replacing rims?

[dandreas]

DH and I are gearing up for this year's camping season and wanted to get new tires for the pup.  This is only our second season with it and the previous owners had replaced them two years prior.  When DH called the local rv place for an appt. for an inspection and mentioned the tires, they said, "Rims too, right?"  Is it commonplace to replace the rims as well as the tires?!  It didn't sound quite right to me so I thought I'd consult all the experts out there in pup land!  Thanks for the help.

[flyfisherman]

DH and I are gearing up for this year's camping season and wanted to get new tires for the pup.  This is only our second season with it and the previous owners had replaced them two years prior.  When DH called the local rv place for an appt. for an inspection and mentioned the tires, they said, "Rims too, right?"  Is it commonplace to replace the rims as well as the tires?!  It didn't sound quite right to me so I thought I'd consult all the experts out there in pup land!  Thanks for the help.

Quite often today trailer tires come already mounted on new rims. For example, next time your in Wal-mart, in their automotive department, you'll see the trailer tires already mounted on new rims (I'm not suggesting for you to buy there, only using as an example). Now, if you were to order a trailer tire without the rim from W-M and they would have to oder it as they don't keep just the tires in stock, it would cost almost as much for the tire alone as it would for the in stock tire with rim.

If you do business with a local tire store, they get their tires from a tire distributor has just the tires and the tire/rim combo. The tire store might very well have both in stock, but the trend today is to stock only what is moving big time and order out from the distributor on their twice a week milk run the slower moving stuff.




Fly

[Beerlifter]

Now I'm not sure about Wal Mart where you are but ours here in Oklahoma don't carry the correct Load Range that you would be looking for. You need to make sure that you get the same load range tire that came stock with your camper. My 95 Dutchmen requires a load range C. Most other trailers are the same. Most of the tires and rims at Wal Mart are the correct size but not load range (often the are load range B). Just my 2 cents worth!

[harleywolf]

I

[fallsrider]

I went through the pain last year myself! And yes, like stated by others, my local WalMart had my size, but they had load range B, not C. I ended up getting my tires from Southwest Wheel Company off the internet (scroll down to Trailer Wheels/Tires). They came with the wheels for about $50 each, but I have 12", not 13". They were LoadStar brand.

I took them to my local tire shop and had them replace the valve stems with high-pressure ones, and balance the tires (some argue this is not necessary). So I ended up having more than $50 plus shipping in each tire. You can really feel the difference with the high pressure stems. They are very rigid, whereas the ones that came installed would bend over very easily when trying to check tire pressure.

I hope this info helps somebody!

[tlhdoc]

If you get the tires or tires with rims from your dealer you will end up paying more, at least that has been my experience.  I replace my tires every 2 or 3 years.  I order new tires with rims when the old rims start looking bad.  You do not need to get new rims if there is nothing wrong with your old ones.  I have ordered my tires from jcwhitney.com the last few times and order them with the regular shipping.  They have always come in just 3 days.  There are always coupons for a percentage off or free shipping at JC Whitney.

[Buzz]

I bought new tires and rims at the beginning of last season from JC Whitney. Both valve stems failed within weeks. Luckily both failed in my driveway. I assume the stems were cheap and unable to tolerate the 65 lb. air pressure. I had both replaced with high pressure stems that are still holding up.
So be careful what you buy. When I buy new rims again I'm going to have new valve stems put on before I mount to pup.

[fallsrider]

I bought new tires and rims at the beginning of last season from JC Whitney. Both valve stems failed within weeks. Luckily both failed in my driveway. I assume the stems were cheap and unable to tolerate the 65 lb. air pressure...

I'm even more glad now that I had my stems replaced before mounting them. My tires require 80 psi.

[flyfisherman]

I bought new tires and rims at the beginning of last season from JC Whitney. Both valve stems failed within weeks. Luckily both failed in my driveway. I assume the stems were cheap and unable to tolerate the 65 lb. air pressure. I had both replaced with high pressure stems that are still holding up.
So be careful what you buy. When I buy new rims again I'm going to have new valve stems put on before I mount to pup.

Often that has been a posting here on PUT, of tire shops (you would think who would be the first to know the difference!) installing regular automotive valve stems for ST tires that call for high pressure stems. Especially for the 5.30 - 12" tires that require 80 psi. At the worse examples, acting like a blow out while driving down the road, at the least, slow leaking so one cannot even do an overnight trip without having to air up the next day.

My orginal tire/rims had the expossed brass shank stems so there was no doubt what they were. However, they were replaced later by my tire guru with the newer version which was a steel shanked stem and rubber coated. How you could tell the difference between this newer high pressure stem vs the regular stem is you could not bend them. The regular automotive low pressure stem will feel flexible where as there will be no flexing the HP stems!




Fly

[Buzz]

Often that has been a posting here on PUT, of tire shops (you would think who would be the first to know the difference!) installing regular automotive valve stems for ST tires that call for high pressure stems. Especially for the 5.30 - 12" tires that require 80 psi. At the worse examples, acting like a blow out while driving down the road, at the least, slow leaking so one cannot even do an overnight trip without having to air up the next day.

My orginal tire/rims had the expossed brass shank stems so there was no doubt what they were. However, they were replaced later by my tire guru with the newer version which was a steel shanked stem and rubber coated. How you could tell the difference between this newer high pressure stem vs the regular stem is you could not bend them. The regular automotive low pressure stem will feel flexible where as there will be no flexing the HP stems!




Fly

You would think however that a high pressure tires and rims supplied by JC Whitney would have high pressure valve stems....wouldn't you?
But what do I know?

[fallsrider]

You would think however that a high pressure tires and rims supplied by JC Whitney would have high pressure valve stems....wouldn't you?
But what do I know?

Nah, then they'd have to charge $0.50 more for each tire.   :yikes: