway travel (a gravel road at a campground doesn't count) then you could select something with a bit more traction capability but I would consider any "Drive" position as not a great choice for Motorhomes or trailers.

Who is responsible for tire warranty service?

For many RV owners the contact information for their tires is easy to find, at least if their tire brand is made or sold by one of the 1st or 2nd tier tire companies. More about tire company tires in a moment. But what should you do if you have a tire question and you can't simply stop at your local tire dealer?

Recently I received a question from an RV owner who had suffered a couple of tire failures and the dealer he bought the tires from had retired and closed up shop. In his case a quick Google search and we discovered that a major chain store that has tire and auto service centers across the country carried the brand in question.

I think it is important to remember that in most cases the tire warranty is the responsibility of the tire manufacturer and not the specific tire dealer.

Here is some information I found from Keystone RV

"Keystone RV Company does not administer the warranty for tires. Please contact the tire manufacturer direct at:
1. Duro - 866-788-2060 - www.durotire.com/
2. Tireco (Freestar, Geostar, Mudstar, Mobile Max, Geotrac) - 800-937-9433 - www.tireco.com/
3. Goodyear - 800-321-2136 - www.goodyear.com/
4. TBC (TowMax, Roadrider, Trailer King, Solid Trac, Saliun) - 800-238-6469
5. Voma (Liberty) - 901-672-0816
6. Michelin (Uniroyal) - 800-847-8475 - www.michelinman.com/
7. Alliance (Galaxy) - 800-343-3276 - www.atgtire.com/
8. Tredit Tire & Wheel (H188ST, Grand Ride, Trail America, Super A, Triangle) - 800-537-2925 -
http://www.tredittire.com
9. Americana Tire & Wheel - 574-522-9450 - http://www.americanatire.com/"

Keystone also does a very good job of covering care of tires in their "owners manual".

Now there may be some exceptions such as a special Road Hazard warranty sold just by the  dealership, but when considering the purchase of such a warranty it is important to review the policy and to understand who is backing the warranty.

Modern Tire Dealer ("MTD"), a tire industry trade journal, in their Jan 2015 issue did an excellent job of covering market share. Now in general they split the market into two groups: Consumer tires (Passenger & LT) in one group, and Truck or commercial tires in the other group. So depending on the type of tire you are interested in you might be more interested in one group than the other. The bad news for many RV owners is that ST type tires are such a small portion of the tire market that they are not identified in the groups, but you might see your tire brand name in one or both groups.

The MTD list for "consumer tires" is as follows:

Tier 1 (major tire companies’ premium brands): Michelin, Bridgestone, Goodyear.

Tier 2 (upper- and middle-market brands): Continental, Pirelli, Hankook, Yokohama, Toyo, Falken, Kumho, Dunlop, Cooper, Firestone, BFGoodrich, General.

Tier 3 (value brands; all private brands): Nexen, Hercules, Multi-Mile, GT Radial, Mastercraft, Sumitomo, Big O, Cordovan, Delta, Fierce, Fuzion, Kelly, Nitto, Sigma, Landsail, Delinte, Kenda, Vredestein, Nokian, Sailun, Eldorado, Uniroyal.

Tier 4 (low-cost brands): Atturo, Linglong, Goodride, Dynatrac, Warrior, Duraturn, Aeolus, Zenna, Starfire, Primewell, Federal.

For Medium and heavy truck replacement sales MTD has this graphic



In a future post I will try and assemble contact information for brands listed without contact info above.


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Help It's hot and I need tires

That's the message I read on an RV forum.
Here is the pertinent background info.

   "I am having a real issue with Michelin tires.  I live in Las Vegas and there are 3 tire companies that carry Michelin tires.  The problem is they all tell me they are back ordered and have been for awhile.  They have no idea when they will get any.  I have a 40' 2008 RV that came with Goodyear tires and have serviced us well.  I just don't know what do do since I can't get Michelin tires which seems to be the tire to get. Should I settle for Goodyears that are in stock?  My other issue is we are going on a trip next week that we can't get out of and because of the extreme heat here in Vegas we are afraid that our old tires might just fly apart. What should I do?"

