Tires were on our list of to-dos before setting off on this trip. The car tires were replaced on July 15th and new trailer tires were installed today. We learned a few things as a result.
The car got Michelin LTX M/S P245/65R17 tires, which seems like trivia until we consider performance of the previous sets. The original equipment (Dunlop) tires lasted 43,654 miles. The first replacements (Michelin) got us through a lot of hard towing and lasted 64,570 miles. We probably could have put another 5,000 towing miles on the old tires, but the thought of risking a problem or replacing them during the trip wasn't appealing.
The trailer got Commodore ST215/75R14 tires. The original (Goodyear Marathon) tires lasted 20,932 miles. We replaced them on June 7, 2010 in Tucson when tread wear exposed a steel belt. The replacements (API Gladiator) lasted 21,938 miles ... tread wear was significant and the sidewalls had some cracks.
OK, so what? Well, we learned what to expect.
We took good care of the Michelin tires. They performed as advertised and much better than the original set.
We thought we took pretty good care of the trailer tires. There was no sidewall damage due to curbs. The tires were kept clean and covered during the winter months. Still, both sets had to be replaced after 3 years and 21,000 miles. Everything we've read about trailer tires was confirmed. Tire skewing during backing is hard on treads and sidewalls. Sun exposure takes a toll on sidewalls and tire dressing speeds the process.
 |
| The trailer gets "new shoes" at NTB |
Enough on tires. We leave a week from today. We're "chomping at the bit".
No comments:
Post a Comment