Gulfstream and Carlisle tires

[CampWinican]

I would like to hear from those who have Carlisle tires on their trailers and how they have been holding up for you.

My trailer has a "dry weight" of 5800lbs. The Carlisle tires I had are rated to a max weight of 1820lbs each. My Dexter axles are rated to hold a max of 3500lbs each.

I have yet to actually weigh my trailer, but I understand that the rule of thumb is that you can add at least 1000lbs to the dry weight to figure about what you actually weigh. For me that would be about 6800lbs. This means I probably have about 1700lbs on each tire and about 3400lbs on each axle. I'm already reaching max load on paper! :shock:

I already had one of the Carlisles blow out on me. Because of the bad things I've heard about Carlisles I have replaced all four tires with a different brand. Time will tell whether it was bad tires from Carlisle or whether I'm just running too much weight on the tires.

Seems to me this trailer should have been designed with heavier duty axles and D rated tires (instead of the C class that it has).

So, anybody else seeing Carlisle tire failures on the Gulfstreams?

[Timothy]

Hi Tom, no doubt that Carlisle tires suck. I have had 3 replaced so far on my 2004 Canyon Trail. Keep in mind that the tongue on your trailer should account for at least 10% of the load and probably is much more like 15% so your axles are probably fine.

[Roy Buzzard]

I also have a 2004 Canyon Trail with Carlisle tires, I had 1 tire blow out after about 7 months and a week later I had another tire with a large bulge on it. I did not wait for any more failures, I immediately replaced all 4 tires and upgraded to a Load range "D", from the C's that it came with.

[herkydriver]

We used to own a 2004 Canyon Trail 31TBRG. Our dry weight was 8500 lbs (GVW of over 11000) and our trailer came with 3500# axles with Carlisle load range C tires. I also had a blowout on my trailer after less than 1000 miles on the tires. They apparently had put the wrong axles/tires on my trailer because when I went to put the the spare, the 6-lug rim didn't fit my 5-lug axle. I checked the trailer pressure sticker on the front of the trailer for the recommended pressures and it showed pressures for load range D tires. I had a second tire blow within 300 miles of the first. I replaced both with load range D tires (one Carlisle and one other brand). After wrangling with the factory for a month, they agreed to replace the axles and tires. We got rid of the trailer shortly therafter because of continued leaking problems we were experiencing. Must have been built on Monday!

[CampWinican]

Wow herkydriver, that is unbelievable, glad to hear that they did make it right in the end, as far as the axles go, anyway.

Do you still have a Gulfstream?

I thought about changing to range D but was worried that they wouldn't fit my rims and that they might not fit my wheel wells. I also wondered if it would mess up my dual cam setup since trailer height would change.

How did this work out for you, Roy? Changing to range D, that is. Did you encounter any problems with the change in tire height?

[herkydriver]

CampWinican - The two tires I'd replaced with D's seemed to work fine and fit on the rims okay. No problems with towing either. I didn't notice any clearance problems after we had the new axles and the load range D tires on either.

We don't own a Gulfstream anymore. We got a deisel truck and decided to upgrade to a larger fifth wheel unit. We didn't even consider getting another Gulfstream because of the issues we had with this one. We loved the Gulfstream until things started going wrong with it. I think a root canal might have been more enjoyable than negotiating with the factory to authorize the repair.

[Roy Buzzard]

I have had no issues, I assume there is not a real big difference in dimensions as I bought them in the same size.

[Socal5er]

I replace my stock Carlisle tires after 2 blew-out (same side) one in front of the other. I've since replc'd all 5 and have over 9K with no problem. The Carlisle tires had less than 6K on them. I waited for 5 hrs. in the middle of Calif. on Sunday waiting for AAA to bring me a new tire...

[dkrickbaum]

We bought our Innsbruck trailer in 2003. It had Carlisle tires. At the end of last summer we had a tire blow out. This summer we had two more tires blow out. Come to find out the tires that were on the trailer when we bought it were undersized. They are smaller than the minimum tire size and load range noted on the tag that is on the trailer and in the brochure given to us when we bought the trailer. So far Gulfstream has been very unresponsive, claiming that the tires are out of warranty. I haven't figured that out yet and we continue to try to talk to Gulfstream, with no luck.

I guess it is our fault for assuming that a brand new trailer would meet the manufacturer's minimum specifications. Next time we will check the tire sizes before we close the deal. I know that it will not be a Gulfstream product.

[dkrickbaum]

We bought our Innsbruck trailer in 2003. It had Carlisle tires. At the end of last summer we had a tire blow out. This summer we had two more tires blow out. Come to find out the tires that were on the trailer when we bought it were undersized. They are smaller than the minimum tire size and load range noted on the tag that is on the trailer and in the brochure given to us when we bought the trailer. So far Gulfstream has been very unresponsive, claiming that the tires are out of warranty. I haven't figured that out yet and we continue to try to talk to Gulfstream, with no luck.

I guess it is our fault for assuming that a brand new trailer would meet the manufacturer's minimum specifications. Next time we will check the tire sizes before we close the deal. I know that it will not be a Gulfstream product.

[cpSD90]

I just bought our Sidetrak, and it came with Carlise crap. We took it on 3 trips, less than 300km, and one of the tires got a buldge the size of a softball in it, and the other 3 were so far out of round, I had to replace them. I'm not even getting the full amont back from Carlise, as I went out and replaced the tires myself. (I didn't get Carlise again!) I can't believe anyone would put this kind of crap on a trailer and sell it! I would get rid of them right away before you have a blow out!

[ray and margaret]

I bought a new 2007 Gulf Stream Prairie Schooner Fifth Wheel. It had Carlisle tires. I blew one on I-75 in georgia back in February. They were 8-plky tires. I just put on four Good Year Wrangler HD's 245/75/R16, 10-ply Load Range E. I feel a lot safer now. I was just at the "Back Home in Indiana" Rally at the Gulf Stream factory and I noted that all of the new Prairie Schooners had Good Year tires. Nuff said!!


Ray and Margaret

[Jim]

looks like GS is taking the cheap way out on tires. I had a 06 yellowstone and it had Lt load range e tires on it and I never had any tire problems with tires, at the rally the trailors all had cheap tires and not enough load range

[Dr. Nosty]

Note to self: steer clear of Carlisle tires.

[RinconVTR]

I installed 4 new Carlisle tires on my 23BHD this summer after running the OEM's for almost 15k. They still had plenty of tread, but I didn't like the bowing of the bias ply tires and the center 3" of the tread was raised on all 4 tires. The Carlisle Radial RH that I had installed are definitely an improvement and I don't feel these tires are any better or worse then any other option out there. And there are fewer reports of problems than most other brands, including Maxis. There are only so many options in 14".

And FYI - Bumping up the load range does NOT mean fewer blowouts as long as your under the tires rating when loaded and WDH is applied. Beyond that, there is NO relation! Do not be fooled.

Anyway, take a look at the OEM bias play spare vs the new Carlisle Radial RH;


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