IMO

While I can't address tire availability from Michelin, you need to remember that there are generally considered to be 3 tiers of tire companies. Michelin, Bridgestone & Goodyear as #1 with the tires made & sold by these companies as being essentially the same  ie Firestone & Dayton ~ Bridgestone, Kelly & Dunlop~ Goodyear and Goodrich & Uniroyal ~ Michelin.

Now there are some minor differences within a corporation but many times the rubber compounds and reinforcement materials are identical or very similar. Tread designs may be a bit more advances in the Corporate brand and the top of the line tires may not have an equivalent in the 2nd brand  but for most people you will not see a difference in performance.

#1 tier have their own tire stores with many hundred nationwide.

Now Tier #2 would be tires made by corporations that have their own tire plants. These would be companies like Toyo, Pirelli, and others seen on this list. They may not have any company stores and jsut depend on large tire distributors to market their tires.

3rd tire would be companies that are not on the list above. These may actually be just sales companies the have other companies make lower cost product for them as "private brand" , Sometimes the same tire is made for a number of importers with only a name-plate change in the mold to differentiate the "brand" These companies seldom have their own stores but sell their products through wholesalers.

Check the tire warranty and I think you can get a good feeling for the real quality of the tires you might be considering. Are there lots of exceptions or if the warranty short could be a tip off that the seller isn't real willing to stand behind the products they are selling



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Now to your concern about your current tires and the hot temperature.  It's kind of hard offering an opinion or suggestion on if you need new tires right away or not, but tires simply do not fail simply because it is hot outside. Excess heat is not good for long term durability but if the tires have always been properly inflated, never been punctures or run even a few psi low you should be OK for a while.

You didn't offer your actual age of your tires but they are probably 7 to 8 years old. You also failed to provide info on how you store your tires. Inside or out in the Sun? Do you have a lot or a little extra load capacity based on actual individual tire position weights? Do you run a TPMS and have never run lower than what is needed to carry your actual measured load. All of these items can contribute to making a suggestion to change your tires right away or suggesting that you can wait a few weeks or months.

If concerned about road or ambient temperature just drop the speed down. Don't run 70 when 60 will still get you there. Last Aug I drove Ohio to Oregon at 60 - 62 with no problem.

Can you increase your tire pressure without exceeding the tire or wheel max?

Where are you headed?  Have you checked to see if there is a large tire dealer at a future location that has tires for your RV in stock?

UPDATE:
In the meantime I would suggest you go to a Goodyear truck tire dealer and have the tires inspected. Let them know your concern about the tire age and current hot temp in Vegas. Let them know your actual scale weights (Go to a local truck scale location first. There are a number around Vegas I'm sure)  and your normal cold inflation. WHile there ask if they would confirm the accuracy of your pressure gauge. If a stick type +/- 5 is about what I would expect. If digital (better) +/- 2 would be good. If outside these numbers you need a new gauge. Check my blog on tire gauges and how to have a reliable "Master Gauge" of your own for less than $15.
The tech should be familiar with the Goodyear tires you have so can offer first hand information on the condition of your tires.
Remember you can always get just the two fronts replaced as a failure there would be the greatest concern. With a TPM on the rear duals a failure would be less dramatic and you should get plenty of warning so you can safely pull over quickly before serious damage is done.

===========================
It would be nice to be able to offer more specific answer to his question but all to often people fail to provide important information that would allow more than a wild guess.


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RV tire reference links. Load / Inflation tables etc

Based on posts I see on various RV forums it appears that some RV owners are having difficulty finding the appropriate technical information on their tires. As a result sometimes they post questions such as "I have a XYZ RV with ABC brand tires what is the correct inflation for my tires". If you are a frequent reader of this blog I trust you can see that much critical information is missing and any answer that says "Use QQ psi because that is what I use on my RV" is not much better than a wild guess.

