Sailun Tire Update

[Leon T]

Somewhere, there was an engineer who calculated the type, size and load rating of the tires required on your RV. There was another engineer working at the tire manufacturer who calculated what the required tire pressures should be. Both of these engineers based their analysis on data that is available to them and has been around for decades. As an example of why you should adhere to the advice of these engineers can be found in what you are doing to tire pressure. Dropping from the recommended 80 PSI to 65 psi is a drop of 19%. This is a major deviation from the recommendation. While it softens the ride, is also allows the sidewalls to flex more, which in turn generates more heat in the tire, which leads to sidewall failure and blowouts. Just my two cents - inflate the tires to the recommended PSI. The lower PSI is not reducing the cause of the vibration - only masking it. I suggest that if your wife felt vibration, you try balancing the wheels - I suggest Centramatics but even conventional balancing is superior to none.

Hey guys - I should have been more clear. My entire post was BS. Sorry for the confusion, just adding a little levity to the discussion.

[Rapid1]

Trailer tires operate in a different set of circumstances than truck tires. There is an entirely different reason why trailer tires should be run at max pressure. It has much less to do with load than it does with the forces applied to consecutive axles and the forces applied to the tires, wheels and axles when turning. I'm at a loss trying to figure out why nobody recognizes this. You air down tires for several reasons...comfort...or...traction. When you air down trailer tires, you are just multiplying the forces to the wheel centers, hubs and axles. There is another thread about perch pins shearing and axles moving on the springs...I would be very interested in the tire inflation on this...frankly, it would be my first question.

I challenge anyone here to find someplace to turn your trailer on a reasonably tight turn...just one you would make getting into or out of a fueling spot...stop, and look underneath your trailer and see how out of align your springs are...and how bent the spring hangers are. It doesn't take much at all and anytime one turns a corner with a double or triple axle trailer, if the tires won't slide, you are taking up the forces in the wheels and axle mounts and hangers. Our trailers do this each and every time we take them out. Airing down the tires increases the traction and just makes those components take more of the force that is inherent in two or three axles lined up a foot apart. You should see what it looks like when the axles are 3 or 4 feet or more apart...like on a spread axle big truck trailer. We used to call em cheaters because the line of the trailer would be waaayyy inside the line of the truck and I think I remember that most states wouldn't even allow caps on those axles because of the forces applied to them. My close friend tows a 16K boat twice a year on a triple axle trailer and loses at least one tire a trip, even with good tire maintenance.

You can't compare tires on a truck to tires on a trailer...very, very different applications.

*Doh! somehow, I thought this was a different thread. I apologize for this response being here. Somehow, I can't delete it*

[JCR GD]

Bottom line is do what you are comfortable with. If you want to run at max pressure, please do. If you want to balance load & pressure then do that. To each his own and good luck to all.

Now lets get back to Sailuns and how they are doing. Mine are still running strong and I haven't heard of a failure yet.

[BigGuy82]

Bottom line is do what you are comfortable with. If you want to run at max pressure, please do. If you want to balance load & pressure then do that. To each his own and good luck to all.

Now lets get back to Sailuns and how they are doing. Mine are still running strong and I haven't heard of a failure yet.

Only trailer tire I will use and I don’t care where they're made


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[WhittleBurner]

I had my wife ride in the trailer on the way to Houston and part of the way back. I gave her a walkie talkie and told her to keep me updated about how the trailer was riding. At 80 psi she said she noticed a lot of vibration. I aired them down to 75 in Van Horn, TX and she said there was less vibration but the trailer felt like it was wandering a bit. Finally, I aired them down to 65 in San Angelo, TX and she said the vibration was gone and overall the trailer seemed to ride much better. There was a stretch of road around Austin, TX where she said the trailer "rode like a Cadillac" but it was new freeway construction so I wrote it off to a better road surface and told her to disregard that portion of the trip.

On the way home we hit a lot of wind between Fredericksburg and Van Horn and she said the trailer was less steady on the road and felt like it may tip over. My fuel mileage dropped too. From Van Horn back to Tucson the next day I let her ride in the cab with me so I'm not sure how it rode but it seemed to stay solid. After this trip and based on what my wife reported I'm leaving my tires at 65. I did let her move around within the trailer when I was going down the road so there is a variable there, but most of the time she sat in the recliners over the axles. When she took a nap in the bed during one part of the trip she said she slept like a baby and felt like she was floating on clouds. OK, I'm lying.

