Sailun S637 Trailer Tires

shawn

shawn

running dog lackey of the oppressor class
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Mar 13, 2005
Location
Raleigh, NC
We've popped four trailer tires in the last ~5 years. The first two came with the trailer, and while they weren't old per the date codes, the sidewalls were pretty badly checked. I figured they were just past their prime.

So we bought four new LT truck tires for it and ran like that for a pretty good while. Two years ago, I lost the left rear in the middle of the night somewhere in Tennessee. I figured it might have been a fluke, maybe picked up a nail, etc. But a couple of months ago, the right rear threw the tread. It still had 80psi in it when I pulled it off the trailer. I decided it was time to do something different.

I have a buddy that really likes the Gladiator tires. They're pretty cheap (about $120-140/ea), G-rated (3750# / 110psi max), and made in China (like pretty much every other trailer tire nowadays). I looked at them pretty closely, but found some chatter about Sailun S637 tires. They're also Chinese, but they're pushing into the commercial truck market, and there's some internet chatter that they're "better", due to the QC/ISO requirements associated with commercial truck tires. The 235/85R16 tires are rated for 4,080 lbs each at 110psi.

I found a place up in Ohio that had them, and would mount them on 3960# rated aluminum wheels and ship them for $310/ea. I ordered them on Wednesday, and FedEx dropped them off at the house on Friday night.

My first impressions are pretty good. It's an all-steel tire (steel sidewalls), and even though they're still 16s, they look every bit like a commercial truck tire. With a total capacity of 15,840 lbs, there's a good bit of extra capacity over the 13,500ish that is usually sitting on these tires.

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@benmack1 did a lot of tire research awhile back. IIRC, he found the same info you did about the S637. He ended up going with the Maxxis M8008 but the Sailun is a really good tire as well.
 
I hope they are better then the 22.5 truck tires Sailun makes.
My experience has been they are garbage, and cost more in the long run.


I have used Gladiator tires in a 235 R17.5 size, and they did not have the poor wear problems of the Sailun in the same size



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Chris_M said:
I hope they are better then the 22.5 truck tires Sailun makes.
My experience has been they are garbage, and cost more in the long run.


I have used Gladiator tires in a 235 R17.5 size, and they did not have the poor wear problems of the Sailun in the same size



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Where did you find them locally?
 
tlucier said:
@benmack1 did a lot of tire research awhile back. IIRC, he found the same info you did about the S637. He ended up going with the Maxxis M8008 but the Sailun is a really good tire as well.
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That's right, but mixing a couple stories. I have the Maxxis M8008's on my open trailer since it's got 15's. Not a player for the 16's. I DO have the sailun S637 235/85/R16 on my fifth wheel camper. All the research I've done (basically hours and hours of forum reading), they are about the best you can do in a 16 in trailer tire. No idea about the 22.5's but that's not the topic at hand. They get better reviews than the goodyear G614's in the 16" fifth wheel market. THere may be failures out there but I have never read about one in the reviews I dug out. That can't be said about the GY G614's and the sailuns are less than 200 while GY is over 400 a tire. Sailun's are the best as far as I can tell. They have been great on my trailer running 110psi. The next step up and arguably real upgrade is to go with a 17.5" true mid-duty wheel and tire. I think the size is 215/75/R17.5. They have a slightly smaller outside tire height than the 16's are so work as a swap. In that size there are more tire options too including the GY G114 and a comparable Sailun and others from the names we all will recognize. You will be happy with the Sailun's.
 
I have looked at 17.5s once or twice. From what I can tell, the cost both for tires and wheels is a fair bit more. But more importantly, the 8 on 6.5" conical seat wheels required 9/16" studs. When I did the brakes a few years back, I inadvertently bought 1/2" stud drums. So there's another $200-250 ish to swap back to 9/16".
 
shawn said:
Just curious: how long have you been running them?
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A bit more than a year finishing up our 2nd summer season with it. Not tons of miles (4-5K so far I would guess) and i'm meticulous about pressures and speed (rarely if ever exceed 65mph) so I'm not exactly a test pilot for Sailun. If you want to know what they are under it's a 2016 heartland big country 4010RD. 16K GVW trailer. Never weighed it so don't know what's the real number and distribution between the truck pin & trailer. The RV market is notorious for shit china bomb tires. The sailuns or the GY G614 are about the only options IMO but 90% have the shit westlake, towmax, GY marathon etc E rated crap. There are many flats out there not from puncture but just from the tire coming apart. On a couple of the RV forums I frequent there seems to be daily reports of china bomb failures and some clear rules for tires. 1) Don't put Westlake, towmax, marathons (and the like) on (there are even reports of the delivery trip losing tires). 2) Never ever exceed the 7th year regardless of care, miles towed even if just they sat 2 years on the shelf before being mounted. 3) keep pressures at the ratings 80 for the E rated and 110 for the G's and 4) never pull faster than 65 mph. 5) put sailuns on and adhere to the above and you'll never have a problem. Believe it/don't believe it as you wish but those seem to be the major points. The problem on the camper versus a utility trailer is my fenders are the slide outs and my kitchen floor. If a tire fails I will have tons of damage to the camper so not an option. If I was pulling a gooseneck flatbed with a bed over the tires or steel fender then it's just incovenient but not going to rip the side of the rig apart.
 