I have decided to assemble links to tire Load & Inflation tables for the "major" brands of tires likely to be found on RVs. Now I know that there are many tires out there that are not made by or for the major tire manufacturers that have been selected by the company that assembled some RVs so this is not a list of each and every tire out there. If you have a tire not identified from one of the manufacturers I have listed, please send an email (address posted in the About Roger info on right side of this blog) and I will endeavor to update this list. Unlike most blog posts I plan on updating this post when new or additional information becomes available so you might want to Bookmark this page to your list of Favorites.

Note: I will use the term "TBR" for Truck Bus Radial and this in general means tires with 17.5, 19.5 and 22.5 rim diameter. "LT" of course means Light Truck and "ST" stands for Special Trailer. "P" or Passenger type tires would only be on passenger vehicles or very small trailer.

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Sometimes it is difficult to know who actually made your tires. I have seen tires with the brand name "GT" which is obviously not the name of a tire company but simply a name used for marketing a line of tires. If you do not know who or where your tires were made HERE is a web site that will allow you to use the first two characters of the DOT serial molded on the tire sidewall to learn the facts. For example if the DOT serial on your tire was   4DHLABC4513  you would look uo the "4D" and discover the tire company to be BRIDGESTONE/FIRESTONE NORTH AMERICAN TIRE, LLC.  and the plant location to be Morrison Tennessee, USA, with a manufacturing date of 45th week 2013 or the week of Nov 3 2013.
If the first two characters were  4V you would discover the tire company was actually CHONCHE AUTO DOUBLE HAPPINESS TYRE CORP., LTD, TAIYUAN CITY, SHANXI, China.

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Bridgestone RV application info.
While this company does not appear to actively market to RV owners they do have tires that will fit and work on many types of RVs that use LT or TBR type tires. This web page has general information on RV applications and a "how to guide" to help RV, travel trailer, mini-bus, van, light truck and ambulance owners learn how to properly weigh their vehicles and maintain their tires". The page also has a worksheet to help owners to properly weigh and calculate the correct minimum inflation needed for their unit. Much of the information on the web site is general in nature so is of value to many RV owners. Here is the Load Inflation chart in download PDF format for RV size tires made by Bridgestone. This brand is sold and serviced through both company stores and independent dealers.


Continental USA
This company has a line of smaller "commercial" tires based on European designs aimed at the Utility/Van market in addition to both LT and larger TBR size tires,  Some of these tires might fit trailers including larger 5th wheel trailers and come in 14", 15" & 16" rim diameter. NOTE these tires have sizes like 225/70R15C LR-D. The "C" after the rim diameter stands for "Commercial" and is a European background. Do not confuse these commercial tires with LT type. The sizes may be similar but the loads,  inflation and even some of the dimensions are different.
TBR size Load Inflation tables starting with 17.5" diameter can be found here. 
LT & European Commercial type tire Load Inflation 


Dunlop is a subsidiary of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
They have a selection of LT type tires. This brand is sold and services through both Goodyear company stores and independent dealers. I could not find Load/Inflation tables specific to Dunlop but would expect that the Goodyear charts should line up 100%.  

Firestone is a subsidiary of Bridgestone Tire Co.
Like their parent company, Firestone does not actively market to RV owners. They do have their own line of LT and TBR type tires. You can download their Data Book HERE. This contains technical on both current and many discontinued tire lines along with numerous pages of tire, wheel and vehicle technical and safety related information. Load / Inflation tables for Firestone brand tires can be found in both the Data Book and downloaded separately HERE. They also have a page of general tire information and links HERE.  This brand is sold and services through both company stores and independent dealers.


Goodyear
This company actively markets tires to the RV community is ST, LT and TBR type tires. They have a web site specially designed for RV owners with numerous links to pages with supporting technical information on "Tire Selection" and "Care & Maintenance". They have four videos featuring a now retires tire engineering friend of mine, Tim Miller as he explains various concepts of proper tire use and care in the RV market. I definitely recommend that everyone in the RV community watch these videos. If you want you can go directly to their Load & Inflation tables and learn about your tire capacity if you have this brand.  This brand is sold and services through both company stores and independent dealers.


