Carlisle tires

[jcfitzgerald]

Last week I bought a new never used Carlisle tire and rim off a guy for my son's trailer. ST205/75R15 size. Load range C. No sign of dry rot or cracking whatsoever. About 5 years old and garage kept. It shelled the tread off today after only 75 miles and messed up the fender well pretty badly before he could stop. He said the steel belts were still intact and no air loss. It isn't a retread but acted like a retread. Btw it says made in USA on the sidewall. I guess we would have no recourse with Carlisle? The tires are only about 80% loaded and inflated to the stated 50 psi. Now he has to try to find a spare on the road and St radials seem hard to find. We had to special order the other one, which is still holding. It is a Hi-Run. Is that size really uncommon?

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Carlisle tires

Thats why tires have a date stamped into the side wall and yes around 5 years is the max expected like.

 

[SWD]

Re: Carlisle tires

No recourse beyond a year!

 

[kjsAZ]

Re: Carlisle tires

Before special ordering try these: ST 205/75R15 TRAILER TIRES . They are Gremax tires and I had them for 6 years on my last trailer and now in 14" size on my new one (2 years). So far no complains and the price was right.
However, trailer tires should be changed after ~3-4 years. They normally don't wear out but die from dry rot and the fact that the softeners evaporate from the rubber. The super high pressure they need for the load rating doesn't help either.
They can't be rare as they have that many that they have to sell them:
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSearchResults.jsp?skipOver=true&width=205/&ratio=75&diameter=15

Carlisle has spend a lot of effort into building up their image of the most unreliable trailer tire! Just search for Carlisle and you will find a LOT of complains.

 

[jcfitzgerald]

Re: Carlisle tires

Could not decrypt the date code. It was not 4 digit, but tire store said it was made in 2000. Learned a lesson on trailer tires. If you don't pull often, it's not worth having a trailer. The tire cost eats up its worth if you replace every 3 to 5 years. I have one box trailer I have not pulled in three years, and another for two years except around the yard as portable storage buildings. They work great for getting around covenants. Will now have to replace tires before pulling it on road again, but that might be several more months.

 

[RobWise64]

Re: Carlisle tires

Trailer tires are designed to not wear out, but their weight capacity starts to deteriorate after 3 years. I have the original old style Goodyear Marathon (USA made) 20575R15 tires on my 1998 utility trailer, but I am wary of putting much weight on them until I can afford to replace them at their age. If you are only using them locally, consider switching to Bias ply - same weight capacity but typically much cheaper. And they have tougher sidewalls. Their drawback is that most of them can't handle heat and start to fall apart on long highway trips.

I sold Carlisle at one point and wasn't impressed. Some of my customers swear by them.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Carlisle tires

This may help

Tire Age Calculator - When were my tires Manufactured?

 

[jcfitzgerald]

Re: Carlisle tires

Trailer tires are designed to not wear out, but their weight capacity starts to deteriorate after 3 years. I have the original old style Goodyear Marathon (USA made) 20575R15 tires on my 1998 utility trailer, but I am wary of putting much weight on them until I can afford to replace them at their age. If you are only using them locally, consider switching to Bias ply - same weight capacity but typically much cheaper. And they have tougher sidewalls. Their drawback is that most of them can't handle heat and start to fall apart on long highway trips.

I sold Carlisle at one point and wasn't impressed. Some of my customers swear by them.

My son found a tire store along the way that had a matching ST205/75/15 radial. He is on a 9 month, 3,000 mile work / pleasure trip so needs very good camper tires.

 

[jweckley]

Re: Carlisle tires

I pulled a trailer from a boat "given" to me with tires from the 70's that had been "slimed" Thanks Grandpa. I pulled the boat a 17 foot thompson fiberglass bowrider without any problems for over 200 miles. I will never do that again. I learned my lesson without having a problem but within 2 months they were both flat and not repairable. I have replaced with new but have thought back many times to how bad it could have been.