New Tire Advice

I want to purchase 2 new tires. My TM takes 13" tires. Big O want's to sell me some Goodyear Marathons for $90 each. (I assume they ar ST Radial since that is what I am replacing)

The mfg year is mid 2006 on one and Oct 2006 on the other. Is it reasonable to want a more recent mfg date?

Is it worth having a lift kit installed and going to a 14" tire?

Cheri (who is fed up with blown tires)

[Bill]

Cheri -

If it were me (and obviously it's not) I would add a lift kit and move to 14" tires. That would not be cheap, of course, since you have to replace the wheels as well as the tires. But it would give you some tire margin that you (and most of the rest of us) don't currently have.

I imagine that someone is thinking "yeah, but upgrading the wheels and tires doesn't increase the weight capacity because the axle capacity doesn't increase." I agree - but it doesn't seem to be axles that are failing. If you maintain the same total trailer weight and increase the tire capacity, it doesn't change the load on the axle. But it ought to make tire failures less likely.

Bill

Thanks.
That's kind of what I was thinking. We don't over load our trailer and we drive fairly slowly, I just want that margin of safety (if it exists). I guess we'd have to make adjustments on the ball height too.
Does the driving speed increase with the larger tire, or is it still 55mph?
Cheri

[Bill]

Cheri -

The Goodyear Marathon 14" Load Range C tires are rated for 65 mph.

The relevant info from the Goodyear site is in the Trail Manor Reference Library, at the top of this forum.

Bill

Got it. Thanks,
Cheri