Hercules
This smaller tire company has a line of tires for RV application covering  LT and TBR application. I find they have a number of heavy duty LR-G and LR-H tires in 16" and 17.5 diameter that may solve some heavy load issues that some RV owners seem to struggle with. These tires are sold through independent dealers and I could not find any company owned store information of on-line Load/Inflation information. Info from them indicated "Hercules Tire follows the guidelines published by The Tire and Rim Association. " so you can look at the tables used by Goodyear, Bridgestone, Firestone or Michelin.


Maxxis
This company was founded in 1967 and has a variety of different type tires. For the RV market they focus on ST and LT including small commercial type tires. You can review their web info on ST type tires including their Load Inflation tables HERE.  The information on their Commercial and LT products can be found HERE. I do note that they have a 5 year warranty on their trailer tires unlike many of their competitors that have only 12 month or less. These tires are sold through independent dealers and I could not find any company owned store information


Michelin
This is one of the two major tire companies that focus on the RV Motorhome market. Their Load/Inflation numbers are sometimes confusing as they sometimes show the load for a axle rather than individual tires so it is very important that you read the numbers and table headings closely. Remember when selecting the inflation needed for your tires based on the actual load you need to select the loads on the heavier end of the axle. All tires on an axle should have the same inflation (i.e. based on heavier end) and you still need to add at least 10% to the minimum inflation specified for the load for your Motorhome. While most of the inflation ratings are the same as seen for Goodyear or Bridgestone there are a few exceptions so this is another example of you needing to confirm the ratings of the tires IN WRITING before you make your purchase. 
You can find general information on Michelin RV tires HERE. There are links to Load & Inflation tables HERE.


Private Brands
Many of the smaller tire companies are in reality just "Private Brand" marketing companies. They do not design, engineer or manufacture tires themselves but simply place large volume orders from other manufacturers. Many times these companies can offer lower prices since they do not have the overhead of design or testing staff and facilities but this means that if you are trying to get technical information form the company you may end up talking to a "customer service" person with no actual tire experience. They also do not have company stores so if you have a warranty claim you may have to return the tire to the location where you made your purchase or sometimes it will be your responsibility to ship a failed tire to some service location many states away.

Private branding is just a marketing plan and is sometimes used by Major companies. Goodyear makes and sells Kelly brand tires. Firestone made Dayton brand. This is why it is important for you to read the DOT serial to learn who really made your tires. In some cases a marketing firm may have one size made by tire company ABC but a different size made by company XYZ. Other times the marketing firm might have 10,000 tires of a given brand and size made at one location but the next batch could be made at a completely different location or tire company. This "flexibility in manufacturing could man that the performance or reputation of a "brand" of tires may depend on which size or even what date of manufacturer we are talking about.

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Trailer Owners need to remember that they need to run the inflation on the tire sidewall to minimize the damage done whenever turning. You can refresh your understanding by reading THESE posts.

WARNING to Trailer Owners.
For the most part you will find that brands not listed here will follow the US TRA published Load Inflation tables as used by Bridgestone, Firestone & Goodyear.  BUT I have run into a few instances where the RV trailer assembler and the tire distributor "played games" and have adjusted the load capacity upward just enough to meet the legal requirements for the GAWR to be equal or less than the total capacity of the tires. These loads are not in the Industry Standards and means you are stuck with the size, LR and brand tires as supplied by the assembler or you will not be able to carry the load specified in the owners manual or on the placard affixed to your trailer. This is one major reason why you should ask to see the tables for your individual tires and compare them to the industry standards otherwise your tire replacement options will be limited to a single tire.





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TPMS batteries, Changing tires, Tire Size info, ST type tire speed rating and RV control with tire Blowout

Few quick topics in this post.
Saw a few posts on RV forums on TPMS sensor replacement.

