2002 Starcraft New Tires Question

[moallen]

When it comes to smaller tires, I would suggest getting the best tires and stems you can afford. About ten years ago I took a tent trailer on a 5,000 mile trip out west and back. I lost 3 tires on that trip. The smaller tires make more revolutions per mile, run faster and hotter. In two cases it was the stem that failed. Both of those times the tire instantly deflated and was ruined before I could stop. Interestingly all three tires that failed were facing the sun. The tires only had a couple thousand miles on them. All were original tires that came on the Coleman. I was driving about 60-65mph during these failures. The good news is once I had all new tires and stems and drove 55mph, I never had another tire fail on that camper. I got the new tires at Tractor Supply and think they might have been the Carlisle brand. Choices are limited on the road.

[mrhyland]

Hey All!

I'm brand new to the forum, and brand new to the world of tent trailers. I just got my first tent trailer, and the tires need to be replaced. Tent trailer is a 2002 Starcraft 2112, with a little dinette slide out. The tires that are on it are ST175/80D13. I've been told that I should replace with the radial version of the tire.

I can find relatively cheap tires at Princess Auto for around $100 a tire. Alternatively, I could get them installed at a local tire shop on the same rims I currently have. The quotes I have are:
Hi all, I got a few quotes that I wanted to run by people.

All 3 options are 6 ply tires, ST175/80R13 size.

- WestLake STZC tire @ $141.90 both tires installed
- Road Rider tire @ $158 both installed
- Carlisle tire @ $220.50 both installed.

There's a pretty significant price difference. Is there a huge quality difference between the different brands? Has anyone had any issues with any brand, or any love for a brand?

Does anyone have any recommendations about which to go with? Do tent trailers need wheel alignments, etc? Do rims wear out, or can I just use the old rims with new tires and be good to go.

I live in Saskatchewan. Majority of our tent trailering will be with mild hills, however we plan to expand to the mountains eventually as well. Most of our camping for the next few years will be within about 300 km from home.

Thanks for any help you can give me. I am truly a newbie at all of this!

- Derek