Tire recomendations
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Forum Name: I need HELP!!!
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URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12252
Printed Date: 10 May 2025 at 8:42pm
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Topic: Tire recomendations
Posted By: broncoman_2000
Subject: Tire recomendations
Date Posted: 27 Sep 2018 at 10:48am
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I recently purchased a 2013 R-176 Hood River Edition and took it for it's first trip last weekend. Great experience. It has the original Mudstar tires on it with LOTS of miles, and some quite funky wear patterns. I am going to get new tires, and I am looking at the BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A KO2. I don't see the need for Mud Tires on a camper, and I'm pulling it with a 2018 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon and that's the tires on it, and they have been great on the Jeep, and I thought I'd get matching tires for the camper. They are only $138 each +++, so the price is not bad either. Anyone use these tires? Any better suggestions? I'd love some feedback on what you guys run. David
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Replies:
Posted By: Billy Bob
Date Posted: 27 Sep 2018 at 11:57am
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I just switched my mud tires out for Carlisle ST225/15. Load range E. ten ply. a little less than you quoted for your choice. just thought that with only one axle, I wanted beefier tires back there. ------------- 2019 RPOD 190 2017 Chev Colorado 4 X 4 Yellow Lab and English Springer Spaniel |
Posted By: Woodmiester
Date Posted: 27 Sep 2018 at 1:11pm
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While your at it, have them balanced. That will stop the "weird" tire wear. ------------- Swampfox |
Posted By: Billy Bob
Date Posted: 27 Sep 2018 at 4:59pm
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agreed with the balancing...had it done ------------- 2019 RPOD 190 2017 Chev Colorado 4 X 4 Yellow Lab and English Springer Spaniel |
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 27 Sep 2018 at 5:39pm
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Billy Bob, how do you find the stiffness on the E rated tires? Some say the stiff side walls can cause too much shaking/vibration on rough roads. I'm still running the original C rated tires and am trying to decide between D and E rated Carlisles. Thanks ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: mcarter
Date Posted: 27 Sep 2018 at 5:56pm
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offgrid, do you have 14" or 15" wheels? Reason I ask is I haven't seen a 14" E rated tire. ------------- Mike Carter 2015 178 " I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability." |
Posted By: Billy Bob
Date Posted: 27 Sep 2018 at 8:53pm
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Im heading for Texas Saturday and will be able to give my impression then. Ive heard and read good reviews on the tires and the E ones were only a couple of bucks more. ------------- 2019 RPOD 190 2017 Chev Colorado 4 X 4 Yellow Lab and English Springer Spaniel |
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2018 at 4:01am
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mcarter, you ask a great question. Yes, I have 14's, and I haven't found any E rated 14 inch tires either. And I'm probably overthinking this but here's my reasoning for the question. My objective is to get a higher overall load rating on the trailer axle. I was getting ready to have to buy a new axle but as you know from StephenH's axle thread, I've learned from Lippert that my axle (and his) is really 4400 lbs derated to 3500. Great, so now 4400 lbs is my objective, all I have to do is change tires, which I was going to do no matter what, because I still have the factory C rated tires. Right? Wrong, if I go to the Carlisle D rated 14's I'm still "only" at 2040 lbs, better but the tires are still the load limiter. So maybe I should change wheels instead of the axle and go to 15's, which with Carlisle gives me a choice of D's at 2540 lbs or E's at 2830 lbs. But then there's also the viewpoint you mentioned that E's might make for a stiff ride, so I was curious about Billy Bob's experience with them. Hope that makes sense and if you think I'm on the wrong track let me know. ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: harrypodder
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2018 at 7:18am
| I have run 15" E rated Goodyear Endurance on a 189 for a couple trips now and the ride seems fine. One thing to check when you go to an (E) rated load your valve stem has to handle the 80psi max cold pressure check with your installer there is a difference in stem psi specs. |
Posted By: mcarter
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2018 at 7:37am
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Offgrid,
Tracking with you now. I got confused in the posts. I agree, tire change is most cost effective first change. I certainly would do that before axle replacement if I did NOT have an alignment problem. I have tendency to look at the big pic. The number of RVs made, with the same axle, compared to the number that have axle problems. Then subtract the number that were damaged by accident and how big is that number of axle failures? Squeaky wheel gets the grease, if 5 owners claim axle issues, it becomes an issue, people don't post non-issues. Be a boring forum if they did. ------------- Mike Carter 2015 178 " I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability." |
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2018 at 8:03am
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Thanks harrypodder, Did you start out with 15 inch wheels or convert? if you converted, do you have any wheel recommendations and did you have any clearance issues? mcarter, yes after found out the other day from Lippert than my axle is apparently good for 4400lbs, I don't think the axle is an issue at least in my case. My question now is, should I just change to D rated 14 inch tires which will still limit me to 4080 lbs axle load, or should I change out to 15 inch D's or E's where I could get the full 4400 lb load headroom provided by the axle? I'm hoping all this information is also of use to broncoman_2000 as I don't want to hijack his thread.
 ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: harrypodder
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2018 at 8:59am
| offgrid, my 189 is a 2019 so came with the 15" d rated tires. I am not a big fan of Chinese made tires from all the miles put on my boat trailers over the years so I changed out to the Goodyear Endurance (E)rated as soon as I got it home from the dealer. Just my personal preference. |
Posted By: broncoman_2000
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2018 at 9:15am
| Actually the info posted thus far has helped solidify the BF Goodrich T/A KO2 tire for me. Since I have the HRE pod, it already comes with 15 " wheels, and this tire in 15" C load has a weight of 1985# @ 50 psi. Looks like I'll have a soft ride and a load range of 3970#. This far exceeds the tow capacity of my Wrangler @ 3500#. |
Posted By: GlueGuy
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2018 at 11:05am
------------- bp 2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River 2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost |
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2018 at 12:36pm
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Probably they used whatever they could get the cheapest in either 15 in for the hood river variant or 14 for us east coast folks. 14 inch c range tires like I currently have appear to be rated around 1750 so that is a direct match for the 3500 lb axle rating. I don’t have a issue the 14s per se, but I do want to try to match up with what looks like it is the real axle rating on my trailer, which is 4400, I’m pushing the 3500 lb axle weight now. I haven’t yet found a 14 inch tire with a 2200 lb or higher rating.
Broncoman, your conclusion sees sensible to me, your limiting factor is your tow vehicle anyway, so you’ll need to pack light regardless. ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: Pod People
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2018 at 3:41pm
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We have 14" wheels on our 179. We installed(and balanced) 215/75/14 Goodyear Endurance with a "D" load rating. We have used them once so far and they definitely had less bounce and stiffer sidewalls. Good point about the valve stems-we had all metal stems installed. time will tell about the long term durability. I used Maxxis 8008's before and they were good, but I had one blow out due to road debris and one tread separation. so far I like the new Goodyears better. Vann ------------- Vann & Laura 2015 RPod 179 https://postimg.cc/0zwKrfB9"> 
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Posted By: Billy Bob
Date Posted: 30 Sep 2018 at 10:45am
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So my Carlisle 225/75/15 E tires ride great. With the greater pressure (80psi) there is less bouncing and sidewalls are much stiffer. ------------- 2019 RPOD 190 2017 Chev Colorado 4 X 4 Yellow Lab and English Springer Spaniel |