It seems some people have had their TPM systems long enough that they need new sensors

because their batteries are low. So some folks are confronted with spending $200 to $300 on a set of 6 sensors.  I suggested that they look into the TireTraker system as it has low cost watch batteries so the cost is only a few bucks for a new battery rather than $35 to $50 each sensor. Full disclosure. TireTraker is a sponsor of this blog but I did buy my TPMS from them at a rally a couple years ago based on their features.
I suggest you do a "Life Cysle" cost comparison based on 5 years. Include the initial system cost, the cost of replacing the batteries if your system allows that or the cost of replacing all the sensors if you can't replace just the batteries. You might also want to consider the length of the initial warranty.

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Another person said he had 8 years on his Class-A tires and was asking "What brand should I buy"? 

This of  course immediately started a flurry of "I have had great success with Brand-X" or I had a failure with

Brand-X so will never buy another one of their tires, etc.
I asked the poster why he was considering changing brands if he had had 8 year  good service from the tires he had? When it comes time to consider new tires I suggest you make a list of the Pros and Cons of your current tires.

 Be sure not to include things like the puncture with the roofing nail as that can happen to any brand tire.

 I often tell people you are buying a tire company and their dealer network not just a set of tires. If you get a great price from Billy-Jo-Bobs Cheap Tire Emporium and Bate Shop but there are only a handful of dealers in the country where you can get a replacement and you have to pay shipping back to Billy-Jo if you want to make a warranty claim I doubt that the total price of owning that set of tires is as good of a deal as you first thought.

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When asking a question on an RV forum, it helps if you include the complete tire size designation. Some folks say nothing about the size but want specific answers on load capacity. Others provide only part of the size such as 235/75R16 and leave off if they are talking about a "P" type or "LT" type or "ST" type. The answer to these questions will probably depend on which type of tire we are talking about. It also helps if you include the Load Range as in LR-D or LR-F or whatever is molded on the tire sidewall.
Sorry but indicating that you have a Mountain Top Rambler RV doesn't help as there are just too many makes and models of RV out there for anyone to know all the tire options that migh be used.

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ST type tires have a normal Max Speed of 65 mph. You should consider this like the redline on your engine. While it is possible to exceed the red-line it isn't good for long term durability. When covering this topic some point to the Goodyear Tech Bulliten that indicates you may increase this max speed rating up to 75 mph if you also increase the tire inflation 10psi above the inflation associated with the max load on the tire sidewall. While Goodyear may be willing to stand behind the warranty of their Marathon ST type tires at this higher speed you should not do the same for other brands of tires unless you get something in writing from that tire MFG. Tire company Tech Bullitens only apply to the brand and line of tires mentioned in the bulliten.

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Finally I had a question on what to do if you have a  blowout on your RV.  Michelin has a good video on this topic covering Motorhomes. Similar driver reaction if you are driving a tow vehicle would probably apply, so there isn't much I can add. The question however asked about blowout on an RV trailer. Now I have not tested this myself but I have seen more than one example where the impact on vehicle control was so small the driver never knew he had a trailer tire failure till someone flagged the driver down.
As explained in the Michelin video the forces would be drag on the trailer which would keep it generally straight behind the tow vehicle with only a little side offset.
If your trailer did start to sway I would use the manual brake control to slow the trailer down. This should quickly stop the side to side sway and allow you to bring the tow vehicle and trailer to a safe stop.

Who Do You Trust

When it comes to buying tires, who do you trust?

I recently read two posts on an RV forum about problems people had with their new tires. They were the wrong size! 

One person said:  I have an F250 4x4. I got new tires put on almost a year ago and just realized they are not the same as was originally on it. The tire store told me they were the same.  I took their word for it. The new tires have been inflated to 75 lbs since buying them eleven months ago. I just read the sidewall.  They are P265/70R17, where my original tires were LT265/70R17 LR-E. The truck door sticker says 75psi  for LT tires.

