Goodyear Endurance Tires VS Carlisle Trail HD Tires

[TKW]

It's time for a new set of tires. I have narrowed down my choice between GY Endurance and Carlisle Trail HD.

However, in comparing the price locally, Endurance costs 45% more than the Carlisle. For a set of 4 ST22575R15 LRE, Endurance costs CA$230 more than Carlisle HD.

Is endurance that much better than Carlisle? I heard enough good things about the GY. I would like to hear from the Carlisle owners for their opinion.

Thank you in advance!

[aftermath]

Sorry, can't help myself.

Here is another clip to check out. This one comes from a tire dealer.

ST description

Now, I am done.

[aftermath]

Guys, take a deep breath. I am not attacking LT tires. They are very good. My issue is what I stated before. ST tires are built as "speciality tires" for trailers. Because there are not as many produced as LT tires you can get some pretty bad ones. Lots of poor manufacturers jumped in and sold them cheap. Trailer companies bought lots of them and put then on their products which produced a lot of problems as you are all aware.

Today ST tires are much better, maybe not as good as your LTs but they are better. ST tires have stronger sidewalls. I am not saying that they are stronger overall, or better or anything like that. The sidewalls are stronger.

I tried to find a statement by Tireman9 about this and couldn't find one. I have always respected another tire engineer, CapriRacer and after many minutes couldn't find a post of his discussing this. I did find this though,

Trailer manufacturer description

I am done. Believe it or don't, that is your decision. Again, LT tires are good. ST tires work in some situations too. You get to decide.

[JIMNLIN]

Mark Polk ??
Lordy...the only thing he knows about better tires for trailer use is propaganda from ST tire websites. From all I've read from his blogs he shows he has very little actual towing trailers experience.
He mentions a tire treads and Michelin XPS Ribs. The XPS Ribs have a solid rib tread type with fewer tread sipes made for low rolling resistance just like our commercial grade load G trailer tires (S637 Sailuns or Goodyears G614 RST tires). RV and commercial haulers use these type of treads in summer and winter. Michelin even has a add recommending them for commercial trailer service.

Check out a actual tire engineer, Tireman9 blog for actual LT vs ST tire differences.

[aftermath]

Thermoguy wrote:
...
That is the marketing pitch for why you should buy ST tires, but have you checked the sidewall on them? I had a Marathon, Hercules, and GY Wrangler all side by side not mounted. The Wrangler was much tougher to the touch than either of the other 2. All E rated tires, you could flex the others very easily - the Hercules was bought to get me out of a bind, but very soft side wall. The "steel" belts in an LT tire run crisscross to each other, where the ST tire runs around the tire. The side wall on the LT tire is much stronger and the overall tire weight is more - don't you think taking a truck off road and over rocks is harder on a tire than straight down the highway?

With that said, I have a heavy horse trailer, gooseneck, that has has LT tires on it from new. I jack knife the trailer all the time to park next to my barn, have never had an issue. That trailer gets way more abuse as far a driving circumstances than the RV due to the nature of the use. My first set of original tires went 10 years (I didn't know as much about tires as I do now). I replaced due to dry rot... The GY Wranglers on them now have almost 5 years and look new.

If you do a search on ST vs LT tires for towing trailers you will get an awful lot of information. Some of course, will come from trailer forums and be of questionable reliability. Read some of the others, from tire dealers/manufacturers or RV technicians. After a while you will get a "feel" for what most people believe.

Here is one that is relatively honest.

ST vs LT tires

[Thermoguy]

TKW wrote:

Thermoguy wrote:


I thought I could get away with my 7 year old Marathon tires this year as well. Found out that I couldn't. 2 of the 4 had major bulges and had to be removed on the spot. One blew on a trip, but I can blame that on the shackels braking and not the tire. But, the point is, and everyone on here will tell you, 7 years is too long for a trailer tire.

Where are your 2 bad tires located? The one failed on mine is at the right front side and the diagonally opposing one also showed signs of belt separation. The other 2 still looks good with a bit of tread left.

Everyone here is talking about replacing trailer tires every 7 years. My last set of Marathon still looked good after 19 years when I sold off my last TT as a reclamation project. These Marathon were made in Canada in the '90 though. We didn't travel enough to wear them down
to get new tires. We keep the pressure up on every trip, park at home out of the sun and keep an close eye on them for dry rot or uneven wear pattern.

Trailer tires dry out from the inside out. Tread life is never an issue unless you are a full-timer that likes to travel. I thought I could go one last season with my Marathon tires - new in 2013 - I was wrong... I had a blowout on the road. 1 of the other tires showed separation and had a small bubble on it. After repair and replace with my spare and a new tire, I had 2 Marathon tires still on the trailer, put one on each side. After driving home, one of the tires had a huge bulge on it, surprised it didn't blow. Changed it out. When I got new tires, they showed me the other one had signs of separation. So, all 4 tires had separation. Moral of the story, they were done - period... I should have changed them out before the season not waited until after. Simple as that. By the way, tread like looks great - other than the belt separation...

[Thermoguy]

aftermath wrote:

Thermoguy wrote:
...

Talking to the Goodyear guy today about LT vs ST - ST tires are designed to go straight. Never get much abuse and only designed for rolling resistance. AN LT tire will not roll as well so might increase fuel cost, but a way better built tire. Whenever I have asked a tire professional about LT vs ST they can't tell me why one should buy an ST tire. And, if you need the extra few pounds of added load range, then maybe you should step up a load range anyway.