Were these the guys you used Trailer Tires and Wheels - Steel & Aluminum Trailer Wheels, Bias & Radial Trailer Tires ? I talked to them before I bought my trailer as I was looking at some with the shit tires on them (new trailers) and was seriously considering doing the 17.5 conversion the day I brought it home if I couldn't find what I wanted but ended up buying a higher end heartland that already had the sailun G rated tires so it became moot.
 
We've sold quite a few sets of the Sailuns. Out of the 150ish (maybe more, maybe less, its 11:00 on a Saturday night lol) we've sold, we've had one tire that we had to send back for the tread starting to separate. There are guys running them on dump trucks, campers, RVs, heavy duty trailers (that transport PODS style storage units), and F550s with the 19.5s, or whatever size they are. For the money, they are hard to beat for sure.
 
I have Sailuns on my trailer. I think they are the exact same as you ordered. I got mine from Jason Lackey's tire shop in Hickory. Ive been running them close to a year now and no issues for far.

I don't know if they are S637's or not but they are 14 ply and G rated. Jason recommended them and had plenty in stock. He said that a lot of his customers with horse trailers and living quarters were using these with good experiences.
 
@trailhugger bought two more of these today. We found them locally at Colony Tire. Interestingly enough, the new ones are rated to 4400#/ea. Everything else appears to be the same. The Sailun spec sheet is attached below in PDF for reference.

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I've been using take offs from my 2500 suburbans on my trailer. They are 245 -16 rated E on steel wheels. I like the Sailuns but will I need new rims for the 100 psi tire pressure?
 
moldman05 said:
I like the Sailuns but will I need new rims for the 100 psi tire pressure?
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Possibly. I made sure to buy G rated wheels (steel and aluminum) which are marked for 3750# and/or 110psi.

The BFGs I was using were 245/75R16s. They're on the other trailer now.
 
Lost a BFG this morning, 45 miles from the house. Swapped two Sailuns onto that side of the trailer.

I have four matching BFG commercials and four aluminum wheels for sale, if anybody's looking. One of them has a little bubble in the tread, otherwise they're tip top. :lol:

But seriously.... 8 lug, 3k capacity, aluminum bullet holes.
 
There is a guy on eBay that sells 17.5 wheels/tires out of Texas. You can get a set mounted/delivered for $1100-1300 depending on which size you choose. I got the 235's because they had deeper tread, but wish I had saved $200 and got the 215's as I will likely never wear them out before they dryrot, although I do use my trailer quite a bit.

I love the 17.5's, makes the trailer much more stable, but the wheel offset also made it wider, it is about 104"-105" to the outside of the tires...
 
What does your trailer weight ? ( Flying-J )
Do you check the air pressure ?
On your trailer id be going with a set of 17.5, (just my opinion )
 
yager said:
What does your trailer weight ? ( Flying-J )
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All axle weights are below their stated capacities.

yager said:
Do you check the air pressure ?
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Religiously. In fact, one of the tires that threw the tread still had 80psi in it when I changed it. That was really the last straw.

yager said:
On your trailer id be going with a set of 17.5, (just my opinion )
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I considered it, except for a few issues. 17.5s are not readily available. I can buy a 235/85R16 just about anywhere, if it's a question of "getting home". In fact, I bought two at a Discount Tire in Nashville on one trip. 17.5s require 5/8" flat-face lugs with hub-centric wheels or custom 9/16" conical seat wheels. All our trailers run 1/2" studs, so I'd have to change the drums/hubs on everything to match. And they're expensive. You can get trailer tires fairly inexpensively, but when you add in the cost of wheels, lug nuts, hubs, etc, it's a bunch of money.
 
Just picked up some Carlisle hd load range d for my buggy trailer they had a smoking deal on them on Amazon prime 53$ each 2 day free shipping they look really good we will see

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karatejosh said:
Just picked up some Carlisle hd load range d for my buggy trailer they had a smoking deal on them on Amazon prime 53$ each 2 day free shipping they look really good we will see

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They'll pop like corn.
 
I have had 2 load c of the same tire for 2 years never had a issue so just replacing them but trailer is 1500 and buggy is 2600 so im not asking much of them

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shawn said:
All axle weights are below their stated capacities.

I considered it, except for a few issues. 17.5s are not readily available. I can buy a 235/85R16 just about anywhere, if it's a question of "getting home". In fact, I bought two at a Discount Tire in Nashville on one trip. 17.5s require 5/8" flat-face lugs with hub-centric wheels or custom 9/16" conical seat wheels. All our trailers run 1/2" studs, so I'd have to change the drums/hubs on everything to match. And they're expensive. You can get trailer tires fairly inexpensively, but when you add in the cost of wheels, lug nuts, hubs, etc, it's a bunch of money.
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Hmmmm. I see...... So what your trying to say is, "I do not weight the trailer...... " hey, we all been there before.....

Well I can see that about not being available... You can also do the 19.5s, and there are available, all over at just about any truck stop. About the same weight as your getting with the 16"s, but with a stronger carcass and cheep to....

But, what do i know, I'm running P car tires ;)
 
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