The other person said:  I replaced the crappy OEM P275/60R20 tires on our 2012 Ram 1500 4X4 w/ LTX AT2 tires at 10,000 miles. When buying a new set of tires last month I assumed the tire dealer would put LT tires on. But nope, they put P series tires on and I didn't catch it until I checked the tire pressures. Was I surprised and mad at myself 'cause I sure can't afford to get a new set and it wasn't the tire dealers fault at this point. I should have insisted on LT tires, but they will only put what the factory put on unless requested. I really wished I had been more attentive at the tire dealer and got what I wanted!

Quite frankly I was surprised by these two accounts but maybe I shouldn’t be considering how little interest some people take in their tires. Now I hope that these people are the exception and the readers of this blog actually do take more than a passing interest in their tires. 

For many people, tires are simply round black things that they are forced to buy every few years but I find it amazing that people would pay more attention to purchase of a pair of $20 pants than they do to getting the correct size, type and Load Range of a $400 -$800+ set of tire. When buying pants you probably know and confirm you are getting the size you want.

From the examples above, it is clear you cannot depend on all tire dealers to know what you want from your tires. At some dealerships I am sure the “order takers” know more about washing machines they were selling at their previous job last week than about the tires they are trying to push because of over stock. You need to be an informed, educated and demanding customer.

Do your research BEFORE you get to the store.

1.  Be sure you know the loads on your RV and tow vehicle. 
2. Be sure you select an appropriate tire that has load capability that exceeds your maximum loading.   
3. Know how to determine the tires you need.
4.  Ask about the warranty, if any 
5. Consider the ease of finding a replacement for the brand you are buying. 
6.   Read my post on “Best Tire”

Can I mix different brands of tires?

When it comes time to replace one or more of the tires on their RV many shop based on price, so they are

confronted with the questions such as:
Do I need to replace all the tires at the same time or can I just buy one to replace the damaged tire or just a pair for the front axle?
Do I have to keep the same brand or size or design tire or can I make a change?

Lets separate RVs into two categories. Motorized units such as Class-A, B or C and Towables.

Towables normally have one, two or three axles and I believe that baring some mechanical problem such as bent or out-of-alignment axle or having had a puncture you will probably be able to replace two at a time so you can spread out the cost for new tires over a couple of seasons. You should replace both tires on an axle with identical size, brand and design as if you mix tires you will probably end up with the tires fighting each other which can cause irregular wear in extreme cases.
With four or six tires to worry about there is an increased probability for one to suffer a puncture before the rest of the tires wear out or "age out", so there are advantages to keeping all your tires, including the spare identical. That way if you need to replace just one tire you can use your spare and still end up with the same size, brand and design tire on each axle. If you do change brand, size or design on your trailer and then suffer a failure you may want to purchase two tires to keep all tires on that axle identical. If you take this route I would suggest keeping the spare that matches most of the tires on the ground.
A good bit of news for owners of towables. Since you don't have tires mounted in a "dual" position (dual means two tires on the same end on an axle) you do not have to worry about OD matching. With the shorter life of tires on towables it will definitely help with your budget if you plan and do rolling change of say one axle per year rather than all 4 or 6 tires at one time. I would also put the tires with the deepest tread depth toward the rear as rears are more prone to puncture and heavier tread will lower the potential for puncture.

Motorized RVs have a bit more to worry about. It is very important that all tires on each axle are the same brand, size, and type as mixing tires can cause steering, handling and even braking un-balance which could present

an unsafe condition. While you can have one type tire on the front and a different type on the drive and even a third type on the tag axle you should NEVER mix tires on an axle.
Previously I have discussed the advantages of confirming availability of tires that are identical to what you are using or you should strongly consider carrying a spare if you have a unique size or brand.
It is also critical that when replacing one tire of a pair of duals that both are within 3/4" circumference. If more different in actual measured size one tire will be forced to carry a greater portion of the load from that end of the axle and by now you should know that increased load can contribute to hotter running and in extreme cases.