Thank you for that insight. When we had our trailer weighed at the IND. rally last year they told us to always run max air pressure, even though we had gone from E-rated tires to G-rated tires. Difference of 80#s to 100#s. Now I have a better understanding of why.

[BigGuy82]

At this point, I'm probably beating a dead horse, but if you want to see the difference between the "economy" tires on our coaches and good tires, Google "Westlake Tire Complaints". Then Google "Sailun Tire Complaints". 'nuff said.

Another point. Heartland used Towmax (Blowmax) tires on their bigger rigs with problems too numerous to mention. They switched to Sailun - problems gone.

[MidwestCamper]

The Theory on this is that less mass will not crush the tire as much and will result in less sidewall flex, and less heat buildup. A higher load would need higher pressure to keep the sidewall flex under control as stated in the inflation chart.

Look at this under extremes. A tire with no load has zero side wall flex or crush even with 35psi. But the same tire at 35psi under a heavy load it would be flattened. So the recommended pressure in the inflation chart provides the proper support and keeps the sidewall within specifications based on design. This is a personal choice on moving to higher rated tires, but going to a higher rated tire and inflating to the max side wall pressure will put higher stresses on the suspension, and structure.

When I updated my D rated Westlakes which were rated at 2150lbs at 65psi, to the Goodyear Endurance E rated tires, I followed the inflation chart and set them at 65psi where the load rating was increased to 2540lbs and the tire is not at its maximum pressure specification. I'm hoping the engineers at Goodyear got this right.

[BigGuy82]

The Theory on this is that less mass will not crush the tire as much and will result in less sidewall flex, and less heat buildup. A higher load would need higher pressure to keep the sidewall flex under control as stated in the inflation chart.

Look at this under extremes. A tire with no load has zero side wall flex or crush even with 35psi. But the same tire at 35psi under a heavy load it would be flattened. So the recommended pressure in the inflation chart provides the proper support and keeps the sidewall within specifications based on design. This is a personal choice on moving to higher rated tires, but going to a higher rated tire and inflating to the max side wall pressure will put higher stresses on the suspension, and structure.

When I updated my D rated Westlakes which were rated at 2150lbs at 65psi, to the Goodyear Endurance E rated tires, I followed the inflation chart and set them at 65psi where the load rating was increased to 2540lbs and the tire is not at its maximum pressure specification. I'm hoping the engineers at Goodyear got this right.

And then, there's another theory that states that the squishy sidewall you now have does not respond well on the road when you are forced to go in something other than a straight line. Also, what happens to those sidewalls during sharp turns and when making extreme moves while backing? The latter is even more pronounced in three axle rigs.

I've been on forums for years and still don't understand what the reason is for folks to mess with tire pressures. Do you really think that the wear and tear experienced by a trailer/fiver is drastically affected by softening the tires? Is it worth the potential downside? Hey, I don't know and we can all do as we wish. My money is still on using the recommended maximum pressure. I'd rather maintain and repair the coach than increase chances of a blowout.

Whatever your call, safe travels.

[TheLexx]

Knowing these tires are used for trailers, why do the manufacturers publish inflation tables if they expect us to run their tires at max pressure.

OTOH it's curious that Sailun used to publish an inflation table for the ST637, but no longer does.

[BigGuy82]

OTOH it's curious that Sailun used to publish an inflation table for the ST637, but no longer does.

I don't know. I do know I've been running Sailuns for over 30,000 miles, inflating to 110 PSI and balancing using Centramatics. No problems at all. Further, coming from a Heartland coach, I can tell you that Heartland owners are overwhelmingly satisfied with the performance of the tire. My guess is that they took down the chart because they didn't want people screwing around with a good thing, like running way too soft because they underestimated weight. But, that's just a guess. Bottom line is that you can't miss by inflating to the max (you are dealing with a 14 ply tire that can take it, even on the hottest days) and I really don't think a softer ride helps preserve the coach much either. If it's a concern, there are companies that make good aftermarket shock absorber kits.

Safe travels.