From everything I have heard or read, this statement is in error. The advantage of an ST tire is in the strength of the sidewalls. They are designed to stand up to the lateral loads produced by sharp turns, like when you are backing into tight camping spots. There are many arguments why an LT tire might be better, but this isn't one of them. Remember, when you talk to a salesman about any product other than what he is selling, be prepared for a sales pitch. Sounds like he hit pay dirt.

.

That is the marketing pitch for why you should buy ST tires, but have you checked the sidewall on them? I had a Marathon, Hercules, and GY Wrangler all side by side not mounted. The Wrangler was much tougher to the touch than either of the other 2. All E rated tires, you could flex the others very easily - the Hercules was bought to get me out of a bind, but very soft side wall. The "steel" belts in an LT tire run crisscross to each other, where the ST tire runs around the tire. The side wall on the LT tire is much stronger and the overall tire weight is more - don't you think taking a truck off road and over rocks is harder on a tire than straight down the highway?

With that said, I have a heavy horse trailer, gooseneck, that has has LT tires on it from new. I jack knife the trailer all the time to park next to my barn, have never had an issue. That trailer gets way more abuse as far a driving circumstances than the RV due to the nature of the use. My first set of original tires went 10 years (I didn't know as much about tires as I do now). I replaced due to dry rot... The GY Wranglers on them now have almost 5 years and look new.

[aftermath]

Thermoguy wrote:
...

Talking to the Goodyear guy today about LT vs ST - ST tires are designed to go straight. Never get much abuse and only designed for rolling resistance. AN LT tire will not roll as well so might increase fuel cost, but a way better built tire. Whenever I have asked a tire professional about LT vs ST they can't tell me why one should buy an ST tire. And, if you need the extra few pounds of added load range, then maybe you should step up a load range anyway.

From everything I have heard or read, this statement is in error. The advantage of an ST tire is in the strength of the sidewalls. They are designed to stand up to the lateral loads produced by sharp turns, like when you are backing into tight camping spots. There are many arguments why an LT tire might be better, but this isn't one of them. Remember, when you talk to a salesman about any product other than what he is selling, be prepared for a sales pitch. Sounds like he hit pay dirt.

Another issue that needs to be discussed is the "China Bomb" label many are quick to attach. Just because a tire is made in China doesn't automatically make it bad. True, there are many that are but my main issue is with the company who sells them and the manufacturer that puts them on their trailers. I purchased a new Starcraft Hybrid that had Carlisle tires, LRC. These tires just barely met load standards and sure enough one blew within months of service. Carlisle paid for the replacement of all 5 of my choice.
Today, there are many tires that are improved and quite capable of carrying your trailer. I suggest that you buy from a reputable dealer who will stand behind their tires and that you get a load range that will easily meet the weight requirement. Marathons were junk. I had Marathons with early signs of tread separation. Put a set of Maxxis on that proved to be very good. Now have a set of the new Carlisle HD and they are even better. 5 years and over 24K miles and they still look new and require almost no additional air through the season. The new Goodyear is very good by all reports. Marathons were produced in China but only for a short time. They were bad before and bad after.

[SpeakEasy]

Congrats!

-Speak

[TKW]

Hi guys, here are my new Endurances. Manufactured on 26th week of 2020. About 3 months ago.

[1320Fastback]

Endurance for me on both our trailers.

[dodge_guy]

Had Carlisle Radial Trail RH as the first set on my TT. same size and load rating as the OP`s, no issue. the next set was another set of RH`s. 5 years later the new HD`s were out and I went with those. each set went 5 years and 15-20k miles with no issues. the OE set were cheap chinese tires that only lasted a year and 500 miles before 2 of them shifted a tread.

Carlisle tires of the last 10 years are far better than the Carlisle`s of 20 years ago.

[JIMNLIN]

Provider ST 81 mph rated tires were one of the first, having the new design of tire strengthened for higher speed and much better reliability. These came on my FW when new, and served me well.

The Providers first came out in the '10-'11 era on commercial trailers. I just replaced the 16" load E OEM Providers last summer with another set on a 2010 tandem axle 10k car hauler...no issues. After 9+ years and 28k miles of interstate use/dragging around pastures and construction worksites they made me nervous.
All four new Providers had 2 and 3 month old dot date codes and ordered per my request from a Discount Tire store near me.

[MFL]

Provider ST 81 mph rated tires were one of the first, having the new design of tire strengthened for higher speed and much better reliability. These came on my FW when new, and served me well. The Carlisle HD came a little later, with similar design, higher speed rating. In recent years the GY Endurance showed up, with same design, plus higher speed rating. IMO, all 3 are good, and the GY is made in USA, if you don't mind paying a premium for that. I've no experience with the Carlisle, other than what I've read. I will be replacing 4 tires in the Spring. I will likely go with the proven Providers, but will look into a deal on the Endurance. I am not worried about paying a LITTLE more for USA made, as China did not send that huge stimulus check, that I actually donated most of to a relative in need of a dental crown.

Jerry

[snowedin]

Whatever, but I have had Carlisle Trail HD tires on two different travel trailers, had no problems with them, and wouldn't hesitate to buy them again.

[time2roll]

I am always inclined to go top line Goodyear.