Bottom Line  Yes you can change tire Brand or Size or Type but I strongly suggest you do your research in the comfort of your home or at a campground rather than on the side of the Interstate and on the phone with the tire service company. BUT if you change tires you need to be aware of the potential for different and possibly unbalanced handling on motorized RV if you make a change, and the smaller (lighter) the RV the more pronounced this performance difference can be.
Having a TPMS is a good investment as it can warn you if you get a puncture and you may be able to stop soon enough that you do not damage the tire beyond repair-ability.

What is the "Best" tire?

A couple of recurring questions on many of the RV Forums are "What brand tire should I buy?" or "What is the best tire for my RV?"

While this seems like a simple, straight forward question, the answer is complex. Some people use past experience. If they used Brand Q in the past on their car and had no problems they believe that means they should have no problems on their 22.5" sizes. I don't think this is a sound way to make a decision on the quality of a company's tires. The information on the Ford Pinto gas tank made headlines, even though actual incident data concluded the Pinto was as safe as, or safer than, other cars in its class. But do the news headlines mean that the gas tank of a F350 will have problems?

Others may have had a problem with a tire and since the root cause for the problem was not properly diagnosed, they decided the tire failure must have been due to a defect, so their position is that all Brand Q tires must be bad. Making this decision may be just as wrong as the previous example.

In my experience, less than one percent of tire failures are really studied to the point that there is a high confidence in knowing what the real reason for the failure was. It may have been due to a puncture or a sidewall impact or leaking valve or out of align axle or damaged wheel or some other reason. Since most of the time people don't know the real reason, they simply say "I had a blowout" or "I had a bulge" or the "sidewalls were badly cracked" ...so they assume the tire must have been defective.

EVEN IF THERE IS A BATCH OF TIRES with some manufacturing defect, there could actually be only a  dozen or so tires affected. Of course, it could also be thousands. The announced size of a recall is not a good measure as even if a company knows that a relatively small number of tires had the manufacturing error they have to recall many times more than the actual number as most times there is no easy way for consumers or even dealers to properly identify which tires were defective. I have personal experience of identifying a batch of less than 150 tires being made with an incorrect component. Given the opportunity, I felt I could have identified 99.9% of the tires with the defect but the cost associated with getting the tires shipped to Akron and completing the examination was prohibitive. And what does the owner do while this examination is going on? In the end more than 6,000 tires were recalled, scrapped and new tires given to customers to ensure that all the tires in the group of 150 were captures. The number 6,000 is what made the news not the 150.

Also in light of the fact that there are lawyers that will be happy to file a lawsuit and hope the company will settle because they know it is less expensive to settle than go to the costs necessary to prove yourself  innocent. Even when the facts are on the company' side, some juries will vote for the individual simply because they don't like big companies. I worked as an expert witness on such a case and even with physical evidence establishing where the fault of the accident was, the case was settled out of court rather than fight it.

So I still haven't answered the question. I will however offer some guidelines and things to consider when you are trying to select a brand in your size.

1. Does the company have a nationwide dealer and store network to provide service and warranty support or do you have to contact some company with only one office and only a single person who can approve a replacement? A check of the tire manufacturer website will quickly give you a feeling of confidence or not, in its operations. Some tire companies offer a lot of information. Others may have a website but its internal company links do not work. The company does not provide any way to send anyone an email to ask a question. They don't even have an 800 phone number to call so you can talk to someone. I would be hesitant to deal with such a disorganized company.

2. What are the terms of the tire warranty? Many times there are both time and percentage figures regarding wear limits. Be sure you read and understand what is covered and what is not.

3. How do you obtain an adjustment? Do you only need to return the tire to a local dealer? or do you need to return the tire to the location where you purchased the tire?. Or must you pay to ship the tire to the importer many states away from where you live?

4. Have you consulted the NHTSA web site to see if there are recalls, investigations or even complaints on the specific tire you are considering?

I think if you follow these four steps and ask yourself if the company you are considering deserves your business. Yes there is a temptation to simply buy the cheapest tires available but the saying "Pay me now or pay me later" is certainly appropriate when it comes to  making this important safety related decision.