Chinese Tires

highrail

Member
Chinese Tires on my 3400RL ?

It is 1AM Central time and I have been reading posts on this Forum and RV.Net for the past four hours. The horrible stories about Chinese tires make your blood run cold. My 3400 RL is suppost to come off the line today July 27th. My dealer is Lakeshore RV and my salesman is John. I can tell you right now I will not leave there lot with Chinese tires on my brand new fifthwheel!! I know this is a late date but just found out about all this tonight.
I am not impossible to work with, I will pay a reasonal extra charge for the better tires. I will call John first thing in the morning to discuss this matter.

Thank You
Tom in TN.
 

svd

Well-known member
I had similar concerns. After reading all the posts a little more closely, I didn't see any issues with 16 inch Mission tires (that is what is on ours). There are lots of problems with the 15 inch, but when you look a little closer, I think the load range of tires used is more in question than their manufacturer.

There is also a post somewhere here with a link that identifies where a tire is manufactured based on the DOT code on the tire. Better sit down when you look at that, you will find many tires you thought were manufactured in the US are really manufactured in China, and numerous other countries.

For now, I have decided not to worry about them. They are rated properly for the weight of my unit. I keep an eyer on them like I would any tire, and make sure they are fully inflated to the cold spec. Good luck, we bought our unit from John also.
 

highrail

Member
Working with Lakeshore

Spoke to John at lakeshore this morning. He is working the issue now. So far they seem willing to help solve the problem. Will let everyone know how things turn out.
While I,m at it does anyone know if LT235/80R16 tires can be relaced by LT235/85R16 tires. I know they are about one inch taller than the 80R16 but thats not much.
Please help if you have experiance with these tires I need to settle the issue in the next few days.

Thanks
Tom in TN
 

sailorand

Past British Columbia Chapter Leader
ST tires

If you are going to go to LT tires you will want to increase the rating by about 15% over what the ST tires would be. Because of the softer sidewall of the LT tires they do take the sharp turn scuffing as well as the ST tires.
Rand
 

dieselengineer

Charter Member
Highrail
To answer your question, I replaced the Mission tire with Michenlin LT 235/85/16 E. Also I have a 3400RL coach. The tires are about an inch taller, however I had no problem with the additional height. The coach tows alot better with the Michenlin's then with the ST type tires. Then you compair each side by side, the mission tires are about half the weight. The michenlin's are a much more heavyduty tire. Just setting with only the weight of the tire (off the rim), the mission tires flex and droop. With the Michenlin's there is no droop! The Michenlin's are a real tire!
 

highrail

Member
Thanks dieselengineer

This is the info I needed. Nice that you have a 3400 RL also. Went to Sams this afternoon, they will have to order the Michelins but have Goodrich and goodyear in stock. Goodrich $105 Goodyear $117 and Michelins $208. By price alone you can see which is best, altho the goodrich tire has a very thick sidewall and a 50,000 mile warranty.

Thanks again
Tom in TN
 

dieselengineer

Charter Member
Tom
Check the side wall, I wanted an "all steel" tire. I believe the only ones are the Michelin xps rib or the goodyear (I forget the model, but it is a G rated trailer tire). Since my rim were only good for the E rated (80 psi) I went for the XPS rib.
 

Wild Wind

Active Member
Tom, you get what you pay for most of the time. Michelins are the only way to go. We have safely drove all of our vehicles on Michelin tires for the pass 30 years, and they have been well worth the extra cost, which turns out cheaper in the long haul. 80,000 miles easily on our vehicles constantly.
Before our next trip the Mission tires will be replaced with Michelins on our 30055 Bighorn.
A 50,000 mile factory warranty on tires is just like a 40 year warranty on your roof, try to collect when the roof starts leaking.
 

dieselengineer

Charter Member
Tom
I attached a photo of the michenlins XPS rib on my 3400RL . Hope this helps
 

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